[Closed] 200+ mile road ride, possible in a day or stupid idea?

If you can do a 10 hour SDW then it'll be easy I say. I did 300 in the summer in a group of 6, 21 hours, we were supported, but I was far more knackered after doing the SDW. A couple of the 6 weren't hugely experienced cyclists (2 of them had never ridden more than 60 miles), I'd never done more than 120. Keep eating and drinking and you'll be fine.

14 hours at an easy pace.

Yep, very Doable. look at audaxes for a good way to do big rides, and ride in a group. a few years ago I did 100km, 200km and 300km audaxes within about three months. great fun, and if you take your time not a massive ask. the 300km, with cycling to and from the start / finish came in at 240 miles, and took about 15 hours

for perspective, my mate did the Mersey roads 24hour TT and did 413 miles....

Tommy Godwin did over 200 miles a day, every day, for a year 🙂

[url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Godwin_%28cyclist_born_1912%29 ]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Godwin_%28cyclist_born_1912%29[/url]

I tend to think offroad miles count double on road ones so if you can do the sdw in a day then a 200 mile road ride is doable.

Check out Steve Abraham's Strava...
https://www.strava.com/athletes/1419435?hl=en-GB

I'd like to have a crack at 150mi or at least 200km next year, just not sure where the time's gonna come from.

14 hours at an easy pace

That's kind of what I'd worked out time wise. When we did the SDW we stopped at the Dyke for refreshments, largely as it's very close to home and family and friends came up to give support. Kept thinking I was going to hit the wall but never really did, which is why I'm thinking that a long ride at a reasonable pace is do-able.

Hmm, this has majorly got me thinking.

Todays distance for for Tommy:

"Tommy Godwin rode 204 miles today in 1939 making his year total to date 67,742 miles [equivalent ride: Lincoln to Poole]"

from @yearrecord on twitter.

Impossible, just give up now.

Long rides are ace. Rode from London to Newcastle this summer with 5 friends. 300miles, about 21 hours.

Well worth it. I've been doing a lot of long rides this year. Upwards of 10 hours. Takes organization and recovery but rewarding.

Things I'd suggest.

Plan a route (bikehike) have a look for towns, shops etc. so you can break down the ride into chunks and know where you can refill water and food. Cafes are great but petrol stations and supermarkets are worth considering for cheap food, quickly. On our 300 miler we were unsupported so this was essential as we ate a lot!

Also look at the climbing. When you are doing a hundred miles you can rack up some climbing and it is fun to add more. If you double the distance you can make it too hilly. For example I have a 300miler planned for next year (Newcastle-Carlisle-Edinburgh-Newcastle) and I am struggling to keep it below 5000m of climbing.

Service your bike. Make sure you kit is comfy. Buy some sachets of chamois crème so you can re apply.

Find a friend - Not sure I'd have got round some of my longer rides alone, mentally it can be tough when things go wrong and you are tired.

As distances get longer it is really just a case of managing your pace and fueling. Work out a sensible pace and stick to it don't go hard at the start and then finish dead. Better to hold back for the first 100miles (7-8hours) and be consistent towards the end. If you realize you've gone too easy at the start just ride the last 50 like a TT.

It's not usually the distance that's the problem, it's the logistics, planning and fuelling that lets people down.

The easiest way of doing it is to plan a point to point route, get the train out to your start point and then ride home. Choose your direction carefully and you can end up with a tailwind all the way and you're finishing the ride on familiar roads close to home.

You can plan bailout options by going near to stations en route so you can always just jump on the train home if it proves too much. Build up to it, pace yourself and you'll be fine.

See if there are any friends who can ride with you for some of the way.
Monksie off here did a London - Manchester ride a few years ago, unsupported except for various forum regulars meeting him, riding with him for a bit, bringing him food. I met him in Buxton and rode into Manchester with him.

Choose your direction carefully and you can end up with a tailwind all the way and you're finishing the ride on familiar roads close to home.

This is an appealing idea, but I'd have to start a few miles west of Dublin unfortunately.

[url= http://www.aukweb.net ]Fill yer boots[/url]

Then build up to London-Edinburgh-London 2017. In four days!

😯

Good luck andyfla!

