Thinking about doing something rather daft and would appreciate collective view

I don't know but I enjoyed reading The Art of Resilience by Ross Edgley. The guy who did a 157-day 1792 mile swim the coast of Britain. However I only ride 5 days a week totalling 68 miles so....

How often are you riding at the moment OP?

I’ve found that one of the things that makes a big difference to me is how often I get out and ride. 5 or 6 days riding a week makes a massive difference to 3 or 4. In those rides I make sure to have some longer ones as well as some shorter more intense ones.

The other thing that makes a massive difference is watching what I eat. Getting some weight off really helps with climbing.

Your target isn’t ridiculous, although it does very much depend on terrain. 50 miles in the highlands is going to be much harder than 50 miles around Cannock Chase.

Right now once on real life 30-40 miles 3000' and once on Zwift as a programme, so could do more of both potentially @kramer

James

50 miles a day is easy. You have like 14 hours to do it in the summer, that's only an average of 3.5mph.

@fatbikeandcoffee - definitely need to be riding more than twice a week. Maybe a couple of shorter more intense rides in there as well?

@molgrips 50 miles in a day doesn't worry me on day 1, possibly even on day 2, but day 3, 4, 5, and 6 scares the hell out of me at this point and hence the training question as I need to ramp up the volume and intensity but unsure how best to go about it and is it just more saddle time or type or need to throw in some other fitness type things too :/

James

OP
The simple version..
Make a plan that suits your world.
(Try*) and stick to the plan.
Enjoy the success 👍
* I stuck try in there,because we all have different day2days,work/home balances,with dozens of potential ambushes along the way.
Good luck.

I rode from Southampton to Glasgow over 6 days. 90 miles(ish) per day, bike packing.

I did a 4 day pattern for 3 months before hand.

1. 50 miles

2. 40 miles

3. 20 miles

4. Rest day.

Granted, it was during covid so work was not a great hindrance, but I did all my riding after 7pm when the little one went to bed.

My thoughts.

Saddle time is by far, more important than distance ridden. It'll let your body adjust.

Get a dynamo and light.

Set the bike up as it will be for the event, ie racks, weighted bags etc.

Podcasts are great for long haul travelling.

Stop every hour, stretch your legs and take your helmet off.

Oh, and don't take advice from people on the Internet. Go and ride as much as you can, as often as you can, just within your comfort zone and it'll be fine.😆

@fatbikeandcoffee it depends what question you’re asking. If it’s *how* to train for what you’re planning on doing, then it probably is just as simple as ride more, don’t overdo it, and peak your training about a week before you intend to do your epic ride.

However, if you’re asking what the most efficient way to train is, then yes you need to work on a more specific plan, probably with a strength day followed by a rest day, and then a mixture of interval and endurance training, ideally across both cycling and running?

Make sure your bike is comfortable.
It fits you.
Comfortable saddle
Grips
Options to change hand positions

Good shorts
Mudguards if weather looking iffy
Etc

Fitness too, but it helps if you don't get discomfort niggles.

Get used to riding at an easy pace - probably a pace that feels "too easy".
Get used to eating while.riding. Keep your body fuelled while riding and you won't be so tired the next day.

You've got plenty of time. Make a plan & try to stick to it. You'll be fine 👍

You probably don't need to do much more than you're already doing.

The setup prep can be just as important as the physiological adaptation. Bike fit, saddle, cycling shorts, nutrition etc. It may sound basic but you might find that a saddle or shorts that you thought fit you perfectly when you use them once a week start to become hell on the 4th subsequent long day of riding.
For physiological adaptation, mostly just increasing the volume of your riding will help, doing back to back rides on Saturday and Sunday would be ideal.
Doing a couple of higher intensity sessions during the weekdays e.g. HIITs would also or alternatively help by improving your threshold fitness.

Forget the mileage, once your comfort is sorted that is easy. Its the climbing that kills.

In 6 months I went from being an overweight occasional 40 mile rider to doing 900 miles and 9000 metres in 11 days.

I got fit by finding the biggest hill near me (65m ascent in 1.1km) and climbing it 10 times, twice a week. And eating less crap.

So is this road, gravel or mountain biking we're talking about here?

And are we talking about undulating rides or something like one huge climb per day?

If mountain biking (or gravel, I guess), what sort of terrain are talking about? i.e. how technical?

Whatever options, your body needs to get used to many hours of that type of riding so your exercise/conditioning needs to reflect what your needs for that event...

Maybe buy a pannier, lock and lights, so that you can make ad-hoc trips to the shops.

Is it practical to commute to work? That’s a great way of building up distance. If work is too close go a longer way, if it’s not practical get up earlier and do an hour ride.

Consistency beats intensity as they say, certainly in this case. Aim for 5-6 days a week if you can even if some of those days are short rides. Get used to 2-3 days riding back to back and don't go so hard that you're sore on day 2.

The polarised training approach usually works well for things like this - most of your riding at Z2 pace, one really, really hard session a week and good recovery after that session.

Also.. good luck - good things come from starting out to do things you think are probably beyond you.

Adjust either if these alone or in combination:

Frequency
Intensity
Time
Type

and you should see improvements - as long as you rest in-between to allow for recovery / adaptation.

And during your longer training rides experiment with food and drink that work for you.

