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Hi guys, I need some training help please. I've somehow signed myself up to a charity ride in June which is 800+km over 8 days. I've barely ridden my bikes in the last year so I'm hoping this will be a big kick up the arse to get myself fit again but now I've agreed to it the panic has set in!
Am I kidding myself that this is doable? Kit wise, I've got a reasonable gravel bike and a Garmin watch so I can track my stats. I don't have any details on what support we may or may not have during the week so I may need to splash some cash on lightweight camping stuff if we're unsupported but that's for another thread.
Has anyone done something similar and can offer me any tips on how to break this down into a sensible plan or is there anything online that you can point me towards that is worthwhile following?
This will be a group ride with about 16 volunteers from work so far. There is a wide mix of abilities so I'm sure I won't be the slowest if I can get my fitness up, but I've never ridden 100km in a day before, let alone 8 days back-to-back!
Any words of encouragement welcome, or please tell me I'm stupid if that's the reality. It's for a good cause so I want to go for it but I need some help to make the most of the next few months please 🙂
This might help to start
Weeks 1-8 of Sofa to 50km training plan https://search.app/oCWNyW6hSHfKhiTr6
Depends on the hills. 100km flat is very doable. Its only 6 hrs easy riding. Chuck in a load of hills and it much tougher. Just get out and ride your bike as much as you can and make sure the bike is comfy.
Awesome, thanks! That's exactly what I need to start 🙂
Just get out and ride your bike as much as you can and make sure the bike is comfy.
I really do think its as simple as this. As you go, increase the length of rides/ascent and also increase the number of rides you do on consecutive days plus include some rides in poor weather for the learning experience. The more you ride and the longer you ride, the more you'll learn about what works for you; when & what you need to eat/drink, whats comfortable in terms of clothing, comfiest saddle/bar position etc for you, what starts hurting or causes pain/sores & whats required to alleviate that, what sort of pace you need to set yourself on a longer ride etc.
The more you get out, the better and it should improve your enjoyment of the event itself but, at the end of the day, its circa 60 miles a day so worst case you could pootle along all day at <10mph and you should still manage it (but as TJ also said, does depend on hills)
It's surprising how far and how often you can ride when that's the only thing you're doing. Get up, eat, ride, repeat.
The more miles you do beforehand, the easier it'll be. I tend to ride about 100 miles a week at home, but then can bang out 1000's of miles bikepacking fairly easily. You quickly just become a cycling machine.
Thanks guys. @TJ reading your epic journey threads is what tipped the balance. I'd probably have said no and regretted it bur seeing your adventures has made me determined to give it a go.
Echo everything above (I'm 'training' for ~700km gravel over 4 days in May).
I'm now going to start squeezing in as many short morning rides as I can (have to work around family) just to build up easy mileage and 'back-to-back' repeatability.
I would also mention pacing and eating. My first Audax was a revelation because I paced it really carefully (lots of old men around me tutting if I even got out of the saddle 😆 ) and I felt super fresh at the end of my longest ever ride. Focus on trying never to get out of breath or 'sting' the legs.
And eat! Lots of little snacks but nothing high sugar unless you really need it for the last hill of the day. I feel so much better for eating constantly throughout the day, but it takes a bit of practice to figure out what works etc.
I committed to 1000km in 3 days (well, 3 days and a few hours Starts 10am Friday, finishes lunchtime Monday) back in November and the ride's in June.
I did not ride much last year
I weigh about 3 stone above what could even be considered heavy for a cyclist.
There is almost 14,000m of climbing involved.
My plan is to just ride as much as practicable and not panic 🤣 which is easier said than done. So far I've ridden about as much as the weather an other plans have allowed and I'm feeling better, but not lost any weight and still pretty slow. If I can shift the weight then I'll be fine, if I can't then I'm going to take a sleeping mat for days 2 onwards and treat it as a bike packing tour and accept that I'm missing the time cut-off.
