It's awesome watching you push yourself brother! Descents get easier the more you do them, you can take my word for it. I sucked at the beginning of my road trip, now 50 mph feels super comfortable.
Wow! Awesome Benji! I'm a LRCP fan who came over to check out your channel after you asked us to give it a watch on your Giro Route Preview Show. Well done; not only for your achievement but your channel presentation. I'll be sticking around to enjoy your other videos.😍
Well done. I recently got back into cycling for more than commuting and found that summiting a mountain for the first time makes it much easier the next times - there's a big difference between knowing you can do it on an intellectual level and actually having done it before.
Cheers, Benji, great effort to achieve your goal. I am now 62 years old and also have fear when descending steep grades. However, i can remember having no fear at all, back when I was in my 20s living in California. Strange how things change. I'm looking forward to following your cycling journey.
Massive effort Benji. Watching your journey over the last few years since you joined the LRCP has been awesome. I climbed ventoux on Monday for the first time, brutal climb but beautiful
You hit the nail on the head about the gearing. I run a 50-34 front and 34t rear as a 65kg rider with a 4.2wkg ftp and I use every gear. Available gearing has improved recently but road bikes are still coming spec'd with gearing for the pros. The vast majority of cyclist should be running bigger cassettes than are available. For your next attempt definitely bring your own bike or even rent a gravel bike as most will have a dinner plate on the back. I'd also suggest getting out of the saddle once it hits 10%+ just to stay on top of the gear, helps to break up the effort and you can pretend to be Contador for a minute (which is always fun). Great effort 👍
Wow! What a great video. A few things.... 1. I try to avoid thinking about how many kilometers remain. Bradley Wiggins in his book about setting the hour said he broke the effort up into pieces, and in each piece, he imagined how good he'd feel at the end of that piece, but never thought about how much time he had left in the full hour. I try to do the same thing on climbs.... "Okay -- 2 km done. Imagine 3 km done." 2. I've heard "death before dismount." This is terrible advice. It's fantastic you took your breaks but then kept going. 3. Altitude is a real challenge. The main thing with altitude is to absolutely avoid going over threshold, as the penalty for going over threshold is greater at altitude. Any hard efforts and you dig yourself in a hole it's hard to crawl out of. 4. On descending, the best advice I ever got was "relax". Any tension slows you down. So no tension. Just focus up the road, and relax. Congrats on the amazing progress!
First of all, congrats on getting that segment! For the downhill you can adjust your brake levers to make them a couple mms closer to your hands. It helped me a lot to gain confidence on my bike. Try it!
When I changed from Ultegra 52-34 to GRX 48-31 with an 11-34 cassette it made the world of difference. I hardly spend anytime in the 11th sprocket using the 48 so why the hell do I need a 52? Now the you have done it the mind will be much better because you know you can. Well Done!
Congratulations man, you really should explore gearing options, even the gravel spread, trying a mullet setup might be suitable for you, being a heavier rider. cadence is key to sucess!
Nice work, man. I ain't the best at going up hill, but I tend to actually enjoy it. The views, the alone time, and that feeling of getting it DONE. Plus, I'll ride all day uphill if there's gonna be a sweet downhill after! Ha, climbs are kinda like soccer for me! I SUCK at it, but it's always a blast to play.
Super awesome video mate, really enjoyed your determination to get to the summit. Definitely consider changing your gearing for the next attempt, keeping a higher cadence is crucial for longer efforts like Ordino. Regardless, great video as always!
We've all been there or are still there, congrats on pushing yourself and not quitting! we all have the same smile when we finish a segment that we did not think we could do or that was super scary at first, and that's what I love most about cycling.
I spent couple of days in La Massana this August and it was absolutely amazing! Went up Ordino-Arcalis, Coll d'Ordino, Port de Cabús and Collada de Beixalis (my knees!) and half-way up Arinsal (road to the top was closed for mountain biking championship). I can wholeheartedly recommend it :-)
Well done Benji! Heck of an achievement. Yes, I was gonna say that you need much better gearing. That will make it much easier to ride up those climbs. I have a gravel bike, and honestly, the easier gearing helps a ton on climbs that are 7% and up.
Judging by your wrist position your handlebars are probably ~40mm too wide - maybe even more. That will also bring the drops significantly closer to you too and make descending / braking on them easier.
