100 miles a day for 8 days

spruce86

Hello all,

I've asked a question similar to this a while ago but need some more advice. I started training on my bike in December and currently can comfortably do 25miles at 12mph, and I've done a few further rides, but not more than 40.

In July I'm doing 100miles a day for 8 days. Any advice on what I should be doing to achieve this goal? What sort of mileage should I be at now bearing in mind I only have 4 months left, and what sort of practise mileage should I achieve before the ride?

Also are there any pieces of advice you could give for hill riding that doesn't involve actually doing hills? (There are no hills of note in Milton Keynes)

amaferanga

As a bare minimum you should be able to do back-to-back 100 mile days before your ride.

Why haven't you ridden further than 40 miles? If you only ever ride what is a comfortable distance you won't be pushing yourself. How far do you think you could ride at the moment and still be able to do the same the following day?

To be honest, unless you're underestimating what you're currently capable of then it's going to be difficult for you to get to the stage where you can ride 8 x 100 mile days consecutively. With your average speed of 12mph these 100 mile days are going to be long days and you should expect to get slower as the days go on.

As for hill training - are you saying that you're currently doing flat training rides of up to 40 miles, but your big ride is going to consist of hilly 100 mile days? I'd say you need to go find some hills....

thiscocks

where abouts are you riding it? If it is hilly then good luck! Personally I would want to have done atleast one 100mile ride before doing 8 in a row. You should aim to do a 100m ride within the next couple of months (building up to it with eg-40,60,80m rides) just so you know how you feel with it. A month before I would be gradually decreasing the mialage untill the event so you will hopefully feel fresher.

furrag

I wrote a reply much more blunt than Amaferanga's this morning, but I have to return to the thread.

My riding improved dramatically when I began riding 3-4 times per week. Cycle around and South of Luton. There are a lot of hills there, and if you head to St. Albans, the high streets ridiculously steep. Failing that, a lower cadence into a headwind I find mimics a hill.

12mph on a road bike is quite slow. You'll be spending 8 miles in the saddle to do 100 flat miles. That's a huge volume to put your body through, especially when you're only managing 40 miles/3 hours at the moment. Add in hills and fatigue, and you're going to be looking at a lot longer. That's about 80-110 hours of cycling in 8 days.

How often do you ride at the moment, and how much time do you spend per week? Your training should be specific to the event. You need to start riding on consecutive days to get your body used to the demands you're going to be shocking it into. With only 6 months to train, you've given yourself very little time to increase your endurance and also be able to factor into your training back-to-back high-mileage rides. You're not riding hills either at the moment.

I hate to knock ambition, but my personal opinion is that you're going to be at a high risk of seriously damaging your ligaments and tendons as you're not trained for the event. A friend of mine was due to ride the Alps over the course of a week doing 80 miles daily with a single rest day. He pulled out through injury, and a replacement stepped up. The substitute could do 50-60+ mile rides fine, but hadn't prepared for the hills. He tried to train beforehand, and he went to the Alps. He took a plethora of antiinflammatories as his knee swelled like a tennis ball, and withdrew. He has since had operations on both meniscus ligaments in the knee which were f*cked. Some things just aren't worth compromising mobility for.

bigpikle

I'll echo whats been said above. I was in a similar position 18 months ago after years off the bike, and lots of regular riding got me through a single century ride successfully, at an average of 15mph, and lots of other long rides during the year, but it wasnt especially hilly and I cant believe I would have done anything like 8 consecutively...

I'm not far from MK and if you head south then you can find plenty of hills to ride! Try the Luton area as was suggested, or head over to Princes Risborough and ride south of there for plenty of Chilterns fun that will test 90% of riders out well. Closer to home there are some hills in the Brickhills that will get you going.

Primarily though I'd say you need to get out on the bike EVERY minute you can and make sure that every weekend you are getting LONG rides done. You really need to push it to 50/60/80 miles and I'd also agree that you must get a 100 done before you go, if nothing else just to know you can do the distance and to know how it feels the day after...

