Return of the Black Legend - col de Mente

In the Tour de France on the 14th stage in 1971, in the Pyrenees, between Revel and Luchon of 214.5 km included the ascent to cols of Portet dAspet, Mente and Portillon. The advantage with which Ocana arrived at them was (7m 23s up on Merckx), felt like more than sufficient. The heat was suffocating and a storm seemed inevitable. The storm exploded with an unusual virulence. The road became a river and the riders, left with unusable brakes, restrained falls with their feet to avoid the crashing, nevertheless were numerous crashes.

Ocana crashed off course with little injury and was remounting his bicycle when Zoetemel lost control and hit him leaving him unconcious. The resulting injury forced him to quit while wearing the maillot jaune.

The following day Merckx refused to wear the yellow jersey in order to pay tribute to Ocana. This led to the decline of this col being used on the Tour de France.

The Black Legend has returned for the 2007 Etap!

Training update

The training plan has been devised and I am in a phase known as aerobic base development. This is to lay the foundation of fitness that will be required for the torture ahead.

Essentially this consists of the following workouts

1. 2 weekly sessions on an indoor trainer doing increasingly long intervals between 80% and 87% of my maximum heart rate.
2. 1 x group ride with Bicester Millenium Cycling Club; this is usually around 60 miles or so.
3. 1 x ride at 75-80% maximum heart rate for 60-70 minutes
4. 1 x ride nice and easy for 60-70 minutes at 65-70% maximum heart rate.

The training plan runs in 4 weekly blocks with weeks 1-3 increasing in duration and intensity with the aim of overloading the system. Week 4 maintains the intensity but the duration of work is reduced significantly so that my body can adapt and recover. Thats the theory anyway!

I can now ride by myself for 60 miles and will increase my longest ride in my January peak week (3rd week in Jan) to 90 miles. Goal setting has been a great motivator, as I couldn't ride 5 miles when I went on my first ride back in July; being 10kg lighter has also helped!

:-)

2007 - Toughest E'Tape yet?

With 54 kilometres of climbing, next year's Etape du Tour is looking like the toughest ever edition of the legendary cyclo-sportive. Five Pyrenean cols are included in the 196km route that winds through the southern French mountains from Foix to Loudenville on July 16. Apart from the demanding terrain, the 8,500 etapists will have to contend with the weather. Last year's Etape was blessed with clear skies and searing temperatures, which ended many participants rides' prematurely. Around 3,000 failed to make the finish within the time limit.

The course profile

Ouch! You just know it is going to hurt!