Final week before a big event.

littledove44

So, you have done all the training and are not going to get any fitter or stronger.

You have a big six hour bike ride event coming up.

How many days off before?
What would you do during the preceding week in terms of exercise?
How many days before the event would you put a hold on your daily dose of fine red wine?

dilatory

littledove44 wrote:

put a hold on your daily dose of fine red wine?

Nonsense. One of your cages should hold a bottle of fine wine on race day.

Grill

- 0 Days
- Same as always
- Don't get pissed but have a glass or two

It's only 6 hours and it's clearly not a race so I see no reason to treat it any differently than any other ride.

taon24

Difficult to comment without knowing length of big ride and distances and frequencies you normally ride.

I would ride light for at least 2-3 days beforehand. If you get out great, if you don't I wouldn't worry.
I would cut back the long rides in the week beforehand. You don't want to turn up with ridiculous number of miles in your legs in the week before, however I wouldn't reduce to less than 50% of normal training.
I would also plan to work mostly at a lower intensity during the loosener rides for the week beforehand. I wouldn't go out and hammer it until tired 72hours before the big ride. I might do some bursts to intensity, but briefly.

sloppyschleckonds

Grill wrote:

- 0 Days
- Same as always
- Don't get pissed but have a glass or two

It's only 6 hours and it's clearly not a race so I see no reason to treat it any differently than any other ride.

This
Its only riding a bike.

charlie_potatoes

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Grill wrote:

- 0 Days
- Same as always
- Don't get pissed but have a glass or two

It's only 6 hours and it's clearly not a race so I see no reason to treat it any differently than any other ride.

This
Its only riding a bike.

:roll:

taon24 wrote:

Difficult to comment without knowing length of big ride and distances and frequencies you normally ride.

I would ride light for at least 2-3 days beforehand. If you get out great, if you don't I wouldn't worry.
I would cut back the long rides in the week beforehand. You don't want to turn up with ridiculous number of miles in your legs in the week before, however I wouldn't reduce to less than 50% of normal training.
I would also plan to work mostly at a lower intensity during the loosener rides for the week beforehand. I wouldn't go out and hammer it until tired 72hours before the big ride. I might do some bursts to intensity, but briefly.

This makes a lot more sense

marcusjb

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Grill wrote:

- 0 Days
- Same as always
- Don't get pissed but have a glass or two

It's only 6 hours and it's clearly not a race so I see no reason to treat it any differently than any other ride.

This
Its only riding a bike.

Pretty much agree with that. Maybe no hard intervals in the week before - but certainly carry on riding just per normal.

I don't drink, so can't comment on what best to do on that front - but having seen friends drag themselves around rides with stonking hangovers, I would guess don't get pissed is a good plan!

alihisgreat

Only you know your body (unless you're recording your power output and sending it off to your coach?!), so only you can decide what to do in the run up to an 'event'

In my case an 'event' might be a race and I'd avoid really tough intervals, but still do some high intensity riding to keep my legs awake:

Monday - easy ride (after long sunday club run)
Tuesday - chaingang/intervals
Wednesday - easy ride
Thursday - longer ride
Friday - easy ride
Saturday - Race

secretsqizz

Just love the 'pros' on here frettin' about their big rides reckon it must Andy Schlecky shittin himself before Tour of Oman...

slowbike

To some, 6 hours on te bike is nothing - to others it's a big day.
For the op - assuming you're asking about an event you're going to do .. Prob a century ride? It seems its a bi ride. Therefore as others have said - you don't want to turn up Knackered.

Advise I was given and followed for my first big ride was to do some light spinning on the turbo during the week before - high ish cadence, but low resistance... As you said, you're not going to get any fitter, but you need to keep the legs going whilst not wearing them out too much.

As for the wine - a little less than you usually would probably, but you don't need to completely abstain, just don't end up pissed as you will dehydrate.

To those who would ride "normally" before a 6 hour ride. How would that change if it was a ride 50-60% longer in time than your normal long rides? Eg if you would normally ride 6 hours in a day then this one would be 9hours plus. Don't forget you'd like to complete it at a reasonable pace - it's not a race, but it's not a cake shop run either.

bahzob

You want to cut duration but keep up intensity.

You cut duration to build freshness but keep up intensity to stop your body losing the training benefits you have built up.

Useful rule of thumb is do 50% or so of preceding weeks duration but include workouts with 100% of expected event intensity.

Of the two days before an event
Event - 2 days: full day rest
Event - 1 day: short ride but with section at 100% event effort.

Chill out on the red wine front. If you have been having a glass throughout training there is no reason to stop now, indeed doing so may be counter productive.