Is this on the road, or gravel? If it's the road I'd suggest just getting out there on Saturday and doing 100km. It's not that far even for a beginner. It's 4hours in the saddle for most people and even without fitness should be possible to just spin and plod your way around that sort of distance. 90% of it is just the mental discipline not to ride faster than you can sustain. If you're normally knackered after an hour or two then just ride slower, especially uphill. DO NOT SPRINT UP HILLS, MAKE THEM AS EASY AS POSSIBLE. The damage is done in those times when you're going too hard, not the other 90% when you're just ticking along.
Even if it's not on the road then TBH I'd just do that on the road anyway this weekend because it will break the mental barrier at least. Take some flapjacks and orange juice in your bottles for energy and just do it. If you can ride for 1 hour then you can ride for 2. If you can ride for 2 then the only real difference between that an 8 hours (i.e. twice as long as you need to) is knowing to pace yourself on the hills and take on energy.
I would look at some 200km Audaxes later in the spring, they're unsupported but are planned around cafe stops and feed stations. There will be everyone at the start from racers on a training ride, ultra racers on aero bars, someone on a steel bike that looks like it's not been maintained since the 70's (complete with that hard plastic bar tape) and an 80yr old on a Brompton. I think doing that will get you over the mental hurdles of long distance riding. If you can do 200km, then you can do 100km easily without burning through your stored energy, if you can do that 100km then you can do 100km the next day, and the next etc.
One other thing to consider is the ability to ride day after day. If you can use a bike to commute and build up the regular days you ride, that's great. If not just try and find a way to be comfortable building up to three reasonably long sessions on successive days to make sure your backside/back/arms etc can cope.
I think it’s do able. Might even fall into the be comfortable
A few things to think about
Practice sticking in zone 2 (taking it easy). Good for training but really useful to have practiced before the event. Way to easy go harder than you need to on hills. Low gears help
More effort in terms of pace about once per week
Add about 10% to your training load each week. That’s mean your 14th week can have about 4 times the volume of your first week
Do take it easy for the last 2 weeks
Do try and priorities getting one longer ride in per week
make sure you rest each week
Surely if the OP can ride 100km in 4 hours then the whole thread isn’t needed. He just needs to do a few back to back days. I think the problem is that everyone version of not that fit is different
Is this on the road, or gravel? If it's the road I'd suggest just getting out there on Saturday and doing 100km. It's not that far even for a beginner. It's 4hours in the saddle for most people and even without fitness should be possible to just spin and plod your way around that sort of distance
I think it is doable.
I went from fatty to storming over the Scottish coast to coast in 3 months. I deliberately got out to ride or (a little) running 5 days out of 7. I did some sprinting up hills on the bike - nothing scientific, I had just read that sprints were good so went and did some around Sheffield... I also did some yoga/stretching when I remembered. I kept upping the miles each week, and made a point of one ride per week being much longer, and that distance and hills grew, so that a fortnight before I did two rides equal to long day of the trip. A week before the ride my wheels were trued, so inadvertently had a week of rest. I felt great for all 4.5 days of the trip, and I did not feel too tired at the end.
Hi guys, thanks for all the replies so far. I've kind of said I'd do it without really looking into it! I've been told it's not suitable for a road bike so there will be some off roading I think. It's Edinburgh to London on mostly National Cycle routes, but I've had a look at the map a bit today and there are definitely some gravel sections. There's a lot of elevation, especially on the first few days so I need to lose some weight! Luckily it's quite hilly where I live so there's plenty of opportunity to practice the hills. I'm going to get the bike out now and go for a spin...
Sounds like the bike of choice could be a gravel bike with suitable tyres 38/40c?
As for the 100km distance it's all about pacing yourself. If it's crap weather ride slower and make sure you have guards or a win wing to keep your backside drier.
The route could be great, avoiding the big roads and using the NCN.
Post up your progress. Go for a 2hr ride in the meantime to gauge your current fitness. Practice eating whilst riding but don't go overboard on shorter rides?
Evening recovery food is also worth getting used to knowing how much to eat comfortably with leaving room for a pint after! 😂
I knocked off work a bit early today and did a gentle 1.5 hour ride. 21km with 286m ascent, 15.2km/h avg speed. My legs felt fine and could've carried on a lot further but my neck and shoulders ache. Hopefully that's just where I've been off the bike for so long. Felt good to be out in the countryside at sunset and I'm wondering why I didn't get off my fat arse earlier!
