Taming The Giant of

An SRM Analysis of Joe Average’s

‘Physically, the Ventoux is dreadful. Bald, it’s the spirit of dry: Its climate (it is much more an essence of climate than a geographic place) makes it a damned terrain, a testing place for heroes, something like a higher hell. It is a god of Evil, to which sacrifices must be made. It never forgives weakness and extracts an unfair tribute of suffering.”

Roland Barthes – French Philosopher and Cyclist

As a one off, but marked departure from analyzing yet an uber bike split by SRM sponsored pro triathlete, Michi Weiss and the type of performance most of us can hardly imagine let alone do, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the file of a moderately fit average age grouper with a critical power (or FTP) of 310W on a steady climb of the infamous ‘Giant of Provence’.

This was not a time trial or race effort, but simply a guy (me) going for ride with his wife during a relaxing holiday in the magnificent countryside of the South of on a cool (21C) overcast day. As with every ride, whether structured or not, recording the watts with an SRM power meter is a must for any improving cyclist for reasons I will show you as I unpack my file from this steady and totally unstructured ride up the mountain – and I can honestly say that I never once looked at the power numbers in front of me as I am prone to do on unstructured rides. The question I want to answer is, is there really anything we can hope to learn about ourselves as athletes, from such random efforts? You bet. Read on and watch me pull apart a surprisingly insightful ride.

The base for our little Mont Ventoux ‘break’ was a great little hotel, which I am very keen to use for either an early season base training camp (all disciplined control, progressive watts and an alcohol ban) or better still, an end of season blowout (time trials, carb fest and copious amounts of the fabulous local grape juice). I would envisage 3 days and the 3 ascents from Bedoin, Sault and Malaucene served with a side dish of rolling rides through the beautiful and traffic free local countryside.

Earth, Wind, Fire…and Altitude

Mont Ventoux has 4 natural means of self-defense against the cyclist:

Earth - It is a huge rock with a 21.4km slither of tarmac up it. The distance alone requires an energy expenditure of around 1700 Kcals or more specifically the equivalent of 6.8 Snickers bars!

Wind – ‘Ventoux’ means windy. Go figure. At the summit, the wind blows at >90km/h for 240 days per year and the highest wind speed ever recorded up there was 320km/h! If you are wondering how aero your new bike frame is, this is the place to find that out.

Fire – This is the South of France. Average temperatures over July and August are typically over 30C. Certainly, at 1912m it can be very chilly, but you’ve got to get there first. When core body temperature rises, blood gets redirected to the skin to aid in cooling but in so doing robs working muscles of essential oxygen rich blood flow placing more demand on the heart and cardiovascular system for the same power output. In short, the same power number hurts more than it should.

Altitude – If you are not acclimatized to altitude (ie you don’t live up a mountain) then you are going to feel slightly light-headed as you round the bend at Chalet Reynard. To maintain your power output thus far up the climb you are now going to have to go deeper. Effort perception and heart rate will rise accordingly. Above 1500m above sea level we typically see a 10% decrease in aerobic capacity over the next 1000m. If you ride to music, this is where you will need the motivating beats to keep your power steady.

Climb By Numbers

Distance 21.4km There are 3 road bike ascents of Mont Altitude (Bedoin) 283m Ventoux. The ‘easiest’ is from Sault to the Altitude (Summit) 1912m East. The ‘moyen’ is from Malaucene to the Vertical Ascent 1639m North and the real leg breaker is from Bedoin Average Gradient 7.6% to the South. Bedoin was our start point. Max Gradient 12%

Climb Profile

The Power File

My Numbers from St. Esteve to Summit (15km at 8,3%) – Phases 2&3

PHASE 1 – The first 5.5km of the climb has an elevation gain of just over 200m so only a 3.8% average gradient. It is the perfect warm up for the climb proper. In this case, this is exactly how I used the section, riding easy with my wife as she prepared for her first ever ascent of the ‘Le Mythique’. However, should you choose to ride the whole climb as a timed ‘effort’, the relative lack of gradient on this section will push your cadence to nearer 80+ rpm while still holding target watts. This presents an increased strain on the cardiovascular system, which needs to be accepted and understood. The more muscular effort of holding those target watts at around 65rpm as you move onto the steeper section is, initially at least, less uncomfortable and better lends itself to getting into a rhythm.

PHASE 2 – As is evident from the power trace in this section, Joe Average was ‘on top of his gear’ and in a very good rhythm. This is usually the best way to climb, as the body tends to be at its most economical when in a steady state condition. Hence the reason the best climbers in the inject changes of pace mid climb in order to shed lesser rivals. This ‘rhythm disturbance’ creates an oxygen debt in the cyclist, which requires a relatively long period of recovery before the previous climbing rate can be resumed - which means they get dropped. For Joe Average this 10km section was executed really very well (proud of you Joe!). He rode at an average power output of 280W, 151bpm (heart rate), 66 rpm (cadence) while climbing at a rate of 940 metres/hour. We know he was comfortable here because not only was his pedaling nice and smooth (tight power trace distribution) but his power to heart rate ratio showed only a 3% variation. A higher number would represent an element of ‘decoupling’ in power and heart rate response, which would typically suggest central/peripheral fatigue or dehydration or both. None of that is going on here. Joe rocked the climb, at least this part.

