[Closed] 100 milers, SDW and 'white roads' back to back weekends ?

Comes down to how well you've trained, how much training load you are able to sustain and how many hours and at what intensity you anticipate it taking you to complete the first one.
Also an element of how much you want to sacrifice quality riding in the month after your events.

Should be perfectly possible though if you are in good shape. Going long on back to back days is fairly common, so back to back weekends should be fine.

I think i'm doing OK training wise with Zwift and outdoors, i'm doing about 25 hours per month at the moment and for the last 5 months. I expect to start upping that time to 30+ after this month and up to 35+ leading up to event, but will obviously be some at a lower intensity.

The 100 mile White roads seems to be 65% road, 35% off road, so i'm expecting that to be about 7 hours ride time. I forsee it being more of a slog than a sprint fest.
SDW will be more like 10-11 hours.

Should be no problem off a 35hr month - to hit that kind of volume you are looking at long(4+hr) weekend rides being pretty normal.

Just make sure you don't treat the first one like a race and finish utterly gubbed. Should be no problem having a 'spirited' ride and pushing on a bit, but don't want to be running the tank dry with 3hrs still to go and riding the last portion digging into your reserves - that's when you start incurring big recovery time.

First one it looks like it will be with a mate, he's a bit slower than me and we'll be riding at his pace, so i should be getting done with that with a decent bit left in me.

As fifeandy says, it depends on how you ride/race the distances. If I ride at a comfortable pace, eat regularly and keep hydrated then I can do 200Km off-road on consecutive days. If I "race" or neglect the food/hydration then 100Km on the road does me in.

Comfortable pace generally means being able to hold a conversation, there'll be bits where you go into the red for short steep climbs but these will be rare.

Comes down to how well you've trained, how much training load you are able to sustain and how many hours and at what intensity you anticipate it taking you to complete the first one.

agreed.

What i'd want to do is get two weeks of heavy training load in, with an easy week before the first event. Then another easy week between them.

What an easy week means is personal. I don't like too long a taper, or too many days off the bike completely.

Fuelling and recovery will come into it too. Make sure you eat/ drink well through the first event. Recover well: eat well, soon after. Recovery ride the next day. Good nutrition, hydration and rest between the two weekends.

I did the SDW as quick as I could (ie with no consideration for recovery), then did a 300 mile road ride a week later with no ill effects. I'd done a tough 100 miles on the road the week before the SDW too.

Plenty of people do far longer rides back to back, at the end of the day it's entirely down to you. On the back on 30+ hour months I'd expect you to be absolutely fine though.

Well, that's all gone quite insane !!!

Chatting with Crust yesterday evening and working out logistics for the collection/meet-up etc, but Eastbourne is a LONG way away. Crust says to me "why don't we just ride the double and we're then back at the car?"

that's of course a VERY interesting idea in my mind... So much so that i've booked a hotel for both of us ! So we're now doing the SDW double that weekend.

Ideally need to work out a plan for getting a change of clothing down there to get changed into, but i was thinking of just boxing up some kit and posting it to the hotel..

Eeeeeek !

Lordy, that escalated quickly!

I don't want to put you off the double if you're excited by the idea, but tricky logistics isn't a reason! Is it because you have to change trains? 😀 😉

Eastbourne - Clapham Junction - Winchester, 2.5 hours.

Time somebody took a crack at the double double again.

You'll be fine.

Hotels will both receive and send on stuff for you.

It'll be fun, hope the weather holds out on the return journey, the wind in a SW'ly on top can be annoying at best.

Ned. It was more the dullness of the train.

Hotel are happy to get a box of stuff.

This way, if we wake up on the Sunday and it's lashing down etc we could still train it back if needed, but sod it, we've ridden the single twice now, so may as well make it the double. Let the training begin.

Let the training begin

If they were in the same weekend it might be tough, but unless you're flat out racing both I don't see an issue if you're in decent shape.

