Nat Bromhead
Not only does the Tour de France start this Saturday, so too does Bicycling Australia’s ‘Faster in Four Weeks’ challenge.
Run in conjunction with Zwift, we’ve found four eager participants keen to undergo a gruelling 4-week virtual training program.
The good news is that you can join the challenge as well! All you need is a smart trainer and a Zwift account. You can download the workout files from our original article here. Then you simply upload the files to your Zwift account and start the workouts.
Nick’s An Indoor Training Skeptic
Today we introduce the first of our candidates – 45yo Nick Kourambas from Victoria.
A self confessed ‘indoor training denier’, Nick says he is curious to know what all the fuss is about. “People have told me it is more effective training than real riding,” he told us.
“While I don’t want that to be true, I’m looking forward to validating this one way or another. While I dislike Zwift sessions clogging up my Strava feed, I’m curious to know whether it takes away the boredom I associate with sitting on a trainer.”
Nick says he is looking forward to seeing his power data during and after the challenge.
“I’m surrounded by people who are obsessed by power,” he said.
‘Structure & Science To My Riding’
“I’m curious to know where I sit as my bikes don’t have power meters.”
“I am looking forward to applying some structure and science to my riding as my usual approach is to ride as hard as I can as often as I can until my body starts to shut down. As I recently started racing, I figure better understanding how to train can only help.”
So what does Nick hope to achieve from the challenge?
“Lots of sledging because I have gone to the dark side,” he said with a laugh.
“Seriously … a better understanding of my power profile, a better understanding on how to train for the longer term, and higher overall speed. The way I look at it, I can’t lose. Either I’ll get faster or I will be proven right that indoor training is for the soft and the slow.”
We look forward to following Nick and each candidates’ progress. We’ll be checking in with each of them for regular updates over the 4-week program.
