Thursday, June 11, 2026

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


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