Can anybody help with my training question/advice

mallorcajeff

Hi All
I started cycling 2 years and 2 months ago. To cut a long story short 5 years ago I was just over 25 stone and didnt know what a bike was. In the past two years I have been out nearly every day and have clocked up about 20 thousand miles. I ride after work anywhere between 15 miles and 50 miles depending on the light/time of year. On a sat I do minumum100 miles and on the sunday sometimes 80 sometimes 120 miles. Most rides are in the mountains so I have got used to slogging it out uphill for hours on end. My furthest distance in one go was 131 miles and I cant say I wasnt knackered but I had more in me just ran out of day light. I consider myself pretty quick and ride 99.9% of my miles alone.

Im still heavy at 16 stone but at 9 stone lighter im a different person.

I want to enter the mallorca 312 sportive but thats 171 miles over loads of mountains, and I also want to enter the Barcelona-Andorra Sportive that is the tour de france route from 2009 and ends up on the top of the Arcalis. I really want to enter but how on earth can you do 171 miles over mountains in one go? I can knock out 100-110 mile rides 7 days a week not a problem but 170 is a different matter? I guess thats like an Audax but I have no idea what training yo would need to do for that mileage? Just increase the miles? I go out usually at 7.30 8am and get home about 3.30-5pm so cant go any longer or the Mrs will throw an epic. I usually avg 18-19mph 20-21 if its a shorter ride.

Sorry to ramble but want to enter there two and get a place secure but at the moment even with all the miles I have in me I still dont think they are acheivable? I ride all year round so there is no summer peak winter trough etc?

Any help appreciated as I dont want to enter something I have no hope of finishing and thats how it feels at the me. I know loose more weight thats obvious but thats not too easy at the moment.

thanks all

(On a sombre note anyone coming to Mallorca soon keep your eyes peeled we have had three fatalities here in the last month) Hit and run seems to be worryingly on the rise.

Herbsman

What you do already should be perfectly adequate; just do a couple of the shorter rides much harder.

ut_och_cykla

You're probably already fit enough. What you may be lacking is speed - hence the suggestion to ride shorter harder rides inbetween the longer ones. For hilly rides further weight reduction would also help.
For long day rides over hills I would ensure you have the gears you need for when you are tired at the end of the day. You also need to be spot on when it comes to ride food - what you eat and timing it right. Eat too much/little and you will suffer and perhaps not finsih within your time goal. I rode quebrantoheusos 2011 (200km/3000m climbing)and only just made the time cut because I had concentrated too much on diistance/endurane and not at all on speed. Good luck!

mallorcajeff

thanks, quebrantahuesos is also on the to do list

poynedexter

thats impressive pedal work chum!

i'd also say you are fit enough. dont forget it'll be a group ride so you'll be sheltered if you can get into a decent bunch and share the work. dont forget to keep your diet on track till then and enjoy it. your mrs must be very understanding lol

ut_och_cykla

mallorcajeff wrote:

thanks, quebrantahuesos is also on the to do list

Do it - its great! Beautiful & very well organised. but make sure you've got some speed in your legs and are quicksish up the first hill (somport) I had only 15 minutes in hand there ! and only 45 at the end - having made 'nature'/food stops amounting to just 15 minutes. It was almost a sportive too far for me. (I went on a package deal organised by Trian in Spain who guarantee entries.)

mallorcajeff

Thanks for the input. Diet is the fall down for me. When I ride I usually dont eat anything until lunchtime no breakfast nothing until i stop for lunch, usually 60m miles in by then. Speed is fine I can drop plenty of groups here its just the mountains come first and then you have the rest of the ride to do so it would probably be alone as I can more than hold my own on the flat but if i get to the end of the mountains on my own I will have to do the rest on my own too. Need to work on the food drink effort while riding. For a 120 mile ride I will probably have a ham and cheese roll for lunch (no breakfast) then two water bottles (just water) Maybe a snicker at 100 miles then go home and smash the granny out the kitchen so the food is all messed up the actual ridign is no problem. Got loads of gels literally 200 maybe and packets of nunn tablets but 99% of rides never take them as I forget. Had 4 boxes in the shelf unopend for a year. whoops.

Im thinking of train in spain as you say garunteed entry.

dw300

Link to news stories on the hit and runs??

mallorcajeff

found these just now been a lot lately bit worrying.

http://ultimahora.es/mallorca/noticia/s ... maria.html
http://ultimahora.es/mallorca/noticia/s ... nacor.html
http://www.diariodemallorca.es/sucesos/ ... 88504.html
Thsi one was last year was very nasty. Drunk policeman hit her and killed her then drove off
http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/tele ... a/1359708/

Cant find the report at the moment from this weeks one on the Arta Canpicafort road.

Found this though, Its not just the UK he hit and killed the poor guy last week and tried to change the plates on the car but the police found him. serial offender and drug addict and was back out on the street the next day. Amazing.
http://ultimahora.es/mallorca/noticia/s ... uctor.html

Herbsman

Did you have to?