Do the Dunwich Dynamo Double in early July 🙂

Park in Dunwich on the Sat morning, nice ride in to London, couple hours rest there, spot of dinner, join the en masse night ride back to Dunwich.

Awesome fun and you solve the 'how to get home' conundrum that's the only tricky bit of the ride.

I did SDW, then this, then back on a mtb for the Ridgeway Double, this year.

I'd have thought the biggest challenge was comfort on the bike, I'd been hoping to attempt the Lochs and Glens Audax next year (effectively 200 mile a day for 4 days) but the amount of pain and discomfort I was in after 7 and a half hours of the Fred Whitton (112 mile but ~4000m climbing) put me off.

I guess bike set up is key, it's lower back and between the shoulder blades that starts to get really sore for me, so I'm guessing my Cannondale Synpase with the upward pointing stem still isn't upright or relaxed enough for the big days 🙁

As mentioned it's really rather easy to do 200 miles in a day on a roadie. CrazyLegs points out all the issues I'd raise so no point in doubling up.

I did Manchester-London with a group earlier this year, whilst planning our route wasn't much of an issue pace was. If you are on your own don't set off too quickly, pace back to less than you normally ride at so if normal is 28-30kph peg it back a bit to 24-26ks at least for the first couple of hours.

Then Arse Up, Head Down and hack it to your destination shouting Strava all the way.

Does that help ? 😆

The Dunwich Dynamo is a good call. We've had intentions of doing the double numerous times but each time we've ended up at Dunwich and the weather has been looking flaky so we've ridden to Ipswich and got the train.

The most mileage I ever got out of it was about 150 including all the riding to the start, back from the station etc.

Also, London-Paris in 24h via Newhaven. Or Dieppe-Paris-Dieppe. Return ferry is only £35.

My main concern about a couple of hundred miles on the road bike is comfort. Part of getting fit for the SDW was riding to work from home and back (just outside of Brighton to London) and I was very pleased to get off the bike afterwards. Resorted to preferring my 29er HT for that as was more comfortable so I'd probably swap the saddle and stick some wider tyres on the road bike, it currently has 23mm slicks.

You've clearly got the fitness and the time so why the hell not 😀

My longest is 130 miles but before that it was 50 odd. i finished the ride with loads left in the tank and feeling fresh as a daisy

check your saddle and shorts will be comfy for a long day. Mate of mine did one on midsummer's day last year and said he had an arse like a baboon afterwards...

The missus did a 205 miler 4 months after getting her first road bike. Averaged around 14mph over 16 hours so a nice steady speed.

Was the 'Chase the Sun' ride - started at sunrise and ended at sunset riding coast to coast, east to west across the south of England.

Riding coast to coast across the south of England is very similar to what it will be. Bought a tub of gooch cream last year for the SDW ride, that was money very well spent!

Hmm, I live on the Isle of Wight and may need to do the double road circuit next year. I've done the single without too much drama in the past, so the double would only be about ~130 miles.
Something to aim for...

Well, just to provide a counterpoint to some of the positivity above, I did 232 miles in 14.5 hours last year, and it was one of the most physically unpleasant things I've ever done (and that includes age group podium at Ironman, top 100 at London marathon, 16th at BUCs hillclimb champs etc.).

If you're going to do it, any tiny problems with your bike fit will be magnified to epic proportions.

Echoing much of the above: if you can do the SDW with more to give then 200 miles of road should be straightforward. (I've done way more than 200 miles on the road, but I've only chalked up—pun vaguely intended—one failed attempt at the SDW.)

You've identified the one real issue: comfort. It took me time to migrate from MTB to road position (and position is 95% of comfort on the road IME), and as I worked up past 100 miles to 200 to 300 or so I kept finding little things: something that is fine for 8 hours in the saddle will flare up after 12; you solve that and then find something that flares up after 18 hours, and so on. But 200 miles should be around 14 hours plus stopping time (I usually do 170 miles in 14 hours, including stops, and I'm not fast), and I'd say if you can do 200km in comfort you'll be absolutely fine for 200 miles.

As crazy-legs says, fuel is the other issue. You come to learn what works for you.

As mentioned it's really rather easy to do 200 miles in a day on a roadie.

While I agree that it's well within the compass of a reasonably fit, determined cyclist, it couldn't be described as easy.

