First 50 miler - tough but chuffed

griffsters

I know, one of those threads but its a milestone I'm glad to get done! Wanted to just give it a go after doing my first 40 miler a few weeks back so mapped out a route and went out this morning.

http://app.strava.com/activities/5371498

I dont normally take food with me for my normal length of ride, just an electrolyte or energy drink. Today I took two bottles, one of each and a couple of slices of soreen malt loaf.

Route wise, I think I bit off more than i could chew tbh as the hills in the first 30 miles really took it out of me. Although I hated doing it I had to get off and walk on a couple of killers (to me) as i was just spent. The last 10 / 15 miles or so were very difficult and I was rationing drinks towards the end as I was running out. I just didnt have the energy or strength in my legs to push on at all

What would I do different? Well for a start, next time I decide to push the boundaries i'm going to choose a flatter route Although I had a good meal last night, decent breakfast and soreen not sure I had enough in the tank - alternatively its probable that I pushed my limits a bit too far and my body thought I was havin' a bleedin laugh and stopped responding.

Chuffed to have done it anyway, just felt like sharing.

xscreamsuk

Well done on the 50, add a cafe stop, can re fuel and fill bottles etc, at around 30 miles would be ideal .

ShutUpLegs

Well done, bet it feels great. Definitely try a flatter route next time.

griffsters

Cheers, very happy - just feel its one of those barriers that provides a large dollop of satisfaction.

I perhaps need to work out cafes within my area and indulge on future long rides 8)

DaveL

That's some climbing for your first 50 miler

Well done, it will be easier next time

Dave

g00se

That's a fair bit of climbing! Well done.

team47b

Well done! Good effort by the sounds of it.

Good milestone and test for food/liquid intake.

Sounds like you need to eat more complex carbs at the early stage, about 45 minutes in, energy bar ideal. (I also ate an indian meal at the midpoint - diabetic) Some fast acting carbs about half an hour from home to help the final push. Need to have plenty of water as your blood will thicken and make pushing it around your system hard work, slowing you down. Then eat protein and carb (4 to 1) within 30 minutes of getting home to replenish glycogen and repair muscle damage.

Cycle how you like, wear what you like, but eat more!

Did my first 80k (50 miler) on the road bike last week, no hills like yours though, great sense of achievement aint it! Now the century!

(as I live in Portugal it is kilometres so the century for me is easier!

Crimmey

Good going fellow rochdalian

griffsters

thanks guys!

Think I ned to give a bit more thought to fuelling on the go, seems i've hit that kind of level where it really matters. Good info there team47b, cheers. As Crimmey knows, not many directions to go from Rochdale that doesnt involve bloody great big hills at some point. Hills it is then :roll: 8)

Gizmodo

Well done, it feels good doesn't it. I did my first 50 miler today as well, with a similar amount of climb. I'll sleep well tonite! http://app.strava.com/rides/5380039

griffsters

Nice going and congrats! I tried to get away with a sneaky lie down earlier but there was no way it was going to happen *sigh* I will indeed sleep like a baby tonight!

Going off on a slight tangent, but heh! It was a great day to do it, sun was out and it felt great when in it. The down side to that I found out when the missus laughed at me on my return. She pointed out that i had a sun tan in the shape of my helmet vents on my bald bonce :x Now I look a right plum and need to source some sun bloc for the summer.

swede54

Well Done!

Next time take the whole malt loaf and perhaps a gel or 2, they don't weigh much but it's better than running out.

griffsters

Steady, I dont need much encouragement to eat a whole malt loaf :oops:

jordan_217

Good effort!

It takes a bit of trial and error to figure out your nutritional needs on the bike. You defo need to increase your food/drink intake though.

IME the best thing to do is not only plan your ride/route but also plan your feeding too. For example, if I'm out for 4 hours then I'll have my first gel after 70-75 mins. Then have another at 2hrs, a bar 30 mins after that and one more gel 45 mins afterwards. I'll also carry another gel, just in case. I try to take in 500ml fluid per hour (750ml when it's hot). I drink the high5 zero stuff which is just an effervescent tablet, so it's easy to wrap a few in some foil and make up more drink when I need to.

Sounds a lot but you really do need to keep fuelled. Try to be pro-active rather than reactive, once you've bonked it's game over.

CiB

Griffsters wrote:

thanks guys!

Think I ned to give a bit more thought to fuelling on the go, seems i've hit that kind of level where it really matters. Good info there team47b, cheers. As Crimmey knows, not many directions to go from Rochdale that doesnt involve bloody great big hills at some point. Hills it is then :roll: 8)

Cracking route that; I know a lot of it (in-laws live up that way) and have done most of it at some time or another. Shame you opted out of Blackstone Edge as that's a really good climb and you can drop down into Mytholmroyd via the 5 mile downhill. Next time eh?