I knocked off work a bit early today and did a gentle 1.5 hour ride. 21km with 286m ascent, 15.2km/h avg speed. My legs felt fine and could've carried on a lot further but my neck and shoulders ache. Hopefully that's just where I've been off the bike for so long. Felt good to be out in the countryside at sunset and I'm wondering why I didn't get off my fat arse earlier!
I’d start playing with set up to see if you can tackle the neck shoulder stuff.
Too cramped maybe shuffle the same back a bit. To stretched flip the stem, move some spacers etc. Cheap stems are really cheap well worth trying a few if you think it’ll help
Small changes each time
I’d start playing with set up to see if you can tackle the neck shoulder stuff.
I'd have a few more rides before I start adjusting things. If a sub-15 mile ride takes 1.5 hours then the rider isn't used to being on the bike, so needs to get used to riding first.
neck and shoulders ache
Bike fit now could save months of faffing about
The thing that gets most people on this kind of endeavour is actually not the riding itself, it's the surrounding logistics like eating and drinking enough, recovery in the evenings, packing and so on. Plus also riding in bad weather cos most people understandably avoid things like that, then it gets to the tour and they find themselves riding in the rain and they have no idea what to wear or how to handle their bike!
The riding more or less takes care of itself and so long as you're not smashing the crap out of the first couple of days you'll generally ride yourself into it. That's not to say you can get away with doing no training; you do need the practice to make sure that the saddle isn't uncomfy after 3hrs in it, the shorts don't rub in awkward places etc. And obviously, the more vaguely structured training you do, the easier the ride becomes and the more your body is used to being in that position.
Second the comments about bike fit - any discomfort now could be a sign of your body adapting to the extra mileage and it'll kind of build itself up but it could also be a sign that something on the bike isn't right and further riding in that position will exacerbate a niggling issue. Worth getting a bike fit sooner rather than later, especially if the bike was originally set up for you when you were younger / slimmer / fitter!
I've done ride-leading on a few multi-day tour type things and so many riders get bogged down in "what gears do I need?" and "what tyres....?" and then get so mired in details or worried that they've "only" got 10sp or they've "only" got alloy wheels, they forget to actually ride the bike!
Also, lay off the alcohol a bit. Not saying go teetotal or anything but finishing Day 1 and ending up 5 pints deep at dinner to celebrate your achievement generally results in Day 2 being way more difficult than it needs to be!
This will be a group ride with about 16 volunteers from work so far. There is a wide mix of abilities so I'm sure I won't be the slowest
Can I suggest sorting this out as well. There is nothing worse on a group ride of feeling you all need to stick together but one person champing at the bit to do 18mph average right through to one person struggling to maintain 12mph average. I would try and do a couple of trial runs, see where everyone fits in the general hierarchy and how you want to manage that - it could be the faster people setting off a bit later but everyone meets for lunch for example.
Good luck with it all!
I’d start playing with set up to see if you can tackle the neck shoulder stuff.
I'd have a few more rides before I start adjusting things. If a sub-15 mile ride takes 1.5 hours then the rider isn't used to being on the bike, so needs to get used to riding first.
Thanks for all the input chaps, really useful stuff. This comment hit home the hardest as I've always thought of myself as reasonably fit and healthy but I've definitely let myself go over the last few years. Too much sitting at a desk and too much drinking and eating without much exercise has crept up on me. Hopefully this event is the catalyst to change all that though! I was purposely cruising along last night as I didn't want to go too hard too soon but there's lots of work to do before June...
Ill second what crazy legs says about alcohol. Even a couple of pints in the evening is noticable the next day when you are riding. 4 makes the next day tough. Shame as that well earned pint is delicious
Im nearly a month in now with no training on my ride. Im only doing 50 to 70 ish km a day becuse of all the hills. Most days have been over 1000m of climbing and i am carrying full camping kit. Ill have done around 1400km. Ive had a few days off. Flatter rides i would do 80 to 100 for less effort. Half my riding has been offroad as well which is always slower
Dont overthink it.
