Solo 182 miles Doncaster to Cranham in one go!

AllezAllezAllez

Advice please! Is this possible in one go? Or just madness?

A bit of background.

Last year I cycled 5000 road miles, so feel I have a good base. The miles have been split between solo and Club runs.
My longest ride in 2015 was a hilly solo 108 mile loop from Doncaster into the Peak District.
I did 3 for 4 100 mile rides last year.

Has anyone ridden such a distance solo?

Any advice?

itboffin

The distance is fine but boredom would set in for me, after about 100 miles I've usually run out of stuff to think about.

Why solo?

AllezAllezAllez

Solo because we'll be visiting the Wife's family.

I know what you mean about getting bored, but hopefully the new route/roads will help.

Looking at some training web sites I think the best option is to slowly build up the distance. 100, 120, 140 locally before the 180.

marcusjb

182 miles is about 300km, standard audax distance (my favourite distance I reckon, nice day ride, especially in summer). I would certainly suggests some 200km events as part of your training. Just always nice to ride with like minded people.

As ever, riding a long way is somewhat easier than it appears, so long as you're comfy on the bike, know what you can eat and drink for long days in the saddle. Pace yourself, it's not a race.

Longest solo ride I have done is around 470km in one go (well, there's also stuff like the 24, which was 600km solo, but not really the same with lots of people cheering encouragement etc. as you went around), but I have a solo 2700km ride coming up (but only around 280km averages day).

Comfort and food are the critical factors. Get those worked out and anyone with mental fortitude has a good chance of being able to ride a hell of a lot further than they thought possible.

ex-pat scot

it's not just the distance - it's about the route, terrain, views, regularity of café stops etc.

If you have a decent café every 30 odd miles along the route, then you don't think of it so much as a very long ride; rather it becomes a café hop.

Frankly all this stuff about doing a 120, then a 140, then a 160 is rather over-thinking things.
If you can crank out a peak district "ton" then you'll be absolutely fine physically.

As Marcus says - take a leaf out of the Audax guys' book. They go long and steady. Powered by tea and cake. They certainly don't build up and stress about a jump up in mileage.

(I'm a firm believer that endurance training in general loses any additional effectiveness after about 3 hrs or so. That's a comfortable 20-22 mile run, or 60 mile training ride.)

term1te

Also, be clear of the route you'll take, especially if you don't know the area well. There is nothing more depressing than getting lost after six hours in the saddle. After 200km of cycling through beautiful countryside last summer, the Garmin I was relying on for directions tried to send me though a long tunnel, with a big no cyclists sign. Just the thought of the hills I now had to go over and the 20km diversion caused almost terminal fatigue to set in.

carbonclem

Cranham Gloucestershire?

Thats going to be a fine hill to climb right at the end!

AllezAllezAllez

Thanks for the advice/experience.

I'm heading South East to Cranham which is the outer East side of London.

I've planned a route on Garmin connect but need to take a closer look at the fine details.

napoleond

I'd suggest you build up by doing a few 181 mile rides first.

DeVlaeminck

Agree with ex-pat Scot - doable off your current fitness but a couple of long 80-100 milers in the build up wont hurt. Suppose the only issue is if you have a mechanical or you need to bail out for some reason, if your wife is driving down suppose you could set off several hours in advance so she passes you about the 100 mile plus mark. I'd also want the option to abandon the plan on the morning if it's forecast to rain all day or there is a 40mph southerly that day.

milemuncher1

I often ride these sorts of distances on my own. If you can get your head around the fact you'll be in the saddle for quite a while, and you have enough food and drink to hand, it's not so bad. Try and mentally break it down into shorter chunks, and try not to think of it as one long ride, and it makes it easier.

andyrr

I wouldn't have thought that, as you aren't trying to cover the distance as quickly as possible, it is the combination of having decent fitness (which you have) and the mental fortitude to know that even if you hit q hilly section and the wind is blowing in your face you can do it.
My planning for this sort of ride would probably cover having a place to stop town/village etc) every 2 or 3 hours or so, just to allow me to fuel up so I didn't have to transport all of the food + drink for the whole ride.
Checking to see if there are any bike shops not too far off the route might be a sensible thing to do also.
It is still a fair old ride - even at 18Mph (not sure how feasible that is) it is 10hrs solid riding so with just 2 stops that would stretch towards 11 hours - you'd want to keep stops to a minimum - I dislike stopping for long at all as I tend to seize up so my preference would be to jump off the bike, grab the food/drink, neck it whilst I stretch my legs and then onwards again.

If you can help yourself to have a more enjoyable day as opposed to just a plain old slog then the hard bits / end bit will be that easier to withstand. Cursing at yourself for having such a stupid idea when your toiling up a hill with 50 miles still to go is something to try and avoid !