Good luck.

Ron Stuart

Great Brickhill (clue in the name) and the Chilterns (Hilly) both are near you and build up distance and terrain slowly.
Ride a long weekend 4+ days nearer the event at 100+ a day.
Personally I think you should have commited to this event for next year and spent this year upgrading yourself mate 800 miles in 8 days is a major step from where you currently are. :!:

Velonutter

To be truthful not wishing to pish on yer fire, but I think you should put off doing this ride for another summer.

I worked hard to train for L2P last year, 300 miles in 3 days and was already doing 150 miles a week 5 months before the ride. I did it but that was only because I trained hard.

After this winter, I'm back in training for this June and I'm already doing 150 miles + per week at about 17-19 mph average and I'm struggling to pick my distance up, whereas last year was OK.

Doing 800 miles in 8 days is going to be very hard work and like some of the posters have said you risk injury as well.

What is this ride you are planning?

spruce86

Damn, looks like I'll be backing out of this one then. There is the option of doing it as a part of a relay group that might make more sense then?

I honestly thought there was a greater possibility of being able to complete this ride than has been outlined here. I also thought riding 12mph for 8-10 hours would be a more achievable aim than trying to complete the ride at a high pace for a shorter time period. Shows my lack of knowledge.

Cheers for the input anyway all. I think I'll continue to train as I am and include some hills and such in the hope that perhaps I'll be able to achieve something like this another time.

MrChuck

Quality recovery time every day will be very important and if you're spending up to 10 hours a day in the saddle every day there won't be much of that.

fernholt

This is a bit of a tall order. And I think the general feeling seems to be that you'd be better off thinking again.
It depends on how young you are, the terrain etc. But it is possible. Many years back I did something similar, from a low level of cycling ability.
My advice would be, if you are determined and foolish, then do it. I admire the foolishness in youth for example. But, clearly, the more prep you do the less pain it will be. And the pain could be serious in a joint rather than sore muscles and bum.
Perhaps you could try to cycle every day, even a commute to work and back. Build up those miles. Perfect training would be 100 miles consecutively for some days, but if that isn't going to happen, go as far as you can. The recovery of an 80 followed by another 80 is difficult. Don't underestimate how wrecked you will feel. Get on the bike as much as you can, do easy rides over and over and increase the miles. Give you body plenty of time to recover though. 30 miles followed by 20, then a 30 - something like that will be a good start. You should be able to work up to 70, 50, 60 - something like that before you go. A recovery ride could be a very easy 15 mile ride.
Don't hammer your body in the week before you go. Take it easy but keep riding.
I really don't think I have helped, but good luck. Expect pain. Work hard now to make it easier and more enjoyable for yourself.

mrushton

Try finding some 200km audaxes and having a go. The timings are generous but it will give you an idea of what you are attempting. The above posts haven't even discussed nutrition which is vital and of course sleep.

ut_och_cykla

I realise that most of teh advice here is 'think twice /train loads more' BUT a mate of mine did two weeks of 50-80 km rides in southern Spain with me with only 1 hour a day on her bike for 2 months before the event. With a fully loaded touring bike too!
Not the same but still quite an effort - spain is not flat! Point is she did it (50 years old at the time) and although she had enough after 2 weeks (and her knees were sore!) she was ok afterwards.
So - you've got 4 months or so - use March to get cycling regularly - commuting perhaps.
Use April to extend one long ride a week as much as you dare! Riding to a mate's place x miles a way is a good idea - free tea/beer then back again. Use May to do longer rides during the week inc. one at least 100 miles. Use June to do back to back 100's - one on Sat & One on Sunday for example at least once during the month,cycling other days too.
thgsi will at least give a taste of what to expect. if your bum & hands hold out and you can eat on the bike - go for it!

bigpikle

as your in MK then look up Team MK, as they have weekly group rides for ALL abilities, across 4 different groups. You will find a good opportunity to get advice and increase your mileage with some friendly group rides on Saturday mornings. Friendly bunch and well worth contacting

http://www.teammk.com/home

amaferanga

spruce86 wrote:

Damn, looks like I'll be backing out of this one then. There is the option of doing it as a part of a relay group that might make more sense then?

