Hardest thing(s) you found from endurance events?

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bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

On 200+ mile rides I eat normal food. McD's is good, M&M's everything really. Sausage and egg butties go down really well. I ride long distances often so I must burn fats well. That is the point of riding long distances without gels in your back pocket. for the 24hr TT I have to stop and eat proper food as gels for more than 5 hours starts to cause problems.

Just ride your bike a few times on 100 mile rides. A 200 mile ride becomes possible if a 100 mile rides are comfortable.

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mattr
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by mattr

Boshk wrote:
Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:17 am
Today I set off to do a 100km....from my threads, you know my most was 50km.
I failed. My legs just gave up. I managed 81km.
Took me 3:22hrs average speed 24.4km/h (15.2mph), mainly loops with some hills at max 6%.
Loops is a bad idea. You get a chance to go home every lap, and it's boring. Doing it on your own is a bad idea. Boredom sets in.
Try and find either a club or some local audax/reliability rides. You'll find people to ride with who know interesting routes and who will talk to you.

My longest was a mistake. Went to do one event of three running from the same start. Followed the wrong group. Did 300km.

Turns out the 300km finished at a different location. So I had to ride home too.

That was stupid.

bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

Not that was a good thing to do.

6 and a bit years ago I was being pushed up hills on club runs. TOB and perseverance changes everything. Now my one day pb is 555km on a normal road bike.

It starts with TOB.

DutchMountains
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by DutchMountains

TOB?

220 miles in 16-18 hours I feel would be quite feasible (unless it's next month ;-))

As to long (base) training rides, a few remarks:
  • distance and speed are not important, measure your progress in how many hours you ride
  • you probably want to go slower than your are doing now... my target is to ride with HR between 65-70% of HRmax / 73-76% of lactate threshold (both measured by doing a VO2Max test at the hospital)
  • riding with someone else can be a good thing (more difficult to think "nah, not today..."), provided you don't push each other to go fast! unlike mattr I actually prefer riding solo, see what works for you
  • if your legs (quads most likely?) are hurting, consider riding with a lighter gear / higher cadence (this needs practice...)
  • remember that riding in winter is always tougher/slower, the lower temperatures increase air and rolling resistance a little and your muscles will be a little less supple also

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by fromtrektocolnago

i always think i should have eaten and drank more on the bike.
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Lewn777
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by Lewn777

My longest ride is a bit over 400kms. Also I've done an Everesting.

My ideas are:
  • Stay away from simple sugary carbs like gels and soft drinks until you near the end of the ride, instead eat slower burning carbs like wholewheat bread and oats. Fats seem to work for me, chocolate coated nuts, peanut butter etc. Protein isn't needed until you finish the event to help recovery.
  • Make sure bike is working perfectly. Get a new chain, cables, maybe tires and brake pads installed a week or two before the event and get everything tuned again a few days before. Make sure chain is oiled and excess wiped off before the ride and tires pumped up to 100psi or there abouts.
  • Don't bother with thin mega fast tires that save weight, get something tougher like Continental Four Seasons or Panaracer Race D Evo 3. You lose loads of time if you get flat. Think about bringing CO2 inflator and cartridges.
  • Make sure you use iso drinks or powder, keeps cramps and other nasties away.
  • Riding listening to Podcasts on headphones, best if they are bone conduction types can keep you occupied mentally, sometimes put on some music if you are going to do a climb.
  • Make sure you like your saddle.
Last edited by Lewn777 on Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

TOB= time on bike.

200 mile ride take about 12hrs in the summer. The last 12hr TT i did I managed 225 miles on a normal road bike but I was knackered from lack of sleep before the start and had to have a nap near the end.

There are fast tyres that are flat resistant. I use tubeless IRC roadlites for long rides. Tubeless tyres heal thy self nearly all of the time which is a bonus. 100psi if using tubeless then you can drop that to 80 psi or less and that is lovely.

TOB though teaches you all this. you actually have to find out the hard way and then you know what works for you.

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Lewn777
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by Lewn777

bm0p700f wrote:
Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:25 pm
TOB= time on bike.

200 mile ride take about 12hrs in the summer. The last 12hr TT i did I managed 225 miles on a normal road bike but I was knackered from lack of sleep before the start and had to have a nap near the end.

