From a cold, wet, and even slightly snowy house in the North of England, I managed to transport myself (virtually) to the lighthouse at the northern most point of (likely) sunny isle of Mallorca for a Thursday night climbing session. Yep, back up to visit Cap Formentor.
As this was my second time riding this route, I was slightly better prepared for today’s ride. I knew, roughly, it would take an hour to complete. I knew, roughly, that the first climb would be easier than the second. And I knew that I’d be aiming for about 3.1w/kg on the two climb. Roughly.
Last time I did this route, I thought I had updated my weight (from 70kg to 68kg) via the app. That didn’t appear to have taken, however, and I only noticed this as I was pottering about in the app during the first part of the ride. It might not sound like much, but if Zwift is anything to go by, those two kilos really make a difference.
Even though I’ve done these two climbs before, and even though I know how long and hard 250m of climb is, I still underestimate the effort in my head. I still expect to be climbing faster than I do. And I still get frustrated at myself, puffing and panting, struggling to push past the current “plateau” – which right now is 3.1w/kg average.
I definitely felt like I pushed harder, and “did better” today on the first climb. That’s reflected in the Strava stats, and I’m happy enough with that effort. Generally I do find I prefer climbs that are “straight up”. It’s easy to judge the effort, easier to remain consistent, and as much as possible, more enjoyable.
Last time I did this route I managed to really screw up the session by – somehow – putting the PC to sleep(!) just as I was heading into the harder part of the second climb. I was a lot more cautious with my fat fingers when screenshotting today.
That said, I really didn’t feel the second climb went that well on this run. It’s hard to directly compare, as the Strava stats were most definitely skewed by the calamitous activities last time. But today, I just felt spent on that second climb. I was determined to stay seated, which I did manage to do so, until the very last part of the ride.
I used today’s second climb to do a small amount of low cadence pedaling – 60-70rpm stuff which is really out of my comfort zone. I’m vastly more comfortable at or above 90rpm, even if it means a very easy gear. It’s taken me a while to realise this, but for me, spinning is much more enjoyable than grinding.
Anyway, all things considered it was a good solid workout. It was a tough choice between this one, and a ride up the Reverse Epic KOM. I just fancied a change from Zwift today, so went with this ride instead. Always good to vary it up a bit.
I noticed now that the RGT Cycling app allows sync’ing directly to Training Peaks. I believe this is new.
Also new, to the very best of my knowledge, is support for Apple TV as a platform. Thanks to Chuck for flagging this up.
If you haven’t given RGT Cycling a shot, I urge you to do so. Right now there are just so many bots / computer AI players about, it’s just crying out for more real people. It’s free, and it’s pretty much comparable to Zwift in so many ways.
Seriously, check it out… it’s really good!