I honestly thought there was a greater possibility of being able to complete this ride than has been outlined here. I also thought riding 12mph for 8-10 hours would be a more achievable aim than trying to complete the ride at a high pace for a shorter time period. Shows my lack of knowledge.

Cheers for the input anyway all. I think I'll continue to train as I am and include some hills and such in the hope that perhaps I'll be able to achieve something like this another time.

I wouldn't give up just yet, but you will need to dedicate your life to cycling for the coming months if you want to do it. Getting out and riding 30-40 miles a couple of times a week ain't gonna get you ready.

And while riding slower when you do the actual ride is not a bad idea, you should be pushing yourself in some of your training rides. What you want is for your cruising speed to increase so that for the same effort you're going faster. This won't happen if all you do is bumble along at 12mph on the flat all the time. Think about doing week day rides (it won't be long before you can get a decent ride in the evening without needing lights) where you push yourself and ride above your comfort zone and then a couple of longer rides at the weekend where you ride at a more comfortable pace. Don't make the long rides too easy though.

If it were me I'd be thinking about how far I can currently ride if I pushed myself and would probably go out some weekend and see what I could do. If it turns out that you can do 100 miles at the moment even if it leaves you buggered then that's a good sign. You do need to ramp up your mileage quite quickly though while avoiding injury. You might be finding your bike quite comfortable at the moment, but after 10 hours in the saddle it could well be unbearable.

If you do up your mileage quite quickly then you will need to have an easier week every month or so to let your body recover - maybe knock back the mileage and/or intensity by about 20-30% every 4th or 5th week.

And as mrushton pointed out you need to get your head around what and how much you'll need to eat on these long rides. You can get away with poor nutrition on a single day ride, but try doing that day after day and you'll suffer.

Having said all this, I reckon you'd enjoy the ride a lot more if you put it off until next year and use this year to get experience of long bike rides....

solsurf

Have you got any fitness from other sports? last year I found out I was doing the Fred Whitton and with little trainning and no distances over 50miles (most people told me how impossible it would be) I found it relatively easy, but then I do a fair bit of fell running and mountain biking as well.

If you think this will be the only ever opportunity to do it, If I were you I would start trainning hard right now.

good luck

9jan11

Good thread.

I've been doing a lot of cycling and was thinking of turning pro and giving the Tour de France a shot.

Currently up to 10 miles every other day at about 14mph plus a long one on a Sunday - more than 20 miles!!! What do you think?

BTW I can reach over 30mph downhill! Do you feel this will help, after all they ride up some big hills?

amaferanga

9jan11 wrote:

Good thread.

I've been doing a lot of cycling and was thinking of turning pro and giving the Tour de France a shot.

Currently up to 10 miles every other day at about 14mph plus a long one on a Sunday - more than 20 miles!!! What do you think?

BTW I can reach over 30mph downhill! Do you feel this will help, after all they ride up some big hills?

Crap post.

9jan11

amaferanga

Crap post.

My wife's not taking me seriously either but I will show you all - I can also ride no handed for a while

spruce86

I'm guessing 9Jan11 is just trying to take the mic out of me a little. Nothing to worry about.

I think I'm just going to train as hard as I can for my own good and enjoyment without too much thought about the challenge. At least that way I can achieve the fitness I desire and think about a challenge such as this another time but if it happens I achieve my fitness before the event I can give it a good shot.

