Paris in 24hours - Advise

EightySixCA

Entirely unaided 3 of us are cycling to Paris in 24 hours, 250 miles with just a short ferry trip to rest our weary legs!

The big question - what would you be eating en route to keep energy levels high?

Any other advise and tips would be amazing too....

https://www.justgiving.com/ciren-paris24/

d_o_g

Food would probably be a good idea. Like the stuff you eat normally.

Whilst moving I like bananas and (on much longer stuff) flapjacks, but have eaten peanut butter and golden syrup/jam sandwiches in the past, as well as Soreen, fig rolls, mars bars, snickers bars, washed down with water/squash/diluted Lucozade sport.

Coffee would be good, for the tiredness. Suppose Red Bull/other energy drink might ne OK, too.

If I've been bothered maybe a couple of gels which I've found in the back of the cupboard or specific energy drinks, but very rarely on that.

Just keep eating what you like and is easy to transport/unpack while riding.

cremator

if yo going down the A2 i live along there near barahm if you need anythink on route to dover let me no

sloppyschleckonds

A piece of soreen every hour should do it.

danlikesbikes

I make this in a batch load of about 22 pieces (I get about 12 in pieces in small foil tray like you would get take away food in) it's lasts really well, tastes great and is solid enough that you can cut it up and not worry about it falling apart.


http://thesimpleveganista.blogspot.co.u ... bites.html

bernithebiker

Take some euros.

And all bike shops in France are shut on Mondays.

Watch out for Paris traffic. Arc de Triomphe roundabout is a good laugh if you like dicing with death.

EightySixCA

Thanks for the tips guys, very excited to be hitting the French roads, especailly Paris. Must remember which side to ride.

Thanks cremator - Fortunately we're heading for Newhaven, just a mere 140miles from home.

Danlikesbikes these sound amazing! Shall definitely be making some.

marcusjb

You don't say when your ride is, so it could well be too late, but I have always given up caffeine for about 3 weeks before any long ride - gives a proper boost as you go into the latter stages of a longer ride.

Other than that, don't experiment with gels, carb drinks etc. on the ride - use them in your training to find out what your stomach can handle in the quantities required. Keep it real with food if possible - your stomach will probably thank you as you reach the back half of the ride.

If you wear a HRM, try and stay under 70-80% of max hr if possible - on longer rides, you will soon pay for it if you go into the red on the hills etc. Pacing is everything.

Anonymous

Speaking of pacing, what training have you done? Whats your biggest training ride?

I would say training is everything personally.
Would I be right in thinking you are setting off soon?
If you have trained properly you should already know the answer to The big question and many others too.

Good luck though. Stay safe and try to enjoy it

cougie

If you've trained for it - you wouldnt be asking these questions ?

Set an alarm for every 20 mins and make sure you take a bite or a drink. Bento boxes are great for en route snacking.

I'd ween myself off caffeine for a few weeks so I can use it as a boost in the second half of the ride when you are flagging.

If the group has different abilities - the stronger riders will need to do more of the work and at a pace that the weakest can cope with.

Have fun.

Anonymous

Why are you doing it in 24hrs? To Raise more money due to the extra challenge?

If its a challenge to do it fast then thats great, but if it just means you are actually going to be awake for over 24hrs and/or being on the road around cars/lorries whilst overly tired then it seems like a bad idea to me.

I am surprised anyone would sponsor someone they know (and assume like) to do something thats potentially so dangerous.
Are you counting on sleeping on the crossing?

Sorry to be negative. Just saying it how i see it, but correct me if i am missing something.

marcusjb

London to Paris in 24 hours is a good target and very achievable for the well-prepared.

Riding for 24 hours need not mean being overly tired. Particularly with the caffeine abstention and ensuring that I sleep really well in the 7-10 days leading up to an event has made for some very alert riding for long periods (done a few rides of 36ish hours without sleep or troubles, some longer rides have involved, say, 5 hours sleep in 75 hours of riding). Certainly on my last 24 hour ride (24 hour nationals), I didn't once feel tired or sleepy due to some very careful prep (and partly because the last few hours were agony due to a busted knee).

Everyone's different in their response to lack of sleep and some people cope better than others.

I'd agree that riding with the dozies is dangerous - early in my distance riding, I woke up with grass under the wheels when the last thing I remembered was tarmac under them - I stayed upright, but it scared the crap out of me. Even if the dozies do kick in, then it only takes a 10-15 minute cat nap and you're back in the game. (don't ever try and ride through the dozies though - it doesn't work). As long as you learn to recognise when the dozies are kicking in, and know how to address the situation, then there's nothing particularly dangerous about riding for long periods of time without sleep.

rolf_f

I recently did 266 miles in 22 hours - 220 of those with company. It was tiring but the route wasn't massively hilly and the ride wasn't that bad.

I was aching all over at the end but once we'd got into normal waking hours it was just a case of continuing to turn the pedals. The last solo 40 miles (half through London) weren't as bad as I expected and I didn't feel at all sleepy. In the end, it was just a case of ticking off the miles in 20 mile segments.

The main difficulty we had was café stops - we didn't get to an open one until we'd already done 100 miles (that was at half 8 in the morning!) and the next wasn't for another 50 miles.

So my advice is not to worry about it. The occasional stop and whatever food you eat on a normal ride will probably be fine. It's just a bike ride.

Grill

It's easy enough. You'll be riding a flat, fast route and can nap on the ferry. For those sort of rides I eat like normal (sandwiches, quiche, pasta, fruit), but you'll probably want to top it up with a nibble ever hour or so (soreen, bananas, dates, bars are all good choices). I also set an alert on my Garmin to remind me to drink every 15 minutes.