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Hi Twan,
I see that you commute 1h a day. Is there no way to do this by bike ? It is perfect training.
In the weekend go to the South drop your wife in Maastricht (shopping) and do some local rounds. You can do some nice workouts there too and enjoy the scenery.
I’m riding to work there (32km part of the Amstel Gold trajectory)
I alternate this with TR as I’m quite sensitive to injuries when doing only indoor trainer stuff.
At least this keeps me motivated.
I see that you want to do early morning training. I don’t like them and shift them to evenings. Immediately when arriving home before dinner. I just go to work earlier those days 
Hi wickedstealthy,
I do commute to work (31km single trip) in the summer months, at least when its light outside.
I used to also commute in the winter, but I had an accident in 2016 on a dark commute, since then I have some fear of riding in the dark. People just don’t see or want to see you on a bike. So now I use TrainerRoad in the darker months.
As I love my bike, I love my wife more so I spend as most time with her as possible. I try not to ride on days where we can have quality time.
I also switched to working out when arriving home before dinner, I also start work early. This seems to work out so far.
Yesterday I did Goddard, I forgot how hard it is in comparison to the graph 
I skipped the second round of Single Legged Drills because of fatigue. Too few carbs of just tired? I have to experiment.
On the plus side, my HR was lower than all the other times I did Goddard. Even lower than the other times I skipped the Single Legged Drills.
Good to hear
I skip those single leg drills they are a cause for knee problems every time I do them. Or doing long rides on the trainer.
I stopped doing long rides on the trainer and do max 1:30 sweet spot or Vo2max.
Regarding fuelling I never eat when doing workouts of 1h to 1:30 in the afternoon.
Even on rides of 2h plus I regularly don’t eat. It depends on intensity.
In the morning I mostly eat just just some gingerbread as everything else kills my stomach
Try just to continue on your path without thinking too much. As long as you can complete this workouts I don’t see an issue.
Btw I’m progressing not the way I would like but I progress and that’s what matters
I would say that there are good enough lighting options these days that if you ever want to reconsider your night commuting you can certainly run a setup where drivers have no option but to see you. E.g. commuting in London my front light went up to 1000 lumens, my rear went up to 80 (that’s a lot on a bike, if riding with other cyclists I had to use it on a lower setting as it was dazzling), I had a helmet light with 100 lumens pointing forward and 30 point back, and I had spoke lights which made my wheels look like the bike from Tron (in my imagination at least…). There is absolutely no way that any driver could possibly fail to see me from any angle unless they were looking at their phone instead of anywhere near the road (which is a possibility of course). And those lights are bright enough to massively enhance your visibility in daylight as well.
Very true, there are a lot of lighting options and I used them all. My bike and myself looked like a christmas tree and I still managed to get in a lot of near hits and one actual accident. My commute takes me through dense traffic and residential areas so I think it is just the people being preoccupied and always in a rush these days. Man I sound old
I am extremely cautious on my bike and rides. I always get the remark that I ride too defensive. Maybe that is my problem… I am just not willing to risk it anymore. So commuting in the winter is out for the moment.
Thanks for your input, appreciated! I eat some carbs and a lot of protein during the day with a coffee when I leave, when I arrive home about and hour later I jump on the bike and go. It is hard because of lack of structured training in the summer but doable and I feel good afterwards.
I am just trying to get used to consistent and structured training now and even though it feels hard on the bike I now it is the feeling of progress indeed.
I also like how the training seems to make me a better husband because I seem to be more present and engaged when I did my work. Instead of beating myself up for being weak when I did not workout…
Overthinking is in my nature, but I can cope with it better when I am working out regularly
Thanks for your advice so far!
@Twan-v-B how are you getting on?
Good to read through your goals. I too have just started SSBLV1 and typically find life much easier doing my workouts in the evenings after work. Both motivation to wake up early and RPE when actually doing them.
Thoughts on your commute when you return to it in better weather (it’s not just being dark, it’s pretty miserable too). Just make it chill with the high intensity work you’re doing on the turbo. That’s what I’d be tempted to do more so than more intervals.
Also, everything is easier when you’re fuelled. If most of your rides in central Netherlands are flat, weight isn’t a huge concern either. Just a thought.
I also did Amstel Gold this year. Really good event and great roads and routes. If you can get down there, do it!
@ahackett445 Thanks for your response. Due to time updating my progress topic slipped my mind a bit.
Thanks for the reminder 
I had a little setback at the beginning of my plan again. I was planning to start in CW42 and I did, but got sick after 2 workouts. Probably due to my business trip and the travel that accompanied the trip.
So I decided to take some rest and then I started again in CW44. Things are going pretty well so far, I also decided to drop my FTP from 180 tot 170 to compensate for being sick.
This seems to be working because last night I did Goddard (which I always dread) and RPE and HR were not as high as I expected. I will continue with SSB LV I with an FTP of 170, just to stay consistent and motivated until I get the habit of working out regularly down.
My current schedule is also to work out after dinner, at around 8PM. My girlfriend is not very good at waking up early and in the evenings we can work out together. I still need to get used to this rhythm a little bit because sleep is getting a bit of a hit in duration… I will need to adjust this.