Great job with all of the progress, Benji! I would die at that low cadence/high ramps and would have changed chainring/cassette after Day 1. The mountain experience with all those weather changes - epic!! Someday I hope you come to the U.S. Rocky Mountains :)
Hey bro, a little tip from a guy who cycling alot natiomal and international, i would recemond u to use like a 52t-34 or even 50t-34 for the cadence :) myself i use 53-34 and have an ftpp on around 380-400, so naturly i have a bit higher cadense. Anyways congrats and keep up the good work
Super nice video, congrats on the achievement! Super motivating video for cyclists from all levels. Love the humble honesty that most people wouldn’t want to show. Big respect ❤
Really like your videos! I haven't quite built up the courage to go out on the roads in the UK as drivers terrify me! I'll stick to the wattbike through winter and maybe get out in Spring 🤣🤣 I quite like climbing (relative to my own fitness levels) and want to do some climbs in the real world!
I'll be honest, I don't think I'll be playing PCM again any time soon. I'm really enjoying creating the content I'm currently making, and I didn't have that with PCM anymore. Sorry! 😭
Please get a bigger cassette! At least a 1:1 ratio. The higher cadence will save your legs and give you more flexibility to maintain reasonable cadence both in and out of the saddle
Great video, love the update! Continued awesome progress!!! Don't stop! Perhaps your biggest issue in climbing a mountain is that your are Belgian? Not that Belgians can't climb, but your natural environment should be hammering over cobbles and up short bergs....not mountains!! LOL! In all seriousness....awesome progress!
Well, that explains the wheel reflectors and dork disc... No self respecting cycling fashionista would keep those. (Side note: what's the masculine form of fashionista? "Dandy" didn't feel right.)
Great video Benji, riding uphill there's only one secret really: don't stop. Even though you are suffering beyond what you thought was possible, never stop turning those pedals!
@@BenjiNaesenTV make sense, anyway, if you really wanna know what FTP can you hold, I recommend what Stephen Seiler said, Rest, man up, and go to a climb for 1 hour and do your best, then you got your real FTP! As I said, gratz, is a good achivement! progress is real
So... Anglirú when??? Want some braking tips? Never do it as long as you see the road is straight, just don't. This will actually help you feel speed much better and eventually you'll also go fast on corners and such once you learn about leaning. If the road is straight and you see no cracks, forget about the brakes.
![[#2024MAMA] G-DRAGON - 무제(Untitled, 2014)+POWER+HOME SWEET HOME+뱅뱅뱅+FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ox29z5Nf1Uk/mqdefault.jpg)
Zoncolan next 😆
No quiting for Benji, climbing is as much a mental challenge as physical one and arriving on the top of a climb is the best feeling there is!
Hope we see you and LR take on mythical climbs like Ventoux Stelvio Zoncolan Angliru in the future!
It's awesome watching you push yourself brother!
Descents get easier the more you do them, you can take my word for it. I sucked at the beginning of my road trip, now 50 mph feels super comfortable.
Most motivating cycling video I’ve watched in awhile - and I watch an embarrassing amount of Tadej/MVDP highlights. Loved it - keep riding!
“I’m on a mountain! I’m on a f**king mountain!!!” Well done my man! You’re incredible.
Ordino did not drop you, brother!
That moment of realization that you are going to complete your challenge is pure. Well done!
fair fucking play benji, youve got a really impressive temperament that will take you wherever you want to go. subscribed!
Good job, Benji. In the words of Captain Jason Nesmith: Never give up! Never surrender! 😉
Wow! Awesome Benji! I'm a LRCP fan who came over to check out your channel after you asked us to give it a watch on your Giro Route Preview Show. Well done; not only for your achievement but your channel presentation. I'll be sticking around to enjoy your other videos.😍
hey benji, great ride!
can you please give patrick his chin back?
kind regards.
Your enthusiasm is 2nd to none! Made me smile :) Great job, I've never ridden in this altitude.
Well done. I recently got back into cycling for more than commuting and found that summiting a mountain for the first time makes it much easier the next times - there's a big difference between knowing you can do it on an intellectual level and actually having done it before.
Great job! You go man! "I'm on the top of a f*ckin' mountain!" 👏👏👏
Cheers, Benji, great effort to achieve your goal. I am now 62 years old and also have fear when descending steep grades. However, i can remember having no fear at all, back when I was in my 20s living in California. Strange how things change. I'm looking forward to following your cycling journey.
Your bars look wide af with this shot 🤣. congrats on another objective . keep ´em coming 💪
Massive effort Benji. Watching your journey over the last few years since you joined the LRCP has been awesome. I climbed ventoux on Monday for the first time, brutal climb but beautiful
LETS GOOOOOOO dude you are unreal keep smashing it👊
Dude this is so well produced. I'm excited for things to come. This is a major quality upgrade from the earlier IRL vids. Chapeau!!
You hit the nail on the head about the gearing. I run a 50-34 front and 34t rear as a 65kg rider with a 4.2wkg ftp and I use every gear. Available gearing has improved recently but road bikes are still coming spec'd with gearing for the pros. The vast majority of cyclist should be running bigger cassettes than are available.
