[Closed] 100 miles a day for 31 days?

Chammy cream

I've done it for 10 days. I reckon it gets easier after a few days. Easy to pick up a long-term injury though, and I'd not like to try to fit it around the rest of my life.

Best of luck big man, I reckon the miles you do for the years you've done it for, you'll be fine.

👌🏻

work have told me i can have a month off to do it, as a gift for my 20 years service.

and i may be camping............  ;o)

Fantastic! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Tony, thats ace...will be tough but awesome

Speak to Chris Hall (chrishallrides on Instagram) he did 107km every day for 107 days for charity. Ok he’s fit, but he found it tough.

If it was anyone else I'd say it was just an excuse to buy a new bike 😂

My personal view is that it sound like a tedious waste of holiday.

BUT, it does also sound damned difficult, so I'd give you a huge amount of respect if you managed it.

My personal view is that it sound like a tedious waste of holiday.

a months paid touring a waste?     you must be pissed......... ;o)

Is this a big organised event, Ton, or something you're planning as an individual?

Is this a big organised event, Ton, or something you’re planning as an individual?

just me love.    unless i can convince anyone else

Great idea mate. What an adventure!

Even just on Zwift it would kill me.lol

Keep us updated. If you tour that would be great. Doing a local 100 every day would get pretty boring I would think?

Well, maybe you could think of a challenge which catches the imagination a bit more than "a months paid touring" (your own words, but it might look like just a holiday to non-cyclists).

So how about 10 days of 10 different challenges? That will still raise the same amount of money.  And leave you with 3 weeks for a fabulous touring holiday!

I'm sure STW can help think up some suitable challenges for you . . .

What’s the charity and are you planning a leg in the Cotswold’s?

a months paid touring a waste?

Doh.  I didn't realise you'd be touring.  For some stupid reason I thought you were planning on doing a ton from home each day.

I stand fully corrected.  It sounds like a fab idea (and damn difficult )

Go for it.

Thinks... where's 3,100 miles away....

Istanbul and half way back 🙂

Goodness. that'll teach me to judge other people by my own low standards 🙂

A ton a day sounds bloody daunting for me! I managed to break through 300 miles and 20000 feet of climbing during a week of annual leave mid summer, what started as a just for fun challenge became mental and physical torture by the Sunday, when I still had ~25 miles and ~1500 feet left... I was completely drained after the final ride.

And you want to do more than double that? I'll give the men in white coats a call. 😉

If you go ahead with it - post your route on here and I'm sure you'll get lots of volunteers to ride along with you for a leg or two. Sounds like an immense challenge to me.

I'm currently putting together a 1000km in 6.5 days London-Harwich-Amsterdam-Brugge-Paris-Dieppe-London ride for May next year.

I'm a bit daunted by the prospect of 100 miles a day for 6 days, so good on you. I think it will be an amazing feat to complete it.

Sounds great. Bloody hard work but great 🙂

fuk that

happy to join you for a day if you are riding near me. tough challenge but think of all the beer & pies you'll be refuelling with 😆

I'd be doing a slow Tour Divide if it were me. 100 miles a day for 27 days and then ride to Phoenix airport (400 miles) for the flight home. 3100 miles and by no means a death march.

ton

...but for a hefty overweight 50 something, this would be a tough old challenge.

Might be tough, but you won't be overweight for long... 🙂

Have you tried doing a few century days back to back before? If not might be worth doing it.

I always reckoned day 2 was the worst, but after that you get a rhythm and it's "easier".

If it's a tour and you've actually got places to go, things to see and a destination each day it's less irksome than just going out and riding 100 miles a day for the sake of it.

Personally I hate those "ride at least 1hr a day for a month" type challenges as it turns what should be a fun activity into something you *have* to do. But doing it as a trip is much more enjoyable although if I was doing it for that length of time I'd choose somewhere warm and sunny to do it!

A UK Tour of 100 miles / day for 31 days is enough to do a double LEJOG so it's a fair amount of road you'll have to plan in!

More thoughts;

Camping sounds great and gives the ultimate flexibility in stopping, avoiding the need to pre-book accommodation. However that's extra weight you will need to carry, you are more exposed to the vagaries of the westher, you may not sleep as well and you could waste a lot of time finding a suitable pitch each night.

Fuelling your body will take a while too so you need to consider eating time in your schedule.

Would it be at least 100 miles per day or are you aiming for 3100 miles over 31 days? The latter would give you much more flexibility in route planning.

My recent longer rides I've averaged 10mph - that's including meal/pee stops etc. 10 hours per day on a bike. Gives 14 hours recovery, less if you are repeatedly stopping to look at stuff, take photos etc. I reckon you'd be averaging more once you get past day 3.

