Last days of prep for the big ride!

Here's an article from Velo News with some good tips for riding just prior to a GranFondo. It's all about tapering the effort down to allow your body rest prior to a big effort.


"Tapering before your Gran Fondo is important. Trying to get in a last minute 100-mile ride to boost your endurance in the week prior to the event will not help. You’d be better off tapering to make sure that you are rested before a long challenging ride.

Make sure you are well rested before a Gran Fondo.
How best to taper?
•Do your last endurance workout 4-8 days before your Gran Fondo.
•Avoid “big gear” workouts for 1-2 weeks before the event.
•Avoid exhaustive aerobic workouts for the three days prior to leaving for your Gran Fondo
•Intervals (LT) are OK in the last week, but should be avoided in final 2 or 3 days before you depart for the event
•Use an active recovery ride (very, very easy) in the days before, or simply rest if riding isn’t an option
•Treat the first few kilometers of the Gran Fondo as a “warm-up” to get your legs accustomed to the effort

If you’re looking to peak for your Gran Fondo event you’ll want to reduce volume in the week before but maintain your intensity. High volume makes recovery more difficult, and lower volume allows the rest required for replacing glycogen stores, while giving you time to psych yourself up for the hard efforts ahead. As your schedule permits, you’ll want to continue to ride, but keep in mind that you’ll benefit most from decreasing the duration of your intervals while maintaining intensity."

Article from

Training for Gran Fondos, part 5: Tapering and tips

• By Curtis and Kristi Eastin, Chris Jones
• Published Jul. 20, 2010
• Updated Dec. 14, 2012 at 3:36 PM EDT

 See the entire article here.

speed metal & fast eating

Peter is only smiling so he can get more mud in his teeth (photo IanHylands)

Congratulations to SLGF rider Peter Sinclair for a great showing in this weekend's Test of Metal race in Squamish.
Despite a day-long downpour, Peter laid down a speedy 3.05 hr ride to take 28th place overall in a field of over 900 competitors!

Nice work Peter!





Hungry to ride? What to eat during the SLGF.

On a long ride like the Skatelife GranFondo the last thing you want to be dealing with is bonking from either too little or too much food during the day.
Here are some helpful tips from ultracycling.com on how to eat on the big day.

On the morning of your ride

"Novice riders tend to either eat too little before a big ride, fearing an upset stomach, or else eat too much, fearing that they will bonk. Today is not the day to figure out what to eat before riding! You should experiment in training, and on event day have a tried-and-true plan of familiar foods and fluids. Some cyclists prefer a light breakfast the hour before a century or brevet; some prefer food at the starting line; others have learned to wake up at 4 a.m., eat a bowl of oatmeal, and then go back to bed.
Drink plenty of familiar fluids up to two hours before the ride so you have time to absorb the water and urinate the excess. Drink one more glass 5 to 15 minutes before you start riding. If you are used to having coffee or tea in the morning, do so today as well.
Don't forget to bring your foods and fluids that you prepared the night before."

Some of the scenery to come this weekend.  
(photo Notice Quiet Nature Photography, ©Sherry Robinson 2009)

If you want to pack your food in the van for the day, bring a bin to put your stuff in. The van will make several passes past the group through the day so food will never be far off if you need it.
We will also make a brief stop for lunch in Kamloops after 90 km. Our stop will be close to a few shops & cafes so you can pick up something to eat, or pack a lunch to keep in the van. 

See you all next weekend!

Elevations!

After checking out the actual route of a ride, the very next thing I want to figure out is how many hills am I going to be climbing?
Thanks to Map My Ride we have all the details of this summer's Skatelife GranFondo elevations.
Day 1 from Merritt to Cache Creek is actually not a strenuous day of huge elevation changes (save that for day 2!). We will actually lose altitude over-all. Check out the general altitude chart with the expanded categorized climb chart following it.

Overall elevations for day 1

Climbing details

Day 2 is the big climb day. After a 12km warm up from Cache Creek to Ashcroft it's up, up, and away on a 17 km ascent to high country ranch land- and a surreal open pit copper mine. You'll feel like you'll have ascended up into an alien landscape!
Not to worry, from the peak its a great & beautiful cruise South- East for the remaining 70km back to Merritt.

Day two elevation overview

Climbing details