Zwift Chat

[Marino.g]

Essential you’re hotel is near the start as was mine last year so good job with that one.
External factors that was out of my control :
Delayed start time (20 mins) for everybody but the cut off time stays the same.
The official start time for the event is your start time event if you go off 30 mins later depending on how early you get there to the holding gate.
First water station was manic (very hot weather) and even if you didn’t stop there was still a hold up as people couldn’t park their bike the road was impassable for a few mins.
They blamed this on people riding that haven’t officially entered so this year it’s obligatory to wear the 312 jersey given you you for the ride.
You can pay extra money (stupid money) to go off first which improves your odds to beat the cut time.
Feed stations very busy and the fastest times had support teams for water & food.
Andy Owen ( from Taunton) did it successfully a few years back he was one of the guys on your Pyrenees tour who was watching when I did it.
I did follow a plan but it was useless by a guy who rides it every year “ ride harder”.
The good part of the ride uphill is on ROUVY and I can find it for you if you want to try it.
You need to train by doing very long endurance rides and lots of rides with long climbs and the better your ftp the better you can keep to a high zone 2 power output.
There you go, easy peasy

This is the start to the cut off time that’s on ROUVY.
So essential to test your Time all be it indoors

 

[CXRAndy]

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[bobinski]

Essential you’re hotel is near the start as was mine last year so good job with that one.
External factors that was out of my control :
Delayed start time (20 mins) for everybody but the cut off time stays the same.
The official start time for the event is your start time even if you go off 30 mins later depending on how early you get there to the holding gate.
First water station was manic (very hot weather) and even if you didn’t stop there was still a hold up as people couldn’t park their bike the road was impassable for a few mins.
They blamed this on people riding that haven’t officially entered so this year it’s obligatory to wear the 312 jersey given you you for the ride.
You can pay extra money (stupid money) to go off first which improves your odds to beat the cut time.
Feed stations very busy and the fastest times had support teams for water & food.
Andy Owen ( from Taunton) did it successfully a few years back he was one of the guys on your Pyrenees tour who was watching when I did it.
I did follow a plan but it was useless by a guy who rides it every year “ ride harder”.
The good part of the ride uphill is on ROUVY and I can find it for you if you want to try it.
You need to train by doing very long endurance rides and lots of rides with long climbs and the better your ftp the better you can keep to a high zone 2 power output.
There you go, easy peasy 😂

Yes, "ride harder" is who my mate has bought his training plan from.

Lots of good advice there and ta for the Rouvy link.

I did a lot of low intensity long rides for the RP mainly to avoid fatigue after coming back from sepsis. It was good but didn't help with ftp , which remained low, probably because I avoided threshold , sweetspot and sprint work. So my ftp was low and i am working at the moment to push it up as close as possible to where it was 2 years ago. 20 watts to go. I have a np watts figure in my head for the day and will look to get as close to that as possible in the months ahead.

How did you get on?

 

[Marino.g]

Yes, "ride harder" is who my mate has bought his training plan from.

Lots of good advice there and ta for the Rouvy link.

I did a lot of low intensity long rides for the RP mainly to avoid fatigue after coming back from sepsis. It was good but didn't help with ftp , which remained low, probably because I avoided threshold , sweetspot and sprint work. So my ftp was low and i am working at the moment to push it up as close as possible to where it was 2 years ago. 20 watts to go. I have a np watts figure in my head for the day and will look to get as close to that as possible in the months ahead.

How did you get on?

Hi Bob

Ride Harder has good advice but the rides are too short on the plan especially for the weekend rides.
My old coach told me to increase my weekend rides by a considerable amount to get anywhere near what I should have been riding to train for Mallorca 312 with some back to back.
What hotel did you book?

 

[CXRAndy]

I would have thought, endurance rides upto 120-140 miles would be suitable. Once these are 'bearable', then the event should be achievable with fair wind and good luck

 

[Marino.g]

Yes, "ride harder" is who my mate has bought his training plan from.

Lots of good advice there and ta for the Rouvy link.

