HARD TRAINING IN LIMBURG

Saturday was another big day for the Nike L'Etape du Tour team that will participate in the Tour du ALS. Seven of us went to Limburg to another hard training as preparation for Ventoux challenge. This time racing in the Limburgs Mooiste esportive, a 175 kms race with 30 steep climbs, one of the toughest of the year.

Take a look how the day went after the link.

The day started very early, with departure from home at 4 and 5 am (two groups were formed due to location) and drive to Heerlen, in the south of the Netherlands. The ride started at 7:00/8:00 am in very cold conditions: 3 degrees celsius. Although the weather forecast was for a dry day and a max of 13 degrees, that early in the day the cold was very sharp and just starting cycling in that cold was a challenge.

As the race is in Limburg nothing is flat and climbing start almost immediately. With 30 climbs spread in 175kms, it means one official climb at every 5.8 kilometers. That without counting the not recorded climbs that keep showing up here and there. All that makes it for a very tough day. Despite the table on the bottom showing the average gradientes are all around 5 ad 7%, reality is that most of those climbs have max gradients around 8 and 10% with 2 of them reaching 15% and 5 in the 12/13% zone.

Still, inspired by the camaraderie and the beauty of the region the team kept the spirits up and pushed hard for the whole day. Total time was something above 7 hours or riding and a total gain of 2.600 vertical meters. Very good preparation for the Ventoux challenge.

THE RACE - Limburgs Mooiste is on the of the better, if not the best, organized esportives of the country. Very clear route indication, several options in distance (80, 115, 135, 175 and 245 kms for race bikes and 45, 70, and 110 for Mountainbikers), active traffic controlers and very well organized controle/feed stations. And the organization is also reflected in the behavior of the cyclists, with everybody riding nicely and with no incidentes. What unfortunately can't be said about a lot of races.