Help me cycle for longer!

rumbataz

Last Sunday I finally managed to locate Hillingdon Cycle Circuit and went round and round it for 1hr 50m at a fairly leisurely pace. I was using my hybrid bike rather than the road bike. It was a very hot and humid day and I did have a water bottle with me.

I managed just under 35KM in terms of distance, by which time I was feeling quite exhausted - lacking any more energy to continue.

I want to be able to cycle a lot more as my target this year is a 50-mile bike ride (80.5KM). So, I'm a long way short of this target at the moment.

How do I prepare for longer rides? I know I need a lot more energy before and during the ride but I would like to know the practicalities of all of this. What do I need to take with me so I can refuel easily whilst I'm out cycling?

grenw

What was in your water bottle? Try an energy drink. You need carbs,

I tend to eat something pretty much every hour if I'm out longer than 2 hours. I eat a mixture but usually based around energy bars - 1 bar an hour or a small bar and a couple of fig rolls. If it turns into an all-dayer then more real food (sarnies etc) gets mixed in)

50 miles, even taking it really easy, should take no more than 4 hours. I would normally take a couple of 700ml bottles and 3 bars for this sort of ride.

Just try upping the mileage by 5 miles a week or something. It will get easier. I only started road riding last year and used to get knackered at about 45 miles. Which strangely enough was at the point I'd have been getting back home on my 2.5-3hr mtb rides. Your body just needs to get used to the longer distances.

Bobbinogs

GrenW wrote:

What was in your water bottle? Try an energy drink. You need carbs,

Nonsense. The guy was riding for under 2 hours so all he needed was to ensure a reasonable balanced diet and then his residual glycogen levels would have easily been sufficient.

GrenW wrote:

Just try upping the mileage by 5 miles a week or something. It will get easier. I only started road riding last year and used to get knackered at about 45 miles. Which strangely enough was at the point I'd have been getting back home on my 2.5-3hr mtb rides. Your body just needs to get used to the longer distances.

Yepp, exactly that.

The OP may also want to look at getting some decent road tyres without going too mad and, err, ride his road bike with them on! They will help anyone do a bit more distance in the time by allowing one to roll a little faster and make the ride more pleasant than the usual tyres one gets on a hybrid. OP, stick with it and enjoy the journey...which makes me think that riding around in endless loops would be leave me insanely bored and be enough to make give up cycling. Over 20 loops of a 1 mile circuit, yeegads! Why not ditch the circuit and plan a nice loop in the countryside and have a pleasant ride.

kingrollo

Quite simply more cycling......

Id go 25, 35, 50 - it surprising how the miles rack up

Man Of Lard

rumbataz wrote:

I managed just under 35KM in terms of distance, by which time I was feeling quite exhausted - lacking any more energy to continue.

I want to be able to cycle a lot more as my target this year is a 50-mile bike ride (80.5KM). So, I'm a long way short of this target at the moment.

So you slowly up your distance (initially, it may be that might need you to drop your speed slightly) with each successive ride and as you get fitter you can try upping the speed a little more. Try and ride your route "outward" into the wind with the hope that the return will be with a tailwind too.

sungod

as above, ride more

increase ride distance 5-10%/week

mix up training with some short/hard sessions

as long as you start out fed, you shouldn't need to worry about taking on extra energy for a 'leisurely' ride over that sort of distance and a single bottle of water, carry an extra bottle and a flapjack/similar if you want to play safe, or stop and have a can of coke

pblakeney

Also, try a lower gear and higher cadence. (If you don't use 80-100 rpm already).
My problem (before i joined a club) was grinding out too high a gear. Fine for short distances but your legs burn out.

lakesluddite

Can't argue with what has already been said, up the distances incrementally over the months, and you'll be doing 50+ milers no problem.
On my return to cycling a few years ago now, (Cycle to work scheme!), I used to think my 16 miles commute was a big deal, but of course bit-by-bit the distances increased, and now I won't do a weekend ride unless its around or over 60 miles as anything under won't seem worth the bother. Plus I always extend the commute home when the lighter evenings allow. This has taken a few years to get to this level - it's not a quick progression (well at least not for me, but then again I didn't really start until my late 30's).
Enjoy the journey, it's well worth it!

cycleclinic

how to increase distance of rides. Ride more often for longer. It is a fitness thing. The power you can sustain drops as time increases in fact the plot of power against 1/t in secs should be a straight one. To ride for longer you have to increase your power output. First ride more to improve base fittness then you can try interval training going hard for 3 to 5 minutes and then easy then go hard again and so on.

Sort out the base fittness first though.

deejaysee

With all due respect its a bit of a daft question.
How do you get better at anything?
Do it more

whoof

rumbataz wrote:

Last Sunday I finally managed to locate Hillingdon Cycle Circuit and went round and round it for 1hr 50m at a fairly leisurely pace.

I managed just under 35KM in terms of distance, by which time I was feeling quite exhausted

If you were feeling exhausted the pace wasn't leisurely it was a pace that you found exhausting. Slow down a bit so you can ride a for two hours and feel like you have ridden but not exhausted. Next long ride try 2 1/4 hours and then 2 1/2 etc. Do other shorter rides in between. As other have said sort your road bike out; position, tyres pumped up properly and ride this.