I did a lot of low intensity long rides for the RP mainly to avoid fatigue after coming back from sepsis. It was good but didn't help with ftp , which remained low, probably because I avoided threshold , sweetspot and sprint work. So my ftp was low and i am working at the moment to push it up as close as possible to where it was 2 years ago. 20 watts to go. I have a np watts figure in my head for the day and will look to get as close to that as possible in the months ahead.

How did you get on?

Forgot to mention if you pm me you're email address I can send you the handbooks I got from ride harder plan (you're mate will get later) such as the race day handbook and all the advice he sent with it if your interested.

 

[Marino.g]

I would have thought, endurance rides upto 120-140 miles would be suitable. Once these are 'bearable', then the event should be achievable with fair wind and good luck

That's basically it Andy but from memory the biggest ride prescribed was a around 2 hours on the "ride harder plan and that was near the end of the plan, hence why I had to contact my old coach.

 

[Marino.g]

How did you get on?

Basically failed to make the cut off time and blame it on illness 2 weeks before the event, the heat, delayed start times, chaos at the water station and testing positive for Covid two days later. Finished by doing the 106 miles route instead.
Don't under estimate how tough it is but a beautiful ride at the same time.

 

[bobinski]

Basically failed to make the cut off time and blame it on illness 2 weeks before the event, the heat, delayed start times, chaos at the water station and testing positive for Covid two days later. Finished by doing the 106 miles route instead.
Don't under estimate how tough it is but a beautiful ride at the same time.

Gawd, that just shows how much can go wrong. Bad luck mate.

 

[bobinski]

Hi Bob

Ride Harder has good advice but the rides are too short on the plan especially for the weekend rides.
My old coach told me to increase my weekend rides by a considerable amount to get anywhere near what I should have been riding to train for Mallorca 312 with some back to back.
What hotel did you book?

Zafiro Mallorca

 

[alex_cycles]

That's basically it Andy but from memory the biggest ride prescribed was a around 2 hours on the "ride harder plan and that was near the end of the plan, hence why I had to contact my old coach.

2 hours? That's like a normal ride. I wouldn't even take anything other than water for a 2-hour ride.
FFS that's not exactly endurance training.

 

[Marino.g]

Zafiro Mallorca

Ok, that’s still about 20 mins (slow ride) on the bike to the start line. Basically the start line is opposite Iberostar Playa de Mauro.
I stayed at the Grupitel Alcudia Suite which was 2 mins from the holding gate just before the start gate.

 

[CXRAndy]

I think its the super tight cut off which makes the 312 more difficult. You have to go above Z2 to get over the climbs which are front loaded on the event. I've not done anything near 312(180 miles). nearest for me is 123 miles in Wales some years back. In the recent past Tenerife, but these rides were broken into 2-3hour blocks, so my indoor 3 hour training was ample.

There will be very little chance to rest with an ever looming deadline to get to approx half way

 

[Marino.g]

I think its the super tight cut off which makes the 312 more difficult. You have to go above Z2 to get over the climbs which are front loaded on the event. I've not done anything near 312(180 miles). nearest for me is 123 miles in Wales some years back. In the recent past Tenerife, but these rides were broken into 2-3hour blocks, so my indoor 3 hour training was ample.

There will be very little chance to rest with an ever looming deadline to get to approx half way

Agreed.
I'm guessing you might be talking about the dragon ride which I did the year before and although tough you just do it in your own time.
The heat was hotter than usual apparently, and the problem is that the ride is quite early in the year and all the training in preparation is done in the cold months of our Winter.
Stick the trainer in the sauna for some indoor rides or find some winter sun to train in

 

[CXRAndy]

Agreed.
I'm guessing you might be talking about the dragon ride which I did the year before and although tough you just do it in your own time.
The heat was hotter than usual apparently, and the problem is that the ride is quite early in the year and all the training in preparation is done in the cold months of our Winter.
Stick the trainer in the sauna for some indoor rides or find some winter sun to train in

Yes it was the dragon 🐉🐉🐉.

Not to be underestimated, heat can really sap the body of energy. I've never been to great handling heat, especially with pace. I know some love it-Martin comes to mind.

I became more comfortable on climbs when the temperature dropped with elevation.

Acclimation to conditions is all part of the training I suppose