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I have quietly been increasing my fitness from 20 miles per ride twice a week to over 110 miles per week and that has gone well. More longer rides and building slowly.
This is all aimed at a stupid idea to ride KAW for charity end of next month, so I still need to step my fitness up to do the 220+ miles over 3 or 4 days that I have got.
Anyone got any pearls of wisdom or experience about training for the next 7 weeks for me?
I've already:-
1) Been doing a structured zone 2 type variable cadence ride on zwift each week, plus the odd sweet spot one too.
2) Just ridden more, longer, higher and more often.
3) Just started in the last two weeks to do 3 or 4 rides on consequential days, as that is what I will have to do (man that makes such a difference and has been my single worry point - 50-70 miles in a day no stress, four days on the trot - hmm)
4) Doing well on feeding and drink, regular, happy stomach mix of food and gels etc
5) Have been fettling bike fit for comfort and got that sorted, bike in for final full service next week, to get torn down, rebuilt and then 6 weeks to bed before event.
6) Currently doing 110 miles per week and adding 10-20 more each week (apart from next week when I am on holiday with family and hence bike in for service as i can't ride it anyway).
7) Am very lucky to have a pit crew in car to meet at junctions, carry spares etc for the ride.
But I don't pretend to know what I am doing, using ride more approach, hence volunteering like an idiot to do it, and do it I will as I really (really!) want to help this charity as it means a lot to me.
Hence asking the great STW collective for any advice or experience to make it better, me fitter, or easier.
Thanks in advance.
James
When I was doing 24hr and multi-day stuff I would break each day into ‘chunks’ and focus on each of those in terms of my nutrition, hydration and navigation and whether there was a need for a stop, re-supply or re-setting my goal for the next chunk.
I would think of your KAW ride firstly in terms of getting through each day of 10-12 hours of riding, plenty of time for stops and then ensuring you’re getting a good recovery overnight to effectively start again the next.
Using the example of a 3-day schedule, so 75 miles per day, 4 ‘chunks’ of 18 miles, which is maintaining an moving average speed 6 miles/10km/hr based on 12 hours riding or 7.5miles/12km/hr based on a 10 hours riding.
Try and build-up your training to aim for your daily distance to see what it feels like, how the bike feels for comfort, check your cycling kit still feels good, how well your nutrition and hydration works and what you feel like the next morning and if you could do it again?
I’d also add you can’t have too low a gear - it’s a lot easier to sit and spin at the end of a long day than having to push too big a gear.
Without googling KAW, I'm guessing there are some hills to get over. Throwing in some z5 (vo2 max) interval training will make climbing those hills not feel so tough when tackled at a moderate effort (or in as low as a gear as you have).
Iirc Dylan Johnson reckoned z5 intervals closer to 8mins reap more reward than those closer to 4mins.
Just started in the last two weeks to do 3 or 4 rides on consequential days, as that is what I will have to do (man that makes such a difference and has been my single worry point – 50-70 miles in a day no stress, four days on the trot – hmm)
It will always be tough as you can't train at that level easily. Just start slowly and accept that you're carrying fatigue, but keep the pace low and you'll still be able to keep going. Make sure you eat and drink enough to maximise recovery over night and lay off any alcohol.
I'd try to get a couple of long days in back to back.
Also work out eating recovery etc, if you are taking it seriously.
And taper
You sound well prepared tho
On the day, 65% effort all the way around.
I'll be the dummy...what is KAW?
And my experience of training for 3 Transrockies races (7 day races), about 3 weeks before we did 4 days back to back, with distances up around what we had to do on the event (tho we couldn't recreate the amount of climbing required!) We obviously built up with lots of weekend back to back rides...
Knowing we could do 4 days in a row gave us some confidence that we could do 7
I don't know the answer, but please do a write up on it.
King Alfred's Way.
Just start slow and then knock it back a bit. I did it in 4 days over 3 nights but the first and last were half days.
Where are you starting? The South Downs bit is probably the toughest. We starting in Reading for easy train access and wild camped. If you have someone carrying your tent by car or are staying in hotels it would be much easier.
Thanks all for the kind replies and ideas and if nothing else it makes me feel a lot better with so many of you thinking I'm on the right track.
Happy to write it up @weeksy and will do so for you.
I am planning to start in a non traditional Farnham, as day one days the most hills out the way with the finish the other side of Winchester hence breaking the back of it early and then every day is less and less height which worries me less than the repetitive nature of day after day.
For me height i seem ok with 5500' climbing in a day no worries, so my plan from reading your kind ideas.
1) More back to back to back rides - so up to three hard days, which I can plan for and that should get me around 150-180 miles and if I can do that a bit then the adrenaline or need for coffee should get me to the end. Thanks @Twodogs for your input there.
2) Food wise I'm good on carb drink, gels, if I am lucky coconut / cherry flapjack (food of champions) and a meal with good food pre and post ride to keep recovery up. I've had to laugh at the Garmin telling me after one day I needed 4 days recovery so by day three of riding its been massively pissed at me but ... it gets easier I am finding.
