First Post

For those not in the know the Maratona dles Dolomites is one of the blue riband cyclosportive events covering 138km and ascending 4200m over seven mountain passes. These mountain roads regularly feature in the Giro d'Italia and will provide our team a significant physical and psychological challenge, an excellent excuse for a mid-life crisis. I've done a similar event before in 2010, the Etape du Tour, so out of the team I'm the one who has the best idea of what we will be riding next July so I've been impressed with the attitude and commitment of the guys so far. Completing  Sportstest is no mean feat, I've done four now and I still get some nerves. I think the signs are there that the team is bonding nicely, there was plenty of camaraderie during the Sportstest and there has been plenty of mutual encouragement and mickey-taking over the results and subsequent training programmes.
I was pleased the results of my Sportstest, after completing my first full season as a club road racer I'm not in bad shape, my main targets in preparation for next July are to improve my endurance further and work on my pedalling efficiency (some trips to the gym required). The bulk of my winter training block now involves riding between 152-162bpm to get a solid endurance base in before the next block of training in February.