Another tiring ride.
I think that just about sums it up.
I was looking forwards to this one. It’s a while since I’ve done the Epic KOM, and after last week’s climb of the AdZ it’s almost like a week off.
Almost.
It’s still 364m of climb over 9.4km, though the average is only 3.9%.
As per, I had no warm up. So my warm up today was the first ~5km of flat stuff, taken at approximately 200w or 3w/kg. Probably a little too intensive for the warm up, really. But I felt like I needed to fire up the legs with a big climb ahead.
A lot like the AdZ, the Epic KOM is a nice and visually interesting route. There’s various distinct segments to the climb, and it would be super nice if they retroactively fitted the AdZ / Climb Portal style overlay for this one. It would really help with pacing.
However, there is no such on-screen display so it’s a case of using the Garmin effectively.
Speaking of which, I have been having continued issues with my Polar H10 HRM strap. It’s gone, pretty much. There’s two big tears in it, and the plastic measuring strip has peeled away – although that happened ages ago. I’ve asked the Mrs for a new one for xmas, but I’m not sure I can delay it that long.
I was able to get my heart rate data off the Garmin, but much like on Tuesday, I was unable to get Zwift to play nicely. And this time around I wasn’t willing to stop and go to the Connections menu and ‘fix’ it.
So no HR data for this one.
My plan today, like last week, was hit both climbs at 3.5w/kg.
Yes. Both climbs.
Easy to forget there’s the slog out of the Jungle Circuit that comes after the Epic KOM. It’s not quite as intensive, and as it’s not an official Strava segment I don’t have the full details, but it goes on for about 7km and covers about 100m, though I’d hazard it’s only around the 2% average. That’s including the part before and after the bridge, by the way.
I feel like I had a plan, and I stuck to it on both climbs today.
3.5w/kg, aim for that 95rpm figure (I was miles off) and grin and bear it. As hard as it was, I definitely felt like I was improving. Not quite as tired, not as desperate to ease off, and whilst the heart rate did get into the low 180’s later on in the Epic KOM climb, I was mostly in the mid to high 170s. It’s not ideal, but for me that’s much better than mid to high 180s where it has been previously.
Still, the insanity prevails.
I look on Strava and I didn’t even medal for the Epic KOM. By which I mean I must have had better times on at least three prior attempts. To me that is nuts. Absolutely nuts. I just can’t fathom how I’ve been faster. I don’t feel slow. It’s mind boggling.
Anyway, it is what it is.
Overall then, a good ride. A very tiring ride, particularly the last 10km. After peaking over the top of the exit of the Jungle Circuit I wasn’t able to find much more than tempo. And those 10km, even though almost entirely flat, felt like such a slog.
In the end I got on the wheel of a rider who had taken at least 10 seconds out of me to catch me, and then pass me. That person practically carried me home, and without them I think I’d have been a good 30+ seconds slower, and that’s being fairly generous. Probably a minute or more. They kept me going, just to keep up.
So yeah. Knackered.
Recovery walk tomorrow. Not sure what the weather has planned but for the last few weeks now I have been having to wear my old and tatty coat which makes me sweat buckets. I’ve had two new jackets delivered, neither has been right. Just ordered a third. Hoping for a more comfortable set of Sunday walks.
But for now. Bath time.