Even route finding can slow you down. A good GPS will minimise that faff.

Great idea Tony. There are no problems only challenges mate, would love to have the time to do something like that myself, sounds a fantastic adventure.

its definitely a big ask especially fully loaded if camping and unsupported so consider terrain and elevation as well as head winds.   What I’ve gathered from reading books on the tour divide and round the world tours is that you will basically cycle yourself fit as you go so it’s mainly a case of getting the bike fit spot on and taking care of yourself (your arse in particular as others have stated). May the force be with you and look forward to reading up on your progress.

I nearly broke my wife on our tandem dash to the south of France this spring - 860 miles in ten days, having places pre-booked & avoiding hills was a godsend. Recon 100miles per day camping is a pretty tough call - good luck with it.

Best try a few 100's as suggested, figure you may have done this already? I have not done 100M for a while, but did a little tour this year at 100km easier but still consider logistics, map reading, hills, heat (if you cycle spain/france, not UK!) and also head winds, caught me out second day.

As mentioned above camping allows choice, where as bnb gives a target, but less flexibility. I have not found perfect match for touring, but maybe that is the way, some rides better than others. What I found this time is that my local rides near home are easy as you know the route, you know the hills and where to get a coffee, etc, elsewhere takes more time and effort.

Planning is also fun as you can do it from the sofa;) Good luck and Enjoy.

Rome and back?

Did half that (which was 100m a day for 14 days) a few years ago.  Mostly flat (it was from work to Rome, so sort of following EV5). But, in a group with our bags carried so much easier.

Possible pitfalls: headwinds, injury, loneliness.

Possible benefits: tailwinds, fitness, solitude.

I completed mine and don't regret doing it despite picking up an injury half way through which has never really ever fixed properly.  It reminds me of the achievement.

Sounds easy on paper. The actual reality, when you're fully loaded, carrying camping gear...I'd generally consider myself quite fit, but it's tough going, and I've only ever done it over a couple of weeks.

Expect early starts and late finishes. The benefits of camping and being fully self sufficient is that you can just push on and ride until dark on the days you feel good. Expect half of the campsites to be closed by the time you get there...

I'm all for it. I don't agree that it's a waste of time. You see loads of stuff (although you will have very little time to stop), but the challenge makes it into a real adventure, which you'll remember for a long time. You'll have some really good days, and some really bad ones.

Unless your fitness is good, I'd consider dropping to 70 or 80. And it obviously depends on terrain too. Start gentle and work your way into it, and never go crazy hitting climbs hard or trying to make up time. Your body will thank you for it.

Ton - Scotsroutes makes some very salient points above re, route, ave speed, finding somewhere to stop overnight, etc.

I have done a few 100+ mile rides back to back and IMHO don't under estimate the fatigue from long multiple days in the saddle.

I would respectively suggest that you undertake a few test days riding 100 miles back to back to see how your body reacts, IMHO part of the trick on long rides is finding out what foods your body will accept when it's under severe pressure, for me that's jam donuts, buttered T-cakes, individual small pork pies, crispy bacon rolls/sandwich, salty crisps, etc - I tend to alternate between something sweet then something savoury. I also use SIS tablets in my water bottle this stops cramps both during the ride & during the night.

Ride a bike that is very comfortable for long rides is essential together with some padded gloves & shorts, I never use to wear padded shorts on road rides but now on longer rides 75+ miles they are a Godsend together with butt cream 😉  Pick your route well, no point in beasting your self up lots of hills if you can avoid them.

Riding 31 days doing 100 miles each day is an enormous ask, I wish you well 🙂

thanks for all the replies everyone.

the idea behind the camping thing was to just ride 100 miles and sleep as near to where that is, without having to then find my obviously pre booked digs.

doing it that way i would not have to be too strict with the route planning.

also, i would not be carrying a lot of camping gear, a small tent a mat and a bag would do. no cooking stuff, food would be bought along the way.

the route would be a visit to the four corners of the uk, lands end, jog, cape wrath and somewhere in kent.

it wont be until may. so plenty of time to fine tune stuff.

this is not a deffo, but something will be.

How’s about 100<i>kms</i> a day?

still a decent challenge

But a bit more realistic perhaps...

Ton.

When you have a plan and route sorted ,fire it up here.

I would be up for keeping you company on a north of the border 100 section.

Disclaimer...this may mean that you would end up listening to a complete muppet wittering on for hours. 😉

Hard graft I reckon mate, good luck to you.

Good luck to you, sounds great if bloody hard work. If you found yourself anywhere near mine at the end of the day you would be welcome to a bed for the night and a hot bath at short notice. (Nethy)

Time of year wi'll make a massive difference.  When do you intend to start?