.Looking forward to hearing about an 8hr zwift session in the other thread!

No chance. Zwifting will now be a bit less racey but the longer rides will be outdoors. Already plotting a 4/5 hour this weekend if weather decent.

Sounds like a great goal for you both! If you planning on doing it together though, you will be better off training your sidekick as you would be fine at his pace already.....

And I don't say that harshly- Crust's fitness already sounds like it's coming along nicely but you are starting from a higher base.....

You're already doing way more training than when you last did the single so I wouldn't go too mad as you'll make yourself ravenously hungry!

I've been thinking for a while about doing my Salisbury Plain ride again but starting from home if you want a 100 mile day out some when.......

crosshair - Member

Sounds like a great goal for you both! If you planning on doing it together though, you will be better off training your sidekick as you would be fine at his pace already.....

And I don't say that harshly- Crust's fitness already sounds like it's coming along nicely but you are starting from a higher base.....

You're already doing way more training than when you last did the single so I wouldn't go too mad as you'll make yourself ravenously hungry!

I've been thinking for a while about doing my Salisbury Plain ride again but starting from home if you want a 100 mile day out some when.......

The Sidekick is flying mate, he's honestly fitter, faster than i've ever ridden with him at. So no worries there. Yes, i accept he's below my pace, all things being equal, i can't see that changing.. but his pace is better than previously that's for sure.

I'm always up for a 100 miler.... i'm still disappointed at my performance last time from Salisbury. Although we still have the problem that i'll be trying to ride at your pace being your slower sidekick 🙂

Well i have to admit, the SDW double is worrying me. Sat saw me doing an 86km ride, i wouldn't go as far as 'fresh as a daisy' as 86km of Ridgeway/roads is a decent length, but i feel happy i had more left in the tank.... but when you consdier the first leg of the journey is double that... so realistically double the time + some more... That's OK, it will just be a plod.... but then to head back again the next morning and do it in reverse... sheesh... i'm not sure i've got that in me.

The longer training rides will continue this weekend.. but i must admit i'm less optimistic than i was.

"Time somebody took a crack at the double double again."

why ? seems like a waste of a good couples of days riding to ride the same trail 4 times.

I'd say the double is a big ask and requires major league motivation.

I'd say the double is a big ask and requires major league motivation.

Yeah it's certainly seeming that way right now.... esepcially when you consider the SDW is considerably hillier than the Ridgeway. Even taking into account a couple of climbs up due to route planning... it's still a chunk more on the SDW. That said, I probably was riding quicker than i plan on doing the SDW in.... But only for half the distance too 🙂 My ride had 610m of climb, but the SDW has 3500 ! which is just bonkers LOL.
As stated earlier, we've done the SDW before... but i'm a little scared about the double now.

You'll be alright. Take it steady, don't go mad. You're never that far from civilisation if you want to bail out.

njee20 - Member

You'll be alright. Take it steady, don't go mad. You're never that far from civilisation if you want to bail out.

I'm not seeing bailing out as a discussion/option. If i get up on day 2 and put my kit on, i'm cyling all the way home... even if it takes me 24 hours instead of 12 🙂 It's going to be getting up on day 2 and actually starting the ride that's the hard part.

I think the weekend has shown me a few things, that where i've started to focus my training differently is deffo the way forward.. But with even more focus on longer slower. Saturdays ride was 4hr 45, so i really need to work on that being more like the riding rather than the 1 hour here and there. Sure, both will help, but i think psychologically being out on the bike for more and more hours will help massively when i have to do even MORE hours.
It will help also of course that i'll have a mate with me for the ride, we get on brilliantly and support eachother really well with banter and fun, so that will while away a few of the longer hours.

Onwards and Upwards as they say anyway. I'm taking 1 maybe even 2 days of rest now and then potentially on Weds i'll commute into the office, but take the long and scenic way home.

