route lengths (do people really ride that far?)

projectsome

I was looking at some of the routes and noticed (they appeared) to be quite long.

ie http://www.bikeradar.com/routes/?bpath= ... oniton-Stn is just over a 100 miles. Do people actually ride the full lengths of these courses?

How do you decide to map the whole course? Is it something you do stages at a time etc?

homerjay

christ, i'd be sore after that!

Tank-slapper

Depends on the route...

dave_hill

Once of a day I'd have thought nothing of riding 100 miles in a day on a road bike, but the furthest I've ever ridden off-road in a day was 40 miles (about 85% off-road anyway) and that took from 9 in the morning until 6 in the evening.

I'm sure I read somewhere that someone had a theory that riding 30 miles off-road was like doing 75 miles on the road. Don't know how they quantify it but I'd probably agree.

With that route, as a mere mortal I'd probably be looking at breaking it down into a two-day trip.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the map gives you absolutely no clue as to the contours, the amount of climbing involved, or the possible nature of the surfaces that you'd be riding on. It might be that it's all little back lanes and well-surfaced pathways, and fairly level at that.

.blitz

I've got a couple of 25-30 mile routes that I try to ride every week. On the Marin or the Proflex I have seriously had enough after about 20 miles but the Cannondale is loads more comfortable. I did some all-day rides on it in Mid-Wales over Xmas and if it hadn't gone dark at 4pm I would've gladly carried on.

Still couldn't do 100 miles tho

stumpyjon

Dave has it about right. I think a normal XC ride would be somewhere between 20 to 35 miles and will be very route dependant on how hard it is. Many of the mags routes fit into the lower end of htis range.

Longest I've done is 47 miles off road in just under 8 hours. That was full on XC nearly 7000 ft of climbing and some rubbish surfaces. It was supported, i.e. 6 aid stations for food and water top ups. It is a killer and certainly would be training coming up to it.

Out of the 200 odd riders who did it I came in the middle so I don't think there will many riders out there doing 100 miles off road in a day.

If I can mainatin an average of 7 to 8 miles an hour on my local trails I'm doing quite well.

Road riding is so different, smoothish surfaces, bikes built for speed, the two aren't really comparable.

pemsey

It's very dependent on the terrain and the state of the ground. Down in sunny Northamptonshire we haven't got many big hills but we have got lots of sticky mud Most I've managed XC round here is about 45 miles - but that was a mixture of bridleways and backroads and was a charity event with feed stations which helps. However as the offroad surface was either grass or mud I found it a lot more knackering that riding in places like Aviemore or the Dales where generally the surfaces are better (less sapping) although the hills may be bigger :!: Haven't managed as far but the 30 odd mile circuits I have done have seemed less tiring.

-liam-

According to my computer I rode only 32 miles yesterday. It was, I estimate, 80% proper gooey mud, and to be honest, I've never really experienced hitting a "the wall" quite so much. I was literally exhausted and once that hit, I got very cold very quickly. I'm proper aching today and I'm not unfit by any stretch of the imagination.

In good conditions, I have a route that takes me out of town on roads/lanes/paths for around 25 miles and then an offroad trail for around 8 miles before a 5 mile trek home. That is plenty on a mountain bike and normally takes me around 5 hours with a stop or two for grub

.blitz

+1

It was rubbish yesterday. And Saturday. And Friday. Not proper muddy but the trails were covered in a sticky churned up paste that made everything hard work. Bring back the frozen stuff !

projectsome

Christ, I need to step up the pace. I think the most I've done in a day is around 15 miles.
(I often do the same route as a like beating my previous time)

Tinsle

Ive recently done a 64 mile xc in 10 hours so i reckon 100 miles is doable if you have some nice endurance muscles. Better be prepared for some night riding though.

passout

100 miles is fine on a road bike but not for off - road unless it's unusually flat/easy.

That said I know some people who do 24 hour MTB marathons who probably could - but they are very much a minority.

99% of the time, it's not realistic.

BorisSpencer

Like Pemsey, I ride in Northants. I did 18 miles on Sunday morning and it took almost three hours ! Lot's of carrying and pushing, and two punctures.
It can be quite frustrating to have slogged up a hill to find you actually have to slog back down the other side through more of the same gloopy clay. Roll on the summer when we might actually be able to freewheel from time to time.

Tank-slapper

One way of comparing road and mtb riding is to look at the number of calories burned per hour. These figures are for a 190lb (86kg) rider:

345 <10mph, leisure
518 10-11.9mph, light effort
690 12-13.9mph, moderate effort
863 14-15.9mph, vigorous effort
1035 16-19mph, very fast, racing
1380 >20mph, racing
733 BMX or mountain

Of course, it all depends what they mean by 'mountain' bike riding.

mudslinger

The furthest I've done in a day is 38 miles & I was pretty knackered by the end.

There are some incredibly fit people who can do the South Downs Way (105 miles off-road from Winchester to Eastbourne including 10,000 ft of climbing) in a day. There are even a few who do it there & back in 24 hours plus there was someone not so long ago who did on a SS!!!

I agree with Dave in that that sort of distance needs to be over 2 days for a pretty fit rider but is dependent on the amount of climbing. That sort of distance in a day is for the super fit only!

thecrofter

Furthest I've done in a day is about 40 miles Rannoch to Fort William. It took me 9hrs,all off road apart from a mile at the start and another mile at the end and I probably spent more time pushing than riding...mind you I did'nt see anyone else until about six and a half hours in.

topsey_turvey

I've done 100 mile time trials in the past. That's hard, but not as hard as 12 hour, or even 24 hour time trials which do exist. I've done a 150 mile Audax ride, followed by a 100 mile ride home the following day. That knackered me.

Furthest I've done on mtb is 60 miles over North Yorks Moors, in 10 hours. We used to run that route in 8 hours, but that was 25 years ago, when we were fit.

pjm-84

I've done the South Downs (100miles) in a day on a hardtail and that hurt.

It took us 13.5hr to ride however my mate (ufortunately I didn't know before hand) couldn't ride an MTB and still can't. Crashing early on didn't help his confidence either. His Scott Scale 20 MTB has been used 3 times off road in just under 2 years, most of the time with his foot out dabbing the ground.

teulk

Went out and did 25miles today, i normally do between 15 and 20. Most ive done is 55miles in one go and i was pretty worn out after that. Im going to be entering a 66mile ride in june and im sure that is going to pretty hard on me so i better start getting some mileage in.

cougie

Impossible to compare off road distances really - the terrain makes allllll the difference.

Its a bit easier to compare distances on road - hills and wind allowing.

My club used to put on a mainly off road MTB event. Prob about 45 miles off road - and it was 20 miles to the start and finish - so I did 85 miles that day - that was a good ride.

24 hour hour TTs are insane - I tried a 12 hour after riding a few 100s - they werent that bad, but even 12 hours is waaay too long to race !

I do Ironman races now - at least you get variety !

gaz047

furthest ive done on an mtb is 100km at merida marathons and at the brecon beast. if your looking to increase the distance you can ride, these are great events, you could start at 25km at one event and build it up to 100 km through the season (meridas usually give 4 course lengths to choose from ie 25, 50, 75, 100km) plus once you've entered its an extra incentive to get the miles in. the first one is sun 14th april (iirc) at builth wells.