A few months ago, Manon set herself the ambitious challenge of qualifying for the Gravel World Championships. However, three years since she retired from racing, she needed a solid training plan to get herself back in shape. In this video, Manon speaks to off-road cyclist, Ian Boswell, and shares everything she did to prepare for the grueling event.
In association with @wahoofitness 🤝 https://gcn.eu/WahooSYSTM
0:00 – Intro
0:57 – Where it all started
1:40 – Wahoo SYSTM training app
2:07 – Difference between training for a road and a gravel race
3:04 – Sessions to focus on
4:06 – Missing sessions
5:51 – Key indoor sessions
6:49 – Manon’s training
11:19 – Taking the race more seriously
12:33 – Finding your group
14:24 – Fuelling
16:09 – The race
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What should Manon’s next challenge be? 🤔 Let us know in the comment section below! 💬
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📹 I Tried To Qualify For The Gravel World Champs! 👉 https://youtu.be/q_q-mu0KRNw
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39 Comments
What should Manon’s next challenge be? 🤔 Let us know in the comment section below! 👇
Sign up for Ragbrai. 500 miles in 6 days across Iowa. First and second beer on me. See you there!
Way to go Manon. This and the race video are such a good reminder that there can be setbacks to overcome.
beat ollie on a climb💯💯💯
Loved watching the race and this video! Get Manon todo a TT and have ollie get his lab coat out to get her ready!
You rock gal! Reminds me of my first Five Boros Bike Tour with cold, howling, wind-driven rain trying to make it up the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. You should take Connor out and see if you can dust him like you did your little bro pre-riding one of this year’s Le Tour Femmes stage routes. 😊
no wahoo. use your brain instead.
where can i buy all the amazing products gcn insists i need to buy in order to ride a bike?? gotta spend all your money if you want to ride a bike, thanks again gcn!
Oh my, this video was great. I attribute this to not appearing to be completely scripted and not feeling like an advertisement ALL the time.
If there's a plan for a GGN (Global Gravelbike Network") Manon should helm it!
Manon, you didn't do enough miles to complete the course comfortably. Next time average 250 miles a week for 8 weeks. The cold, may have had a small effect, but being so under prepared is fatal.
Finish the job!!! to go another qualifier and try to qualify for the world championship again.
Click like if you love Manon! 😁
So cool! Which pros train on the wahoo app??! Love the content!
Manon is great to watch 👌🏼
It's alright Manon.. that's life.. love the fact that you're so brave to have said all of those towards the end of the video… mabuhay! (from the Philippines)
I did the entry-level qualifier in Nannup, Western Australia, and got absolutely crushed by the difficulty. As everyone has said before, it's really great to see the behind-the-scenes from someone at the top level. I'm excited for the next round to do even better.
Not sure I would prepare for qualifying for gravel world champs on an indoor trainer as much as advised here. As a ratio of total training time, 25% time on IDT, 25% road, 50% gravel or MTB.
Come out to Australia for the Peaks Challenge next March, 235klm with 4000m of elevation. I will be 74 and going for the 12 hour time. This years was cancelled when half a mountain blocked the road. 12 weeks into a 16 week program and then nothing. So all reset for next year.
Try and qualify again 👍
Congrats Manon ! It's never easy to do a challenge like this ! I do more than 1100 kms to watch Paris-Roubaix and support the womens and mens on this race ! It was really tough ! I really to show Manon back on the Velodrome to try to qualify for the European Championship or more 🙂
XC training is almost perfect with the 1 or 2 days of normal road riding to get those legs used to big miles, or for some people a triathlon type trading program, best bet is to do a gravel race and then break it down into were you need more or less training
will you be trying the same challenge again next year with hopefully you feeling well next time?
the Great Divide
Manon ❤
We just adore you, Manon. Whatever challenge you do, we'll be watching and cheering.
Manon should go for Unbound 200
trying to do something like a full-time job (aka, like a pro rider) while you have a full-time job already – and a marriage (and a family) – it is just impossible to do. you can only do your best, which is the reasonable amount of time to dedicate to it, and i think you really highlighted that well in this video. you're human – you got sick, the race sucked, that's just how it goes sometimes. :). your humility and willingness to show your "failure" must have been hard, but i applaud you for it. come back to ontario next year for the P2A again! (also we have a gravel world series event in june here too!)
I would love to see a fresh attempt next year with adjusted expectations and a less results oriented mindset from the outset.
Manon is such a beautiful woman.
Seattle to Portland, July 15-16!
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I think you should take on Ollie, Si, Alex and Lloydy in a coast to coast gravel race you’d smash it 🥰
We're not used to seeing you without a helmet. 🙂 You've been a great addition to the GCN team, i love watching your videos.
Have I got a challenge for you! And the best part is it's not about being the fastest, it's about showing up with a bike and getting to the end. There's a race called the mne sota wheel race that's 1200 miles around the state of Minnesota, US. The race has been cancelled this year but I'm still riding it the route starting on June 17 and planning to finish in 8 days. If you're looking for a nearly pancake flat, mostly paved trail ride with a little gravel for fun, and overnights in campgrounds, hotels, and maybe parks, come join me! If you ride your gravel bike, I might even be able to keep up.
P.S. QBP (surly, salsa, all city, etc.) is here if you're looking for additional content.
Loved watching this, had myself just completed the UCI ‘Seven’ event, and it was a massive struggle. However can’t wait to do another. And such a great concept for cyclists to be able to qualify for the world champs.
Only the rider themselves can know if they should stop or push on to at least finish the race. And no-one should judge them for either decision. The race is one thing ppl admire and applaud, but no-one is there for the hours, day, weeks, months of training. No one is there celebrating your bowl of steamed vegetables and single protein. The ability to do this stuff day after day is what stands a person separate from the crowd. The race is certainly the icing on the cake but dont let the dnf suggest that it was all meaningless.
Thanks for all of the insight in to how this all went down. Its a real inspiration.
I'd love for Manon to keep pushing on and find a similar race to do.
Either way, big hug for you. I trained for 10 months for 1 particular endurance race and then got injured. Took 6months to walk again without pain, and almost 2 years before i was physically capable of riding a bike. I never got to ride that race but none of my friends really remember that. They remember how discipline i was and how single minded I was about doing well. They all reflect on it as something inspiring to them. Much like this journey of Manon's is to most of us.
Back to track cycling 👉👈
Having just bombed out in Scotland and spent the last 36hours analysing data my head says you should enter another uci gravel race. I'm off to tweak my training and look at Holland and Belgium later this Summer.