What have I done?

UndercoverElephant

Right chaps, a bit of a problem... I seem to have agreed to enter a 65 mile sportive, it's one of these, "Always do sober that which you say you'll do drunk" things. And it's for charidee.

Now, I've never actually cycled further than my 12.5 mile commute, so I really have no idea what I've done, where does this length sit in the scheme of things? Half-marathon level? Marathon? Also, where does my commute lie?

I'll need some proper cycle shorts, I'm not ready for lycra yet, so any advice for baggies? Obviously I'll need to do some training, shouldn't be a problem, it's not until Saturday. :shock:

PinkPedal

I have no advice but just wanted to say good on you Probably the excitement and nervous energy will spur you on the 65 miles too.

Kieran_Burns

Have a you a passport?

A reasonably sick relative you can pretend is REALLY ill???


You **should** be okay, but go look for the threads about feeding... you'll need to make sure you have plenty of fluids and energy stuff to keep you going.

benno68

Get some half decent bibshorts - if you don't feel comfortable in lycra just buy a cheap pair of shorts to over the top.

I've not done 65 miles yet (45 is my max so far). Make sure you have food (energy bars) and water (maybe one bottle with an energy drink).

Take a couple of tubes and levers etc. Give your bike a once over a couple of days before and then the day before.

Take it easy at the start, if you feel good after say 10 miles pick it up a bit.

You'll be fine. Looking forward to your ride report

desweller

Hi UE

Congratulations on attempting your first metric century. I did my first metric and imperial centuries this year, the metric hurt the most for some reason, I think because I stepped up from 30 mile rides to 65 in one go. That's probably not what you wanted to hear!

65 miles is a pretty substantial step up from 12.5 I'd say. My 65 mile trainer is between 4 and 4.5 hours riding for me (avg. 15mph), depending on terrain and weather. I'm no speed machine though.

As for advice...

Make sure you have plenty of food on you; don't rely on the food stations (if there are any) as they may be too far apart. I try to get something down about once an hour at least. If you get hungry whilst on the bike then you've left it too late and you will go through a period of feeling a bit crap as your body hits its fat reserves, but keep at it and eventually the food will kick in.

I use homemade flapjack or fruit cake as gels are revolting and I'm too tightfisted to pay for shrinkwrapped food, but there are plenty of products out there to choose from.

It might be worth preparing some grub and a flask of tea to leave in the car at the end (if the event's not local) so you can feed and drink afterwards. Also some dry clothes/shoes and a towel in case of heavy rain, again if a long drive is involved.

Don't ride for a day or two before the event. I know this restricts how much training you can do, but there's not much improvement you'll be able to make to your fitness in 7 days. Have a high-carb meal one or two nights before.

Use an electrolytic drink of some description to avoid muscle cramps. I carry Nuun tablets which dissolve in tap water. Drink little and often.

Check the weather forecast and kit yourself out accordingly. Don't know about baggies, if it rains they'll become waterlogged and that will be pretty tedious I reckon. Whatever you go for, make sure your shorts are padded!!!

If you're not on a drop bar bike, beg/borrow/steal some bar ends to give you some extra hand positions, or you will get numb hand syndrome.

If you're comfortable with your bike-handling skills, try to get in a group - drafting reduces the effort/speed ratio by a huge amount. Keep your eyes peeled though, especially at junctions - in my experience, many riders turn into lycra-clad lemmings as soon as they've got a number on the bike. If they go hurtling off, don't blow up trying to keep up - a slower group will appear eventually.

Good luck!

Des

UndercoverElephant

Hmmm... bib-shorts are just the kind of thing my wife would die laughing if I wore. Can't have that. I reckon my money would be better spent on something I might dare to wear on the commute, hence either the baggies, or even some padded undercrackers.

Apparently food and water are supplied along the route, but I will be taking a bottle and some dextrose tablets in case of emergencies. I have a pair of spare tubes too. As for sick relatives, sadly we are a hardy bunch so no dice, like the thinking mind. My son reckons I should say my bike got impounded for speeding, I like his thinking too, it makes me look heroic, whilst getting out of it. 8)

Thanks for the encouragement, chaps.

roger_merriman

what sportive/charity ride is it?

UndercoverElephant

http://www.edinburghsportive.btik.com/p_Home.ikml

It's for the Bethany Trust, they do a lot of work for the homeless in these parts. Looking at their website, I may well be doing 70 miles now :shock:

chuckcork

If you do a 12.5 mile commute every day I'd say you'd be fine as you'd more than have the base fitness from back to back days of being on the bike, my first ever club ride was 40 miles, done after a month off the bike from what had been a regular 12 mile a day round trip to work. The next week the club ride was 55 miles and that was OK too, I doubt you'd be any different.

