7days 700 miles

Captain Slog

Will be cycling Cape Wrath to Dover starting August 2nd covering 760 miles in 7 days.


Max per day is 120 miles (8-10 hours)

Looking for training and diet tips to get body ready .

Currently cycling 20 miles per day to and from work with longer rides of upto 50 miles on weekend

Appreciate advice

Captain Slog www.7days700miles.co.uk

vorsprung

There's good news and bad news

The good news is that with your current level of fitness you should have no problem with the ride you describe. fitness wise. By this I mean that you should be able to ride the distance shown, day after day without having to dig deep into your well of gumption and suffering

The bad news is that it is likely that you will have problems with your "contact points". Riding the bike like that day after day when you aren't used to it can be wearing on your arse, hands and feet.

Fortunately, unlike most other problems in cycling, where the answer usually is "do this really difficult training and loose weight by not drinking" the answer in this case is to have the right equipment.

For the backside you will need enough padded shorts that you can put on clean ones every day. No you don't need 7 of them, you need to wash them. Some people use ungents like sudocreme (nappy). I would advise keeping the sudocreme / savlon in reserve until you have a saddle sore. Also be careful to wash that area every day. I'm sure you do, but I just thought I'd emphasis it. Most people (me included) do not believe that heavily gel padded "comfort" saddles work. Comfort saddles are great if you are riding 2 miles but for long rides for some reason no padding or minimal padding on the bike saddle seems better.

For the hands ensure that your handle bars have padded tape and that you are wearing padded mitts.

For the feet sorbothane insoles seem to be the recommended choice. I don't use them myself, the "BG" insoles in Specialized cycling shoes seem to be ok. Also proper sports socks are a good idea

If you want an even more expensive solution then the most comfortable fix for long distance riding is getting a custom made frame.

Crapaud

Captain Slog wrote:

... Currently cycling 20 miles per day to and from work with longer rides of upto 50 miles on weekend ...

If this is the furtherest that you've ridden, Captain Slog, use the time between now and the start to build up to 100 miles and learn to spin (change down a gear or 2 from pushing it) - it's the most energy efficient. Tack 20 - 30 miles onto you commute 2-3 times a week with a long ride at the weekend.

Eat and drink little and often. This works differently for different folk, every 20 miles for me, but some folk it's 30 miles and others more often. Doing long training rides help to work this out. Expect to consume around 6 000 calories per day. Don't load yourself down with water - 2 bottles are fine - and top them up as required at cake stops / pubs / buy bottled water. If using energy / electrolyte powders, measure it out into small containers and add to the water as required - this helps keep the weight down.

vorsprung wrote:

The bad news is that it is likely that you will have problems with your "contact points". Riding the bike like that day after day when you aren't used to it can be wearing on your arse, hands and feet.

Not sure I agree with this, at least it's not a done deal. I've never had any problems. It might be another of those "it's different for different folk" things. Make sure that your bike's set up correctly.

Anonymous

Jeeeez, just imaging how many bananas Bhima would have to eat if he did this ride!!!

Lets say an average of 13mph at 3 bananas an hour.

That's over 160 bananas!!

bobtbuilder

Jeeeez, just imaging how many bananas Bhima would have to eat if he did this ride!!!

Bhima on his Raleigh Banana, sponsored by Fyffes.

Back on topic - Try and do at least one 100 mile ride between now and the off. That's the only way to find out how your body is going to react to such a long time in the saddle. You may get "contact point" issues as Vorsprung said, or lower back or knee pain, etc. If you do, you will still have time to get a bike fitting which could help with any problems.

Homer J

For all you need to know about long distance cycling try these links
www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/home.php?N_webcat_id=1
www.ultracycling.com/training/training.html

good luck

richard36

Hi

I recently finished my first trip from John o Groats to Dumfries & Galloway. Went across the top and down the west coast.

3 things to add

1. Didn't get a sore backside at all. Bought a Brooks B17 and it was fine. Had a wash each day and put sudacrem on in the morning

2. My inexperience meant that I didn't fuel properly. I should have eaten and drunk far more

3. Because we get mainly south westerly winds I was often cycling into the wind

Hope this helps

Richard

Blonde

If you haven't done any back to back longer rides before I think you may find this quite tough, especially by day 4 or 5. I think you should try two rides one day after another, of about 70-80 miles, on each day. Another 1 to 2 hours on top of that each day on the actual event will probably be fine, as long a you get enough water, fuel and rest stops on the rides, but you should have a go at two rides of up to 80 miles for two days running before hand to see how well you recover in between those rides. What you eat will be important for recovery. You should try to ensure adequate protein for muscle recovery immediately (like, 20 minutes or less) after each ride. It really does make a difference. Cold water shower or bath (on legs only) can also help. That said, you may still find that your legs ache after several days of riding. It can takes a period of adaptation for back to back rides not to hurt and you haven't really got time for adaptation to take place before your tour. I'd suggest then, that you take care to spin out a smaller gear at the end of each ride on each day of this tour and do some gentle stretching (whole body, not just legs) immediately after each ride, before you get a shower etc, to help with recovery and prevent too much next-day stiffness or aching.

Also agree that correct hydration and fueling are essential - you can't afford to get the bonk or dehydrate as it can take a day to recover and you won't have that if you are riding every day! Actually on this kind of trip, you really can't eat enough, so just keep on eating. Enjoy the ride!

Captain Slog

Thanks to all for your advice.

A few folks have said calorie intake should be 6000 pd but still to find out what that looks like.

Regards

Captain Slog

stardate 23/06

vorsprung

Captain Slog wrote:

Thanks to all for your advice.

A few folks have said calorie intake should be 6000 pd but still to find out what that looks like.

I usually assume 350 calories per hour + BMR ( base metabolic rate..calories for doing nothing )

My BMR is about 2000. So with 10 hours riding that would be 5500 calories