I'm still undecided on which bike to be using too. I think for the White Roads i'll use the Parkwood, it's great at covering the ground. But for the SDW Double, i'm still thinking the Whyte T-130 makes more sense from a comfort perspective.

I reckon a double would be seriously character building. Best of luck.
I've done the SDW once before and this year want to do it in a day - my plan is to do it over two days on a mtb,bikepacking , obvs. Just to remind myself of the route & stuff, then go for it in one .Late summer,cx tastic.
I see Trail rats point - but for me & the op, I think,it's geographically easy to get to and less time wasted travelling is more on the bike.. 🙂

Here's to some kind weather...

Oh senor i get the double

I just don't get the double double.

Based on the amount of Zwifting you've done you'll be fine, you're over thinking it.

Sore arse is a bigger risk

Sore arse is a bigger risk

This is why i'm very much likely to use the Whyte T-130 at this stage, the HT is arguably quicker, but it's not about speed, more about comfort and grinding out the miles.

Oh senor i get the double

I just don't get the double double.

+1

With that amount of time I'd rather go somewhere.

This is why i'm very much likely to use the Whyte T-130 at this stage

The SDW ride, do it on a hardtail and provided you have a comfortable saddle (& gooch cream) you'll be fine. What the full sus will give you in perceived comfort you'll lose in extra effort. I did it on my carbon 29er ht and never felt uncomfortable. Wasn't even remotely sore the next day.

Two pairs of shorts FTW.

Get a set of nice fast XC tyres for it, then you've got the comfort and don't lose a horrid amount of speed.

That's the thinking yes, i've currently got a Rapid Rob on the front and i've just picked up a Maxxis Crossmark II for the rear, both should be pretty quick. But i doubt i'll still have either by the time we get to July anyway, so will likely be a new pair on for the events.

Painey, i did it once on a Meta 55, which was bloody hard work as really not suited, especially as it was 1x10
The 2nd time i did on a Giant XTC29 which was of course a lot 'quicker' but was certainly more hard work from a bumpy perspective...

This time i've got a choice of the PArkwood 29 or the Whyte T130. the Parkwood is very effective, but DAMN it's a dull heavy unweildy bike to ride... the thing is just not nice.... but it's very good at covering distance.
The Whyte is a pure joy to ride though.

I'll be interested to weigh the two and see if/what difference.

njee20 - Member

Two pairs of shorts FTW.

At the same time ? I did think of that you know... but i thought "maybe that's just completely silly"

Yep, always done it on long rides, works for me. Try it before, it will impact your effective saddle height.

Whilst weight of bikes isn't the be all and end all for my selection I thought I'd weigh them in. OK, so I was using the very rudimentary technique of standing on scales holding bikes, the difference between the two was 400gr. When you consider that the whyte is running a 2.35 trail boss rear that will end up going to a light xc tyre for events, it means they're going to come in at pretty much exactly the same weight.
Which leaves only comfort and rolling into the discussion.

So the Whyte is winning by a fair margin

We had a very productive and semi-scientific ride last night out on the trails. Recently i switched the Parkwood 29 to faster XC tyres. Running tubeless too (but they also were previously), they were previously on On-one Smorgasboard and Chunky Monkey combo.
Last night on the first decent on the Ridgeway, we noticed as we were both rolling, i was pulling ahead of the Spearfish, and by a not small amount ! Was it a random pedal stroke more at the top, was it a better and faster line... Who knows. In all our other rides, the Spearfish has seemed the best rolling bike we've had together, always pulling away.
Next descent we try again, matching speed and letting it roll... the PArkwood positively flew away again.
Onto decent 3, this is the long one down to Streatley on the Ridgeway with the drainage jumps for anyone who knows it.. So we swapped bikes this time, to rule out any aero/weight, anything really. Crust on the PArkwood, me on the Spearfish. This time, we'd start off and i'd get in his wheel... Well... i'd try to anyway. As it worked out, the Parkwood pulled out a 15s lead on the first half of the descent.. I was following the Parkwood and it just flew away... BOOM! 15s just like that.

