130 mile ride

GLOYT

hi all, not sure if this is in the right place or not so sorry if it's not and not sorry if it is, been sneaking around your forum for a bit and seen as you all seem like a good crew i thought i'd best join, what it is i think i have volunteered for something i should'nt have but it's too late now, i've agreed to cycle the full length of the leed's liverpool canal in 2 day's sometime in june this year, most likely not a big deal for you regular rider's but i've probly only done around 15mile's on me mtb so far this year, what i need to know is it possible for me to do it without ending up in a coffin? should add that i'm 52 and get out of breath jogging up me house step's and also likely to be overweight a touch, is it possible or have i dropped a bollox?

mattyfez

I did 77miles yesterday from brighouse to Manchester and back, yesterday the Rochdale canal. My longest ride ever! Took me 8 and a half hours, but i made it.

I bought a bike last October having done no exercise to speak of for a decade, and having an office job, so was very pleased with myself, im 36.

I started doing 10k canal rides 3 times a week, which was hard at first having to take a 5 min rest at half way, and now do 20k rides during the week as a 10k ride doesn't feel like a decent ride out any more!

I now do a 40k ride probably once a fortnight on top of this.

For me the trick was consistency. Ride regular and you'll be surprised how quickly you can increase your range.
Being a fan of ale, instead of going to the pub for the whole Saturday afternoon, I now ride out to a country pub about an hours ride away, have just one pint and head back, and really enjoy this, it's more a leisure ride than a training ride but it all helps.

I'm slim but have a beer gut from years of bad living, for information.

You can more than likely do this trip but you need to be going out 3/4 times a week, with immediate effect, even if it's just half hour rides to start, with consistency you'll naturally be able to and want to push that further.

I was pretty much done in by yesterday's Epic, well, Epic for me!

I'd also say don't worry about speed, it's worth recoding so you can see your improving, but just worry about pacing yourself to actually make the distance rather than compare yourself to others. If your improving your range or speed your improving and that's all that matters.

bob6397

Get the right tyres for the job - some semi-slicks will really help as they will reduce friction and therefore reduce wasted energy (Kenda Small Block 8's maybe? Or some even slicker alternatives from Schwalbe? Make sure you get some with puncture protection though - and consider running Slime inner tubes. Slightly heavier but you'll be grateful for it when you don't have to stop to fix a puncture )

Otherwise, keep on pedaling and good luck

GLOYT

it must be going on 25ish year's ago now but i used to cycle to sowerby bridge a lot from cleckheaton by going over hill into brighouse then on canal, does it alway's rain in sowerby bridge? i once made it to walsden i think it was which if memory serve's me right it is the highest point on that canal, or is it any canal? back in day i was good for a 20 miler but not much more than that, talking to me mate who im doing leed's liverpool with he has planned us a ride from cooper bridge on huddersfeild broad canal, over hill at marsden then down into manchester then back up rochdale canal to brighouse, south pennine ring i think he said, we will be doing that end of may then leed's liverpool back end of june, looking forward to it as well,

mattyfez= sound's like you had a good day out, is the towpath tarmacked all the way into manchester? i do a bit of fishing now and again on canal by brookfoot lake allthough none this year so far,
got my bike early last year but unfortunately it's not had much use due to work but that is seriously going to change,
think it's any food and drink (mainly coffee and custard cream's by the packet) that's my downfall but i'l change that a bit at a time as i go along, determined to get to see me tackle n tootsy's again,
as for speed im pretty sure im not built for that unless it's downhill that is,
just need to make more of an effort to get out more, it should help with the lighter night's coming along, give me a couple of week's to get going again and i might see you down on canal

bob6397=was thinking about some innertube's with that slime stuff in as i used to get a lot of puncture's but someone told me not to use it in 29" tyre's as it can blow valve's out?, can't remember who it was tho,
tyre's i've got at the moment are maxxis ikon exc if that mean's anything to you? also got some schwalbe big apple's to put on at some point
looking forward now to see what sort off fitness and mileage i build up over next few month's

thank's again

mattyfez

There's a bit of stoney/dirt track between Sowerby and Hebden Bridge, but by and large it's tarmac, broken tarmac and hard packed gravel. The odd cobbled sections near locks etc. So a bit of variety but nothing too crazy.
My normal trips are to Sowerby or Hebden, in fact I'm in Hebden now, the weather is glorious!

RutlandGav

Maybe I've some experience of jumping in at the deep end - age 42, was 99kg (or more), hadn't ridden for 8 years, hadn't exercised at all for 6 months (just fell off the wagon after a 2 year campaign on the elliptical trainer/crosstrainer)

started biking to work 16 miles each way !

Honestly, i wouldn't worry too much about the cardiovascular fitness side of things. 2 Days is loads of time to complete such a distance, you'll be able to go as slow as you want. If it's alongside a canal it's surely going to be a fairly flat route too.

The biggest problem is likely to be discomfort from being on the bike that length of time. You need to get your butt used to having saddle wedged into it for long periods, over time it's tolerance will improve. MTB is worse in this regard, there is less variation in riding position and the more upright position transfers more of the weight to your seat and less through the arms vs. a road bike. That said, I also suffered really badly from carpal tunnel syndrome, i ended up doing radical surgery to the bike to fix this...

viewtopic.php?f=40052&t=13022484

I'd say get any bike fit/posture probs resolved ASAP.

As far as pedalling goes, with good carb-replenishing and hydrating nutrition during the event itself, and suitable pacing, it should be doable even by a novice. The energy requirement drops off disproportionately as you slow down, because of the way wind resistance works, and the less close to your own limits you push, the more of the energy comes from fat and not the limited stores of carbohydrate.

diy

Its entirely possible even to pull it off in a day. Its the climb that gets you not the distance. A reasonable MTBer with some endurance could pull that off in under 12 hours. However, I get where you are starting from so..

- get your weight right. 70% of the benefit is here.
- get the resistance on your bike right - XC/slick tyres
- do a combo of base endurance 2 times a week longer rides 30-40 miles.
- do some intervals to increase your CV as quickly as possible - hard 45-1hr workouts
- STRETCH like its your new religion. Deep stretch once or twice a week 30 mins and always a 5-6 min cool down stretch after riding. Keeping injury free is key and stretching will help with the inevitable back and shoulder pain you'll get as you gear up.

good luck - it will be fun.

The Rookie

I'd never ridden more than 30 miles when I jumped straight into a 70 miler, as long as you use your gears right and keep the cadence up and the effort at the right level you will ride that with no issues at all.