While I agree that it's well within the compass of a reasonably fit, determined cyclist, it couldn't be described as easy.

Indeed.

I remember the first time I did 100 miles, over a decade ago. It was January and my bottles were Slush Puppie after 5 miles, I had cramp in every leg muscle after about 40 miles, and after about 80 miles I still had the cramp but couldn't feel it anymore because my legs had gone numb.

"Easy" is relative.

I did the [url= https://www.strava.com/activities/71463012 ]LEL last time around. 1400km in 100 hours.[/url]
For training, I ramped it up and up, I was doing epic rides every weekend, over reasonable hills too. This was the biggest training route:

https://www.strava.com/activities/67121714

303km at 26.1km/hr, with 3000m climbing.

Its a fantastic feeling, but it didn't half destroy my family life, having to go out for that much time.

I learnt a good routine though. Ride for 3 hours, cover about 50 miles. Stop, find a cafe, sit down and eat proper food: sandwich/cake/tea, then get back on the bike and do it again, fuelled by jelly babies and flapjack. Also had two water bottles, one with water, one with isotonic stuff. Avoid gels and other gunk, for the time taken, they're poison.
Aslong as I made it no more than 50-60 miles each time, I was fine. Tried 70 once and it half-killed me.

Edit - also because most of my training was solo (no other bugger was stiupid enough to ride with me) it meant on the LEL if I ended up on my own, I was fine, if I ended up in pack, it was a bonus. More dedicated club riders really struggled if they got dropped.

Fuelling is something I've yet to nail 100%. Various responsibilities (family etc) mean I'm rarely able to commit to long days in the saddle and so some have worked, some not. Lack of practice basically. I've bonked big time in the middle of nowhere before after feeling fine just 30 minutes earlier. That's absolutely horrible and something I'm keen to avoid at all costs.

What I've found roughly works (or did on the SDW ride) was not going too crazy pace wise and refuelling little and often. Not exactly rocket science! Kept expecting to crack but never did, hence saying I had more left in the tank.

I guess with riding Brighton to Exeter, or thereabouts, you're never too far from train lines or places to stop for food. I'm thinking it's certainly doable and a goal to aim for.

If you're able to to [i]x[/i] miles comfortably, riding [i]xy[/i] miles becomes about recovery, fuelling, and mindset. You won't necessarily ride the [i]xy[/i] miles quickly, but you'll do them.

I would also recommend going down the Audax route. You could build up to a 400 by doing some 200s, and it'll be more fun than doing it on your own.
I also agree that comfort is one of the key things to sort out for very long distance events. I did two 400km events this year, after a couple of decades away from Audax, and discovered that the saddle that I have been riding for years and thought was OK, was actually quite uncomfortable!

I would also recommend going down the Audax route.

Yep, they're usually pretty low key and friendly, with decent food stops.

We do Scorton-Scotland-Scorton (almost) every year, that's 200. Long day but if you pace it and eat well it's doable.

http://www.strava.com/activities/181161708

Fuelling is something I've yet to nail 100%.

Same here and I've been doing longish rides for five years now. It's hard balancing stuff that has energy in it with stuff you want to eat: I end up craving eggs, ham and mayonnaise a lot of the time.

The more I've ridden, the less I've used energy drink. I used to swear by it, but these days I'll generally alternate fresh water with an electrolyte tablet because I can't face the energy stuff. Only issue there is that you have to either carry more food, or rely on shops being open (not so bad in the UK, especially with 24h petrol stations all over the place; much harder in rural France).

Along the lines of ir_bandito, I've found that I need to stop for Real Food every 4h/100km. That might just be a sandwich and a coffee, but it has to be enough to stop my stomach feeling like it's digesting thin air. If that's a 20-30min stop then it's also a chance to rest the legs and maybe hit the mental reset button if need be.

An appropriate bit of luggage can work wonders, too: a good starting point is the Altura Arran expanding post pack. It's a nice size to carry tools, camera and food, and the expanding bit is really useful on changeable days when you need to stash some clothing. Fits any bike, unclips easily and has a carry handle.

I tend to think offroad miles count double on road ones so if you can do the sdw in a day then a 200 mile road ride is doable.

Depends how hilly it is. It the road miles are like Fred Witton (never done it but seen the statistics) I'm sure they wouldn't be anywhere near.