What this of course means in the real world is that on the lighter/faster rubber the rider is either going faster, or using less effort, depending on how you look at things. Either way, it's a considerable advantage to have compared to previous rides.

We did notice later on in the ride, if we let it roll more, then as we get to the flat/incline, somehow the Parkwood doesn't hold it's speed quite as well and the Fish comes back to it.. but that could be the weight of rider maybe as i'm heavier than him.

All in all, some of our recent rides have been brilliant for preparing for this coming event, this ride was no exception to that... Seeing Crust behind me when going uphill still shocks me every time, even though i'm not pushing 100%, i'm still hitting a pace that normally would have blown him out of the water, but i see him there every time ! It's both amusing and also really really good to see 🙂

Still putting in a fair few miles, although instead of most of them being Zwift miles, most are now outdoors. That does mean my overall miles/hour are dropping as Zwift miles are proper quick, averaging 38km/h or so usually. Whereas outdoor trails miles are 19-21km/h rides.

I'm still a little undecided on a few things at the moment regarding the SDW Double, which is the debate of what bike to use and the config for it.

I move from "yeah use the Parkwood 29" to "Damn the Whyte T130 is comfy"...

I think the comfort factor is going to be the decider really. The Whyte doesn't seem any slower and i'm still setting PRs on it on Ridgeway segments. But, as i'm riding with a mate who's slower than me, outright speed doesn't matter so much, so i may as well use the Whyte. Minor debate is whether to stick with 32T single, or go to a Doubble with granny ring, but i've got a good few months to decide that. There's very little i can't climb on a 32T in the real world we ride, but whether i'll be looking for that 22T about 150 miles into the double, hmmmmm maybe.

Comfort, every time. Which for me is the SS (over my FS Anthem). Works particularly well on SDW as it was easier mentally to walk bits which conserves energy, refreshes muscles and you can eat easily too.

Oh and paired, practice the taking turns at gates thing!

whether i'll be looking for that 22T about 150 miles into the double, hmmmmm maybe.

I'd say if you're mortal you'll be using it repeatedly for long sections once you're past Amberly heading east ie about 50miles in.

Don't underestimate it - some biig looong hills that keep on coming.

Well the training is ticking along, by the end of the month i'll pretty much make it to 3000km for 2017. Which i'm very happy with. The legs are of course taking a bit of a beating, but they're fine apart from some fatigue.
I've been putting in a few 4-5 hour rides which have been fine and even when training fatigued.
Whether or not we can manage back to back 100 miles is still very much open to debate.
But i'm happy that currently we'll complete day 1 🙂

Well today answered the first part of my questions anyway. I cannot ride the SDW on the Whyte T-130 with it's current gearing, it's a 32T front and a 36T cassette, it's not enough for me to clean Butser Hill. I could have got to the top with grim determination and effort, but riding it told me that for a sustained effort and a SDW double, the gearing simply isn't going to fly.
So we're on to plan B and C

B. Use the Parkwood which is running a 24/36 double front and SLX shifter
C. Fit a double 24/36 and mech to the Whyte

fit a stealth granny!

True true. Forgot that option indeed.

If you're having to stop at the bottom and top of every hill on the SDW to screw around with chains you are in for a long miserable experience. The key is to keep on pressing on. Just stopping for every other tap and having a pee every now and again will add over an hour each way

^^ this.

After long distance ITTs with a group start I've compared my time with those of the fast riders. Not only are they riding quicker but they aren't wasting as much time at stops, etc., not that I was being particularly slow. I used Strava which will give "total time" and "moving time".

It's worth figuring out in advance the bits where navigation might be a problem so you don't have to keep checking GPS or map.

It's not about rushing, it's about being efficient and making the best use of your time. Sometimes waiting is the best option: if you are at a cafe/shop and a shower arrives as you are about to leave then waiting five minutes for it to pass might be better than getting soaked.

