Hot weather conditioning as prep for RL100?

chrisaonabike

Getting a bit concerned that if the hot weather continues, I'm going to end up in a right state on the RL 100, that is if I finish at all.

My start is shortly before 8, so if it's hot then I'm going to be riding right through the heat of the day. On my training rides I mostly start early to miss the heat, and I'm wondering if that's exactly the wrong thing to do.

So I did an experimental 20 miler at about midday today - with two laps of Richmond Park in the middle of it. Mostly in the sun.

I felt Ok when I got home, but out of curiosity took my temperature to see if the boiling hot I felt on the outside was indicative of any kind of overheating on the inside. Happily it wasn't - 36.8 so the cooling system was working well.

Interesting to note two things:

- my HR tended to go up a lot more with less exertion than when it's colder. I was trying to keep it at about 140 or below except on the hilly bits, and that was hard.

- I got through 1.5 l of diluted fruit juice in that 20 miles.

So, question:

Should I head out for a similar ride - maybe every day - in the heat for the next 10 days or so, to condition myself to tolerate the heat better? I was Ok after 20 miles but I doubt I could manage 100 at that heat level.

imposter2.0

if you are preparing for a 100-miler by repeatedly riding 20 miles, then I think the heat will be the least of your problems. If you want to have any chance of getting round it comfortably, then you should probably be doing three-times that distance in a single ride, on a regular basis.

phreak

I don't think it'll be a big problem. The main problem I've found with riding in the heat was when climbing as you don't tend to get the breeze cooling you down. That's one thing climbing a col for an hour but there's nothing remotely like that on the RL so I'm sure you'll be fine if you drink plenty.

chrisaonabike

Imposter wrote:

if you are preparing for a 100-miler by repeatedly riding 20 miles, then I think the heat will be the least of your problems. If you want to have any chance of getting round it comfortably, then you should probably be doing three-times that distance in a single ride, on a regular basis.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I've been doing 60, 70, and recently 80 mile distances on my training rides for some time - but nothing in remotely like the heat we're getting at the moment.

Just wondering if it's possible to make it easier to ride in high temperatures, by doing exactly that.

simona75

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I've been doing 60, 70, and recently 80 mile distances on my training rides for some time - but nothing in remotely like the heat we're getting at the moment.

Just wondering if it's possible to make it easier to ride in high temperatures, by doing exactly that.

I would definitely try some longer distances in the heat. I find riding a twenty or so miles in the hot weather has little to no impact on me as realistically you are only out in the sun for an hour or so. Its getting used to sustained exposure to the heat, knowing how far you can push yourself and knowing how often you have to rehyrdrate thats important (for example in "normal" British weather I need a sip of drink every 10 minutes, in the current weather its 5 - knowing that information will be important on the day)

zardoz

I agree that you won't gain anything by only riding 20 miles in the heat, the biggest problems are dehydration and heat dissipation which won't become apparent until much later in a hot ride especially as the body starts diverting more blood away from your muscles to the skin to aid cooling just at the time your energy stores may be depleting. You may also find that in the heat your appetite is suppressed and so your food strategy may well need to be different in hot weather. Much better to know what to expect if the weather is hot on the day.

I used to have a mangaer years ago who's favourite saying was "Fail to prepare and prepare to fail" it was a good saying but he was still a knob.

pease

So my approach of sitting in aircon car watching others ride isn't the right approach ?

Chris I'd try a few 50+mile rides but nothing too long as you should be tethering now ? Ill be doing a 50mile loop of the hills Sunday in the heat (leave about 10) as the last long ride.

Wrath Rob

pease wrote:

So my approach of sitting in aircon car watching others ride isn't the right approach ?

Chris I'd try a few 50+mile rides but nothing too long as you should be tethering now ? Ill be doing a 50mile loop of the hills Sunday in the heat (leave about 10) as the last long ride.

Tethering sounds like a good plan. Tether yourself to a fast rider and then hang on...

Tapering is something you probably want to be doing 1-2 weeks before the ride so you're prob ably a bit early if you're starting with 16 days to go