Death Ride / Triple Bypass preparation - Climbing plan recommendation

Training
21

Acclimated and much higher than 3 W/kg would be pretty sweet! While us <=3 W/kg dudes are best known for catching the group behind :joy: Gotta work with what you got and leave it all out on the road :+1:

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22

I’ve done the DR a couple of times and LOTS of 10-12kft centuries. The modifications I would make to your plan are as follows:

  • Change the target of your Tue progression from going 1x longer (i.e. 75mins) to more of less (e.g. 4 x 30) closer mimicking the demands of the event.

  • Consolidate your Saturday and Sunday rides into a single longer ride with lots of hills (e.g. 80mi, 8kft +/-). You can build up from where you are at (e.g. 50/5k to 100/10k) depending on your prior training. This is both for physical and mental preparation.

  • Minimize VO2 workout other than around threshold as you are planning (105/95). The higher intensity (e.g. 125) has little benefit to a ride as long as the DR as compared to the longer duration (i.e. focus on pushing your PDC to the right, not up).

Note: If you had said you have a LOT of 10k ft centuries under your belt and your focus was on a fast DR, my suggestions would include VO2 work.

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23

I agree with what @bbarrera has been saying - you’ve got plenty of time, and you don’t need really long climbs to prepare for it. I did it for the first time in 2017, with the vast majority of my preparation being indoors, and at sea level. My total elapsed for that was just under 11 hours at about 3ish W/kg, and some longer stops - almost an hour at the top of Carson pass having ice cream. Managing stopped time on a ride like this is key to it not dragging out. Carson pass is gone, and I won’t miss it :slight_smile: The very steep pacific grade has been added, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Some longer tempo/sweetspot intervals will be good prep for the long climbs.
If you don’t know how altitude affects you start out cautiously - it’s easy to dig yourself into a hole at altitude, and harder to get out. Ebbetts pass gets to about 8700ft, so there is some ‘real’ altitude in this route, though not as much as the triple bypass. It is a fun ride in a beautiful area - I hope you enjoy it. I’m hoping to make it out there this year to check out the new route.

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