For your next attempt definitely bring your own bike or even rent a gravel bike as most will have a dinner plate on the back. I'd also suggest getting out of the saddle once it hits 10%+ just to stay on top of the gear, helps to break up the effort and you can pretend to be Contador for a minute (which is always fun).
Great effort 👍
Benji, you are an inspiration. Big Probz
Major kudos, sir. Keep it going
Wow! What a great video.
A few things....
1. I try to avoid thinking about how many kilometers remain. Bradley Wiggins in his book about setting the hour said he broke the effort up into pieces, and in each piece, he imagined how good he'd feel at the end of that piece, but never thought about how much time he had left in the full hour. I try to do the same thing on climbs.... "Okay -- 2 km done. Imagine 3 km done."
2. I've heard "death before dismount." This is terrible advice. It's fantastic you took your breaks but then kept going.
3. Altitude is a real challenge. The main thing with altitude is to absolutely avoid going over threshold, as the penalty for going over threshold is greater at altitude. Any hard efforts and you dig yourself in a hole it's hard to crawl out of.
4. On descending, the best advice I ever got was "relax". Any tension slows you down. So no tension. Just focus up the road, and relax.
Congrats on the amazing progress!
Congrats for making it up!
Great video Benji and congratulations on the climb! 🙌🏼 Really enjoying this series mate, so many cyclists can relate to it. 👍🏼
First of all, congrats on getting that segment! For the downhill you can adjust your brake levers to make them a couple mms closer to your hands. It helped me a lot to gain confidence on my bike. Try it!
When I changed from Ultegra 52-34 to GRX 48-31 with an 11-34 cassette it made the world of difference. I hardly spend anytime in the 11th sprocket using the 48 so why the hell do I need a 52? Now the you have done it the mind will be much better because you know you can. Well Done!
Well done Benji! HC next. Granny gears all day mate, you will climb anything! Keep up the honest content, I think it will motivate many people.
Congratulations man, you really should explore gearing options, even the gravel spread, trying a mullet setup might be suitable for you, being a heavier rider. cadence is key to sucess!
But you keep on riding up hills, for your composition its really good. 👍🔥🤟
Well done Benji!
Well done Benji , looking forward to see your progress! Now you are in the UK you will have to visit Yorkshire and great Dunn fell
Nice work, man. I ain't the best at going up hill, but I tend to actually enjoy it. The views, the alone time, and that feeling of getting it DONE. Plus, I'll ride all day uphill if there's gonna be a sweet downhill after!
Ha, climbs are kinda like soccer for me! I SUCK at it, but it's always a blast to play.
Killing it boss. Way to persevere. See you on the slopes of Alpe Du Zwift. No altitude to contend with …
This content is epic, good progress. Keep going💪
Congratulations, what an achievement. I have watched quite a few of your videos and you are an inspiration. Keep up the great work!
Super awesome video mate, really enjoyed your determination to get to the summit. Definitely consider changing your gearing for the next attempt, keeping a higher cadence is crucial for longer efforts like Ordino. Regardless, great video as always!
We've all been there or are still there, congrats on pushing yourself and not quitting! we all have the same smile when we finish a segment that we did not think we could do or that was super scary at first, and that's what I love most about cycling.
I spent couple of days in La Massana this August and it was absolutely amazing! Went up Ordino-Arcalis, Coll d'Ordino, Port de Cabús and Collada de Beixalis (my knees!) and half-way up Arinsal (road to the top was closed for mountain biking championship). I can wholeheartedly recommend it :-)
Well done. Gradient on that climb not so much the issue, it's the altitude that's the killer when your body is not used it.
Thats hype man, cool to see
Nice one Benji, well done 👏💪
Looking forward to seeing how you go on your own bike 🤩
Loved it Benji 👌
Great job man, really relating to your cycling journey. Keep challenging yourself and putting out that excellent LRCP content. Chapeau!
Love the country music in the intro!
Well done Benji! Heck of an achievement. Yes, I was gonna say that you need much better gearing. That will make it much easier to ride up those climbs.
I have a gravel bike, and honestly, the easier gearing helps a ton on climbs that are 7% and up.
DALE BENJI!!! FORZA
Great Video
Benji you are so fucking cracked.
Great work.
Congratulations Benji!!! It has been so cool to watch your progress on the bike,
Judging by your wrist position your handlebars are probably ~40mm too wide - maybe even more. That will also bring the drops significantly closer to you too and make descending / braking on them easier.
Whats was your gearing because you really were like padelling slow. If for exemple i have 3 at the front and 8 in the back, but is a mountain bike.