If you're having to stop at the bottom and top of every hill on the SDW to screw around with chains you are in for a long miserable experience. The key is to keep on pressing on. Just stopping for every other tap and having a pee every now and again will add over an hour each way

Quite, however it would only be the exception to hills, not the rule. Don't forget, the entrance to Butser is gated, so you're stopping anyway. So is the exit, so again, you're stopping anyway.

I've ridden this before a few times, so it's not like i can't ride up 95% of the hills. I rode it on a 1x10 Commencal Meta, but we ended the ride at QECP that time.

if you are at a cafe/shop and a shower arrives as you are about to leave then waiting five minutes for it to pass might be better than getting soaked.

Get the Rain Alarm app on your phone for the "should I stay or should I go?" game.

With the gearing, you could always take the approach that if you need a lower gear, you might be just as quick walking. I did an on/off road 100 miler on the CX type thing, with 35 miles of SDW in there. Soingle ring 48T on the front and 11-36.

Walking speed up the steep stuff was 3mph, so when I couldn't push 48T beyond 3mph, I hopped off and pushed. Gives the muscles a change/break too, which might not be a bad thing with your back to back rides.

Indeed, was chatting with Yak from here last night over at QECP and the thought "Maybe you just take that one as a walk" did come into the conversation.

I've got a bit of testing to do yet as next time we're there in 2 weeks, i'll take the Parkwood and see how much easier and better it is on 2X using the granny. It may well be i find exactly that and the speed is so slow it's not worth bothering.

Think in terms of energy efficiency rather than having to clean every climb. You don't want to be going into the red, it just needs to be a constant effort that you can maintain for the duration of the ride. As your energy levels rise and fall you'll clean some climbs but not other, easier, ones. Sometimes I'll walk climbs that I know I can clean but it takes a lot of oomph to do so and I'd probably pay for it later.

All makes sense yup...

The good news is i'm going with an older, fatter, unfitter mate.. (sorry, i know you'll read this)... So most of it will be a stroll for me 🙂

Well, common sense kicked in and the Whyte is also now running 2x10

I'm not sure if I'll need the 2 in Spain in a few weeks, but if I do, I now have it.
I'm still not decided on which bike to use on this SDW double attempt, but again, now I have the option.

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I came back for Butsers revenge tonight. I was on the Parkwood this time with the granny.
I made it to the top, then down, then back up, then down, then got bored and did some other stuff.

That's a bloody tough hill that, even on a granny 24t ! Ouch!

You need a hardtail, not just any hardtail 😉

CXer for the up, DHer for the down ?

The Parkwood is a hardtail?

Well in a slightly sad turn of events the SDW double is now the SDW single. Which in itself is still very very tough to do... but not quite as tough.

Over in Spain it became apparent to Crust that 3000m+ for 2 days running will be outside of his ability. Sadly for me, Mrs Weeksy is away the weekend of this event so i couldn't get her to pick me up in Winchester if i completed the 2nd leg on my own. I do agree with Crust of course, i think for me, it would be a massive ask and i'm fitter than him, so for him to double it, would be a bonkers ask.

Either way, we'll single it, have beers, curry and fun !

We've still got the White Roads the weekend before as a tester 🙂

The single, beers and curry option sounds like a very good plan. Although a daylight finish should warrant fish n'chips by the sea surely? There's something nice about the W-E SDW in the way it is slowly pulling you towards the sea. And the seaside in summer = fish n' chips ! 🙂

That's how my food mind works anyway!

Fish and Chips and then curry and beers... 🙂

You've met me... you know how my food mind works 😉

Getting close now and thinking about how to rest and recover the legs pre event. Got 11 days to the first one which is the more road based White Roads 100 miler, then 6 days after that for the SDW. I can see me not riding at all between the 2 events, but i'm wondering now how to manage my legs etc in the last week leading up to the first one.