Sounds like an amazing thing to take on. If at any point between "somewhere in Kent" and JOG you find yourself in East Northants you're welcome to a brew and food, a bed and a riding mate for a day if it hits a weekend/school holiday.

Spare room in York. And a garage for t’bike.

Not that that is anything like 100 miles from your home of course, but if the logistics works out the offer is there.

Was going to say same as Metalheart go metric 100kms a day time for pub lunches and cafe stops converted to 31 days and back to imperial just short of a 2000mile trip so a handful of longer days would make that number

Whatever enjoy

I went to a talk by Steve Abraham earlier this year.  Amongst lots of other interesting stuff, he mentioned tyres.  He used Schwalbe Ones, tubeless.  In 150,000 miles he had only 3 occasions when he had to take one off to fix it.  My jaw almost actually dropped.  Not sure what the equivalent would be for touring.

I'm based in Sussex, so probably handy for joining your for part of the lands end to Kent section.

Also willing to offer advice on hill avoidance and cafe hunting in the area.

I've been getting into multi-day trips, recently, but nothing quite as epic as your plans

I personally think you should scale back the camping element and throw in a proper bed every couple of days.

Travel lodges/YHA/Premier Inn can be very cheap if you book in advance, and you'll be glad of a bath/nice bed after a couple of 100 mile days back-to-back.

The riding itself it actually the easy part so long as you know where you're going and know how to pace yourself.

As @freeagent alludes to above, it's the logistics that gets most people on long tours like that - finding a campsite, washing, showering, eating, ensuring sufficient food / water reserves. The thing about a proper bed is excellent advice.

Go through booking.com and you can get free cancellation up to 24hrs in advance so if plans change, you're not going to make it to [location] etc you can just cancel with no penalties. Similarly it's a very useful tool if you get to a [location], decide you can't go any further, it's raining, you're soaked and you can just get your phone out and find a place. I've done that a couple of times and a friend relied almost entirely on that approach to finding accommodation during TransCon. A bit more expensive on occasions but often hotels / B&Bs are happy to fill spare rooms.

If you find yourself near Hull then I'll happily ride with you for a day and offer you a bed (subject to clearing it with the Mrs).

That's Land's End to John O'Groats three times. Massive challenge.

Attempted JOGLE a few years ago as an overweight but reasonably fit mid 30s regular biker. 6 months intense training saw me as fit as I'd ever been but still not fit enough.

By day 3 or 4 I was in trouble with injuries, the group was going too fast and should have split early on every day (the 100+ mile leg from Inverness to Glasgow was done at a 20+ average). By day 5 I was pedalling with one leg to get to the hostel, day 6 I climbed off the bike as I was pushing up hills unable to put weight on my right leg. It really, really hurt quitting especially with a lot of sponsorship behind me. Not really got back into road biking since.

Even slowing it down there will be days where everything will hurt. The slower guys in our group needed an easy day on day 9, they slowed it down even more, lost the support van, missed dinner and had to get rescued as it got dark (they went back to where they climbed off the next day).

We stayed in hostels most nights, the day after a rubbish night sleep due to a snorer is awful. The weather was glorious for us but self-supported you're not going to have down days to wash and dry your kit.

I'd honestly say it sounds like you're setting your sights very, very high. If you're going for it I'd recommend at least a year of training with multiple back to back 100s. I missed that, did a few 100+ rides but never followed up with a long day in the saddle the next day, would have gone out on the mtb or something.

Try riding 10 miles a day (or increase depending how fit you are), every day for a month. It's more difficult than it sounds when you're legs are tired and you get a couple of days with stinking weather. Hitting that many miles in a month isn't difficult but the commitment to climb on your bike every day no matter what is very difficult.

Keeping from getting ill during a month of being totally run down will be tough too.

If you do go for it good luck! Sorry for the negativity, just from personal experience I'd say it's one for someone super fit to start with...

With no commitments and a month free I'd be packing a touring bike and gear and heading somewhere warm that would be interesting to explore to pedal round and enjoy without putting the pressure on for hitting mileage targets. Actually that's not true, I'd be packing the van up with road and mountain bikes and setting up in the Alps for a month. That would be a superb month off 🙂

Do a lap.

Some background reading.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11745460-one-man-and-his-bike

100km a day would be much more achievable. We've done some rides in France and Italy carrying kit and doing back to back 100 mile days loaded up is tough for a mortal.

+1 for realising how tough a challenge it will be, my brother tried it for 18days through Spain to see if he could still manage camping & 100mpd - he has in the past managed something like 440miles in a 24hr time trial, so totally effing crackers

You'll need to do a lot of training between now & May, good luck.

read that Harry.  good read, as is Mud sweat and gears. a lejog visiting loads of boozers.

looking at yha accommodation now. don't think the camping is a good idea.

hopefully if this all comes together, I will be prepared.  I am pretty good at suffering, and have bounced back from the edge a few times.

we will see.

