As it will mostly be mountain riding (flat itineraries are far more limited and may be less relevant too!), we will initially allocate riders into groups of similar level (based on what you tell us of your experience, average speed on 50k rides, average power or w/kg if you use a power meter regularly or VAM). This is really for the first of a number of the rides leading to Epic21 challenge. We will then refine this on the subsequent rides based on your experience of the first ride (ie. the right pace or too easy or too hard). We will be able to make suggestions based on other criteria - one way could be sharing a few Strava recorded rides with us where you feel you put in a good effort in terms of endurance, average speed and hill climbing for instance.

These grouping suggestions are purely for comfort as riders will be able to pick who they ride with and what itineraries they want to try. Note: on non-challenge days you ride in self‑selected groups at your own pace, this is not a led ride.

If you are familiar with VAM, our Founders aim to ride in the 500-700 range even if they have managed to climb Alpe d’Huez at over 850 - this was still one hour and 10 minutes of climbing!  

To give a comparison, record holder (pre-Strava!) Marco Pantani went up Alpe d’Huez with a VAM of about 1,740 and 6.6 w/kg

When Tom Pidcock won his Tour de France stage up Alpe d’Huez back in 2022, he did the climb at 1,627 according to Strava, whilst Sepp Kuss who was one of the most recent KOM did it at 1,742.