But if its flat road ride on a road bike compared to a very hilly off-road ride then it might be 2:1

An appropriate bit of luggage can work wonders

My LEL setup:

[img] [/img]

I tend to find that if I stop for say, more than 10 minutes I have a really hard time setting off again. Therefore I tend to try to carry as much stuff on me as I can so I don't need to stop. Did a longish ride last year of 130 miles and made the fatal mistake of stopping for lunch. Despite being careful about what I ate, I really struggled to get going again and it made the rest of the ride fairly miserable, even though the second half was more interesting riding.

Pacing and eating I struggle with too. It's quite hard to understand just how much you need to eat on a long ride, I never eat enough. And I always set off like a rat up a drainpipe and pay the consequences later.

Maybe long distance isn't for me...

Just do an audax

Frame bags FTW. Everything in easy reach as you ride along.

Wouldn't work for me, I'm slightly knees-in so I'd rub. Which is a shame, because I'd like a food store near the top tube. I tend to fill a jersey pocket at stops and work with that. I normally have a Pipsqueak bar bag, too, but that normally has a camera/phone in it so there's limited space for food.

Maybe long distance isn't for me...

It's just getting used to it. Until a few years ago my experience was much like yours.

I'm also going to offer up something..

That route you've chosen... Well it starts reasonably flat (Brighton to say Sandbanks - Bournemouth) Then when you hit the Purbecks it ramps up a bit with some steep'ish climbs, then from then on it's pretty bumpy all the way with some nasty climbs and exposed tops of the Western Purbecks (Weymouth to Honiton) then that last'ish bit from Honiton to Exeter is slightly less bumpy, but still bumpy.
And, hate to say it but you are going against the prevailing wind.

Now clearly I've no idea about routes you intend to take, but there are many NCN routes heading all over the scope of that plan of yours. I'd be rather keen to capture them and place into your route. If you intended to ride along the main A35 or A303 I think you need your head looking at sharpish, it's a mad route and you'll be buzzed constantly by trucks and caravans and people trying to get somewhere as it's the main drag along the coast... Pick a route off that and off A roads and it'll be a good old hack with some very spectacular views.

DrP rode the NCN's from Plymouth back to Brighton, the threads on here somewhere and route and experience.. I'd be keen to seek that out as he logged all the NCN's he used...

Yeah, audaxes are great!

Get a bike fit, saddle bag and Brookes saddle. Start thinking in km. Get used to eating **** loads of marzipan and soreen.

Audax also provides a good run up to the distance, e.g. think along the lines of 100+ km in Jan, 200 km in March, 300 km in April, 400 km in July/August. Sorted.

For me next summer is all about Vatternrundan (190miles in Sweden) followed by the National 400 (250miles in the Peaks) at the end of July: http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/16-2/

If you don't actually want to ride an audax, an audax perm (riding the route at a time that suites you) will take a lot of the route planning hassle of your hands. These routes are managed by old hands that know their stuff, and have been ridden so many times that they'll be really thoughtfully and thoroughly planned.

There's 200 miles and then there's 200 miles. Which kind of 200 miles are you wanting to do?

Following Sustrans stuff is usually a reasonable way of covering distance inefficiently, so you don't get too far away from where you started.

I did Darlington to Rothbury ([url= https://www.strava.com/activities/165936773 ]part 1[/url] and [url= https://www.strava.com/activities/174454026 ]part 2[/url]) last year on mainly Sustrans routes on a cross bike which is 185km by Sustrans routes compared to 116km by car (then [url= https://www.strava.com/activities/166227270 ]Rothbury to Berwick[/url] the next day).

I'm fat and did 140 miles on a gravel bike and could have kept going for longer fancy a 300k and then 400k next year.

Always wanted to do 1 day C2C nut the logistics put me off.

reggiegasket - Member
We do Scorton-Scotland-Scorton (almost) every year, that's 200. Long day but if you pace it and eat well it's doable.
http://www.strava.com/activities/181161708

While I agree that it's well within the compass of a reasonably fit, determined cyclist, it couldn't be described as easy.

