If you are on or around MyWhoosh for long enough, you will inevitably hear about the Endurance Climb.
I want to say it’s akin to Zwift’s Alpe du Zwift, but it’s not quite the same. There are several other comparable (and harder) climbs to be found on MyWhoosh.
The Endurance Climb is a bit different.
It’s 9 segments, each just under 3km in length, and each averaging about 9-10%.
Between each of the segments is a 3km (or thereabouts) flat section. Steep and flat. Steep and flat. Over and over.
I bumped up my trainer realism to 100% for this one, and got underway in what is my first proper climbing ride since the crash. Even before that I would say I had definitely slacked off on harder climbing rides this year. So this one was going to be tough.
There were some issues today. Sadly.
Not with MyWhoosh, but with the numbers. I know, I know. I keep banging on about it.
I hadn’t changed my setup – just the trainer realism.
But today, rather than under reporting, the numbers were quite significantly over reporting.
When I was sat at say 210w on the Garmin, it would be 225w in-game. Get up around 235w on the head unit, and it was showing near 260w in game.
I didn’t make any adjustments, but it was annoying as in many ways I really wanted to use this as a realistic baseline of my metrics. And after this one, I definitely did not get that.
What I did get was a solid workout.
It was brutal.
I’m completely not used to climbing, and was very, very quickly into my easiest gear with nowhere left to go (but up, slowly).
I managed only two sections, and knew if I went again I wouldn’t be able to finish a third. Not even close.
I completely over egged the first segment.
Thank God for the long recovery between blocks, but even with that I had resigned to aiming for 210w (on the head unit) for the second effort. Holding close to that was a challenge at times in that second effort.
Averaged out it was taking me approximately 15 minutes to do a section. Most concerning was the heart rate – I refuse to go into the 190s anymore, so I do have a hard limit. Even so, I averaged 177bpm in the first climb, and 181bpm in the second. Pretty full on.
Overall, very very challenging. A good ride, and I’m glad I did it. But I really struggled.
I think I’d like to try this again next Saturday and see how I get on. It’s a solid ride, in a lot of ways. A true test. And I do need this sort of thing right now. It’s a fast way to get back to where I want to be. But boy is it brutal.
Fortunately the sweat matt has dried up now, near 8 hours later. But it was puddled. As was I.
