I have completed the Rapha Festive 500 – 500K within 8 days. I managed to complete it in seven days by training twice a day for the last four days. It was an interesting challenge, and I rode 12 new (to me) Fulgaz routes. I feel quite strong now and not tired in the slightest although I will probably have a couple of easy days before starting a new block of training next week. Stats below. Not quite sure where the 4 minutes of idle time were.
This original started as an outdoor challenge, but virtual completion was allowed in 2020, probably due to Covid lockdowns. I could never do it outside in winter as I just do not want to go out in the cold, wet and dark, both from an enjoyment and safety viewpoint.
I may or may not do it again next year. I think I might be tempted to use the same eight days to do something else. Possibly an imperial century and three metric centuries in 8 days.
I really enjoyed doing it on Fulgaz and I selected reasonably flat routes although I still managed 11,000 feet of climbing. I kept it all a Seiler Zone 1 and I think all my rides bar the longest – Buntingford Gran Fondo – had an average heart rate below 100.
I have to think about what objectives I have for 2022 and I will post them shortly.
2021 from my cycling perspective can be summed up in one sentence. I did not meet any of my objectives. These were documented in this blog entry
An accident in late April which required me having a hip replacement the next day was the main but not the only cause of my failure. I lost 5 weeks to injury before being able to start gently on the indoor trainer. I promised my family that I would not ride outside during the rest of the year, a promise I have kept.
I decided to stop competing in TT events and sold my TT bike. I am still involved in TT event organisation as Secretary of the Yorkshire VTTA group but I was never that interested in taking part in lots of events. Therefore objectives of beating my best at 50 and 100 mile distances were lost. However I am sure that I now have the fitness to do that if I wanted to.
The aspect I feel I could have done more with was in completing 12 metric centuries (100K) in the year. The day of my accident I had just ridden through 63 miles to have completed four in four months but since then I have only managed one more. However I am taking part in the Rapha Festive 500 and think I could probably get another two if not three in. I will do a separate blog entry on how that goes.
The next two are both related. To do a half/base Everest and to do the 12 climbs that Jacqui Cicotta listed at the beginning of the year. I lost a lot of fitness after my injury and putting pressure on my hip was quite difficult especially on hard climbs so I had to forgo doing many climbs. However I have just set a new PB on Alpe De Zwift and achieved my highest FTP ever so full fitness has returned. Below is an image of list of climbs and my progress
Two positive results. Whilst I had no annual mileage target I hoped to be around 6000 miles. As of 23rd December I am over 5500 with the Rapha 500 to come. Given I had 5 weeks out and then lost 2 weeks when my Wattbike was faulty I am happy with that.
I have used Trainer Road on and off (mostly on) for a number of years. However I have never really completed any of the plans. Adaptive Training has proved really beneficial to me. The sessions have been adapted to what I can do and I have used alternates to do a shorter session , especially at weekends when I have not fancied the longer planned sessions. This has kept me on plan and my return to fitness is entirely due to following their workouts.
I say that TR has helped but I have found the perfect combination in using Fulgaz in combination with TR. I do the TR workout on Ipad and watch a Fulgaz ride on ATV on a big screen (using a NPE Cable to take the Ant+ signal from Wattbike and convert to BT for ATV).
I have used Fulgaz on ATV since May and it has been great. Never an issue. I am lucky that I can stream rides so hardly ever download. The number of rides is superb – around 1500 now, mostly high quality. The older ones are being gradually either refilmed or removed. I have been a bit obsssive with riding new routes and I have now complted 450 films on FGulgaz. I am hoping that the tie-up with Ironman will make Fulgaz even better and I have seen the list of new rides that are coming in shorly and these will be superb for those who like doing longer routes. To complement the TR workouts I have been doing endurance Fulgaz rides on free days and occasionally doing hard Fulgaz rides in lieu of a threshold workout.
I have some ideas for next year, a post which I will write in the next few days.