How much is a pro cyclist riding?

from "Lance Armstrong's War" by Daniel Coyle.

"The third parable ... was the Story of Eki. Thirty-seven-year-old Russian Viatcheslav Ekimov was the only rider on Postal -- indeed, perhaps the only person in Armstrong's world -- whose work ethic was beyond question. This status was underlined frequently, most of all by Armstrong's assertion that Eki was “nails.” Which raised the question: what does it take to be “nails”?

This is what it took. When Eki was fourteen and living at a sports club in St. Petersburg, he rode 38,000 kilometers in one year, an average of 450 miles a week. In 1996, as a professional, he nearly doubled it ("That's not possible for a human," Landis said incredulously). But it was true -- Eki had twenty-five notebooks full of training logs to prove it. Eki had ridden thirteen tours and finished every one. Eki never missed a training day. Eki was never late or unprepared. Eki coached himself. Eki was Eki."

Pretty cool piece re:Eki. He was the hardest of the hard and did most of his training alone, as opposed to going to some sunny place for the winter and riding in a peloton.

Not a pro-cyclist in the sense you mean it but if you're morning's slow here's a great profile about a great cyclist and certifiable loon:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/that-which-does-not-kill-me-makes-me-stranger.html

When did Eki start doping?

I've just found this wrote:

Eki had ridden thirteen tours and finished every one. Eki never missed a training day. Eki was never late or unprepared. Eki coached himself. Eki was Eki."

EPO is a hell of a drug. A little T and HGH really helps. Did I mention the IVs?

xlev2 wrote:

Pretty cool piece re:Eki. He was the hardest of the hard and did most of his training alone, as opposed to going to some sunny place for the winter and riding in a peloton.

FYI, many pros ride alone.

Here's one that seems to post everything. Many don't.

17-30 hours a week usually. Anywhere from 10k-15k a year typically. Base season you'll see around 350-600 miles a week depending on the quality of the work you're doing. In season during stage races you can hit some pretty big mileage depending on the length of it. But typically I'd say the six hours a day, everyday is a bit of a myth.

Cool. Several 500-600 mpw...

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

xlev2 wrote:

Pretty cool piece re:Eki. He was the hardest of the hard and did most of his training alone, as opposed to going to some sunny place for the winter and riding in a peloton.

FYI, many pros ride alone.

Here's one that seems to post everything. Many don't.

https://www.strava.com/pros/michal_kwiatkowski

So Eki claimed 47.000 miles/year, about 900 mpw?

...yeah, sure

200 km rides back in the day apparently. Not sure how long that would take them.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/fitness/training/used-train-eddy-merckxs-chain-gang-151012

Wow, what a great find. Check this out. Unfortunately, the man died in a cycling accident

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXcMmDmTefI

xlev2 wrote:

Wow, what a great find. Check this out. Unfortunately, the man died in a cycling accident

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXcMmDmTefI

Jure Robic was a pretty interesting fellow. He won RAAM several times, among other things. It was sad to hear he died training. There is a fellow Slovene named Marko Baloh who is similar, but never quite put it together enough to win RAAM (though he did set some nice marks).

6 hours a day for short periods during base was not uncommon, neither was 500 miles a week during some parts of the year. I would say my average week at my peak was about 20-22 hours with spikes of 28+ That said I would often have a week or two in the off season of maybe only 8 hours to regain some motivation, even for pros those long weeks can be a real grind.

from a Tour de France winner...

Day 1 - 4 hours

Day 2 - 2 hours with tempo

Day 3 - 4 hours

Day 4 - 5 hours

Day 5 - Rest

Day 6 - 3 hours with Tempo

Day 7 - 3.5 hours with Tempo

Day 8 - 4 hours

Day 9 - 3 hours with Tempo

Day 10 - 4.5 hours

Day 11 - 6 hours

Day 12 - Rest

Day 13 - Rest

Day 14 - 2 hours EZ

Day 15 - 2 hours EZ

Day 16 - 4 hours with big gear climb intervals

Day 17 - 5 hours

Day 18 - 6 hours

Day 19 - Rest

Day 20 - 4 hours with big gear climb intervals

Day 21 - 6 hours

Day 22 - 6 hours

Day 23 - 2 hours EZ

Day 24 - 4 hours with big gear climb intervals

Day 25 - 6 hours

Day 26 - Rest

Day 27 - 2 hours EZ

Day 28 - 5 hours with Tempo

Day 29 - 2 hours test prep ride

Day 30 - Field test

Day 31 - 4 hours with big gear climb intervals

xlev2 wrote:

