Can a fatty make it 65 miles with 12 weeks training....

winnersh cyclist

Pouts wrote:

Good Evening Ladies and Gents
Been reading and enjoying the forum and the banter for a couple of months and decided to brave it and put my situation out there and ask for your assistance.....
So several months ago now prior to buying my bike I took the decision to enter the Dartmoor Classic Sportive.
My motivation was to lose weight in the run up to the Sportive, at 17.5st I am at the very least 3 stone over weight and also a smoker. Having bought a Cube Peloton Pro in December I was all set to go and start training.
Quite simply it hasn't happened- combination of bad weather, nerves and time have all got in the way. My wife is fully supportive of me but we still have a young son so disappearing out of the house for hours on end isn't possible.

I am determined that I can do this. Friends and family that know I have signed up for the sportive all laugh and clearly have no faith in me and I am determined to prove them wrong.

My question is can I seriously expect to be able to complete 65 miles and what training should I be doing to get myself there? I have had a few rides to date familiarising myself with the gearing and getting over the clipless pedal hurdle but the longest ride to date is 10 miles and it hurt!
Many thanks for any assistance you can offer....

Ben

Ben what happened did you manage it?

forgotrafe

17.5 stone isn't grossly overweight in terms of cycling, you can do 65 miles in 12 weeks time. It might not be fast and it might not be pretty, but if you're determined enough to put some effort into training, then I believe you can do it.

I regularly ride with a chap who is 23 stone and he's capable of doing that sort of distance.

See my post about normal people doing 100 milers here: viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12915864 I know it's about doing 100 miles but the theory is the same and the training should be similar.

The Dartmoor is tough and I'd seriously make sure you have a 27 or larger cog on the rear cassette, whether you have a compact or a triple chainset. You'll want that crawler gear.

Pouts

Ok so the answer is......yes a fatty can make it 67 miles to be precise with 12 weeks training!

The ride was this morning and was tough but am absolutely delighted to have completed it,
Weighing in at just over sixteen stone I have lost nearly a stone and a half in the last twelve weeks and clocked up a fair few miles.
Conditions today weren't great and I didn't break any records for time but I achieved my goal and got round!!!

67.8 miles done with 5662ft of climbing in 6hrs 12 mins...not the best pace but I am still pleased, with upto 40mph headwinds at times I feel that my body may be a little sore in the morning!

Thanks to you all for the motivation and here is to a better time for next year now that I am totally addicted....

Mikey41

Very well done! The time doesn't matter, you completed it, mission accomplished!

No stopping you now, this is just the beginning.

Mikey23

well done. the classic is very tough event and the conditions were pretty awful from what i hear. i just stayed local and picked off some tail wind assisted strava segments on a 15 miler so chapeau sir!

dee4life2005

well done ... that's rather a lot of climbing as well for the distance.

scrapyard_dog

Well done to you!

I'm a skinny wee gadge weighing in at around 11 stone and I managed it in 6hrs 9 which I'm really pleased with.

The weather on the stretch to Prince Town was atrocious in parts, really strong head winds and some hard down pours. The stint after the feed station wasn't quite so bad although I think the 5 miles to go marker was a bit optimistic lol!

markhewitt1978

If you can do 50 miles in the run up to it, then you can.

Having said that I did 62 miles having only previously done 32 miles maximum. It was tough going but I felt fantastic at the end!