You might be surprised that 60 year old Big Mig had a better time than me at the Tour du Mont Blanc. I guess winning 5 Tours de France gives a guy an edge. But check this out, Indurain finished in just under 14 hours with an average speed of 23.7 kph. He was the 29th fastest rider out of nearly 430 who started the event. I’m at an unusual loss for words. I was 4.5 hours slower than him.
In other TMB news, I went back to Strava and checked a few climbs for my VAM (the number of vertical meters you climb in an hour), which I was hoping would be somewhere between 600 and 700 on average over the entire route. Sure enough, it was around 625 (including a few breaks off the bike, especially on the last climb), so I’m kind of pleased about that.
Next year I’m going for 700+. Watch out Mig, I’m coming!
The Vicious Cycle 
If you bump into him next year, it might be worth asking him how he keeps the old man out!
I might email him now and save some valuable time
Sounds like he beat quite a few people! I’ve met him a number of times at various cycling events and he’s such a nice, humble guy.
Lucky you, Sheree. He does seem like a good guy.
😎
I refer you to this research article from 2012: The cycling physiology of Miguel Indurain 14 years after retirement.
TL;DR: His highest VO2 max was recorded as 88 ml/kg/min and since then:
Absolute maximal oxygen uptake and aerobic power output declined by 12.4% and 15.2% per decade…
Larger declines in maximal and submaximal values relative to body mass (19.4-26.1%) indicate that body composition changed more than aerobic characteristics.
Nevertheless, Indurain’s absolute maximal and submaximal oxygen uptake and power output still compare favorably with those exhibited by active professional cyclists.
I will give that article a deeper read later, but I actually saw the summary when checking Big Mig out yesterday. There are some genetics involved here it seems!
Have you ever had a VO2 max test done, David? I’ll be there’s a university near you where you could.
I have not done a formal V02 max test. But if you track power and heart rate, Garmin can give a decent estimate. My number is around 45 when I’m in good form, so “middle of the pack” for an amateur cyclist.
When I first started riding back in 2009 I actually had a Lactate threshold done by Neal Henderson at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine in Colorado. This was useful because all I had was heart rate to train by, so it allowed me to set realistic zones for that.
I dug up that report, again average numbers. What is nice to see is that even 15 years later, my max heart rate has not changed, and neither has my LT, which is very encouraging.
The last couple of years I’ve been using power and a disciplined structured training program that has actually increased my FTP from that time. So I guess that’s how I keep the “old man” out.
I read once that he had a resting pulse of 30 when he was in his prime. I don’t know whether that was true.
I imagine it is. I know at least a couple of riders myself who have heart rates that low and they are not really Big Mig level athletes….although not too too far off, either.
His lowest resting pulse was recorded at 28 bpm.
As someone that studied human physiology and adaptability extensively at university, I can disappear down the rabbit hole on this stuff:
Indurain is literally twice as fit as most people on earth.
From Wikipedia: Miguel Indurain – Physiology
“According to the University of Ferrara, which conducted tests on Induráin, his strength came from his body’s superior physiology. His blood carried 7 litres of oxygen around his body per minute, compared to 3–4 litres for an ordinary person and 5–6 litres for fellow riders. His cardiac output was 50 litres a minute; a fit amateur cyclist’s is about 25 litres. Induráin’s lung capacity was 7.8 litres, compared to an average of 6 litres.
For comparison his VO2 max of 88 ml/kg/min sits between Armstrong (84) and Lemond (92).
His FTP at 46 years of age was 450 watts, (4.88 W/kg)”
Gerry is working with VAM, a useful metric. If you know your threshold power and your weight in kg, divide the one by the other to get W/kg. Then multiply that by 300 to get an estimated VAM.
So working backwards with some of the data from these various articles we could estimate that Indurain’s VAM for TdMB in 2024 was around 1245.
Go down that rabbit hole all you want, David, as long as you post the results as a comment!
I also read that info about Indurain and was a little bit taken aback. Nobody said the world was fair…
A VAM of 1245 seems possible, but probably a little big for a route that long and with so much climbing. That would, for example, be a Ventoux climb of 1:12, or around 15 min slower that pros when they are sprinting up it. I’d love to find his Strava data!
Thanks, Gerry. To be honest the VAM estimate is based on the projected decline of his last published FTP, which is itself an estimate of his one hour power, likely taken from his best 20 minute effort.
So that TMB VAM would be, at best, something that could be maintained for an hour.
What we really need for an accurate estimate is his https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/what-is-normalized-power/
I’ve actually done a few tests in the past to see what rider type I am when I had a power meter. As you can imagine it confirmed what I thought – jack of all trades, master of none. I do miss all that data, I have to admit.
I envy your “Rouleur” type. I am a “Sprinter”, no surprise given my athletic background.
You did pretty well in the hill of the Cévennes.
(Hit the submit button by mistake before I was done)
…Normalized power would give us a better way to estimate the actual VAM for the whole course. If you do find that Strava file it might have that data, average power would be a second best.
Lot of variables here. Heavier rides VAM drops on steeper climbs, so average gradient also plays a factor here. It also accounts for the impressive performance we see from lighter riders/female riders on sustained climbs due to the improved power to weight ratio.
That, plus the enormous variation in physiology and genetics is why we have the various descriptions or phenotypes for riders: sprinter, attacker, pursuiter, time trialist, climber, rouleur, etc.
We see these when we watch races, and it’s explained by the various combinations of energy production each individual was gifted in their genetics, and has (hopefully) found training to bolster. See this article for a nice overview: Wahoo: 4DP Rider Type.