i've just found out which tour i will be guiding over the summer.

i had originally thought i'd be guiding one of the "beginner" transalps; covering 350-ish km and around 6000m of climbing in 6 days. it now transpires that i've got a "medium" route that covers 400km and 9000m of climbing in 6 days.

how can i get fit?

i'll be riding ~70km and 1800m a day. i'm guessing that after the first tour i'll be fit enough for the rest of the season.

the area around here is hilly, but not mountainous. if i ride 70km around here i'll be looking at 1200m of climbing, but all in relatively short bursts of 20-30 mins.

Head out right now into this bloody strong wind, that's training

any weight to lose?

I thought being fit would be part of getting the job in the first place? Even a week of high altitude riding isn't going to suddenly get you to the fitness you need to be, your body needs to condition and being able to recover quickly (the most important bit). You need to be looking at endurance type training not 20-30 min climbs. How long have you known about the job?

Give up the weed and fags?

70k and 1200m climbing? Sounds pretty flat to me! Can you not find any more hilly routes than that?

Just go and ride lots, if you thought you'd be fine with the 'easy' the 'medium' isn't going to be too much of a step up!

Just make every ride count. I've got some friends who just finished the Cape Epic (722km, 14635m climbing in 6 days) almost straight out of the cross season. They did a few 5-6 hour rides in the weekends leading up to it, but there are certainly no mountains here in the south east!

climbing is all about power to weight ratio.

so drop the weight or gain the power.

ride a lot – for endurance, do some weights for power – leg presses/ calf raises. drop some weight.

simples 😉

no weight loss as such. 71kg. could do with converting my belly insulation into muscle, but that takes effort and a reduction in shitty foods.

i've known about the job for ~6 weeks. i've another 6 to prepare.

i was thinking of finding a long hill and riding up it, then down, then back up, then back down and so on and so on…..

Well hope it works for you. Nothing worse than waiting for a panting guide at the top of each climb – it's happened to a group I've been with. 😮

i was thinking of finding a long hill and riding up it, then down, then back up, then back down and so on and so on…..

hill repeats will help – they aren't much fun though.

you may want to take your heaviest bike and overload it. I have heard of roadies training with waterbottles full of wet sand etc…

Cake, always take cake.

My summer fitness/weight loss plan is just kicking-in now as well. Or it would be if I hadn't just come down with man-flu.

i have no other option other than taking my heavy bike. the only bike i have is a heavy bike, 14.4kg.

is mile munching on the fixie worthwhile?

Ride lots, eat less rubbish.

Next 😉

although, i'm quite happy to be riding a harder tour. it should mean that the 'guests' are a little fitter and more skilled technically so that i won't have to wait for the stragglers and that i can be a bit more of a hooligan on the way down.

stevomcd – Member
My summer fitness/weight loss plan is just kicking-in now as well. Or it would be if I hadn't just come down with man-flu.

We will be shutting down Helter Skelter and Veni, Vidi, Vici in August 8)

I think we need to do some timed runs 😆

surely you'll gain the upper edge from having been riding at altitude where as your guest won't have ?

stevomcd – Member
My summer fitness/weight loss plan is just kicking-in now as well. Or it would be if I hadn't just come down with man-flu.

We will be shutting down Helter Skelter and Veni, Vidi, Vici in August

I think we need to do some timed runs

All sorts of new stuff to unleash on you guys as well. Looking forward to it!