Live
Powered by

2026-06-04

Gravel sustained pressure

  • Id: 2026-06-04-gravel-sustained-pressure
  • Title: Gravel sustained pressure
  • Kind: workout
  • Discipline: bike
  • Surface: gravel
  • Priority: key
  • Planned time: unscheduled
  • Duration: 2:45-3:00
  • Distance: ~75-95 km
  • Intensity: sustained sub-threshold pressure
  • Location: Severn, ON

Objective

Blend gravel handling and sustained sub-threshold pressure under realistic terrain demands.

Goal

  • Complete three long gravel pressure blocks on gravel or mixed terrain.
  • Improve composure and execution over rougher surface.

Reasoning

Ghost will not reward laboratory-smooth road power alone. Sidney needs the ability to hold pressure when the surface changes, traction varies, and posture fatigue accumulates. Low-cadence seated torque is held back to a later block, once the back has demonstrated four to six weeks of stability. The Ghost-specific work today is surface and sustained pressure, not force production through the pelvis.

Workout plan

  • Warm up 35 min on stable terrain.
  • Complete 3 x 20 min at 82-88% FTP, mostly seated, 80-90 rpm. Hold the same effort over imperfect surface rather than chasing a wattage target.
  • Use gravel or mixed terrain if safe.
  • Finish with endurance.

Structured workout

  • Primary intensity metric: percentOfFtp
  • Step: Warm-up, 35 min, 55-72, warmUp
  • Repetition block: 3 reps
    • Step: Gravel sustained pressure, 20 min, 82-88, active
    • Step: Recovery, 10 min, 55-65, rest
  • Step: Endurance, 35 min, 65-75, active
  • Step: Cool-down, 10 min, 50-60, coolDown

Fuelling

80 g/hr at race bottle concentration, drink mix plus gel rotation, no solid bars. Treat the timing and product choice as if it is race day.

  • Use 75-90 g carbohydrate per hour.
  • Practice the same bottle concentration intended for long gravel rides.

Equipment

  • Tires and pressure as planned for race day.
  • Two bottles, race bottle concentration in both.
  • Gels and any solids placed where they will be on race day.
  • Confirm CO2 or pump, tube or plug kit, and multi-tool before leaving.
  • Leave the session if a mechanical issue exposes a real race-day risk.

Constraints

  • If gravel is unsafe or too stop-start, use road terrain and preserve the pressure pattern.
  • Additional work is not the point. Finishing and feeling like you could do more is the session working correctly.
  • If back tightens at any point, end the rep, shake out, and decide whether to continue. The contingency for tightness is to stop the set, not to grind through it at a different cadence.

Notes

Sustain pressure when the surface argues with you. The terrain is the work, not the wattage. This is a gravel-specific quality day, not just tempo by another name.