I am a pretty decent cyclist. A- Club rider. I have the requisite thousands of miles in my legs, I’ve gone on my share of epic rides, I have a good idea on how to train, eat and recover. Yet I’m scared. In April this year I’ll be riding the Mallorca 312. Much better cyclists than me don’t bother with the challenge presented by the 312, it’s almost a bit silly. Although this year, Alberto Contador will be there!
The 312 has begun to take its place as one of the years more prestigious Sportives and become a landmark of the early season. It pulls writing out of pen pushing participants that verges on the religious. The question they ask is “Will I make it?” This is a bit rich. I suspect anyone who writes about cycling knows they’ll probably make it round. What scares me about the writing on the 312 however is the level of brokenness said writers describe descending into after reaching the 250k mark and the fear the second half of the route raises.
Milan San Remo is 298km long and basically flat. It is also the longest World Tour race of the year. The 312 is obviously longer while packing in 5000m of climbing for good measure, almost all in the first half. This slows you right down and truly takes the juice out of your legs. By the time the climbing is done you must lay down a serious pace on the rolling “flat” to get round on time, picking up the pace and staying there with nearly 150K to ride is just daunting. Which is why the last third of the ride makes such an impression on its participants. Fall too far out of your group and you might just get swept up by local cycling club Artà CC who ride the course at the cut-off pace of 14 hours. Behind them it’s just the broom wagon. It’s a reversal of a cyclist’s usual inclination to save their legs for the climbs. Everyone knows they must take the first half easy despite the tough terrain, but trying to spread a hard effort over the rolling flatter second 150k just isn’t possible. You must rely on luck to get into a group big enough and fast enough to propel you to the finish. If the group you pick is too fast however, the pace might cook your legs and eject you into the wilderness to struggle alone. Committed cyclists are committed suffers, I think we know we’ll suffer on. It would be a long time to suffer.
We are about 8 weeks away now and it is time to get serious.
I’ve trained hard over the winter but now every time I ride my bike I wonder
whether it’s the right kind of ride? Will this ride make me fitter? For the
first time I’m actually thinking about my diet. Cycling has always had a
secondary function for me of allowing me to eat absolutely anything I want in
as large a quantity as I feel like. That’s gone. I’m reading articles about
tapering, I’m wondering if an aero bike would be better than the climbing bike
I have. I’ve set myself the insane goal of going round at a 30kph average. Definitely
need an aero bike for that! I wonder if this is how actual athletes feel about
important races, the time after the event simply ceases to exist. I wonder how
it must feel the day after, to know that which has dominated your thoughts and
been your defining goal is now gone.
Luckily, I’ll still be in Mallorca, and the 312 doesn’t climb Sa Calobra so at
least I’ll have something to do!
Zackonnabike 