There are fast tyres that are flat resistant. I use tubeless IRC roadlites for long rides. Tubeless tyres heal thy self nearly all of the time which is a bonus. 100psi if using tubeless then you can drop that to 80 psi or less and that is lovely.

TOB though teaches you all this. you actually have to find out the hard way and then you know what works for you.
Yep, I like Panaracer Evo 3 Race A tubeless with orange sealant. But not everyone has tubeless ready wheels.

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Lelandjt
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by Lelandjt

Maybe I missread the OP or scanned past someone saying what I'm about to but I feel like the obvious isn't being stated:
The OP is talking 220mi in 1 day, right?
And so far they've done 2 hours of relaxed riding, so 30ish miles? Less?

I'd say this is a MASSIVE step that requires much building up to. At the very least this weekend they should try getting on their bike at dawn and trying to ride till dusk just to get an idea of what that's like cuz it's probably not gonna be close to 220mi. I applaude the ambition but unless you're a young athletic type who just hasn't put any effort into cycling yet this is probably a bigger jump than you can make in 1 year.

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Conza
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by Conza

Boshk wrote:
Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:02 pm
I'm thinking about this charity event next year 2019 which is an endurance ride of around 220miles/360km+ (Edited ...gave wrong distance info).
  • My experience is very low, longest is only about 2hrs of relaxed riding.
    I'm trying to get a scope on how people train and what their biggest hurdles were on these longer distance rides...
    On your first ever big distance ride (so 200km and upwards), what was/were the biggest things that you wish you had done/adjusted/changed/took?
Some noteable endurance cycling palmarès:
[1] Everesting Mt. Coot-tha — https://www.strava.com/activities/216743529
[2] Hardest Climb in the World: Mauna Kea — https://www.strava.com/activities/404544918
[3] Mauna Loa (Largest Volcano on Earth) — https://www.strava.com/activities/409771321
[4] Alpine Classic — yesterday — https://www.strava.com/activities/1377183712

Varying degrees of fitness for each of these. 2 and 3 - cut short distance wise because of not being prepared enough (and having real bad luck - elaboration in the descriptions there).

Funnily enough the fittest I've ever been in my life by a long shot (had finished training for an Ironman with only 8 weeks *lucky(?) enough to win a free entry*). Travelled to Kona for the IM World Champs (support about 8 team mates who had qualified, so I went to do [2], and [3] instead. Made it but the descent and adventure back was cut short.

So fitness ain't usually the biggest hurdle if you have a strong mental game, but it definitely helps. Get that goal in mind, or motivation - the stronger it burns to get it done, the easier to surmount the challenge.

Fitness wise - when I had never done anything like [1] and was just kick-starting endurance related things, I was cooked for maybe a month straight afterwards. Did some rides etc, but absolutely NO kick or punch. Was so lethargic. Crazy feeling and how long it took my body to recover (fit healthy 25). That was with a solid base of climbing under me and commuting as well. Sneak in the km's when you can.

Beyond that I did [1] with a fair few solid rides in the lead up (mental battle of pushing for halfway, see how I felt a month or so out). That helped. It is often all about the mental battles.
  • Getting nutrition right is the other factor. Train with what you will be eating.
  • I had that dialled in and was ok for my events.
  • Don't go into the red.
  • I have done sweet fark all riding lately, and only way I survived the 250km yesterday was not going anaerobic (Z5). Aimed to keep around or below my max aerobic HR. No gels, or sugar all day. Just burning fat. No up n' downs and no post carb crashes. Takes months to get adapted but well worth it.
It's all about the adventure :o .

kode54
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by kode54

find a group of riders that ride your pace and draft as much as you can to keep yourself in the ride. it'll help with the company.

as others have said, nutrition is key. easy to forget to drink when you're not thirsty...but by the time you need a drink, it'll be too late.
i take a HotShot (to prevent cramps) during a long hard ride as insurance for cramping. i try to be preventative, but difficult to do sometimes.
for training, i do back to back rides that exceeds my ultimate goal no matter how tired i am the following day. like others have said...ride as much as you can without overtraining.
i take into account all rides for training. recovery rides, fast rides, long rides, easy rides but try to maintain a goal. best to find someone else to train with...makes it much easier to keep on track.

good luck with it. longest ride i've done is 140 miles. was thinking about doing a double century this year.
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by bilwit

Boshk wrote:
Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:17 am
You guys who regularly do long rides, especially those who do 300 to 1000km or more in a day, (180miles+) my biggest admiration to you.... :thumbup:

Today I set off to do a 100km....from my threads, you know my most was 50km.
I failed. My legs just gave up. I managed 81km.

