First weekend in July, 2027. 103 miles, just shy of 14,000ft elevation gain and the 90% of the roads are clear. I could use some good tips regarding Zwift and/or if anyone has done the tour.
Cheers to all, ride on!
Max
Hi @Max_Sirius welcome to Zwift forums.
Shuji at Zwift HQ here. That sounds like an epic climbing century! If any of our climbers have suggestions to prepare for 14,000 feet (>4260 meters) of elevation at altitude, please share ideas for workout / physical preparation.
As this global community focuses on Zwift specifically, you may want to seek out a different community that’s more narrowly focused on US West coast / California century rides that can share IRL experience. I’d suggest groups that focus on the California Triple Crown of centuries / double centuries - that feels like a good place to start?
I haven’t done this one, but can suggest from riding a lot of mountains in France (usually 3 per day) that you’ll need to get used to riding lots of elevation in a single session of Zwift.
The highest I have ridden is Col de Bonette which is maximum 2870m directly after Col de Vars and finishing in Auron. Total elevation gain was pretty high, previous days also had a lot of elevation. I’ve also done some shorter but very steep climbs in Italy, the sustained steepness really hurts. So if you expect to encounter gradients more than 14%, you’d better train accordingly.
I’ve also used other non Zwift interval apps to set intervals of say 4x10min or 4x15min at fixed gradients of 8%. You use your gears and your cadence to have the power you want and you just keep doing them. When they get easier, you can reduce the recovery time, or make the intervals a little longer or both.
You are aiming for the target times for the climb and similar gradients.
I don’t live in a very hilly area so that’s all I can do. It’s also sea level here so altitude adjustment is non existent. If you are concerned about that then you can get hold of those tents that simulate higher altitudes and you sleep in them overnight. I’ve never used one but know people who have. They do work, but they are expensive to rent and I understand they make noise that might be disturbing and interrupting for sleep.
Outside, if you don’t like descending, then it’s time to practice. It’s not about being the fastest, but being confident enough to be safe, not cooking your brakes, etc.
On your real bike, make sure your gearing is overkill for the climbs. Even if you don’t use the easiest gears, it’s good to have them in case your legs fail and you need to spin easily. Nothing worse than clicking down the gears and not having any more left and having to push at 55 cadence.
For Zwift: This is what I would do. Use gearing to match real bike set trainer difficulty at 100%. Use climbing block for long climbs to try to replicate your body position. Build to longer rides with multiple big climbs. The only way you can potentially help with altitude is train in the heat/use an altitude mask. Lots of intervals to increase threshold power, VO2.
Real life: As previously suggested, overkill on gearing. What that is will depend on bike and what you are willing to do. What is your current setup? If possible be at lowest weight that makes sense for you. Build to longer rides at altitude. Do a few events in the months build up to your goal event.
I have a friend who’s club is the ToCA sponsor and that ride is no joke.
Also, there was a show on Amazon Prime called Tour De Celeb. 8 celebs had 8 weeks to prep for doing Tour De France Etape in 2016.
You have enough time and a big enough goal that your best option is to hire a coach if you can afford it. If that’s too costly, try an adaptive training app that lets you define goals and keeps you on track by adjusting proposed workouts based on your progress. There are several of them that can push workouts to Zwift as mentioned here: Zwift and Third-party Platforms
Indoors I would also do some of the longer climbs with your front wheel propped up if you don’t have a mechanical riser for the bike.
Another thing to consider is to not neglect core work and building up volume and ride duration to the point where a ride of that length with that much climbing is as comfortable as it can be.
I find I have different issues and pressure/pain points that seem to surface after I go over 4-5 hours in the saddle, so it’s good to get those diagnosed and sorted well before an event of that length. If you find your back is getting sore on the second climb for instance, or there’s a pressure point on your hands then the rest of the day is going to be super painful, possibly unbearable. Some of this is harder to diagnose indoors.
Thanks Shuji, my main focus it people to ride the hills with, people that are regularly using Zwift for real life prep.
Cheers,
Max
Steve, thank you so much. Busy day for me today, I hope you don’t mind I’ll be back in touch.
Cheers,
Max
I know nothing about that event but 2 years ago I decided to do the Marmotte granfondo des Alpes which is a similar distance and elevation when I had done nothing of such distance ever before and even never saw a mountain (I live in pancake flat Holland! ). A few lessons I learned;
-You need to build up lots of time in the saddle (I used join.cc for training and that worked well for me)
-even though I could climb I was completely unprepared for descending (scary!) Be sure you get brake pads for mountain descents (metal if you have disk brakes)
-get the easiest gearing on your bike that will fit your derailleur cage (largest cassette, smallest chain ring in the front)
‐The first 2000m of climbing are easy, do these much easier than you think you could, the final 4-5000m are really hard and if you use up all your matches in the beginning the end will be very miserable (the Marmotte is a lot of fun because many people go out way too hard and you pass them whilst they are suffering on the side of the road)
-sort out your nutrition well in advance, be sure your gut can handle 120g/h for 4-5h. You probably won’t consume that much during but it’s good to train up to that
-check the potential weather conditions. I don’t know the California mountains but I’ve done the Marmotte now in conditions of thunderstorms with hail and ice on the road and around 10C (very cold when descending) to having to climb Alpe d’Huez in 44C
-bring tools, ways to fix flats etc
This absolutely. On a Cervelo S5 - that takes off so fast downhill. 
If you aren’t used to it, that can be disconcerting.
I wouldn’t use it again in the mountains to be honest. A steadier more comfortable climbing bike would be better suited. Probably why I only saw 3 S5s on a field of maybe 350-400. Everyone else was on Canyon Ultimates, Specialized Aethos, etc.