Steven Ludford says:

The Farnham Road Club Winter League was my priority on this race, Nine club members took to the line and I suspected my weight vs 2500ft was going to be a major challenge, I planned to beat them to the climb then hope not to slip too far behind on the way up it, but three of them got there before me and three more passed me on the lower slopes. Never mind, I will catch them on the descent and that long run to the finish … no … trying to average 3.0w/kg on the climb caused too much fatigue and I couldn’t ‘eek’ any extra on the descent or the run in. Well and truly beaten. I also note I was 4 minutes slower than September on this route with same average HR(bpm), I suspect less leg strength compensated by higher cadence today, something to look at.
Race stats: Age : 56, Weight : 95kg, IF=0.951
Averages : 151bpm, 271w, 2.86w/kg

HalAir says:

Another Tuesday, another race – I wasnt sure what to expect from this one as I had not allowed myself much recovery so far in January. On Sunday i pushed hard up virtual Ventoux and achieved a new all-time high 1hr power average and with no rest days inbetween I was a little apprehensive ahead of today’s route.. It is just a “short climb” right with a lot of freewheeling afterwards?

Got a half-decent warm-up done and joined the start pen, and when the line opened I started fairly hard and was in the top 5-10 for like a minute before the stronger guys passed me one by one, when I settled into my pace. At the base of the main climb I was back in around 25th place and I started chugging on the ascent.. Halfway up I was hating it already, steady and steep climbing feels like riding in molasses 🤣

My closest contender on the ascent was Groenen and at around halfway I had a 20s lead on him, but he valiantly closed that gap with a hard power push, giving him a 5s lead. I was able to close that and we were attaching back and forth on the remaining climb but on the crest I faded giving him a 10s lead over the crest / downhill section. 10s at 72km/h is a fair bit but I knew I have a weight advantage/more momentum over Wouter so I pushed a little extra once we came off the fast downhill, and bridged the gap – phew.
My goal now was to stay with him, and we took turns up front a best as we could. We rode together for the rest of the race, at a good pace, anticipating a sprint finish. I was in the front at 500m remaining and I started to push power, hoping Wouter was on his heels powerwise, but I provided him with a nice lead-out I think as he crushed me on the last 150m with 10+w/kg effort. To match that I needed to put out 900W or more, and I simply was not able to so he rolled over the finish line first, earning him a well deserved win 😀 Thanks for the ride!

My bonus for this ride, Rouvy gave me a new FTP, making it my 2nd FTP-increase in 3 days. It was “only” +1W from Sunday but I’ll take it 😂

Race stats: 313W (NP) / 96% IF / 88kg

Peter ( Batbuilder) says:

That was quite a race, the climb seemed to go on forever and whoever got to the top quickest would get a good place. I started off OK but then I after about three quarters of the way up I couldn’t maintain the 3.5 -4 w/Kg that I had been doing at the start, then people started to pass me notably Scata and Baggers69. I had a bit of a battle with Tomlereiger on the last bit and luckily got over the brow of the hill before him, although he nearly caught me up on the last flat bit.
The descent was nearly long enough to get off the bike make a brew and come back, I liked this route..