Pretty cool piece re:Eki. He was the hardest of the hard and did most of his training alone, as opposed to going to some sunny place for the winter and riding in a peloton.

Eki was also pumped full of all kindsa dope from the time he was a teenager; still a great, disciplined rider and many can't even handle the drug regime but let's not pretend he was 'human.'

Witness the fitness wrote:

I remember Lance Armstrong "I'm on my bike 6 hours a day, bustin my a$s"... do they really train so much?

When a runner says, "I ran 20 miles today at 6:00 pace." Do you think he runs 140 mpw?

Certainly Armstrong rode 6 hour rides many times per year. In the winter (starting in December through February) he also rode 2, 3, and 4 hour rides regularly. So, no he did not ride 42 hours and 840 miles a week. Probably ever.

The biggest trainers were in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, before EPO made everyone a champion and there was only in-competition testing for steroids and amphetamines. Outside of competition, anything went, making training much easier. In competition, doping was possible too. I have heard from old-timers that before races, some of the greats, had the sound of glass syringes rattling against metal vials in their jersey pockets (amphetamine injections for the final hour). In Armstrong's era (at least after 2000) there was so much more testing that you could not dope all the time, every day. They doped year-round (or at least 9 months a year), but they had to be careful.

Those who want to know how much cyclists and distance runners dope should read one of the good books out there on the subject, "Breaking the Chain" by Willy Voet or Tyler Hamilton's "The Secret Race."

For free you can check out the testimony by The Reasoned Decision and the 12 witnesses that were all current or former Pro cyclists and all testified about their history of doping.

Also, you can check out the media coverage of The Dubin Inquiry, or The Balco Affair, or Operation Puerto. All of the athletes they caught in each of these cases was compelled to fully disclose their doping regimen and who knows if any of them did. But none of them admitted to anything that they WERE NOT doing, so we know that at least that much was going on ...

... and it continues to go on.

But to answer the question: 25 hrs is a light week for a European Pro (which is what Armstrong was) and 28-35 hours is what the Classics specialists who are not special snowflakes do.

Stage racing specialists do 25-30 hpw and do quite a few short stage races (3-5 days) before and in-between taking on Paris-Nice, the Tour de Suisse, the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, et al. And they use these medium length (6-8 days) stage races to prep for the Grand Tours (20-22 days).

I saw a Classics rider's schedule and it was very simple (I think it was Thor Hushovd's but I could be remembering that wrong):

M: 4 hrs

T: 5 hrs

W: 6 hrs

Th: 2.5 hrs (easy day)

F: 4 hrs

S: 5 hrs

Su: 6 hrs

That is 32-33 hrs a week.

How does it work?

Training in terms of time and not distance...but racing the distance?

Also you have to be aware that a lot of the longer rides will be at a very modest tempo and might involve the occasional stop for refueling etc.

Also, it always used to be the case, and probably still is for most pro cyclists, (all of them except those who have a realistic chance in the grand tours and major classics) that they race a hell of a lot more than their equivalents in distance running. Many cycling biographies refer to riders starting the European season in early spring 75-80% fit and relying on frequent hard racing to bring them to peak fitness later in the summer. Although with pro cycling being a more world wide and hence year round sport these days this might not be possible any more??

Herman K. wrote:

How does it work?

Training in terms of time and not distance...but racing the distance?

It's been done in distance running also, by some fairly successful coaches, like Arthur Lydiard and many others. For 70 years.

They know that they will go 20 mph on some days, and 25 mph on others, and it is also dependent on what terrain they are on, Hilly rides might average 15 mph on the ups and 35-40 on the downs. Flat rides are much easier.