Yes wear cycle shorts, make sure you drink enough, but if its next saturday then training is a waste of time, you may well be rested beforehand. Just pace yourself, eat properly and you'll get there no problems.

fossyant

+1 if doing a 12.5 mile commute each day. Just eat every 10 miles, and aim to drink at least 3 bottles of energy drink in that distance.

Tino4444

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Right chaps, a bit of a problem... I seem to have agreed to enter a 65 mile sportive, it's one of these, "Always do sober that which you say you'll do drunk" things. And it's for charidee.

Now, I've never actually cycled further than my 12.5 mile commute, so I really have no idea what I've done, where does this length sit in the scheme of things? Half-marathon level? Marathon? Also, where does my commute lie?

I'll need some proper cycle shorts, I'm not ready for lycra yet, so any advice for baggies? Obviously I'll need to do some training, shouldn't be a problem, it's not until Saturday. :shock:

You will be fine.

About 8 years ago before I got into cycling properly I did the great yorkshire bike ride (72 miles from Wetherby to Filey) on a MTB with hardly any training, I was unfit and 17 stones......I was hurting but finished it.

Good luck but i am sure you will be fine.

Tino.

roger_merriman

UndercoverElephant wrote:

http://www.edinburghsportive.btik.com/p_Home.ikml

It's for the Bethany Trust, they do a lot of work for the homeless in these parts. Looking at their website, I may well be doing 70 miles now :shock:

okay well could be worse! Pace is the key.

cjcp

Drink little and often - every 15 mins say - to avoid dehydration (shouldn't be an issue in Scotland though :P ). Bananas are great. Eating half at a time works for me.

Don't go off hard; take it easy. It's easy to get carried away and try to stay with a quick group.

Like Chuckcork says, don't overdo the mileage this week, particularly if it's on the Saturday and you'll have commuted all week.

Good luck!

UndercoverElephant

All good advice chaps, my plan is to do the commute Monday to Wednesday, and then let the car do the duties on Thursday and Friday. There's a few of us from my work doing it, I'll hopefully not die.

biondino

UE, you'll love it! Here's my advice - most of it's just repeated but what the hell.

1) 65 miles will take you about 5 hours. You're going to need at least 4 bottles worth of liquid - if you have 2 bottle cages on your bike (and I'd advise it), have one with Nuun or similar electrolyte drink (hydrates but doesn't provide energy) and one energy drink - something like High5, a carb/protein drink. Take sachets/tablets with you so that when you've got through the first batch, you can just top up with water at the next water stop.

I'd strongly advise not relying on just water for any considerable distance, unless you're eating a decent amount - I did a 38-mile leg once on just water and 20 minutes after I got home I was curled up on the toilet floor, utterly weak and nauseous as if I'd come down with spontaneous flu. Horrrible.

2) Use padding in the seat area, whether it's lycra or baggies (I echo the advice that you can wear it under regular shorts if you're not comfortable in lycra alone). Ideally apply some chamois cream beforehand - 65 miles you'll probably be okay but if you do chafe, it'll make your life miserable. See various threads on what brands to use.

3) Set off at a steady, relatively easy pace. You're not racing, you don't need to get a time, and you don't neeed to keep up with those slightly faster dudes in front of you. You can always up the tempo later in the race if you still have energy reserves - it feels brilliant to enter the last 10 miles feeling like you could go all day.

4) practice longer rides ASAP - start with maybe a 25 miler, then a 35 miler, then a 45 miler. If you can do the latter then you'll be fine - and it should be long enough to indicate any potential issues (such as, say, unexpected backache, or poor cleat positioning)

5) try and ride with others, whether you know them already or they're just people going about your pace. It's a good time to make friends - there's an "all in this together" mentality, and it can also be useful if you're both/all willing to take a pull.

6) Remember the slightly less obvious essentials - another layer if it might get cold, suncream if the weather's okay (5 hours on the back of your neck, it doesn't need to be perfect sunshine to burn like a bastard), that kind of thing.

7) either get your bike serviced a couple of weeks beforeheand or, if you're confident, do it yourself. Check your brakes, tyres, cables, wheels are all in good nick etc. It's also wise to clean it! Mechanicals happen but don't let it be because of neglect.