50 miles even round that sort of territory isn't the sort of ride that should send you into meltdown so as long as you start well hydrated and well fed it shouldn't take a lot of extra food en route. Fluids are always useful though. Don't skimp on fluid intake.

Well done; good effort.

griffsters

CiB wrote:

Griffsters wrote:

thanks guys!

Think I ned to give a bit more thought to fuelling on the go, seems i've hit that kind of level where it really matters. Good info there team47b, cheers. As Crimmey knows, not many directions to go from Rochdale that doesnt involve bloody great big hills at some point. Hills it is then :roll: 8)

Cracking route that; I know a lot of it (in-laws live up that way) and have done most of it at some time or another. Shame you opted out of Blackstone Edge as that's a really good climb and you can drop down into Mytholmroyd via the 5 mile downhill. Next time eh?

50 miles even round that sort of territory isn't the sort of ride that should send you into meltdown so as long as you start well hydrated and well fed it shouldn't take a lot of extra food en route. Fluids are always useful though. Don't skimp on fluid intake.

Well done; good effort.

Thanks. Blackstone Edge is a good climb although I quite enjoy going up out of Littleborough coming back from Ripponden is a long drag and always saps me more. Its actually quite close to where I live and I normally fit it in on 30 mile ish circuits. Not gone up Cragg Vale yet but gone down..its on my list of climbs to do this summer!

Appreciate all the comments, i'm absorbing it for future rides.

RideOnTime

46 miles last Sunday, 44 miles today. Go for an Ironbridge next week - 55 miler. Great though in this spring weather...

jeremybarker

Well done chap, not quite 50 but I managed a 46 mile ride up and over the south downs, and had pretty much exactly the same experience as you.

Although my run was in heavy rain, head winds and 1360m going up and 1365m coming backdown, I did manage to hit 47mph on one of the hill sections though.

http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout ... cfkuvfq7b6

Cleat Eastwood

brilliant well done. my first 50 I kind of cramped up, i think its part of the challenge to have a few hills on a challenge - . Its amazing how your body remembers the effort though - the next 50 will be easier.

DavidJB

Good effort matey! Keep going and it will get easier every time. Sign your self up for a 100 mile sportive later this year to give you a target! With all the food stops they are not as hard as they sound!

apreading

Did my first 50 a couple of weeks ago - and it was a lot harder than previous 40-45 mile runs for a few reasons:

1) I had planned in as much climbing as possible as I am training for the Astma Beach 2 Beach which goes over the South Downs
2) Previous runs, the time has not been important and I have probably averages 13mph or less - whereas I wanted an average around 15mph to make sure I can do the 70 miles a day of the B2B in reasonable time
3) I think I also spent more time out of the saddle, standing up - which I am trying to do more without getting knackered

Ached for 4 days afterwards (although it was tailing off on the last day or 2) - mainly on the front of my thighs, which I put down to the climbing and the time out of the saddle which works those muscles more.

Perhaps adding all of these at the same time was not overly wise...

Going to do it all again in a couple of weeks though.

MartinB2444

Looks like a great route, well done

+1 for the cafe stop, energy drink and a big slab of sponge cake.

Lossie Loon

With the nice weather this weekend I beefed on and did two milestone rides for - my first 50 miler on Saturday and then my first 100km ride yesterday.

Not as hilly as the OP's by quite some way, so was able to get an average of 17.9 mph on the 50 mile ride, but that fell down to 16.6 mph when I did the 100km yesterday. I think fatigue from the 50 miler will have played its part in the lower average speed yesterday - I noted that all the way round my average speed was a bit down and I had noticeably less energy about me over the last 10-15 miles of the 100km route. Whilst I finished the 50 miler as fresh as a daisy with the feeling I could have done a lot more, I felt somewhat jaded after the 100km ride!

I've never gone for the food whilst cycling thing and just had 2 x 750ml bottles of diluting squash drinks with me for both rides, but I'll try another 100km ride in the future without the added issue of having done a 50 mile ride the day before.

But still chuffed to get those milestones done.

p9uma

Bloody well done. I've yet to do one since I got back into cycling. I did 30 today and I'm knackered! Anyway well done good show!

apreading

I suspect that we will see a few more 'first 50 milers' on here soon, with the weather at the moment!

p9uma

apreading wrote:

I suspect that we will see a few more 'first 50 milers' on here soon, with the weather at the moment!

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