KW - Col du Petit St Bernard to La Tuille

Dr. Stephen Seiler uses "building the cake vs. eating the cake" as a metaphor to explain the 80/20 rule of endurance training.

Today I decided I was going to build the cake riding in Zone 2 the three climbs of the day. Three hours and a half of cake building.

When TY and Bennett overtook me. I told myself “you are building the cake, you are building the cake, you are…”, and I kept my own pace.

When I almost caught up with TY and he dropped me again I kept telling myself “you are building the cake, you are building…”. It wasn’t easy to beat the temptation to push a bit harder but I managed to keep my own pace.

On the other side of Petit St Bernard was Italy. A descent to La Thuile and I got a capuchino there. 

We started the climb and I went back to my cake building pace. With TY on my wheel. 

At some point he started to pass me. Very slowly. I had enough time to tell myself…

You are building the Cake.

It is going to be an amazing Cake.

It is going to be the best Cake.

I will BUILD THE CAKE!

Going up fast. I need the Cake more than ever!

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

There is when I realised the coffee in Italy is very strong and it has weird effects on me. I should probably stop drinking it.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18879140114/

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

KW - Col de la Colombiere + Col des Aravis

Almost €3.5M was the cost of the 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, and 11 doors(!) chalet in Morzine (see it in one of the pictures) that was the subject of a bet between two members of the group. The first one at the top of the second climb wins. 

There was a bit of a debate about what was the second climb but we all know who was the loser anyway (in the video below his declarations). It is great to know that a Kingston Wheeler will own such a nice chalet in Morzine. I foresee lots of cycling training camps here.

As I was a winner no matter what, I wasn’t involved in the first two climbs (by my counting). I focused on climbing the first one (Col de la Colombière) at a steady pace. I went easy the first half of the second one (Col des Aravis) and allowed myself to push it a little bit in the second half.

I found myself following The Pope and GC Denis’ wheel in the last two climbs. Those were two easy climbs and they were not pushing it hard but, still, just being there is a win for me.

Good sensations. Form is coming.

What is not coming back is my common sense / race craft.

700m to the top of the last climb, the winning line. Overexcited Javier decided it was the moment to launch his attack and take it all the way to the line. In my mind I was planning to celebrate with both arms in the air.

200m later I ran out of steam and came to an almost complete stop. The Pope first and then GC Denis overtook me and opened a gap.

100m later, 400m to the line I felt fully recovered and thought, again, that I still could win this race. 

Stood on the bike, put the power on the pedals and gained speed. I passed GC Denis first and I was still gaining speed. 

I passed The Pope and I quickly opened a big gap. 

100m to the line I ran out of steam again and came to an almost complete stop. Again. The Pope first and then GC Denis overtook me, this time wondering what the hell I was doing.

I was third on the climb.

I won the self-confident competition though.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18812647488/

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González