Hmm.
So today’s plan was pretty simple. My usual Saturday rides as of late are, ideally, harder climbing rides. However for October (and probably a bit of November), I want to use the Saturday ride to take on the Longer variant of the week’s Tour of Watopia 2023 rides.
With a usual Saturday ride being on the harder / challenging end, I figured I’d tackle each of the “Three Little Sisters” as a big effort, but go easier between the climbs.
That… kinda worked?
Truthfully having done the SST session on Tuesday, then the first stage Standard ride on Wednesday, then raced Thursay, I am pretty tired.
That said, I did get a rest day yesterday. And today, being a Saturday, meant I was fairly fresh and rested anyway.
The Three Little Sisters are the Hilly KOM, then the Titan’s Grove KOM, and lastly the Volcano KOM.
I didn’t get a decent warm up today, so went into the ride wanting to take it easy for the first ~10 minutes.
Alas, no.
From the pens in Downtown Watopia it is straight on to the Hilly KOM.
I decided to hit that one at ~4 w/kg, and as it’s only a short-ish effort, I think I paced that one well.
According to Strava I managed a time of 2m 39s over the top.
I know that’s not my best. But honestly, it’s not even enough for a personal Top 3 badge on Strava.
However, more on that shortly.
Shortly after that I had to take a quick break as I’d left the kid’s pasta cooking and needed to turn it off. So I hopped off, jogged to and from the kitchen, and was back on, I think, within about 30 seconds.
That was enough to lose about 20 places, but this isn’t a race, so no big deal.
It might have helped my overall time if I had managed to stick with one of the faster groups. But again, more on that later.
Traversing round the map, we had over 15 minutes from the Hilly KOM until we hit our next climb of the day, in the form of the Titan’s Grove KOM.
This one, for me, was where I put in my best effort.
At least, I thought I did.
I had this down as a 5 minute effort in my head, and I paced it again at about 4 w/kg. This was way double the Hilly KOM, at approximately the same pace. Tiring, for sure.
I started that climb in a bunch, and came out 10 seconds ahead of the pack. I really gave that a solid push and clocked in at 5m 5s.
Again, pleased with this at the time. I really felt like I’d worked hard on that one. Very little left in the tank, and I used every second of that 10 second gap to take it easy whilst the bunch regrouped.
Possibly it was this ~10 minute transition point between the end of Titan’s Grove and the start of the Volcano that ‘cost’ so much time. The pace definitely dipped here. I wasn’t complaining, the respite was very welcome.
But looking back, and comparing with my previous attempt at the Three Little Sisters, this bit stands out as a potential source of the massive time gap from last time.
Then it was time for the Volcano.
I don’t usually do too well on the Volcano. The middle section where it goes flat is a challenge, typically causing me to lose my rhythm.
The plan today was ~110% FTP, knowing it would be approximately 8 minutes of effort on tired legs.
It almost went to plan.
About half a kilometre from the KOM banner I dipped. I took about 10 seconds of tempo recovery before cracking on, but I wasn’t able to find the same power I had been pushing, not at least until the KOM banner crept in sight.
Crossing the line I managed 8m 48s, which definitely didn’t feel fast.
From there it was a slog back to Downtown to finish the ride off. A wet, soggy slog.
I came over the line in 1 hour, 2 minutes and 12 seconds at an average pace of 215w.
And truthfully, I was knackered.
Now, at the time I didn’t know this. But when I looked on Strava, I saw today’s ride was a Silver personal best.
That got me looking.
What was my previous PB?
Well, it was a previous Tour of Watopia ride. That day I managed a time of 54 minutes 22 seconds at 235w average.
Seriously, how?
I just don’t get it. I do not understand how I have lost 7 minutes and 20 watts in a year and a half.
It’s bugging me massively what the root cause of this ridiculous downtrend could possibly be?
Well, whatever it is, I’m sure tiredness did come in to it today. But clearly there is something else I have yet to identify that is different.
Anyway, I’m glad to have completed this one whatever the time clocked. I feel thrashed from this week’s rides. Asleep on my feet. It’s been a tough one to get back to the computer to write this.
Rest tomorrow. A long easy walk is on the cards. Hopefully it keeps raining. I do like a walk under the umbrella.