He‘s back!!
Love the vid Benji, but are those your pyjama pants at 1:10
congrats benji! great job
Well done Benji
Great job with all of the progress, Benji! I would die at that low cadence/high ramps and would have changed chainring/cassette after Day 1. The mountain experience with all those weather changes - epic!! Someday I hope you come to the U.S. Rocky Mountains :)
Hey bro, a little tip from a guy who cycling alot natiomal and international, i would recemond u to use like a 52t-34 or even 50t-34 for the cadence :) myself i use 53-34 and have an ftpp on around 380-400, so naturly i have a bit higher cadense. Anyways congrats and keep up the good work
👏 absolute legend mate
Super nice video, congrats on the achievement! Super motivating video for cyclists from all levels.
Love the humble honesty that most people wouldn’t want to show.
Big respect ❤
Really like your videos! I haven't quite built up the courage to go out on the roads in the UK as drivers terrify me! I'll stick to the wattbike through winter and maybe get out in Spring 🤣🤣 I quite like climbing (relative to my own fitness levels) and want to do some climbs in the real world!
Love to see you improving!
Congrats Benji! Now do Tudor again please...
I'll be honest, I don't think I'll be playing PCM again any time soon. I'm really enjoying creating the content I'm currently making, and I didn't have that with PCM anymore. Sorry! 😭
Please get a bigger cassette! At least a 1:1 ratio. The higher cadence will save your legs and give you more flexibility to maintain reasonable cadence both in and out of the saddle
curious to see how your experience going up that climb compares to doing it on the climb portal on Zwift. Did you notice big differences?
Great video, love the update! Continued awesome progress!!! Don't stop! Perhaps your biggest issue in climbing a mountain is that your are Belgian? Not that Belgians can't climb, but your natural environment should be hammering over cobbles and up short bergs....not mountains!! LOL! In all seriousness....awesome progress!
Wikipedia: Benji Naesen is the most underrated Belgian cyclist . . . content creator!🤭 . . . 😉😉
i can only suggest a 34 to 36...even if you have an ftp of 5w/kg. but cadence is king for me in a mountain / hilly region. dont loose the enthusiasm!
Generally a really nice guy. Spill the beans on why he's not fully a nice guy😅
Haha, I actually said “genuinely” 😂
Nice one mate! Did you get the KOM?
Almost! Only over an hour off!
You are undergeared. 34 x 32 is the smart way to go
I definitely was, but it was a rental bike so next time, I'll take my own bike.
Well, that explains the wheel reflectors and dork disc...
No self respecting cycling fashionista would keep those.
(Side note: what's the masculine form of fashionista? "Dandy" didn't feel right.)
When Minecraft series?
Hi Benji. I live near sega d'ala. If you fancy giving it a shot for content give me a shout and I'll help you out with logistics etc. Thanks. Peter.
Great achievement!!!!
I would say that if your not racing then there is no reason to go fast downhill.
...en zijn 23 was nog helemaal schoon.
The rental bike has a dork disk on the back (the plaster disc betweenthe cassette and wheel) 😂 you'll smoke it on your own bike!
Cadence!
tha wahoo not being centerd makes me angry haha
Haha, can't because the invisible camera stick is attached at the center. 😄
Great video Benji, riding uphill there's only one secret really: don't stop. Even though you are suffering beyond what you thought was possible, never stop turning those pedals!
So what gears were you riding?
Honestly, don't remember. It was a rental bike that wasn't ideal for climbing clearly.
Do you have a new bike?
This was a rental bike.
Mate, you need to change your gear ratio and also remove those noob reflectors and cassette guard.
It was a rental bike. :)
👍
next step: Zoncolan ;-)
no pcm ? 😢
Nice effort! Please get some easier gears for your own sake :D
Haha, I will. It was even more painful on the bike as it was for you to look at. 😂
Gratz
but st does not add up,
your FTP was 255W, you should be able to average 180W easy
This was recorded back when my FTP was around 215 w.
@@BenjiNaesenTV make sense,
anyway, if you really wanna know what FTP can you hold, I recommend what Stephen Seiler said,
Rest, man up, and go to a climb for 1 hour and do your best, then you got your real FTP!
As I said, gratz, is a good achivement! progress is real
Brooo is this yellow plastic on your wheels slowing you down. Take that shit off immediately! :)
It's a rental bike so I couldn't exactly rip it off. 🙈
So... Anglirú when???
Want some braking tips? Never do it as long as you see the road is straight, just don't. This will actually help you feel speed much better and eventually you'll also go fast on corners and such once you learn about leaning. If the road is straight and you see no cracks, forget about the brakes.
Well done! Angliru up next 🚵♂