Looks crazy, do they really train like that every week during the season? Or is just before big races? Do they use periodised training with easy weeks? Anyway, I already have a full time job, I've no desire to add another that would eat away all my free time, especially without any monetary gain. But kudos to the pros, I guess, it's their main job, they earn money doing this and it's hard labor.
Tempted to do the hours of a Grand Tour. I got a hankering to try during the Giro and picked up a trainer... now to get conditioning up to spec. Would be happy to get half daily TdF stages next month.
For those new to cycling here, doing anything over 3000m elevation gain for 160km is basically going up nothing but steep climbs all day at 10-20km an hour for most people.
Yah it's nuts. Did Mallorca 312 a few weeks ago and about 3200m of climbing in the first 180k, and it was grim. I think my average was like 21/22kmhs. Still had 140k to go too hahaha
I mean you could do a 160km, 3000m ride and never go up anything steeper than 4% if you find the perfect road :D (that is with starting and finishing in the same place, otherwise even a constant 2% would do :D)
Regardless of Hank having a good crack at chasing Wout, what I really want to know is, where the hell does Hank live to manage a full week of sunshine? The UK weather has been atrocious for the past 10 months yet Hank seems to be riding in perfect conditions every day! I'm moving to the Cotswolds! I just need to find a really rich family there to adopt me! 54yr old knackered Yorkshireman looking for a good home! Cotswolds residents only need apply! 😂😂😂😂
Back in 2020 I was living in Italy and decided to challenge myself by doing a 1/3rd of the Giro on the same days as the actual race. So I did a 1/3rd of the distance and a 1/3rd of the elevation each day. First week was a shock to the system and I almost gave up, 2nd week I started finding my legs and the 3rd week...well that was tough!! Being in Italy helped with the weather and the nearby mountains, don't know if it would be achievable back in the UK with the weather and trying to find the climbs.
Hank, I feel your pain. When I was racing many many years ago I was just a weekend warrior as was most of my follow riders. Yeah, trying to get the kms in was hard with balancing family, home chores and work to get in decent training. Of course performance diminishes as we age but keep riding throughout your life, it's totally worth it.
Yeah, only his Strava tally isn’t that impressive (although the elevation gained hide the real effort a bit), I would have had a few 200 km rides at least, there must be more to it.
Great insight into what this level of training looks like time wise and regenerations wise. Great stuff Hank, such a character, bought me with a Corona moment
Thanks Hank and crew...yeah , a full time job , but structured and coached ...right . Elite athletes are just that , different in many ways , with support . This is a great era of cycling , to me ! There are more men and women doing incredible things on two wheels than I can remember . Thanks for showing a lot of it to me .
Chapeau Hank! That is a shock to the system. I'd be keen to see/know similar from the domestique's position. Maybe Vuelta... perhaps Si & Manon with Coach Conor "C'mon, *I've* done this!"? :D
HANK, forward slash, bodge of the week. This was a great video showing how hard the pros really go, and goodluck to the rest of us trying to keep up! Another stella video from gcn, and epic house and new bike Hank.
I've been craving an adventure recently... and the TDF is coming up. This video has inspired me to try and replicate what they do. Match Distance and elevation gain per each stage on zwift and see what stage I make it to. With a newborn, a full time job, and a 6 year old... I doubt I'll get far but it'll be a fun little challenge!
Well done Hank! This morning I was cruising on a too hot morning before an even hotter 40 C day, and it came to me "It's been a while since I saw some crazy Hank video." Couldn't be a better timing to watch this video an hour later. Well done again !
Well done Hank. We did notice your nice dress @3.45-ish in the background although not sure of the brand. Keep up the great work and more torture videos would be much appreciated.
I follow Wout on strava. What is amazing is the average speeds for his rides!! 26Mph with 12112 ft of climbing!! unreal the amount of strength these athletes have
You had me at WVA 😍, and then I loved seeing New Hank surrounded by cuteness: Future Mrs, doggie, and house! Hope you remembered to fuel properly on the bike. Nice post-ride beer carbs 🍻
@GCN - a different challenge for Crash Test dummy Hank - 100km per day for a whole month. A friend did it through Feb this year (and a bit more), summer time here in NZ made it easier of course.
