Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

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khendar
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Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby khendar » Wed Nov 08, 2017 11:06 am

I've signed up for the Bupa Challenge next year. Its going to be my longest ride to date (with getting to and from the start and end points, around 160km) and the most climbing in a single ride.

http://tourdownunder.com.au/bupa-challe ... ns/start-1

I want to get in as much training as possible, but I'm hesitant to train on certain parts of the route for reasons of safety (up Gorge Road in particular). Would my best bet be to find similar length Cat2 climbs on safer routes and just do repeat after repeat ? I don't think I have a problem with the distance alone, but when you throw in several decent climbs I think I need to put in some work.

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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Wed Nov 08, 2017 12:24 pm

I get the reluctance on parts of Gorge Rd, it can be a bit hairy. That said, I've seen more of an issue with some of the cyclists than the cars. Riding two abreast up hills when (I know you are allowed) you don't need to and know cars are coming.

I don't think repeats of hills are the key, more like just ride hills. The route doesn't have extended climbs, but it's a day of up & down, up & down, up & down, up & down, up & down, up & down, up & down, with some up & down to finish ....

The killer, especially if it's a warm day will be Nortons, Woods Hill & Tregarthen Rd combo - nothing super steep and long, but plenty of climbing to sap the legs at the end of a long day of up & down.

It'll be an imperial century for me too, but great to be able to ride to & from there from home (near Wayville Showgrounds).

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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:58 pm

About to do ride up to Cudlee Ck, turn around and then do rest of route as a bit of familiarisation.

Just had another look at the amount of climbing to do, and one plotted route puts it over 2,000m of ascent !!!

Hope it’s not too hot on the day .....

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khendar
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby khendar » Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:29 am

MichaelB wrote:Just had another look at the amount of climbing to do, and one plotted route puts it over 2,000m of ascent !!!

Hope it’s not too hot on the day .....
Being mid Jan, its probably too much to hope for a cool day.

I did a Norton > Glenelg > Outer Harbour and back loop yesterday. 105km. Maybe next week I'll try and throw in another Norton at the end to try and simulate that last 20k of the Bupa.

I'm thinking probably the safest route might be to do Freeway > Lofty > Nortons loops. Mostly sheltered and a decent distance with some good climbs.

Doing the distance isn't going to be a big problem, but combining it with those climbs is a little scary.

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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:57 pm

Did the ride up Gorge Rd to Cudlee Cr and then back down and followed the course to Uraidla. Overall was 110km at an average of 25.8km/hr and with almost 1,400m of climbing.

Traffic was pretty sparse surprisingly, and the worst bit was the road surface on the way down from Kangaroo Cr Dam. It was really poor.

Next run up there will be looking to do the loop (up to Mt Pleasant) and keep going down and see how the legs feel about Norton.

It's more a matter of pacing. If it's a warm day, it's the final part that will be the killer. Was pretty cool going up Gorge Rd

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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Tue Nov 21, 2017 8:38 pm

How’s the training going kendhar?

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khendar
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby khendar » Wed Nov 22, 2017 11:03 am

Sporadic :(

I went out with the Ride for a Reason crew to do Norton > Lofty > Freeway on Sunday. I felt good during the ride and thought I was hydrating and fueling properly. When I got home I felt extremely fatigued: sandy eyes, fuzzy headed. Monday and Tuesday I had a headache, fuzziness, stomach cramps etc. I spoke to the doctor who said it may have been head exhaustion/dehydration, or it may have been the curry the night before.

So I didn't commute or do intervals on Monday as I intended, but I'm planning on picking back up again on Friday and paying closer attention to my fuel/fluid intake.

The ride itself wasn't too tough. Norton is becoming routine, Woods Hill road was a bit of a grind and the pack had spread out a bit by that point so there was no group benefit. Lofty was surprisingly easy in comparison.

How about you MichaelB?

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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby eeksll » Mon Nov 27, 2017 1:20 pm

interesting to hear your doing interval training, what specifically are you doing?

The freeway climb is probably one of the better training hills, its long and separated from cars.