Any idea what the start time window is for the White Roads event? Can't see anything on the website and it interests me but would be a fair drive to get there. Good luck for both events btw.

On the entry page on the entry fee section

Date Start Distance Est. Field Size
Sun 09/07/17 09:00 161km ---

Read more at https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/153098/The-Lapierre-White-Roads-Classic-2017#yGyRXYCXTdy860Fx.99

I'm OK with that as it's only 20 mins from home, depending on the weather etc i may even cycle over there to save messing about taking the car.

I wouldn't do nothing. Probably carry on at a similar amount of hours to what you've been doing but do them all on your bike of choice at slightly less than your predicted event pace.
If you are going to race the hills rather than pace them then do a couple of hill repeat sessions perhaps Friday
or Saturday this week and Wednesday next week.
I'd not Rest the day before but perhaps have a day off the day before that.

The week in between, I'd definitely do a recovery ride the day after White Roads, with plenty of good food and sleep.
Then perhaps rest Tuesday and another short hill repeat/interval session on Wednesday, rest Thursday and Friday, recovery spin Saturday, smash Sunday 🙂

LOL there's no smashing hills or crushing times, i'm out with Crust on both events, so it's a nice pootle type day out for me and certainly on the White roads being his Domestique and keeping him out of the wind mostly.

One of these days i'll do a long event and be able to wallop along at the best pace i can... but neither of these days are that i'm afraid.

Ok, well still do the hill repeat days, just do them at Crusts pace. Not as a fitness-adding smashfest but just a primer to get your body used to what it's about to face.

Not sure what to say really. I failed.

I set off early and cycled over for event and met up with crust. Sign on was done quickly so we thought, its not a race, let's get on with it and left early.

2 hours in, we'd averaged just under 12mph and to be honest I think it got worse from there for a while, we then hit Dragon Hill up at the White Horse, Huffington, that was some hill I tell you!

Next up was feed stop, I was feeling great! Crust not so much. About 10km later after another climb he tells me he's bailing out. Fair enough, can't argue.
So I cracked on alone and I think this was where it all went wrong, next section of ridgeway I was over 14mph then down to Lambourne I was chasing 2 guys and did them in the end, but I'm guessing I'd used up all I had.
We then had the hardest hill I've ever ridden, 24 front, 36 rear and struggling to get up it. I stopped and grabbed food and felt better. My thighs though were destroyed by then. Ah well, we'll keep going, sort of. It was getting harder and harder, a long road climb out of Lambourne was telling as the 2 boys I passed earlier came past me.

Eventually I reached the food stop, about a mile outside Wantage, I was done, I called the wife and told her to come collect me.

5 mins later, I couldn't face the decision like that and, sod it, I was going again. Down into Wantage, the thighs screaming at me again I came to chain hill, this is a killer roadie hill out of Wantage, hill flat, hill, hill, flat, hill. I was gutted but it was there and then I bailed out and took the Ridgeway back home, it was in theory the easy route, but by heck it was hard today!
I bimbled home, went to collapse and cramped, screaming like a girl, I decided the best course of action, beer and feet up.

So that was 6 hours 50 and 19kmh average, not bad in some ways, but I'm struggling to find the words for how upset I am with myself. Close to tears honestly.

130km is a long ride, especially with gravel as well as road, but it was supposed to be 160, not 130.

Sigh

What a spanner, the road section after crust bailed I was chasing 2 lads, I averaged 18.2mph for the 5km section.

Wtf made me think that was a bright idea on a HT running xc tyres. Not quite a flat section but close enough that 18+ was bloody stupid!

Some days are like that.

Did you enjoy the scenery? On the gravel, did you enjoy that more than the tarmac ? It looked hot out there today, so did you drink enough.
No worries though, I think you did rather well TBH.

Not 100% sure beers the answer just yet, I'd be rehydrating until about 6pm then hit the beer.