Depends on a lot of factors too. Travelling one way with a tailwind in a group is going to be relatively easy for the very fit. Having some kind of support makes it easier again. Pick a hilly route on a blowy day, stopping at service stations for the odd Ginsters, and it could be brutal.

Choose your route well. Take note of the climbing profile. Plan your stops along the way, a couple of good Cafes will give you a lift, and something to aim for.

Lots of climbing 170 miles into a ride will make you want to cry.

Completely do-able though. As mentioned, sign up for some Audaxes if you want some home made flap jacks served out of the back of a car along the way. And feel you ego deflate when you realise that a 70 year old bloke has finished half an hour before you.

[quoteAlways wanted to do 1 day C2C nut the logistics put me off.

Just ride back the next day?]

Where abouts near Brighton are you? Email me if you want to discuss the ncn idea betwixt Devon and Brighton...

As mentioned,I rode BACK this way (over 2 days) and covered 250 miles riding ncn route 2.
On day 2 (bridport to home) I covered 150 miles but that was really flat tbh. The purbecks isn't hilly..the hills don't start until just after Dorchester, then it gets hilly.
So you'll have 60-70 miles of hillier terrain. Doable.
You'll also be into the wind...mostly.

I fancy another big ride soon...I still toy with doing the whole shebang again but in one go...

DrP

Done the Whitehaven to Tynemouth twice. Logistics are fairly easy if you accept a night in Whitehaven. Train over night before, find a cheap B and B (I paid about £30). Then ride back to Newcastle. Train out ride back is fairly easy for long rides - first one is the hardest but once you've bagged one you realise it works.

I'd stay away from frame bags etc. I managed my 300miler on the road with nothing more than a slightly larger saddle bag. Realistically the only extras you need over a century are a tiny amount of extra spares, arm, knee warmers and gloves for the chilly start. More food and water can be picked up. Checking the weather can eliminate the need for warmer clothes.

It's not too hard.

When I was younger that was my idea of a decent day on the bike.

If you're doing it in summer, then there's long days, so you don't even have to do any great speed.

On long rides I tend to ride for about 3-4 hours, then have a 5-10 minute stop every hour after that....I normally look for sheltered bus stops if it's raining, and nice benches if it isn't. Use those little breaks to have a look around you, eat something nice and think about all those rich people who aren't out on their bikes, but cooped up in an office somewhere! Makes the world seem a nicer palce :0)

Where are you? I organise www.ridetothesun.co.uk and the guys from www.shandcycles.com rode down from Edinburgh to Carlisle for the start and then rode back again overnight. They were training for the Transcontinental at the time.

did it in March this year, did the Yellowbelly Audax 200km but cycled there and back

5:54am start, 12h:54m elapsed, 11h54m moving, was flat though, 1200m climbing in total (Lincolnshire) horrific headwind out on the fens though, but a nice tailwind for about 80km from Skegness ish to Lincoln

I've done a 300km using home as base before as well, did 100km, went home for breakfast, another 100km and home for lunch then did the last 100km +30kph average for that one, although it was flat again 1400m

easier in summer, you need less layers and you get more daylight

Where are you? I organise http://www.ridetothesun.co.uk and the guys from http://www.shandcycles.com rode down from Edinburgh to Carlisle for the start and then rode back again overnight. They were training for the Transcontinental at the time.

A friend and I were going to do it as part of a loop from Newcastle. However, the 300miler the weekend before took us too long to recover from. There was no way I was in a fit state to do another one 6 days later. Maybe 2016, I saw your email about the date.

Where are you? I organise http://www.ridetothesun.co.uk and the guys from http://www.shandcycles.com rode down from Edinburgh to Carlisle for the start and then rode back again overnight. They were training for the Transcontinental at the time.

A friend and I were going to do it as part of a loop from Newcastle. However, the 300miler the weekend before took us too long to recover from. There was no way I was in a fit state to do another one 6 days later. Maybe 2016, I saw your email about the date.

Having done the c2c in a day one year we wondered how far we could go. The next year we did a tour of the edge of Northumberland which ended up being about 210 miles. Tbh we got bored at the end rather than tired.
We stopped at the cafe at Elsdon and when the owner heard what we were doing he mentioned it to an old fella who was tucking into some beans on toast. He asked us how far we would go then said, "Aye, I'll probably have done about that when I get home". Just a normal day for some folk.