Advice on riding long distance for many days

mjones222

hi guys and girls,

I'm looking for advice, firstly is it possible to ride 225 miles everyday for 80 days???

Also what type of training would I have to do it achieve such a ride???

What type of food to eat??

Any advice would be much appreciated

ex-pat scot

Hmmm./

Let me see.

"Around the world in 80 days" perhaps?

Me: possibly.

You: most certainly not, without a LOT of training and cycling experience.
If you had to ask the question, then you're certainly not up to it.

Sorry to be blunt. But you need to get real here. Or are you a simple troll?

toontra

Simple answer - no.

Slightly longer answer - anything much over 100 miles per day for that length of time would see you breaking world records.

StageWinner

mjones222 wrote:

hi guys and girls,

I'm looking for advice, firstly is it possible to ride 225 miles everyday for 80 days???

Also what type of training would I have to do it achieve such a ride???

What type of food to eat??

Any advice would be much appreciated

Possible? I suppose. But you're looking at around 14-15 hours a day in the saddle.


Most things are possible. This would be just plain stupid.

amaferanga

toontra wrote:

Simple answer - no.

Slightly longer answer - anything much over 100 miles per day for that length of time would see you breaking world records.

Not quite. Plenty of folk have ridden significantly further. Nick Saunders for one (somewhere around 170 miles/day for 78 days I think). The as yet unverified RTW record holder seems to be Alan Bate - 113 days to cover at least 28,970km. So 100 miles/day not so spectacular.

But I agree, given the way the question was put its highly unlikely the OP could ride for 225 miles/day for 80 days. Only a truly exceptional athlete could even hope to do anything close to that (e.g. someone of the calibre of Andy WIlkinson, Gethin Butler or (the late) Jure Robic)

mjones222

Thanks for everyone response

Firstly i wound like to apologise for not putting in the question in the right contents,

I do some cycling,I have done 100-150 miles in a day no problem. And anything up to 500 miles a week. Surley with some decent training and the right food. It could be done.

Many thanks

ut_och_cykla

360km for 89 days would be doable if you were very well trained, could maintain a good average speed and travelled over terrain that didnt slow you too much - 10- 12 hours a day cycling wouldn't leave much time for recovery sleep eating etc. But yes its probably doable by the right person - but personally I think you'd have to be nuts/obsessed to train for it let alone do it.

amaferanga

mjones222 wrote:

Thanks for everyone response

Firstly i wound like to apologise for not putting in the question in the right contents,

I do some cycling,I have done 100-150 miles in a day no problem. And anything up to 500 miles a week. Surley with some decent training and the right food. It could be done.

Many thanks

Why not go for 250 or 275 miles a day then? Surely with some decent training and the right food it could be done? How many years do you think it might take someone to train for something like this?

Do you have a route in mind with on interruptions - cos if you get held up at a border or something then you'll have miles to make up....

toontra

amaferanga wrote:

toontra wrote:

Simple answer - no.

Slightly longer answer - anything much over 100 miles per day for that length of time would see you breaking world records.

Not quite. Plenty of folk have ridden significantly further. Nick Saunders for one (somewhere around 170 miles/day for 78 days I think). The as yet unverified RTW record holder seems to be Alan Bate - 113 days to cover at least 28,970km. So 100 miles/day not so spectacular.

But I agree, given the way the question was put its highly unlikely the OP could ride for 225 miles/day for 80 days. Only a truly exceptional athlete could even hope to do anything close to that (e.g. someone of the calibre of Andy WIlkinson, Gethin Butler or (the late) Jure Robic)

Interestingly the Alan Bale time is still not verified almost a year after completion! He also used a support team - who's to know if he was drafting the team bus on some windswept road in Outer Mongolia! Personally I think records like this should be either supported fully or not at all. They are two very different feats.

