2,500 miles, 10 weeks
GyatsoLa
Posts: 667
Starting in late August, I'm hoping to ride the Great Divide off road ride, from Banff in Canada down to El Paso on the Mexican border. Its 2,500ish miles of trail, track and some road through the Rockies and High Plains, with a hell of a lot of climbing. I'll be self supported, so carrying a fair bit of kit. I'm not racing, not trying to get a record, and if its too tough I'm prepared to scale back my ambitions (but I'd still love to complete the whole length if at all possible.
I'm 43, middling fit (but never competitively fit), and I've done high altitude bike tours several times before in the Himalaya, but never for more than 4 weeks, and never with the sort of daily mileage I'll have to tackle on this one if I'm to make El Paso.
Due to work and family pressures, I'm very stuck for time before I go so lots of all day rides are out of the question. I've been focusing more on just getting as many saddle hours as I can, whether on my fixie around town or long sunday rides or occasional short sharp rides. I'm hoping to start serious riding over Easter, take a weeks break in May for some riding in the Pyrannees with a view to getting fitness up so I can do three 200 km cyclesportifs in June, then money/time permitting I'm hoping to do a weeks mountain biking with friends in the high Alps in Switzerland in July. Realistically, I will be far too busy in August to do much riding.
In addition to riding I do an hour a week each of yoga and pilates, mainly to help with an old back injury (x2) and to keep up some core strength and flexibility. I don't do much else exercise-wise apart from walking a lot (my jogging days are seem to be over due to a problem hip).
So my question for those of you who know a bit about preparing for endurance events is - would I get any benefit from a more structured approach to fitness for the type of ride I'm looking at? My assumption up to now has been that over 2 months I'll ride myself into endurance, so my main focus has been just in getting myself up to a certain level of health and fitness so I can start strongly. But reading through a few blogs, a few endurance riders seem to suggest that even for non-competitive riders, a structured approach does make a noticeable difference in all day riding comfort.
And if a more structured approach would give me benefits, what form would it take? More high intensity sessions? cross-training?
I'm 43, middling fit (but never competitively fit), and I've done high altitude bike tours several times before in the Himalaya, but never for more than 4 weeks, and never with the sort of daily mileage I'll have to tackle on this one if I'm to make El Paso.
Due to work and family pressures, I'm very stuck for time before I go so lots of all day rides are out of the question. I've been focusing more on just getting as many saddle hours as I can, whether on my fixie around town or long sunday rides or occasional short sharp rides. I'm hoping to start serious riding over Easter, take a weeks break in May for some riding in the Pyrannees with a view to getting fitness up so I can do three 200 km cyclesportifs in June, then money/time permitting I'm hoping to do a weeks mountain biking with friends in the high Alps in Switzerland in July. Realistically, I will be far too busy in August to do much riding.
In addition to riding I do an hour a week each of yoga and pilates, mainly to help with an old back injury (x2) and to keep up some core strength and flexibility. I don't do much else exercise-wise apart from walking a lot (my jogging days are seem to be over due to a problem hip).
So my question for those of you who know a bit about preparing for endurance events is - would I get any benefit from a more structured approach to fitness for the type of ride I'm looking at? My assumption up to now has been that over 2 months I'll ride myself into endurance, so my main focus has been just in getting myself up to a certain level of health and fitness so I can start strongly. But reading through a few blogs, a few endurance riders seem to suggest that even for non-competitive riders, a structured approach does make a noticeable difference in all day riding comfort.
And if a more structured approach would give me benefits, what form would it take? More high intensity sessions? cross-training?
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Comments
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I did a 7 week trip across Europe on tarmac 2000. Prepared by practising the camping stuff , making sure I could make tea and put up tent under tricky conditions, keep warm & dry inside tent etc and carry stuff on the bike without grinding to a halt (low gears!!). Camped mostly but had hotel/hostel on average twice a week for recuperation or sightseeing reasons.
Training was mostly spinning every day during the winter prior to my april start - took very easy days first fortnight in southern spain. Spinning was sometimes just going there and turning legs over getting head used to idea that legs could cycle even when brain thought lying on sofa was better.
Your trip sounds much more adventurous but I think like all long trips of a lifetime its mostly a mental thing - keep going, be inventive and flexible...buy good reliable gear you've tested before you go and good luck!0 -
Thanks ut - yes, I will try to do a trial run for a few days to make sure equipment, etc., is up to scratch.
I guess as far as fitness is concerned I'll just make it up as I go along... problem is that the grizzlies are in the first stretch so I want some fitness then so I can outrun one!0