50 miles in a day doesn’t worry me on day 1, possibly even on day 2, but day 3, 4, 5, and 6 scares the hell out of me at this point

It'll be fine. First day will be ok, second you'll be tired, third you'll be tired, from day 4 you'll start to adapt, day 6 will be easy. If you were pushing yourself to the limit day after day then you'd be in trouble, but it doesn't sound like you'd be doing that anyway. Just make sure you eat well.

As above though, getting your setup right is by far the most important thing. I went on a 14hr MTB ride once in what I thought were my favourite shorts - for the last three hours I couldn't sit own at all my arse was agony. It's not that I wasn't used to it, just that the pad ended up abrading my skin. Definitely buy some top line shorts - Assos is my favourite. Get their base model (Mille) which can often be had for under a ton on CRC etc. They will last many many years and be tremendously comfortable the whole time. I got a decade from my last ones that had cost me a ton apiece.

As well as climbing, pace is also something to consider. Assuming on road, I usually plan on an overall average of 10mph (ie including stops, faff etc).

Assuming no ridiculous Alpine days with 5000m of climbing, you should be able to complete a road 50 miler within a fairly relaxed 'day', finish early enough to get any admin sorted and have plenty of time to recover for the next day.

The other end of the scale is full days where you're starting very early, finishing very late then eating and going straight to sleep to repeat ad nauseum. OK for a race but not for a relaxed/sensible holiday.

I'd get to the point where you can ride maybe 3 times a week at the distance /climbing/load your planning on your trip then just do the sensible days you've planned on the trip. Day 3/4 are usually the worst. You've burnt your initial enthusiasm and your body starts to complain. Get to day 5 without burning out and, assuming more of the same/no injuries, you can just continue round the world.

Chop chop. 🙃

pace is also something to consider.

Yes - ride slowly, you have all day!

Also an awful lot to be said for the effect of bimbling through lovely scenery. Cruise though nice quiet countryside rather than between towns of the SE and you'll have done 50 miles before you even know it!

Did an Alps crossing with some Germans a while ago, we planned about the same, 30-50miles per day over 6 days. I just used my commute to get fitter. After the 3rd day of the Alps riding my body just got used to being on the bike all day and the rest of the week was fine (and fun). I was a bit younger then (mid 40s)

I found just a bunch of low intensity work on the bike really helped. go out a do long rides, don't worry about climbing or heart rates or any of that, just go out and ride, it'll soon reveal hot spots and sore points, and you can change those, but time spent in the saddle is rarely wasted.

I'd do the same as NickC

I'm lucky enough I get out 4-5 times a week and mostly limit myself so I don't lose weight or I'd be going longer and further.

time spent in the saddle is rarely wasted

or more explicitly

Thinking about doing something rather daft

It's only daft if you don't enjoy it...

Even if you don't end up charity hoorah... or something else.

I have some experience of going from being not that to a bit fitter. I haven’t done exactly your goal since my 20s when i road 50 mountain miles a day on tour

Tip 1 ride 3 times per week. Make the total mileage say 40 a week at the moment. Ride 10% further each week. Add more days riding per week as you see fit. Have at least one total rest day a week. In 23 weeks you’ll be doing 350 miles per week

Tip 2 ride at level 2 and take it easy all the time except. Add 30 second sprints say 3 per ride 3 times per week. Or just go mad on the odd hill

I've done a few multi-day rides, London to Mt Snowdon, London to Paris and London to Amsterdam.

I'm a 100kg desk pilot who is anything but a natural athlete. I found just building the mileage over the 10-12 weeks before each event worked alright - getting out both days at weekends and occasionally twice a day (25 miles in the morning and the same early eve) works.

If you're not doing your event against the clock i'd try and front load each day - as it either more miles or more climbing before a decent lunch stop, its a nice feeling stopping for lunch with 40 miles in the bank knowing you've only got to do 25 in the afternoon.

Everyone will give you advice on nutrition, and we tried to stick to it but by day 3 we were all eating pub burgers for lunch and topping up with an ice cream late afternoon. - unless you're a serious athlete calories are calories.

Try and get a couple of events in the diary leading up to it - a couple of low key sportives or organised rides will give you something to aim for and a nice little test of your fitness.

Are you carrying your kit? if so make sure you do a few rides fully loaded - you'll be surprised the difference it makes - both in weight and bike handling - you're bike will steer differently with a bar-bag full of clothes attached. I'd also do an overnighter fully loaded before your big event.

I've not done anything like this since before COVID but very keen to get out and do another multi-day ride/event but life keeps getting in the way.

I'm just back from riding Lon Las Cymru over 5 days (short-ish final day), 262 miles and just over 20000ft on my gravel bike. LLC is quite rough going, it's certainly a lot harder than regular road riding. Didn't do any special training for it, haven't ridden much this year as I have been training for a big hike that I had to call off due to injury - this ride was an alternative adventure. It was my first bikepacking trip and the first time I've ever ridden 5 days in a row. Legs were OK, just for once I was sensible and spun up the climbs rather than going into the red, I think this was really key. As others have said, you've got all day, no need to keep the hammer down.

The thing that really hurt by day 5 was my arse - I've never used chamois cream and perhaps I should have done, but I felt bruised as much as anything which I don't suppose cream would help with. I'm also going to look into a more scientific saddle fitting - never really worried about it too much before.