PHASE 3 – During this section Joe’s perceived effort was the same (1.5% drop in heart rate due to being distracted by the view – its amazing!) but his power output fell by 6.5%. Even adjusting for the slight waver in concentration this still amounts to a 4.5% drop in work rate. That is a large enough number to raise questions. The most likely reason would be fatigue – the climb is a monster – but, (and this is why monitoring how you actually ‘feel’ is so important) he was feeling really good and legs felt strong to the top. Next up would be dehydration. Even with cool, ideal conditions, an average sweat rate for most at this intensity would be around 15 ml/min or 1.35L over a 1h30m ascent time. Enough to lead to a reduction in cardiac output and a subsequent rise in heart rate if on bike hydration was lacking. In other words, cardiac drift would be evident. However this was not the case here as average heart rate actually fell slightly. The reason for this significant reduction in Joe’s work rate is almost certainly the effect of the moderate altitude. As you ride past Chalet Reynard with 6km to go to the top, the cyclist is at 1450m above sea level. The response to the reduced partial pressure of oxygen with increasing altitude is an individual thing, but typically we can expect an 8-11% drop in aerobic capacity between 1500m and 2500m above sea level. So this means approximately a 3-5% reduction for most over the last 5km of the climb to the summit. Joe registered a 4.5% drop in power for the same heart rate and effort perception from around 1550m and up. A rather useful data point to be aware of should Joe decide to enter (and train specifically for) a sportive event such as the Maratona di Dolimiti where the lowest point on the entire parcours is around 1600m above sea level. Have you ever heard a better reason to justify taking 3 weeks off work to live and train in the mountains!

The series of speed peaks (green trace) that can be seen in phase 3 of the power file are a beautiful example of Mont Ventoux showing its teeth. Essentially what we are looking at here is the cyclist battling into, and then being propelled out of, each of the infamous bends of the last, barren, desert-like landscape that defines the last 6km. Here we see Joe making a valiant effort to maintain an even power output (hence the significant changes in speed) and avoid introducing any form of ‘rhythm disturbance’, the physiological cost of which we have already touched upon.

 No Froome-esque 800W+ peak power accelerations during this climb of the Ventoux!

 Note that only 90 seconds was spent above rider’s critical power of 310W. No needless burning of matches.

 The ‘flattened’ nature of the power-duration curve described by these numbers shows a well-trained aerobic metabolism. Joe trains a lot at aerobic intensities.

 60 minutes spent at 278W resulted in an average heart rate of 152bpm, which equated to approximately 92% of the rider’s threshold heart rate of 165bpm. The power output of 278W equates to just 90% of the rider’s threshold power output of 310W. The difference was almost certainly the early affects of reduced partial pressure of oxygen.

 Joe’s best 1 hour power on the climb was equivalent to 3.3 watt/kg. manages around 6 watts/kg.

Conclusions & Practical Take-Away’s

1. Gather the Data. Every ride you do contains within it data which can provide a valuable insight into your current form, strength, weaknesses and clues as to how to improve. Thus it is essential you use your SRM power meter to record then upload every pedal stroke of every ride so that you can unpack the file at a later date. Ride, record, analyze, repeat is the secret to sustainable improvement.

2. Go Commando. An SRM is a biofeedback device par excellence, when you learn how to use it properly. Joe Average’s file was produced without Joe ever even glancing at the watts on his handlebars. Thus, in analysis we were able to isolate and quantify the variables that affected Joe’s performance. He felt like he produced a steady state effort when in fact we determined that not only did altitude play its part, but also we know exactly to what degree and at what point it affected his individual physiology. Occasionally riding power blind (but always recording) means that sub maximal efforts can provide at least as much insight into current ability as maximal all out testing can.

3. Get Specific. From the file we know Joe can climb sustainably at 270W and 67rpm. If you like riding mountainous cyclosportive’s (Marmotte, Etape, Stelvio, Maratona etc) as many of my clients love to do, then these are useful numbers to know. For example, we now know that Joe would benefit greatly from a six-week training block of rides, which incorporate progressively longer intervals with short recoveries at 280-290W while holding say, 60rpm for some intervals and 80rpm for others. Simply recording, analyzing and dialing in improvement through precise training.

4. Get Strong. As a performance coach to athletes spanning a range of abilities from good to world class, I see a lot of power files and test results. If there is one element of physical conditioning that makes the most difference when it comes to separating the good athletes from the very good, it is strength and specifically muscle endurance. Most motivated and lifelong athletes have great cardiovascular fitness (especially the triathletes as they tend to train a lot across 3 disciplines) and good ‘aerobic engines’ but it is the ability to stay on top of a big gear for longer that leads to higher power at threshold and the ability to hold close to that intensity for longer without slowing. The best way to build that type of conditioning? Ride up big hills and they don’t get much bigger than Mont Ventoux!