London to Paris in 3 days 2011 - help me plan!

rodgers73
rodgers73 Posts: 2,626
Hello,

Along with a few work colleagues I am about to sign up for this event (coincides with the end of the Tour de France) but since my teen years the sum total of my cycling has been a single 50 mile ride in April this year.

Obviously, I've got a lot of training to do but I'd like some guidance on what sort of skills I might need to acquire to do this sort of thing without making a fool of myself or annoying other riders. I've been reading about chain-ganging on here - is this sort of stuff I need to learn?

Thanks

Tom

Comments

  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    London-Paris is more of a leisure ride than anything else. It's a lot of fun, but you'll need a certain level of fitness. (I did it a few years ago)

    Basically - if you can ride 70 miles, 3 days in a row - you'll be fine.

    Start riding regularly - and building up your fitness. By next April - you should be riding at least twice a week - and one of those rides should be in the 50 mile range. By May - 50 miles back to back rides. June - 50 miles x 3 days in a row. Etc.


    A chaingang isn't really the kind of training you'll want for this type of ride.


    Start by building some endurance and get on your bike!
  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    Riding some club runs with your local club (rather than a chaingang) would be more beneficial in learning group riding skills.

    But you don't have to ride L2P in a group................although it will make it a fair bit easier if you can get a decent group of riders of similar ability to ride together.