BTW ignore the trolls. Tackling a 6 hour event as a newcomer is a much bigger deal in relative terms than some old pro doing a pre-season race. Especially a joke that a noted underachieving failure like Andy Schleck is mentioned. He's not really an example that I would suggest anyone follows for anything.

littledove44

Thanks for all the advice.

My normal rides from home are two to three hours, but I am happy doing that twice in one day with a shortish break of say 30 minutes.

Next week I am off do do some training which will have several days of six to seven hours riding, and a few with less hours but more climbing.

So, the six hour ride in the event, which isn't a race but some people treat it as one, will be nothing new to me from a distance standpoint, but I want to really enjoy it and not slog my way round.

My plan is to stop for a few minutes every hour or to. That ties in well with the feed stations and some planned photography.

I think I will go with normal training the week before, nothing too intense though and quiet days with water instead of wine before the big off.

rayjay

Definitely don't spend the day before the race in crack den drinking pure opium .

Hope that helps.

diamonddog

rayjay wrote:

Definitely don't spend the day before the race in crack den drinking pure opium .

Hope that helps.

charlie_potatoes

rayjay wrote:

in crack den drinking pure opium .

As a cyclist you have a very limited understanding of hard drugs

antsmithmk

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Only you know your body (unless you're recording your power output and sending it off to your coach?!), so only you can decide what to do in the run up to an 'event'

In my case an 'event' might be a race and I'd avoid really tough intervals, but still do some high intensity riding to keep my legs awake:

Monday - easy ride (after long sunday club run)
Tuesday - chaingang/intervals
Wednesday - easy ride
Thursday - longer ride
Friday - easy ride
Saturday - Race

What about going to work, family and all the other things called life?

littledove44

antsmithmk wrote:

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Only you know your body (unless you're recording your power output and sending it off to your coach?!), so only you can decide what to do in the run up to an 'event'

In my case an 'event' might be a race and I'd avoid really tough intervals, but still do some high intensity riding to keep my legs awake:

Monday - easy ride (after long sunday club run)
Tuesday - chaingang/intervals
Wednesday - easy ride
Thursday - longer ride
Friday - easy ride
Saturday - Race

What about going to work, family and all the other things called life?

Work. I don't do that any more.
Family. Seem quite happy for me to ride every day.
Other things. Plenty of time for those. Fit them in inbetween bike rides.

alihisgreat

antsmithmk wrote:

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Only you know your body (unless you're recording your power output and sending it off to your coach?!), so only you can decide what to do in the run up to an 'event'

In my case an 'event' might be a race and I'd avoid really tough intervals, but still do some high intensity riding to keep my legs awake:

Monday - easy ride (after long sunday club run)
Tuesday - chaingang/intervals
Wednesday - easy ride
Thursday - longer ride
Friday - easy ride
Saturday - Race

What about going to work, family and all the other things called life?

I'm a student..

taon24

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

I'm a student..

Which means that spending daylight hours cycling, and night time hours carrying out the rest of life.

term1te

If the ride is on a Sunday, I'd take it easy on the Friday and Saturday. Eat a shed load on Saturday and lay off the alcohol on Saturday evening. I'd also not touch anything with caffeine in it during the week before, then drink a couple of double espressos an hour before the ride with a big bowl of porridge. That should get you ready.

Grill

Term1te wrote:

If the ride is on a Sunday, I'd take it easy on the Friday and Saturday. Eat a shed load on Saturday and lay off the alcohol on Saturday evening. I'd also not touch anything with caffeine in it during the week before, then drink a couple of double espressos an hour before the ride with a big bowl of porridge. That should get you ready.

Ready to poop...

Smithster

Grill wrote:

Term1te wrote:

If the ride is on a Sunday, I'd take it easy on the Friday and Saturday. Eat a shed load on Saturday and lay off the alcohol on Saturday evening. I'd also not touch anything with caffeine in it during the week before, then drink a couple of double espressos an hour before the ride with a big bowl of porridge. That should get you ready.

Ready to poop...

Yep, that would get me ready for a diversion to the closest bog on route.

term1te

Works for me

Smithster

Term1te wrote:

Works for me

I guess that is key to the thread. Everyone is a bit different, I can't eat big meals, so little and often is good for me. I can't eat much on a ride either, only gels and bits of stuff, but have a pal who takes a whole malt loaf with him. He'd stuff a cooked breakfast in his back pocket if he could!

I think rest is the same, I have only been cycling 18 months, but have learnt things about my own body no other activity has ever taught me before. I think you can follow other people's regime's but you have adapt it to how it makes you feel, and do what works for you.