Took me 3:22hrs average speed 24.4km/h (15.2mph), mainly loops with some hills at max 6%.

Came home, try as best I could to cool down by stretching etc.....in the end, I actually fell asleep for an hour.

You guys who 'just' go for a 100mile ride....your endurance is inspiring.
Such a long way to go before I can even think about this 350km charity ride. :unbelievable:
Sounds like an issue with pace. It's always easy in the beginning to think you can afford to make a big effort (up a hill, passing someone else, getting rid of a wheelsucker, etc) but it's not worth it. Ever. (except if the objective is intensity training rather than finishing). You will pay for it dearly. Don't worry about things like having a respectable speed, all that stuff follows with fitness but learning how to pace yourself throughout a ride is the first step.

alanmclean
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by alanmclean

great thread.

+1 ride with friends or a club (or friends in a club)

in reply to OP I found that I managed my first big rides ok, not because of some training plan, or clever kit or feeding strategy, but just because I had done a few day-long rides and knew what it felt like, what to expect, what was normal and when to eat and drink etc.

For instance there are often times when your legs feel dead and people around you are flying, but you know you'll get better (if you eat!). Also there are times on long rides when you feel invincible, especially in a fast group, but followed by a sudden bonk as you run out of fuel. In normal life, and most other sports, people never experience these scenarios so they come as quite a shock. But if you've had it before then a little voice will tell you if you are just tired, or really tired, or absolutely cooked and need to get in the broom wagon!

Once you've done a few rides of 100miles plus, and compared your size, fitness and equipment with fellow riders then you will have a pretty good idea of how your body and kit works. You will be your own expert. Not many people can advise you after that (unless going for some epic audax). Enjoy.

Boshk
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by Boshk

mattr wrote:
Fri Jan 26, 2018 6:26 pm
Boshk wrote:
Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:17 am
Today I set off to do a 100km....from my threads, you know my most was 50km.
I failed. My legs just gave up. I managed 81km.
Took me 3:22hrs average speed 24.4km/h (15.2mph), mainly loops with some hills at max 6%.
Loops is a bad idea. You get a chance to go home every lap, and it's boring. Doing it on your own is a bad idea. Boredom sets in.
Try and find either a club or some local audax/reliability rides. You'll find people to ride with who know interesting routes and who will talk to you.

My longest was a mistake. Went to do one event of three running from the same start. Followed the wrong group. Did 300km.

Turns out the 300km finished at a different location. So I had to ride home too.

That was stupid.
yea, bad idea actually :mrgreen:
Lelandjt wrote:
Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:44 pm
Maybe I missread the OP or scanned past someone saying what I'm about to but I feel like the obvious isn't being stated:
The OP is talking 220mi in 1 day, right?
And so far they've done 2 hours of relaxed riding, so 30ish miles? Less?

I'd say this is a MASSIVE step that requires much building up to. At the very least this weekend they should try getting on their bike at dawn and trying to ride till dusk just to get an idea of what that's like cuz it's probably not gonna be close to 220mi. I applaude the ambition but unless you're a young athletic type who just hasn't put any effort into cycling yet this is probably a bigger jump than you can make in 1 year.
Totally agree especially after I tried doing 100km only.....as I mention, that didn't work out.

I'm not young anymore so much training needed.
As all the other guys with tons of experience have said, pacing, experimenting with food and drink, ride in groups/friends, don't do loops in front of my flat etc etc

My attempt of 100km failed on many reasons:
I wasn't fit enough or at least my legs wasn't 'used' to it,
rode pass my flat 3 times....(sofa, tv, food....comforting thought)
didn't drink enough (only had a bottle and didn't bother refilling at petrol station),
ate 1 tiny bowl of oats & water before, then small energy bar only during the ride...
did loops involving long (to me) hills
rode alone....

and like RussellS said, its not equipment, don't focus on it, thankfully, my saddle, bib shorts.. still felt ok after 3.5hrs, felt a bit numb on my behind but I'm guessing thats because I got tired and never got 'off' the saddle to allow for more circulation.

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by kzy090

Pacing, drinking eating, and NaCl.
Body comes first, bike second.
I wish I could time travel and tell myself, then...

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