I like to do Gorge road real early on sunday morning, but having said that, I do it fairly often in the afternoon and its not that busy at all (guess depends a bit on how nervous you are)

Tregarthen will be interesting with all the people wanting to bomb down the hill to get the momentum for the uphill bits.

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khendar
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby khendar » Mon Nov 27, 2017 1:42 pm

eeksll wrote:interesting to hear your doing interval training, what specifically are you doing?
Dirty-30's mostly: 10m warmup, 30s full throttle, 60s recovery, 4 intervals, 4m rest, 3 sets, 5m cooldown. I do them on the Vic park crit track so I generally sprint the main straight and recover on the corners and back straight.

Its not specifically training for the Bupa, its just part of my general fitness workout. Trying to loose a few kg and boost my fitness.

I've been time-poor the last week so I just did Norton on Saturday and again on the way to work today. No intervals as I dropped the bike for a service today.

I plan on dragging a mate up bollards next weekend.

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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Mon Nov 27, 2017 1:55 pm

I'm doing OK with the riding and averaging 160 - 200km per week with 2,000+ m of climbing. I'm a bit time challenged at the moment, so rides are typically 60 - 90min during the week and a longer one of the weekend.

I don't do Gorge Rd as a normal training ride as it's too far away from home to start, and the road surface is bloody atrocious (esp. the down bit after the dam). My haunts are normally central/south (live near Wayville Showgrounds), and Sundays ride was a good one - up Greenhill, Tregarthen Rd, back up to Lofty, down to Stirling and back to Blackwood via Sturt Valley rd and then home via Fullarton Rd - 65km & 1,090m climbing.

PB on Greenhill Rd was nice :mrgreen:

Seems like it's gonna be a while before I get the PM (waiting on a shipment from OS), so sticking with the HRM. Lotsa hills to come :D :shock:

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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby eeksll » Mon Nov 27, 2017 2:14 pm

Uphill gorge road has been relayed and is quite nice. Downhill sucks, when I get to the corkscrew turnoff its always a crap choice, grind up corkscrew and down smooth montacute or get rattled to death down gorge.

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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Mon Nov 27, 2017 3:22 pm

eeksll wrote:Uphill gorge road has been relayed and is better in parts. Downhill sucks, when I get to the corkscrew turnoff its always a crap choice, grind up corkscrew and down smooth montacute or get rattled to death down gorge.
Fixed it for you :mrgreen:

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khendar
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby khendar » Mon Dec 04, 2017 9:53 am

Didn't end up riding with my mate on Sunday, but I did do ~60k Nortons > Lofty > City > Montacute Rd, finishing at Corkscrew Rd. By that time it was getting drizzly so I headed back home. Lofty was fine except I got caught in the wrong gear on that sudden steep section adjacent to Warre track and stalled out. I think next weekend I might try and do Freeway > Lofty > Nortons, recover, then reverse it.

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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby eeksll » Mon Dec 04, 2017 9:45 pm

@khendar I think you'll do fine, you are doing alot more riding (and hills) than me before I did my first BUPA.

Regarding the extra hills, just keep the food intake steady, ie if your feeling good on the flat don't not eat.

on the other hand if your trying to ride it as fast as you can, might need more advice from other posters :)

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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Thu Dec 07, 2017 7:55 am

Looking to ride the Cudlee Creek part of the loop over the weekend RWGPS shows it to be 73km and 975m ascent. Should be a nice ride. Don't have time to do the loop from home.

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g-boaf
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby g-boaf » Thu Dec 07, 2017 10:44 am

eeksll wrote:@khendar I think you'll do fine, you are doing alot more riding (and hills) than me before I did my first BUPA.

Regarding the extra hills, just keep the food intake steady, ie if your feeling good on the flat don't not eat.

on the other hand if your trying to ride it as fast as you can, might need more advice from other posters :)
I have no idea what a Bupa is when it isn't at home - but assuming it's a one day sportive event, I'd just echo most of your advice - manage your efforts, don't completely shatter yourself.