Well, in the blink of an eye, it's only a week and a half to go before my big trip. Training started off well and I was regularly doing 50-90km rides and feeling fine. Unfortunately life has got in the way of training for the last couple of months due to work and renovating our house and I'm a lazy bugger which doesn't help! Starting to panic a bit now, especially as I've started raising money for charity so there's no way back now. I feel like I should be tapering now, but I need to get some more miles in before I go. Eeek!
Hope you're ok TJ. My knees are my biggest worry. Had a few niggles and one knee has been quite bad for a bit. Other than that I should be ok I think. Had a bike fit and everything else feels ok so apart from actually riding my bike I think ive done what I can to prevent any injuries
The other issue is it's now 960k over 7 days and 150km/1500m climbing on day one just to ease us into it!
I feel like I should be tapering now, but I need to get some more miles in before I go.
"Tapering" is really only worth it if you're doing serious structured training and fairly hefty miles / time in the saddle. A structured taper is a training session in its own right and most people don't understand it, they've just heard of "tapering" and think it involves lounging around with your feet up...
And, the flipside of that - more miles now won't do much.
All that said and trying to be more positive... 😉
I've done multi-day ride leading stuff where, at the end of Day 1, they've said "who has just done their first ever 100 mile ride?" and easily a quarter of the people there will put their hands up. This is in spite of the training plans suggesting that people should have done 4 or 5 full century rides before they start! Most people cope fine, even if it's a bit more achey, painful and grimacing than they might have liked. You'll ride yourself into it a bit.
Hints:
Do not go off like a bull in a china shop on Day 1!
Do not finish Day 1 and head to the bar for multiple rounds of drinks to celebrate.
Remember to look around and enjoy it - don't get caught up in chasing average speeds or PBs.
And good luck. 🙂
Going to briefly gives words of encouragement to @lankystreakofpee
"You'll be fine, just take it slow"
And then slightly hijack the thread with a charity related moral drama.
So, doing an event myself actually in 4 weeks for charity. 3 days in the peak district looking for hills. The event is advertised as a 3 day "Everesting attempt" but in the actual event planning there are 2 options across the days, 3 big days to do an "Everest" or 3 smaller days to do a "Matterhorn". For the purposes of trying to get more money out of people I've only spoken about the big option to make things sound more dramatic, but the discussion is starting to come up between some riders about which 1 they will actually do.
Now, AITA if I do the easy route and have I conned people out of money? Honestly, this is where my head has, erm, headed. The wife has said "People won't even ask if you did any of it, they've just donated cos you tried". I'm assuming it's pre event nerves starting to kick in but I'm not 100% convinced I can achieve the big route right now but dropping down to something I've never mentioned feels like a swindle? Please, chime in.....
Well I spectacularly failed, didn't even make it to Wales for the Pauline Porter which was going to be my warm up.
Ended up stood on a petrol station forecourt somewhere near Newbury in the pissing scrolling though the GPX files for each control with 50mile and 4000ft climbing and there were 3 of those each day, for 3 days and coming to the stark realization that I wasn't having fun, and it wasn't going to be fun and bailing out only got less practical from there onwards.
"Tapering" is really only worth it if you're doing serious structured training and fairly hefty miles / time in the saddle. A structured taper is a training session in its own right and most people don't understand it, they've just heard of "tapering" and think it involves lounging around with your feet up...
+1
Tapering is not 'taking it easy', if anything it's building event specificity. It's not the same as deloading.
On a bike it would mean going out and building up speed towards race pace having spent the last few months doing endurance workouts. e.g. if your training was mostly 4 hours at Z2, then tapering would be a 4h ride but progressively adding more longer and longer periods in Z3 and threshold until you're going for 4 hours at race pace. Or for a powerlifter (because it's easier to visualize) it's finishing the 5x5 type work they've been doing for the last 6 months and dropping to 4, 3, 2, 1 reps but setting a new PR every single session.
Deloading is 'putting your feet up', usually by reducing the overall load but not the intensity. I.e. go out for an hour at the event pace each day rather than 4-6. Or in the gym swap 5x5 for 5sets of 2reps. It's telling the body to stop putting energy into getting fitter and allow it to fully recover and store it instead.