 ...you’ll be glad of a bath/nice bed after a couple of 100 mile days back-to-back.

My experience of travelling those distances is that you're glad of a proper campsite! A shower after cycling all day is a real luxury. If they have food, or a bar, it's a treat. Never been fussed about a B&B, partly because I'm not there long enough to enjoy it and I sleep just fine in the tent.

I'd suggest one or the other. It never fails to amaze me how much difference the weight makes, even on the flat. And while I might manage 100 miles in 6 hours on the road bike, some days I've only managed 40 miles in that time touring.

If you're to bin the camping idea, I'd consider binning the racks and panniers too. Get a large seatpack, maybe a frame bag. Couple sets of clothes and somewhere to store your next couple of meals.

Bed and stuff in West Berks, I'll even do a day riding with you if you want.... I won't be doing the day after though !

Massive massive task that ..

Couple of other thoughts from me, if anyone joins you they ride at your pace and to your route. If it's too fast or slow for them tough, they can do one. You need to always be on a pace you're happy with.

One we never did that I wish we had, get a few miles in before breakfast. Get up and have a couple of bars then pedal a few miles to get a proper breakfast. If you've done 20 miles before you've even had breakfast you're a long way into your daily target.

Know where bike shops are and how to get to them.

Have some sports massage options available. It can make a massive difference.

That would be well impressive.  Big target, as plenty have said.

You could save yourself 100 miles by doing it in April, June or September, though.

One we never did that I wish we had, get a few miles in before breakfast

Aye,this every time for me.Start early - finish early.

Bike and gear prepped every night before,so it's just a quick cuppa/pack ,then on the road and stop later for breakfast.

Whilst it is good to have targets, at the end of the day you have to enjoy it too, so rather than saying i am going to do x miles in y days, set yourself the target of riding from one to place to another and enjoy it, some days you'll be able to out a big day in, but all it takes is a day of hard rain, or a day where you have to wait an hour for a shop to open and you're left chasing your tail to reach your target.

I've done 7 days of back to back 100 milers and it is do-able for someone of average fitness like me, but if you are touring the idea is that it is tough, but it also has to be memorable rather than spent with your head down and staring at your stem "getting the miles in"

then on the road and stop later for breakfast.

I do not function until I've had a bowl of 3 weetabix with muesli on top. And a cup of coffee.
And woe betide anyone who tries to mess with that schedule.

Hire a campervan/motorhome and have the Missus meet you at the end of each day, for lunch etc.

Sounds a tough challenge! What about a ride of 3000 miles covered in a month rather than a ton a day? There will be times where the weather is bad, it is hilly, you don't feel well etc and it will be a real slog. On those days, I'd rather have a short day and make up some miles on other days when you are feeling strong or have a tailwind.

Remember even the TDF has a couple of rest days, your body will need them and it gives you a chance to see things, do some washing and recover a bit.

@ton - could you do a 100m/100km routine to save the body & mind?

You'd still be doing a "century" each day. It might help you recover knowing that after a tough 100m you've "only" got 100km the next day.

looking at yha accommodation now. don’t think the camping is a good idea.

hopefully if this all comes together, I will be prepared.  I am pretty good at suffering, and have bounced back from the edge a few times.

Whilst being ultra scheduled/organised feels like it'll take the fun out of it, i actually think it takes the pressure off and lets you concentrate on riding/enjoying the views etc.

Don't neglect your bike either - for a 3100 mile trip i'd be looking at booking in somewhere for a tune-up/service half way round. i'm sure you can find someone willing to help you out? a silly mechanical has the ability to totally derail your trip..

I'd also think about arranging a drop of clean clothes/supplies to a hotel/YHA half way round - you can then re-use the packaging and post your dirties back home one your way out the next morning. Don't underestimate the joy of clean socks/bib shorts after a fortnight of rinsing them out in hostel sinks.

What about a ride of 3000 miles covered in a month rather than a ton a day?

There is some good advice here - i'd not get too fixated an exactly 100 miles per day - 80 Hilly miles in the Peaks is so much harder than 120 miles of flat/rolling South coast coastal route.

I'd try and look at an average of 1000 miles every 10 days..

Pretty tough I reckon. I bikepacked the NC500 and only managed two 100 mile plus days. It’s the equivalent of John o Groats to Inverness everyday! I’d have a crack though.

+1 for a frame bag/seat pack, for 2 reasons

1: you will carry less crap (by necessity)

2: it transforms the feel of the bike, for the better.

ime.

Your name is "ton" it's clearly your destiny!

Do it!

P.s.

Not in January