How am I training for a 930 mile bike race?

Race day in California is quickly approaching, and it has been a daily grind to get everything prepared (more on that in another post). One of those items to prepare is me, SHOCKER! During the months of December, January, February, and early March I focused heavily on my diet and weight, structured indoor training rides, and some strength training. I planned this training period to end after the 28 Below Fat Bike race in Spearfish Canyon, SD, which you can see in this previous blog post.

This period of training saw much success. Thanks to my Wahoo indoor Kickr trainer and a program called Zwift my FTP (Functional Threshold Power) saw two separate increases. And thanks to my diet planning and an app called Macrostax, my weight decreased. A loss of weight coupled with an increase in power made my performance skyrocket.

July 1st, of 2020 my FTP was around 266 watts. This means that I could theoretically hold 266 watts for around an hour. A few months later I started the 8-week Zwift Gran Fondo training plan. After the initial 8 weeks on November 26th, my FTP rose to 290 watts. I then restarted the plan with my new FTP testing myself at the conclusion again. This training plan had a bout with COVID-19 mixed into it, with me only missing two workouts. On January 22nd my FTP again rose to 309. I decided that this training plan worked fantastically, and again restarted the plan with my new FTP. On March 19th I retested and found my FTP had increased to 319, after holding 336 watts for the twenty-minute test. For me, that was a huge accomplishment.

On the second battlefront was my weight. Weight is important because while you might have power on the flats with higher weight, with over 50,000 feet of elevation change during the 930 miles of RAW gravity will be working against you. This is where watts per kilogram or w/kg come into play. If you are an experienced cyclist this will be common knowledge. But to put things into perspective for everyone, the higher your w/kg number the more effective you are as a cyclist.

So let us take my weight and power from July of 2020. My weight was 199 lbs, and my power as stated above was 266 watts. This means that my w/kg was 2.87. Flash forward to March of 2021 and my weight saw a decrease to 180 lbs. A 19 lb difference! My power saw an increase of 53 watts to 319. This leads to my current w/kg of 3.90. That is just over a full point increase in w/kg, and why I felt that I was on the right track training. To put these numbers in perspective, Chris Froome's numbers during his second Tour De France victory were as follows. Froome's data revealed that he averaged a power output of 414 watts for 41 and a half minutes. Chris also weighed 147 lbs at the time. This equates to a whopping 5.78 w/kg from a pro tour rider. What does this mean for me? I'm going to keep my day job.

Leading into April with my 319 watt FTP was a big confidence boost. April and half of May will be my volume-building months, looking to spend long amounts in the saddle without losing much FTP. I again restarted my training plan on Zwift with my new FTP, but have been replacing certain rides with long outdoor rides now that it has warmed up. I have successfully completed both a 150-mile and 200-mile ride outdoors, which have been great learning adventures. My plan is to ride a 250 & 300 miler leading up to a taper before race day.

My 200 mile ride the other day was the longest I have ever ridden on a bike, and just a fraction of the entire 930 mile Race Across the West (RAW). It also was hovering around 40 degrees for most of the day, unlike the race conditions that will be present during RAW. The logistics of the event are massive, but at the end of the day, I just need to keep pedaling, being as efficient as possible. I'm very proud of my marginal gains but hope to increase them even more during the lead-up to this massive undertaking.

A reminder that the drive behind this event is reaching our fundraising goal for the Semper Fi and America's fund. If you haven't yet, please consider donating by following this link.

https://runsignup.com/mathewwollmann

Special shoutout to those that have already donated, my sponsors/partners, and those that have helped me along the journey so far! In the coming days be on the lookout for a post covering the logistical complexity of a 930-mile bike race.

Take care!

Mathew Wollmann