If you are on any long flat or false flat sections then work with others and share the effort when you are on the front, you'll use less energy and go faster. On some false flats (and depending on your fitness) you can be still going pretty fast (35km/h or so), so also get down low (use drops on the bars), that will also save some energy.

On the hills, just go at a sustainable speed that you can manage over the whole climb.

Edit: I see what it is now. The route doesn't look too vicious in the way of elevation.
Last edited by g-boaf on Thu Dec 07, 2017 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

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khendar
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby khendar » Thu Dec 07, 2017 10:57 am

g-boaf wrote: I have no idea what a Bupa is when it isn't at home - but assuming it's a one day sportive event.
You assume correct.

http://tourdownunder.com.au/bupa-challe ... lenge-tour

I have a day off work tomorrow, so I plan on putting in a long day on the bike. Might take the Veloway from the city down to McLaren vale and back home. Should be a nice easy 100km. Then do a couple of hills on Sunday.

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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby g-boaf » Thu Dec 07, 2017 11:08 am

khendar wrote:
g-boaf wrote: I have no idea what a Bupa is when it isn't at home - but assuming it's a one day sportive event.
You assume correct.

http://tourdownunder.com.au/bupa-challe ... lenge-tour

I have a day off work tomorrow, so I plan on putting in a long day on the bike. Might take the Veloway from the city down to McLaren vale and back home. Should be a nice easy 100km. Then do a couple of hills on Sunday.
I found the route it uses, looks like a nice day out. Just riding consistent longer climbs and doing some descending on terrible roads should have you in good shape for this.

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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Thu Dec 07, 2017 12:02 pm

g-boaf wrote: I found the route it uses, looks like a nice day out. Just riding consistent longer climbs and doing some descending on terrible roads should have you in good shape for this.
Most of the roads are good, but lower portion of Gorge Rd is crap, but it's pretty flat.

No big climbs, but lots of up & down. Max elevation is only 500m or so, but total ascent is well over 2,000m. Nice route and some good descents.

BTW, Bupa is a health insurer.

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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby lewie15 » Sat Dec 09, 2017 9:38 pm

Looking forward to the BUPA next month. I did my first BUPA last year and loved it. Always good to have an event coming up as motivation to get fit. Unfortunately where I live in Whyalla, I don't have access to any decent climbs. Going to be in Adelaide for two weeks in December, so going to try and cram as much climbing as possible into that time.
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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Mon Dec 11, 2017 8:37 am

MichaelB wrote:Looking to ride the Cudlee Creek part of the loop over the weekend RWGPS shows it to be 73km and 975m ascent. Should be a nice ride. Don't have time to do the loop from home.
Did the ride on Sunday, and it's a great loop. The roads are pretty good with some great classic aussie scenery. I managed 26.5km/hr average and there was 1075m of acsent.

If it's a hot day, there are some unsheltered spots. The climb into & out of Lobethal and the rise to the top of Fox Creek road will be interesting for those that have gone out too hard.

So based on the riding done so far, it will be over 2,300m of climbing for me from home to home. Praying for a cool and calm day 8)

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khendar
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby khendar » Mon Jan 22, 2018 10:43 am

Well...that was disappointing. I can't say I blame the organisers for cancelling, but I can't help feeling that the training was wasted. I guess I'll just have to keep it up and worth towards the Grand Slam instead.

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g-boaf
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby g-boaf » Mon Jan 22, 2018 1:09 pm

khendar wrote:Well...that was disappointing. I can't say I blame the organisers for cancelling, but I can't help feeling that the training was wasted. I guess I'll just have to keep it up and worth towards the Grand Slam instead.
It wasn't wasted, you put the effort in to get better - that's never a waste.

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MichaelB
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Re: Training for the Bupa without riding the Bupa

Postby MichaelB » Mon Jan 22, 2018 8:18 pm

Agree that it wasn’t wasted. The plan for our quartet is to do the route in a couple of weeks (this weekend is gonna be a stinker again !!)

Main differerence will be a planned refuel at Mt Pleasant for one of their monster Wagon Wheels or equivalent.

At least we got a refund !!

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