Tired Heading Up to La Faucille

Yesterday I felt strong cycling with the group, up from Nyon to Saint Cergue and on to the Col De La Givrine before heading towards La Cure. Part of the reason for feeling strong is that I have climbed the Jura multiple times this summer, so climbing up has become less strenuous. I am now habituated to heading up the Jura for the first climb of the day.

It’s on the second climb that I start to show fatigue. In reality it was the third climb. There is the climb up to the Col, and then you ride to La Cure, and then you climb up, before having a nice descent.

You then have another climb, up to La Faucille, and this is where I lost steam. At the start of the ride I thought I would catch up with the lead group but slowly I became fatigued and was overtaken, again, and again, and again. In the end I thought I was last of the group but I wasn’t. Two others were behind me.

Am I slow because I’m riding a heavier, less aero bike than they are. Am I slow because I’m older than many. I think one reason for which I am slower is that I rode on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and that I walked almost 10 kilometres on Friday, during the rest day.

Continental Grand Prix 4-Season

For this ride the road surface was wet. Sometimes it was dirty with mud and at other points it was muddy with cow dung. At other moments it was dry. I was using the Grand Prix 4-Season tyres for this ride, freshly added, after I saw that my GP 5000 were worn out from a summer of group rides.

I didn’t feel that the tyres were slowing me down. In fact these tyres felt comfortable and stable, both when climbing and descending, and whether it was wet, muddy, or other. In essence, the tyres felt fine.

And Finally

I know that I am tired from riding over 200km and that I am tired from climbing 2400m in a single week. Having said this, when I looked at the difference in time, on Strava Flyby I see that the gap was just four minutes. I wasn’t slow, I just felt slow. It was psychological.

From now on I will have group rides on Wednesday and Saturday, but the Thursday rides are over, due to the sun setting earlier during the Autummn and winter months.