With regards to the diet side of things - I'm not sure in what way I know how to plan a suitable diet. I calculated that I burn about 1,800 calories per ride. Am I just looking to make sure I replace all of those calories? What am I looking for with regards to protein intake... should I up it for the maintenance and building of my leg muscles?

stonehouse

By my reckoning it would take 33 weeks to go from 40 miles a week to 800, that's assuming no illness or injury and a perfect progressive training regime. But I'm probably over symplifying things

spruce86

I think people might have mis-interpreted my first post. I'm doing 25miles a day Monday to Thursday with a longer ride (up to 40miles so far) on a Saturday. So effectively 140miles a week. I didn't mean one ride a week of between 25 and 40miles.

stoobydale

I would say go for it, definately don't give up yet. We did lejog last year in 8 days (longest day 140+ miles) one of the guys had only bought his bike (second hand) 11 months before the start. Granted he was probably the slowest rider and his bike handling wasn't the best (had a crash on the 1st day) but he made it ok. We did quite a few group rides in the last 5-6 months before setting off but I bet he didn't do more than about five 100 mile rides before and none back to back. In fact the first one would have been round about this time of last year. We didn't pull up any trees, the average speed for the whole route was just over 15mph. I have done two quite long rides (lejog and Grimsby-London-Paris 3 days) and found that I felt better as the days went on, sounds daft I know and I thought that I would feel more fatigued as the days passed but this wasn't the case.

bigpikle

I seriously doubt you burn 1800 Kcals a ride, at the speed you state. My power meter tells me pretty accurately how much work I'm doing (very close to cals burned) and 1800 cals is about a 60 mile ride at 16.5mph for me, at 77kg. If you're basing it on a HR monitor its probably way out by a factor of 2 or so.

fernholt

Ah! I responded earlier and sorry, I did get the wrong end of the stick. You're much better placed for it.
I would definitely go for it. Sounds like everything body-wise is in working order, it's a matter of upping the endurance.
I find, or at least I think, that once I started doing 30, instead of 20, It got easier mentally and 30 was not a big deal or as difficult as I originally thought. It then because the sort of , quick ride distance. Then, the same with 40-50. 50 miles, if done a few times, does become "easy". I think these need to be done twice a week to be quickly effective as a significant step up. For me, I then did some 100's and found them difficult or ok depending on nutritional mistakes and speed, but then I stepped down and have done a lot of 60, 70 and 80 mile rides. These numbers are not difficult if you get your mind in the right place. I also think, that an 80 seems to have as profound an effect on my body as a 100. So, when practicing for 100's, I often find myself doing 70-80 rides.
So, try to take the long route to work on the commute, do a 50 on sat and Sun, chuck in a few 70's a hundred perhaps. And you're laughing. Not all rides need to be long though.
Will you be stopping for food on your ride or eating in the saddle? Work that out too and practice. Don't think you can rely on energy drinks and gels - they might make you sick. They might be fine too though of course.
I hope this helps. I'm no expert but it all seems to make sense to me at least.
good luck

andrewlwood

To resurrect an old post - did you do it?

spruce86

I did think about coming back to discuss but forgot.

Yes I did complete it, 800 odd miles in 8 days and we actually did it pretty easily. I'm surprised at how pessimistic a lot of opinions I received were (not singling out this thread as there is another floating somewhere - this thread was pretty positive). I only trained to 40miles, and not very regularly, and except for slight discomfort on the second day did it without a problem. I (was) 16.5 stone and only 5'10 too.

Over £12,000 raised in all.

bristolmotorspeedway

Brilliant result Spruce86. I didn't see that ending coming as I read through the thread ;-)

Well done, and quite inspirational to read as a novice cyclist who has only managed a few 30s.

andrewlwood

spruce86 wrote:

I did think about coming back to discuss but forgot.

Yes I did complete it, 800 odd miles in 8 days and we actually did it pretty easily. I'm surprised at how pessimistic a lot of opinions I received were (not singling out this thread as there is another floating somewhere - this thread was pretty positive). I only trained to 40miles, and not very regularly, and except for slight discomfort on the second day did it without a problem. I (was) 16.5 stone and only 5'10 too.

Over £12,000 raised in all.

Well, I'm bloody glad I asked. Congratulations mate, that's excellent work all round. You'll be my motivation for signing up for seemingly unachievable rides in the future!

Congrats again mate, and good job proving them all wrong!