I can, and have several times, done 200 miles plus on consecutive days, but never more than 5. I'm no world class athlete, and the body does become used to almost anything. BUT, an accumulation of sleep deprivation, injuries and strain, but perhaps more importantly poor road/track surfaces and bad weather, make 80 days of 200+ miles an impossibility for all but a handful. Are you one of those?

ex-pat scot

That kind of effort would need you to be superfit before hand AND ride yourself fitter as you got in to the challenge.

Why not do LEJoG in 4 days as a test? Then back again in another 4 days. That's the kind of intensity you'll be needing to maintain.

If you are carrying any sort of kit then maintaining a 15mph average speed for 15 hrs a day will give you 225 miles.
That leaves 9 hrs in the day for stops, rest, sleep, striking camp.
I don't know many that could do that. I could for a fortnight, but wouldn't really fancy it for longer.

Then factor in
- poor road surfaces
- mountainous terrain
- weather - heat, desert conditions, monsoons etc. You can't pick the "right" time of year to do a round=-the-world challenge and avoid the poor weather seasons.
- borders, visas, admin, unrest, detours,
- breakdowns, mechanicals
- injury

ex-pat scot

That kind of effort would need you to be superfit before hand AND ride yourself fitter as you got in to the challenge.

Why not do LEJoG in 4 days as a test? Then back again in another 4 days. That's the kind of intensity you'll be needing to maintain.

If you are carrying any sort of kit then maintaining a 15mph average speed for 15 hrs a day will give you 225 miles.
That leaves 9 hrs in the day for stops, rest, sleep, striking camp.
I don't know many that could do that. I could for a fortnight, but wouldn't really fancy it for longer.

Then factor in
- poor road surfaces
- mountainous terrain
- weather - heat, desert conditions, monsoons etc. You can't pick the "right" time of year to do a round=-the-world challenge and avoid the poor weather seasons.
- borders, visas, admin, unrest, detours,
- breakdowns, mechanicals
- injury

kieranb

225 by 80 = 18000 miles = 28968km so an around the world record attempt? Maybe call it "Around the world in 80 days" ?? Given the state of the world even the best laid plans could get messed up whilst cycling through the middle east etc. Anyway good luck if you try or was this just a theoretical question?

Cleat Eastwood

kieranb wrote:

225 by 80 = 18000 mikes

18000 Mikes, thats almost a Dave.

amaferanga

kieranb wrote:

225 by 80 = 18000 mikes = 28968km so an around the world record attempt? Maybe call it "Around the world in 80 days" ?? Given the state of the world even the best laid plans could get messed up whilst cycling through the middle east etc. Anyway good luck it you try or was this just a theoretical question?

Yep, but the reality is that to average 225 miles/day you'd need to set out doing somewhat more to make up for the inevitable delays at borders and due to illness, mechanicals, etc.

kieranb

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

kieranb wrote:

225 by 80 = 18000 mikes

18000 Mikes, thats almost a Dave.

thanks! corrected, at first I thought it was my maths that was wrong.

estampida

what if after 40 days at 220 mls per day you get an injury

less miles less wear, and the delays that will be around the corner will make the 80 day limit impossible

half the distance and enjoy the tour

vorsprung

Like toontra I have also ridden this sort of distance for a few days on the trot
Last year I did an event in Wales that was 1000km in 75 hours for example

362km per day is not super impossible but to keep it up for 80 days would be a logistical nightmare. I agree with the other comments that it really depends on the route and conditions outside of your control

The AUK minimum speed for rides over 2600km is 200km per day, that would be more doable

To answer the original question "what type of training would I have to do it achieve such a ride?" I am reminded of a comment by Gethin Butler "I realized that I could ride all day at 17mph".

To train you would need to work on your endurance. Like the legendary Gethin Butler aim to be able to do 17mph all day and then the next day and then the next day

To be able to do this you need to be generating enough power at low intensities of effort to propel yourself along.

This article by Joe Friel examines how to compare power and heart rate to give a measure of endurance fitness
http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/05/sp ... tness.html
This article by Pete Penseyres looks at how interval training can help performance on very long rides
http://www.ultracycling.com/training/in ... ining.html