I want to be a bit lighter and essentially lose a lot of body fat, who doesn’t
I just received my acceptance mail from the Amstel Gold Race this week, so it is going to happen. Which also helps a lot in motivation!
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Good luck on the AGR. Not too many hills around Utrecht and the Groene Hart. Have you cycled any of the climbs down there at all? If not it would be worth a trip down just to try a few. Get on your VO2Max intervals for them. Also get the biggest cassette you can get on your bike. You said it was a Canyon. I presume it is a Shimano set up. IIRC the short cage rear derailleur max is a 28 cassette. You can do up to a 32 on the long cage. You will absolutely need the softest gear you can get when you hit the Kruisberg, Eyserbosweg and Keutenberg. Really practice the seated low cadence drills too and if you do stand, then stand with your hands on the drops and not the hoods. Hands on the hoods is too tall and you will spin the back wheel on the Keutenberg if there is any moisture… There is no way at 22% you are going to spin anything up that but you can stay smooth and get up it with TR. Alas I will miss it this year… looks like the LBL for me… <gah!>
Excellent! Good luck with AGR too!!! Keutenberg does really hurt! Especially as you turn round the houses and see the wall in front of you. Here’s a pic. Was bone dry, great day. On hoods was fine. Gearing I had on the day 36x30 on easiest gear. Was fine for me but FTP at the time near 300 and have lots of similar hills near me to train on. I’d go with a 34x32 if you can.
Good to hear you’re still on the plan. I did Goddard last night too. Was good! Wasn’t sure if it was meant to be seated or standing form sprints at first. Spin ups at the end made it hard after those form sprints.
Good luck with the next workout 
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Looking at the weather you had that must have been this year… I guess the hoods or drops thing on the climbing is a matter of choice and probably physique. David Millar said to do it cause ït looks rad"
. I find I have to do it to keep my weight centered on the steep pitches otherwise I stand too tall and the fore/aft center of gravity is hard to control. then I am a long streak of a thing anyway. I also find it stops me from pogoing on the pedals when the cadence comes under pressure. It hurts like a bugger compared to the hoods but I can stay smoother doing it.
Yeah I love that bit…
They used to put the cameras there as you make the left jink onto the ramp. (Seem to have stopped) The photos were always priceless everyone has their head cocked all the way back. You can see the WTF expressions on faces… I have one of my own from my first time.
Now I don’t look up.
Haha yer I bet there were some great pictures! We even went to check it out the day before. Completely missed the left kink after the house and thought it was the one straight ahead, which is not anywhere near as steep. Really cool though, great support from people on the banks up there.
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Do you know what, tough as it is I always suffer more on the Eyserbosweg. It is the combination of the little leg tickler before it, then the profile itself. The long straight drag in the sub 10% to the woods then the twisty bocage through the woods at 18%… The first time I did it; near the top in freezing rain; me under trained and under geared (23/36-flatland bike); at the 18% point, near the end as the road bends right and flattens; some guy stepped in front of me to take a photo of me and forced me to maneuver around him. I could cheerfully have splintered my carbon bike on his head at that moment, if I wasn’t ready for a bout of lying down and dying. Cursing his imbecilic ass was beyond my limited oxygen carrying capacity just then too. The support on the AGR is always phenomenal, always, which made that moment so anomalous.
I still hate the Eyserbosweg… even with TR, a PM and better gearing. The Keutenberg has the wonderful advantage of getting the pain in fast before you can dwell on it. Ripping the plaster off if you will. The Eyserbosweg dangles it out there in front of you.
Since I have to do the LBL next year instead… Any hints for how to train for my Nemesis:
Roche aux Faucons - Profiel van de beklimming.
Sustained power? Squat 200% my body weight and shed half of it too? What? This one always kills me… The Redoute is a bad one for sure but this one…
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Oh jeez I 100% agree with you on this. I had looked at the profile of all the climbs before and thought this one would be ok till we got to the trees. I was already finding life tough at the bottom by the fields. Although sounds like you had a harder time than us this year! I just think its the unrelenting part of the second half of that route where, if it wasn’t uphill, you’d have some sort of headwind/cross wind to deal with knowing there were two monsters at the end! Really like the Cauberg though, easy climb to crack on up at the end with loads of people around
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Yeah the Cauberg is just a parade at that point. This year I busted most of my PBs on the AGR. (Thanks TR!) with the exception of the Eyserbosweg and the Cauberg. EBW was just me being over conservative with the PM pacing(First time with a PM). The Cauberg was because halfway up I got distracted by what I thought were the two most incompetent bike thieves I had ever seen. A middle aged couple were struggling and shuffling a pair of locked together bikes down the far side path. It was comical. I almost ground to a stop watching it. Turns out they were just moving the bikes from in front of their drive to get their car in.
I think I set a 90 sec PB the day before up the Cauberg. Got a bit carried away! Would 100% do the event again, such a good route!
Good luck with LBL too. That climb you linked looks tough… I remember searching this forum last year regarding plans for spring classics. A few people were debating sustained power Vs general power for LBL. Not sure which is go for myself with the longer climbs.
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well done Joey! super impressive
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