Sep 20, 2024

Two weeks ago I did the Alpine Gravel Challenge. Another race that’s part of the UCI gravel world series. It was located in the swiss alps just next to the border to France and had 3200 meters of elevation gain. My though was that flat race like the Wörthersee Gravel Race and races with many short climbs don’t suit me, but races like this with huge climbs would play to my strengths very well.

First climb

On the first climb I was very surprised to see such large watt numbers on my wahoo. They were consistently above around 300 watts. My FTP is at about 280 watts, so 300 watts for half an hour is quite good for me. I was suffering but not that much - I thought. There was this moment when I was at 179 bpm and I felt that I couldn’t maintain that for another hour of climbing. So I turned it down a notch until I was at around 170 bpm. That felt maintainable. But after the first climb and the first downhill came the second climb, which was shorter but steeper.

Second climb

When we reacheed the second climb I joined a nice group of three women and another guy. We were riding up most of the first climb together and my plan was to stick with them for as long as possible. I even managed to get away with one of the ladies. But when we reached the steep part of the second climb she slowly creeped away and I actually never saw her again. By now I was suffering big time. I had back pain like an old man and was not able to push again. I think the pain really was the problem, because from time to time I was able to put the power down. But I just couldn’t keep it up because the pain was too much. So the squats I didn’t do the weeks before really played their role now. It was here where the thought to give up really crossed my mind. I already felt that I was far from my goal to qualify for the Gravel World Championships. On the most part of the race so far I didn’t catch many people, but some people did overtake me.

The long and winding rest

Additionally the weather turned on us and it began raining more and more. And remember we were in the mountains. The highest point of the race was just below 2000 meters with many high mountains around us. We started at just short of 20°C in the valley but now up in the mountains with the rain it was only 11°C. And that doesn’t feel great when you are wet and rushing down a mountain with 60 km/h. I was so glad that I decided to bring my rain jacket. In the morning I though I wont need it but somehow I still brought it with me. Without it I would have surrenderred to the elements. When I already was more or less soaking wet and on the final descent I stopped and pulled it over when the road surface changed from gravel to asphalt again. It was still a long way to go the rain just got stronger and stronger and I havn’t seen another rider for an hour. Down in the valley again the rain got extra strong. At times the view was not farther than about 50 meters. That also doesn’t help if you want to get down the mountain at top speed. When I was finally down there was the last uphill to tackle. It was unneccessarily steep. It was a pain for my back, but I could push through it and managed to push over 300 watts once again. Another sign that power was exactly the problem here. But Iw as relieved when I reached the finish in Champéry.

What did I learn

I liked that riding in groups didn’t matter at all in this kind of race. It was almost always steep, either up or down the hill, and never flat. So the characteristic felt more like a mountainbike race. This race was supposed to be the one of the three UCI gravel world series races I did so far that fits me the most. So I expected to also have the best result. But I was third last in my age group 15th of 17. In the other two races I was in the middle of the pack. So this race ended up to be my worst gravel race. But I still think that the characteristics of the race would fit me. That said I pushed my best 1 hour and 20 min power numbers ever on the first climb. I probably also over did it there a bit. But I think the main problem was the back pain. My body was just not prepared to push larger power numbers for a longer peroid of time. By back could not hold against my leg power. Also I think I was missing a lot of constistens training hours. My training this summer was all over the place. I did ride quite some hours but very inconsistent. I had one week where I did a five days bike packing trip. I rode about 100 km every day. After that I felt great. That was at the end of July. But in August I did very little again. So the effects of the bike packing week were probably already gone for the Alpine Gravel Challenge.

On a high note: My fueling strategy was workign great this time. I had 1 litre of Maurten in my bottles and 1.5 litre of water in my backpack bladder. I filled up a bottle with water twice. And I ate a banana and a Clif bar. Thatw as fine. But maybe it would have been adifferent story if it was a very hot and sunny day. But I would still try it with this setup and hope that it would be enough to fill up my bottles more ofter a the aid stations.

So what will I change for next time:

• do core and back exercises to have a fully prepared body
• keep the training more consistent, especially in the weeks leading up to the event
• do a bike fitting

Let’s see when my next time will be. For now there are no races planned for me. Off season here I come.

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