Thomas15

I live in a hilly area so when I started back riding bikes after my long hiatus I had to stick to MUPs generally. My first few rides on Zwift were cut short because I sucked so bad on hills and thought it no fun to punish myself in the comfort of my own home.

But for some reason couldn't leave it alone and one day about a month into my Zwift adventure I decided to see how far I could get to the radio tower. To my absolute amazement I made it all the way. Felt awful for a whole day afterwards but proud of my accomplishment. About 4 days later I did it again. A week later another. Then about two weeks after my first ride to the tower I registered for an Alpe race, had to race because i wasn't level 12 and then you had to be 12. Anyway after what seemed like an eternity cranking, the top finally came into sight.

So proud of myself, going from avoiding hills at any cost to riding the Alpe du Zwift. From my first ride up the Alpe to the beginning of the spring 2020 riding season outside I rode up the Alpe a total of 29 times, to the radio tower 11 times. Once outside I rode up IRL hills that I could never imagine I would ride as a regular thing, riding the hills in Zwift transformed my IRL riding. Two days before my 62nd birthday I did 3 Alpe rides in one day. For the year 2020 ( and nov-dec of 2019) did a total of 42 Alpe runs, 15 radio tower runs and 2 up Ven-Top.

I don't consider myself a mountain goat by any means. The first few times on the big hills in Zwift were misery and recovery was long. It wasn't until my 10th Alpe run that I finally thought confident that I would make it. Many times I considered quitting but just kept at it and happy I did.

In my opinion, the hardest part of the Alpe are the first two sectors, after you go around turn 20 it seems to lighten up some. From the foul line to turn 20, those are two long sectors and .steep. It is there where you have to find a cadence and gear that you can sustain all the way. After turn 20, the next few sectors are short, I just look at one at a time. Once you exit turn 10 you are half way up. Between 8-7 is long but offers the first slight view of the statue at the top. It's long, 3/4 mile but not as steep as the previous few sectors. 4 to 3 is long also the last long one. Between turn 2 to 1 kind of fools me because you see the communications dishes but the road has a dip which makes me think they are closer than they are. After turn 1 it is about a half mile to the spinner which is cruel but at that point who quits?

So my advice is take it 1 sector at a time. Unlike Ven-Top the Alpe is easy to put into compartments. Just keep going, after you do it a few times and are confident you will make it you just do it. I haven't been on the Alpe for about 2 months now and trying to make room in my schedule to ride it. I wouldn't call if "fun" but rather satisfying. There are some parts of the Alpe that are about 3% grade, short sections for sure and I think the steepest is about 9%. Compared to the bonus to the radio tower which is 14-15% but of course that is only a half mile. There is a section I think on Surrey Hills? where it is 21% for a very short time.

Good practice for working up to the Alpe is the Mountain route less the bonus climb to the radio tower. Do that once or twice a week for a few weeks then add in the bonus for a few weeks. Another good practice is the loop with Box Hill in London. I use the paint in the road as landmarks. But with anything hard once you do it a bunch of times and start to recongnise the landscape, the time goes faster. I'm not a honcho, my best time from the foul line to the spinner is 64 minutes, usually it takes about 75-80 minutes, After I finish the "Build Me Up" workout program 1st week of Feb., I'm going to do 2 or 3 Alpe rides a week and try to get a sub 60 minute run. I try to keep my heart rate to about 80% of my max, look for brief recovery periods at 70%. Some of the workouts in the build me up program are harder than climbing the Alpe because you exceed your aerobic threshold which you don't want to do on a long climb. One of the things I try to do is keep my gear as high as I can for as long as I can just gradually shift to lower gears keeping my lowest gears for the end and try not to use them at all. I have a triple CR and usually but not always able to have the small in reserve. Will power is the main thing.