3) Logistics wise I am really lucky, a mate has volunteered to pit crew with a car, I live south of it so will possibly come home each end of day or might book odd hotel, not 100$% sure yet but should finalise that in the next couple of weeks.
With hindsight training since January has been bloody hard with crappy weather and trails but it has forced me to get my head into it, which has helped massively, and recently swapped to summer tyres once more (Mezcal / Mezcal) and that now makes it feel soooo much easier to pedal.
Aimed at end of May to not get cut to death by brambles, stung to death by nettles, or have to avoid too many school trips and walkers so here's hoping that pans out 🙂
My sponsorship has gone well so far as I've been brutally honest on my justgiving page, with the odd video and I think people have invested in my pain and suffering, or perhaps invested to keep me in pain and suffering LOL I don't care which as long as they sponsor me 🙂
People have been awesome with support, advice and more.
James
If you are doing 100+ miles a week then you will have no problem
We did it on less preparation than that and carried stuff.
Just do a couple of long days to practice pace and food, think time rather than distance.
I've found that if you go slow and eat plenty, it's amazing how far you can go. Don't be afraid to get off and push if a hill becomes too steep for you. Makes a nice change to walk for a bit.
It's not usually the riding that gets people, it's the logistics. Getting everything sorted in the evening and prepared for the next day, packing and carrying what you need, eating and drinking (and replenishing stocks), sometimes stuff like route finding, dealing with mechanicals or bad weather
The riding is generally the easy part.
3) Logistics wise I am really lucky, a mate has volunteered to pit crew with a car, I live south of it so will possibly come home each end of day or might book odd hotel, not 100$% sure yet but should finalise that in the next couple of weeks.
I'd suggest the hotel option. Travelling back and forth at the beginning and end of each day will add a significant chunk of time that would be better spent sorting the bike, getting a nice meal, recharging all your devices and preparing for the next day. And by the time you've spent all the money on fuel driving back and forth, you're probably not far short of hotel costs! It'll allow you to ride further as well (or allow you longer in the day to ride, whichever option you want to take!)
Clothing can be washed in the shower or sink and hung up to dry.
A mate and I did it last year over 3 days, sounds like your prep is way better than ours was so you'll be fine. Started at Liddington just outside swindon, and used the Premier Inns in Farnham and Winchester as cheap, simple and they let us bring the bikes up in the rooms, keeping them safe whilst we headed out to eat and resupply for next day. Plenty of options for supplies on the route, but you might want a light lock if riding solo and popping into shops. Water worth keeping an eye on, the taps on the sdw were brilliant, as were cafes and even the security guard at stonehenge happily refilled for us.
Me and my OH did KAW over 4 days last June and loved it, neither of us are particularly fit and we didn't find it that hard really,I was riding my Orange Segment and my OH was on her positively antique Giant NRS and was glad of the extra comfort they gave,we did it with Rough ride guide who transported luggage between hotels and provided a couple of feed stops on route each day.
One thing I wouldn't do is use a new saddle that I hadn't done many miles on,no don't do that 😬
can't add any words of wisdom but I did notice that Wahoo's "The Knowledge" podcast covered the topic last week...
https://au.wahoofitness.com/podcasts
1 line down "Back to Back - How to Prepare for Multi Day Events"
a big plus for these podcasts is they are usually good and only 20minutes - I skipped this one to listen to the Tour of Flanders coverage elsewhere so no review from me
My sponsorship has gone well
Stick a link in the thread to your Just Giving Page....
OK Quick update for those that asked.
Day one of KAW done - Farnham was my starting point to just north of Winchester 68 ish miles, 6000' of climbing and all done - weather wasn't kind late in the day and tomorrow doesn't look good but heh ho.
Trails were glorious, first ride for me for around 50% of it, sand around Farnham makes it hard going but heh ho, stopped for coffee at Hindhead cafe and lunch at QE Country Park.
Took a view to start in Farnham as in day one you get the biggest hills out the way and so far so good.
How was the KAW? We are planning on a 3 day trip and trying to do as much as possible. We are going to take a bivy to wild camp for a least one night and maybe a hotel in Reading. We are starting in Winchester and thinking of heading towards Salisbury as our direction. Any tips or advice?
It's a lovely route, and while there are a few notable hills (Hindhead, South Downs including Butser, just after All Cannings etc) the majority is mainly rolling with plenty of sections where you can just get your head down and get some distance covered. Some of it is likely to be overgrown, but whenever you do it there will be sections which are harder/easier given the prevailing conditions.
Check out the Cycling UK site as it has all the details including taps and food points, and the KAW Facebook page is also full of useful information about places to stay and eat.
Winchester to Salisbury (clockwise) is the way the route was set up, so you're all good there.
Great thanks for the information, I will look at those sites to get more of an idea.
We did the SDW in 2019 over two days, which was hard going towards the end with the bigger climbs at the end (Eastbourne) but it was ok. As we are planning to do more mileage and carry more on the bike I was hoping it was a little easier!