Table 1.

Characteristics of course profile and exercise intensity during the Transalp Challenge 2004

	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5	Stage 6	Stage 7	Stage 8	Mean ± SD
Temperature (°C)	28	24	24	29	32	33	28	22	28 ± 4
Humidity (relative) (%)	45	45	44	50	45	60	50	94	69 ± 17
Stage distance (km)	80	73	74	119	54	73	124	67	83 ± 25
Stage time (min)	293	328	287	402	225	280	426	278	315 ± 60
Speed (km/h)	16.4 ± 1.2	13.4 ± 1.1	15.5 ± 1.3	17.8 ± 1.6	14.4 ± 1.0	15.6 ± 1.2	17.5 ± 1.9	14.5 ± 0.9	15.6 ± 1.5
HRAVERAGE (beats/min)	164 ± 14	146 ± 15	144 ± 16	143 ± 13	145 ± 17	142 ± 17	139 ± 14	134 ± 18	145 ± 17
%HRMAXLab	90.1	80.2	79.1	78.6	79.7	78.0	76.4	73.6	79.5 ± 4.8
HRMAX (beats/min)	181	164	164	162	163	162	158	154	164 ± 8
HRMAX (%HRMAXLab)	99.5	90.1	90.1	89.0	89.6	89.0	86.8	84.6	89.8 ± 4.3
POAVERAGE (Watt)	208 ± 25	166 ± 26	170 ± 72	165 ± 75	167 ± 29	160 ± 31	151 ± 22	148 ± 28	167 ± 18
POAVERAGE (%PPOABSOLUTELab)	90.4	72.2	73.9	71.7	72.6	69.6	65.7	64.4	72.6 ± 8.0
POMAX (Watt)	223	196	193	193	195	193	184	174	194 ± 14
POMAX (%PPOABSOLUTELab)	97.0	85.2	83.9	83.9	84.8	83.9	80.0	75.7	84.3 ± 6.0
Body mass (kg)	48.2	49.6	48.1	49.2	49.7	49.9	49.9	49.8	49.3 ± 0.8
RPE (6–20) (points)	15	17	19	14	15	17	17	18	16.5 ± 1.7
Uphill cycling
Total altitude climbed (m)	2398	3099	2619	3366	2103	2732	3995	2141	2807 ± 650
Distance (km)	43.8	43.9	39.7	46.3	23.1	34.7	69.1	14.7	39 ± 16
Downhill cycling
Total altitude (m)	2512	2556	2770	4030	2333	2633	3264	3234	2917 ± 560
Distance (km)	29.1	26.4	26.8	67.1	27.5	34.6	28.2	34.9	34 ± 14

HR indicates heart rate; PO, power output and PPO, peak PO (both based on laboratory testing); RPE, rate of perceived exertion.