Very solid dj!
Word to the wanna be racers out there. I just finished my 4th edition of the cyclo Tour de l'Ain stage race and it's still one of the best out there. None of the frills, but plenty of thrills. Very quality field of young and old from across France, Belgium, NL, and even some mega strong Latvians this time. First couple of stages we were even running about same avg speeds as the pros, it's a very attritional race! You ride pretty much the same stage as the pros (sometimes w/out the finishing circuit) with closed roads and motos.
http://www.tourdelain.com/tour-ain-cycl ... ation.htmlStage 1 (flat, windy)- managed to finally get in a successful break by km 55 or so that made it all the way to the line. My buddy was in it with me as well and we pulled the old 1-2 except he's amazing and got away for good from our group of 10 or so about 1.5km from the line and held it to take the yellow jersey.
127.72 km Distance
2:57:12 Elapsed Time
43.3 kph Avg Moving Speed
303 W Avg Power
1,175 W Max Power
346 W Max Avg Power (20 min)
342 W Normalized Power® (NP®)
3,216 kJ Work
898 m Elev Gain
Stage 2 (flat, windy, cat 3 and 4 at end)- covered the first few attacks for my buddy and then decided to drift off the front myself...then got some re-enforcments and next thing you know I'm on another day long break that swelled to about 15 at one point. It slowly gets whittled down to 2 French, 2 Belgians, a Latvian and me...1 Belgian throws down massive attack on 2nd to last climb, 1 French follows, I'm on limit, just stay there. Last climb we ride a strong tempo but the Frenchman is just too far out there, the Belgian blows up and comes back. We sprint for 2nd which I lose after not being able to get in the 11! Still, tied for 2nd on GC after 2 days...feeling slightly tired...
145.20 km Distance
3:46:42 Elapsed Time
38.5 kph Avg Moving Speed
299 W Avg Power
1,324 W Max Power
347 W Max Avg Power (20 min)
330 W Normalized Power® (NP®)
4,061 kJ Work
1,623 m Elev Gain
Stage 3 (medium mtn stage)- uh oh, bad motor, tough getting going. I yoyo first climb, stay on but am jettisoned for good on 2nd climb...long day
144.32 km Distance
4:46:03 Elapsed Time
30.4 kph Avg Moving Speed
255 W Avg Power
1,133 W Max Power
352 W Max Avg Power (20 min)
305 W Normalized Power® (NP®)
4,378 kJ Work
2,962 m Elev Gain
Stage 4 (mtn stage)- Grand Colombiere today, needless to say I'm pretty useless at this point w/ about a max HR of 150, grind it home including a pretty soul destroying last 35km all by myself across some rolling terrain.
141.80 km Distance
4:58:45 Elapsed Time
28.6 kph Avg Moving Speed
249 W Avg Power
994 W Max Power
354 W Max Avg Power (20 min)
4,454 kJ Work
2,893 m Elev Gain