UndercoverElephant

Cheers Biondino, I have a very nice jersey I'm planning on wearing, thanks to you.

As for the bike, I only got it a couple of weeks ago, and thanks to Chain Reaction's "Bike in a box" policy, I had to build it up just like you would one from ASDA. On the plus side, I do know it's done right, and as it's new, it's in great condition.

jimmypippa

Another thing (apart form good luck) is that you actully commute 25-miles a day anyway, if I read your signature correctly.

The 7000 ft of ascent would be more concerning to me. Maybe that is 'cause I'm a weaner.


The 63-miles along the flat Manchester to Blackpool actually felt easier than my regular commute in some respects. Commuting was the only preparation I had for that. Actually cycling the 8-miles to a colleague for 6:30 on a BSO, carrying my pannier in a large rucsac was by far the hardest bit. I did have shedloads of food in my pannier though.

UndercoverElephant

Jimmy, you do read correctly, and up until now I've done it on a 18.5 KG BSO with nobbly tires. I now have a full on road bike which is literally half the weight . With that level of resistance training, I should be OK in the fitness dept. All except the hills, which look mean. On the plus side, it's the first 20K which is all uphill, meaning the last 20K is all downhill

UndercoverElephant

I've already crumbled and bought Lycra shorts. I knew this would happen when I went for tarty drop bars.

benno68

UndercoverElephant wrote:

I've already crumbled and bought Lycra shorts. I knew this would happen when I went for tarty drop bars.

Have you shown your other half yet?

If not (assuming she is not a cyclist herself), she will react in one of two ways, you will either get that WTF look and possibly a verbal comment "WTF" as I usually do. Or she will roll about laughing - I still get "the look" every now and then but it wears off after time.

Whatever her reaction, do NOT be put off from wearing them, a little ridicule is a lot better than suffering in the saddle and walking like John Wayne for a few days after.

UndercoverElephant

I suspect the latter, I just hope she survives.

Kieran_Burns

Ahhh - here's the thread!

Go look in ride reports - I did a 61 miler yesterday and this is after being off the bike for 3 weeks (including 2 due to flu). I do 14 miles each way and this is generally 3 times a week.

If I can get a 61 miler in, and this on a CX bike, you'll have no problems on a full on road bike.

Cafewanda

UE, congratulations on not ducking out of the ride and I loved your son's suggestion. Brilliant

Wish you well and look forward to reading the report on Sunday, post rest.

UndercoverElephant

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Ahhh - here's the thread!

Go look in ride reports - I did a 61 miler yesterday and this is after being off the bike for 3 weeks (including 2 due to flu). I do 14 miles each way and this is generally 3 times a week.

If I can get a 61 miler in, and this on a CX bike, you'll have no problems on a full on road bike.

Whilst wearing the cape too? I doff my hat at you, Sir!

Cafewanda wrote:

UE, congratulations on not ducking out of the ride and I loved your son's suggestion. Brilliant

Wish you well and look forward to reading the report on Sunday, post rest.

He's pretty good, especially considering he's only nine! I make a point of always doing the things I claim I'll do when I'm drunk. Hopefully this way, I'll learn to keep my mouth shut some day.

Sewinman

I think you will be fine. I echo all those who mention fuel. I ran out yesterday, expecting to find a shop but it took so long I was very close to a full on bonk (hitting the wall). So have lots of energy bars and some sugary sweets. Its probably psychological but I find the specialist powders you get in cycle shops for drinks are better than normal energy drinks.

Kieran_Burns

I just used sugary cordial with a pinch of salt - it seemed to work well - that and a good breakfast and some noodles and hour before I left. I was very careful to eat even though i didn't feel hungry and was fine, although the flapjacks were VERY sickly :?

Oh yeah and my arse was killing me by the time I'd finished :shock: but then this was probably due to the whole saddle height issue....

Jamey

The advice given to runners before big events always mentions not changing anything in the last couple of weeks before the event - so no new shoes, no new shorts, don't try any new food or drink, just stick with everything you know, everything that's tried and tested.

I'd say the same for bikes... Do the service a couple of weeks before and try to ride a hundred miles on it before the event comes around to check everything's working fine.

By all means do the things that can't possibly (within reason) cause anything to break like lubing the chain, pumping the tyres, tweaking the tension in mech cables etc... But don't go changing anything or trying to correct big problems in the last couple of weeks.

Better to ride the entire course with a slight problem that you already know about (and can work around) than discover a new problem halfway through.