My plan to achieve my 2016 cycling objectives

I just published my cycling goals for 2016 but agreeing with Joe Friel I think that having goals is great but goals without a plan are just dreams so I drafted this plan of how I plan to achieve my goals.

At the moment this is just a draft and some of the details are missing but the general lines and key milestones are already defined.

I have divided the year in five blocks.

January, February and March
In this block I'll be combining turbo sessions on week days following the routines proposed by Chris Carmichael in his book The Time-crunched Cyclist with one ride (4 to 6 hours) on weekends.

If everything goes well work load should be increasing week over week and I'll finish the block with a 200k (still have to decide which one) on Saturday 20th riding it as fast as possible.

A week off the bike (family holidays) from 26th of March to 2nd of April will separate this block from the second one.

April, May, June
In these three months I'll focus my training to the Quebrantahuesos (QH). The QH is a 6/7 hours non-stop ride with lots of work at threshold.

I'll start to ride outside during weekdays allocating up to 12/14 hours a week and will use the weekends for longish rides (5 to 7 hours). This block has 11 weekends:

1. 8/9 April. A 150k ride
2. 16/17 April. A 300k ride (Still have to decide which one)
3. 23/24 April. A 150k ride (Oasts and Coast 300)
4. 30th April. A 400k ride (Severn Across 400)
5. 7/8 May. A 150k ride
6. 14/15 May. A 600k ride (Bryan Chapman Memorial 600)
7. 21/22 May. A 150k ride
8. 28/29 May. A 150k ride
9. 4/5 June. A 300k ride (Milan San Remo, QH dressed rehearsal)
10. 11/12 June. A 150k ride
11. 18/19 Quebrantahuesos

Will try to include as long climbs as possible in the 150k rides, will ride them non-stop and following a pattern as similar as possible to the QH.

Will also try to ride the first 6/7 hours of the longer rides (300k, 400k, 600k) replicating the effort pattern required for the QH. The rest of those rides will be just in survive mode.

June, July
I'll switch to racing strait after the QH.

Weekdays will be riding 12/14 hours trying to squeeze intervals and one or two rides to the hills. I'll have three weekends that will use to race (don't know which races yet but most likely Surrey League ones). No objective on those races beyond getting race fit.

Around 17th of July should take place L'etape de la Defonce.

August
1001 Miglia and cycling in Asturias when on holidays will get me busy all August. Won't be worrying too much about speed or training but I'll be cycling a lot.

September, October, November
After the 1001 Miglia and (cycling) holidays in Asturias (aka. climbing) I should be in fairly good form. I'll focus these three months in racing as much a possible.

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Here is the list of events I plan to attend:

• Saturday 12th of March. The Horsepower 200 (I've never ridden this one, looking forward for the experience )
• Saturday 9th of April. Yr Elenydd @ 30 (307km 4950m, another new ride for me. The amount of climb is what got me; lots of climbing, lots of fun)
• Saturday 23rd April. Oasts and Coasts 300 (300km 3300m one I had to bail last year, but will be back to claim it this year)
• Saturday 30th of April. Severn Across 400 (407km 3500m I also had to bail it last year so a must this year)
• Saturday 14th of May. Brian Chapman Memorial 600 (600km 7500m I had to bail it last year but even if I had ridden it last year I'd always be back to Wales and this ride. I love it)
• Sunday 5th of June. Milan San Remo
• Saturday 18th of June. Quebrantahuesos 
• 25/26 June. Race TBD
• 2/3 July. Race TBD
• 9/10 July. Race TBD
• Around 17th of July. L'etape de la Defonce
• 23/24 July. Race TBD
• 30/31 July. Race TBD
• Saturday 6th August. Cogidubnus CC (Cheese and cake double century)
• Tuesday 16th to 22nd of August. 1001 Miglia
• 3/4 September. Race
• 10/11 September. Rowlands RAAAmble 200 first Audax organized by the Kingston Wheelers. I'm helping to organize so if my duties do not include riding it I'll try to race on the 10th.
• 17/18 September. Race TBD
• 24/25 September. Race TBD
• Saturday 1st October. Kingston Wheelers Championships
• 8/9 October. Race TBD
• 15/16 October. Race TBD
• 22/23 October. Race TBD
• 29/30 October. Race TBD
• 5/6 November. Race TBD

Take care
Javier Arias González

My cycling goals for 2016

Main objective
Finishing the Quebrantahuesos in less than 6h 30m (my best time is 6:44:56). Stretch goal would be finishing in less than 6:18:29, Ed's 2013 time and, to my knowledge, the fastest time by a Kingston Wheeler. This goal is part of the bigger goal of beating Miguel Indurain's time (6:07:05) by 2019. I might even shave my legs for this.

Second objective
Enjoying the 1001 Miglia, 1,600km with 16,000m of climbing in less than 135 hours in the middle of the Italian summer. Sto già praticando il mio italiano.

Third objective
Get back to racing. I want to take part and be competitive in my first stage race. I was suggested the L'etape de la Defonce is a great event so I'll give it a go. I also want to race the autumn and ideally get to cat 2. In any case as far as I don't break any bone I'll be happy just racing.

Fourth objective
Riding a super randonneur series, that is a 200k (20th of March event TBD), a 300k (16th of April TBD), a 400k (30th April, Severn Across) and a 600k (14th May, Bryan Chapman Memorial). Hair in legs and face and sandals recommended to be completely successful.

Fifth objective
Give time trialling a go. I'll start with a club 10 and will see from there. I would like to have a time objective but honestly I have no idea what time target would make sense for me on a road bike. Happy to take suggestions.

Now, agreeing with Joe Friel I think that having goals for 2016 is great but goals without a plan are just dreams so I drafted a plan explaining how I'll try to achieve these goals. If you are interested you can find it here.

ps. everything going well I should finish 2016 in E90 (see here if you don't know what I'm talking about).

Take care
Javier Arias González