Massive congrats to Mucker Dok PS for tackling the legendary Liège-Bastogne-Liège! This brutal 253km beast with 4400m of climbing is a cyclist’s ultimate test. Imagine those relentless climbs through the gorgeous Walloon countryside – that’s the stuff of cycling legend! Conquer iconic ascents like the Côte de Saint-Roch, the Côte des Forges, and the mighty Côte de La Redoute – just picturing it will ignite the fire in your legs. This is Dok’s story of how he conquered this challenge?

How I prepared? I usually do a long ride in spring for my main summer Gran Fondos. This year I train for the Maratona Dolomites on July 7. I started slowly in December and increased my training in January. I hate to do intervals. So I use the Muckers races (since now 10 months). I can only train late evenings due to my time consuming job (I’m a lawyer)…  They are perfect for interval haters :)… (sometimes a but early for me… 7:30 would be better for me…) .  I always cycle outside at the week-end even if it’s cold as long as it is not nasty wet.. . I increase the outside training steadily (but I stay between 2-4 hours a day… for family reasons) and I always do a lot of climbing as I like mountain terrain a lot (as I’m a light person). 

How I overcome the weather conditions mentally? The good thing on these races. You are not alone. Everyone has the same issue. So I tried to concentrate on the course and the roads .. thinking from moment to moment (it was tricky wet in the first 5 hours). I was happy once the climbing started after 35 km. The body became warm and you started to ignore the wet and cold gloves and the ice cold water in your shoes which started to become warmer with the time. I always think in 50 km badges and from climb to climb (next climb in 20 km and prepare and think about nutrition). So with the first 50 km, the 100 became close and once you arrived at 150 km, there are only 100 km to go… but the hardest part still to come. But I really like those climbs there. The last 50 km are brutal. But I was happy and finally there was the sun and dry streets on the climbs. That helped a lot.