It was mostly stuff I know and ride regularly so didn't come into play. The whole day was a training rather more than anything.

19kmh is not bad at all for a mixed surface ride.
And its a lesson learned, sometimes you need to blow up in order to find where your limits are.

Weeksy: What made you ride a HT rather than a road bike. I did this last year and IIRC the vast majority were on road bikes, yes you had to take it easy and pick your lines on the descents to avoid punctures but that aside road bike was the easier option.

yeah but how was your pint?
Apple Pie Hill had me a cramping mess, but I still managed to drop my (now ex) mate and "solo" to the finish!!
We did 140km after our mishap with missing the 110km ride turn... should have just done the whole 160km.

My arse hurts took quite a pounding with 110psi in a 27mm tyre, but I didnt puncture, unlike seemingly everyone else!!

Mossimus, the only road bike i have won't fit anything more than 25s. Plus, i'm a MTBer and this ride was preparation for the SDW on Sat coming up this weekend.

Anagalis, it didn't happen, i got off the bike and cramped my hamstring massively in the pub garden, i was a rolling mess on the floor... So i got up eventually and walked the 50m home and emptied the beer fridge into me instead 🙂

I told you Apple Pie hill was hard LOL.

I'm hoping that at least i've learned a few things about when to GO and when to ease back and cruise for the SDW anyway.

I'm also likely to take the T-130 for comfort on it as well, just need to move the double cranks over from the Parkwood to the T-130 first and i'll take that one instead.

Arse is fine, my thighs are stiff as well as my calves.

Nothing lost as long as you learn from it. You can't go deep too often, know what your comfortable threshold is* and do your damndest to stay below it. On a ride like the SDW or this one, there will be hills where you do have to exceed your limit so it's then doubly important that on the flats and downhills you don't, and chasing people down as you did has consequences.

* which is where i use a HRM and a number on it; for you it might be that you need to be able to maintain a conversation without struggling too much to breathe

and chasing people down as you did has consequences.

* which is where i use a HRM and a number on it; for you it might be that you need to be able to maintain a conversation without struggling too much to breathe

I could tell the difference as i was then pouring with sweat, whereas when with my mate i was wiping my sweat every 10 mins as the odd drip came down, instead my head was pouring and my arms were soaked lol.

Good effort weeksy.

Pacing is everything on long rides, if you don't have fancy equipment (HRM/Powermeter) then close your mouth. If you can't just breathe through your nose you're going too hard. 😆

I find high cadence helps too, so on easy/downhill sections get em spinning!

I have a HRM, i just rarely use it. Due to training a fair bit i know give or take 4-5hr where i am at a given part of the ride, some of the steeper/tough hills though were always going to put me in the red, even taking it fairly easy up them.

Weeksy...come join me/us on the Brighton-London-Brighton gnarmac ride in September.....??

DrP

DrP - Member

Weeksy...come join me/us on the Brighton-London-Brighton gnarmac ride in September.....??

DrP

I assumed i needed a CDF/whatever rather than me on my MTB matey. Boing your thread, i assume you have one... I'll have a looky, i'm busy for all of Aug with family holidays, but Sept is pretty clear.

Yesterday may have been a massive day, without even turning a pedal !

I was chatting with MRs Weeksy on Monday about how tired/stiff my legs were and decided to take what for me is a big step... I got a leg massage ! Why is it a big step ? Well, it's my first ever massage and i really struggle with physical contact in that context, so it was quite an ask for me to do it. Happily we have one through work who comes into the office and is subsidised by the company... £16 for 30 mins.
Whilst i can't say i enjoyed it at the time as i was quite uncomfortable with the whole thing, the actual results are exceptional. My legs have gone from a stiff achey mess to feeling pretty great ! I thought the stiffness and tension may return after a nights sleep and everything tightens up again etc, but they feel great again. So much so, i'm struggling not to Zwift LOL.
But i'm aware riding would be a mistake so it's still a day of rest.