So after seeing Hanks efforts to try and complete the training (without the mountains) for the week it has to be hats off to Peter Schulting (Diftar continental team) who won stage 3 of the 2024 ZLM tour against pro teams. A pro himself since 2006, oldest rider in the race at 36, works full time 4 days a week and has 3 children too!
The most I can manage to average is around 14 hours a week but thats with a full time job and having a family. I wish I could do more but I'd end up sacrificing something somewhere.
Wow, Hank! Maybe you shouldn't have picked a top pro getting ready for the biggest race of the year!! :) You really showed how to creatively pack as much cycling into a week+ around a normal schedule! Bravo!
@GCN When you do challenges like this PLEASE let your presenters count this as paid out of office work. You're purely setting them up to fail with making them try to take on the work load of a full time cyclist around PLUS working a full 8hr shift. I would far rather see them have a chance to actually complete the challenge and see what happens physically.
Great video. I don’t think you covered what the difference was between week previous and this one in terms of distance and time, don’t pros normally ramp up to these things?
When you factor in Wout's climbing, you weren't even close to his metrics. There's a reason Wout has won 9 TDF stages, the TDF Green Jersey, 3 cyclocross Rainbow Bands, etc. etc. etc. BEAST
You forgot the Hypoxic chamber training sessions, this is what every pro cycling team has been using for many years now since it's still legal under UCI rules. This is so you don't have to train at high altitudes and increases your hematocrit levels.
Hey what is this? How come you can not take a dog of that size on a ride? Have you seen a dog wag its tonque out of a window in a car? Dogs love speed and I have seen dogs as a front fairing and in a back bag loving closeness and the changing scenery. Hank please try a ride with your dog in a bag to see how she likes it. While many dogs love coming along for the ride maybe it is individual. You never know until you try.
So, thing is - Hank did not copy Wout's training. The title is stupid click bait. I had hoped you got WvA to share a week of his training - instead you looked at Strava and tried top copy his distance and time. Granted that is still huge but not at all what the title promises. And I have to say I'm getting very tired of all GCN (and GTN) presenters telling us how out of shape they have become and how hard balancing work, family and training is. It IS! But if your spiel as GCN/GTN is hiring former pros to give us viewers something to dream about, then I want to have that dream. Not my own reality! There's plenty of other channels for that. Give them time and resources to train and maintain their fitness.
Back in November, last year, I'd started a Pro Training Program in Trainer Road - 6 training a week including a long intensive ride. That was very effective, I gained almost 30 more Watts to my FTP in just 4 months, and each ride ended with several new Peak Performances. However, now it very hot in the Middle East, I feel less capable to cope with the program intensity, especially Z4 intervals and I feel like my FTP decreased. I'm wondering how does temperature influence the performance? how many watts I should sacrifice just to cool my body? Can you test that please?
Do sport normally without forcing it, don't want to be like professional competitors, anything in excess is bad, life is a balance on a rope. Sport in the right dose gives years to the heart but if it is too much, it takes them away. Be happy riding your bike and don't suffer from it. 
Great effort, but TBH the fact that the climbing elevation is not taken into account in Hanks' training makes it almost irrelevant to compare it to Wout's one. I mean a 3000D+ on a 130km ride is just up and down the mountain full time. Which is not at all the same exercice as riding 130km on the flat.
Hank, you forgot one detail : before breakfast, Wout goes for a run. Just to wake up. Or sometimes he does this before the dinner as well. And sometimes he gets carried away and he runs half a marathon. But keep in mind : it's just recovery 🙂
@@gcn Could be an idea for the series "Breaking Hank"... Ok, you tried a week, let's try something different : a day in the life of Wout... Wake up at 6AM, 10k run to get awake, breakfast, 150k ride with 3000m of elevation and some intervals, lunch, evening run and dinner.... Good idea for a next Mallorca trip...
I'd like to see you out there training beside them. Then we can really tell. But that would be embarrassing maybe. But it would sure show what it takes to be a professional cyclists verses....