Unless your flying in from Sark or somewhere why are you spending almost 2 hours riding round and round Hillingdon? Do a ride on some roads, a rolling terrain can actually be easier than nothing but flat, it certainly is mentally.

dandrew

If you can get to Hillingdon cycle circuit on a Tues or Fri morning between 10 & 12 there is a vets group that welcomes all comers. Just turn up and ride. The company / drafting will help you ride for longer.

ben@31

The key to cycling further is to slow the pace down a bit so you're not tiring yourself out and got a bit in reserve. It takes as long as it takes, even if it means being out all day. Im finding 100km takes a moving time of 4 hours + , while 100 miles takes 6 hours +. Then add in any stops.

And eating around the course. I prefer taking a few energy bars rather than gels, like Clif Bars, Clif Shot Bloks ( like blocks of jelly) or SiS Go energy bars. I'll take one energy gel with caffeine only as an emergency reserve in case I'm bonked ( which never happens if you eat every hour or 1.5 hrs ).

The first time I did 100km was while I was doing a random ride with no plan, as I was getting close to home I found I had done 85 or 90km, so I thought hey why not round the distance up to 100km by taking a longer way back and it takes as long as it takes.

When I've done 100km or 100 mile routes, sometimes I'll stop at a shop on the way round and by a drink of Coke. On a big route Im a fan of cafes and cake too.

A while back, someone else wrote a good comment about cycling for longer... Its all mental, if you get your wife to drop you off 100km from home in the morning, you'll get back.

Having confidence in your that kit, that it will last the distance, helps too (well serviced bike, comfy bib shorts, nothing to go wrong ).

rumbataz

Thanks for the advice everyone. I must start riding my road bike! I'll take an energy bar with me next time. As for what's in my water bottle: just plain water.

MisterMuncher

A wee electrolyte tab in your water wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't worry too much about food. 80-100km is well within no food range. Eat before, porridge and/or banana, you'll be sweet. It's all about riding within yourself. To go against the grain, you'd be better off taking a few shorter rides, and putting on some intervals while you're at it. Going out full gas the whole time is counterproductive, structure is the thing.

Ideally, work with heart rate or power metering, but you can go on perceived effort. Work on hitting half a km at maximum effort, and 1 or 2 two to recover, then begin to shift the ratio as fitness improves. If you don't have a computer, use lampposts, bus stops, landmarks. A day or two after that session, do a really gentle recovery ride. Properly gentle. Small ring. 20 miles. Eventually, you'll be able to spend more time "in the red" or near to it.

ForumNewbie

MisterMuncher wrote:

A wee electrolyte tab in your water wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't worry too much about food. 80-100km is well within no food range. Eat before, porridge and/or banana, you'll be sweet. It's all about riding within yourself.

I was under the impression that you should eat something every hour or thereabouts on a ride so you don't run out of energy. I certainly couldn't do a 60 mile ride without any food.

chrisaonabike

ForumNewbie wrote:

MisterMuncher wrote:

A wee electrolyte tab in your water wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't worry too much about food. 80-100km is well within no food range. Eat before, porridge and/or banana, you'll be sweet. It's all about riding within yourself.

I was under the impression that you should eat something every hour or thereabouts on a ride so you don't run out of energy. I certainly couldn't do a 60 mile ride without any food.

For someone that's at the stage where 35 km feels a lot, I'd agree.

My personal cutoff is 30 miles, and I'm happy to do that fasted and not take food with me. Further than that and I'll take some flapjack with me and have a small bite every 45 minutes or so, starting about an hour into the ride.

But fatigue on a ride under two hours in length has got nothing to do with nutrition, and it would be misleading the OP to say otherwise.

That said, the conditions can make a big difference. Whatever one's current max distance is, riding close to it on a hot humid day will feel far harder than on a cool day.

dj58

rumbataz wrote:

Thanks for the advice everyone. I must start riding my road bike! I'll take an energy bar with me next time. As for what's in my water bottle: just plain water.

Why weren't you using your road bike?

ForumNewbie

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

ForumNewbie wrote:

MisterMuncher wrote:

A wee electrolyte tab in your water wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't worry too much about food. 80-100km is well within no food range. Eat before, porridge and/or banana, you'll be sweet. It's all about riding within yourself.

I was under the impression that you should eat something every hour or thereabouts on a ride so you don't run out of energy. I certainly couldn't do a 60 mile ride without any food.

For someone that's at the stage where 35 km feels a lot, I'd agree.

My personal cutoff is 30 miles, and I'm happy to do that fasted and not take food with me. Further than that and I'll take some flapjack with me and have a small bite every 45 minutes or so, starting about an hour into the ride.

But fatigue on a ride under two hours in length has got nothing to do with nutrition, and it would be misleading the OP to say otherwise.

I wasn't misleading the OP. The comments I was quoting were advising that he didn't need to eat on an 80-100km ride, and I thought that was misleading to the OP to indicate he should be able to do that.

MisterMuncher

To clarify, after some training, it should be well within range. Around three hours in decent conditions, if well fed before, shouldn't be a big issue. If you're going longer, it's advisable to start eating earlier and more frequently.

Burning out after two hours is a pacing issue. Structuring your training will build pace and endurance, but it's all about working within your limits, and building up as you feel fit. The real trick is knowing how much further to push each time, and letting yourself recover properly.

ForumNewbie

MisterMuncher wrote:

To clarify, after some training, it should be well within range. Around three hours in decent conditions, if well fed before, shouldn't be a big issue. If you're going longer, it's advisable to start eating earlier and more frequently.

Burning out after two hours is a pacing issue. Structuring your training will build pace and endurance, but it's all about working within your limits, and building up as you feel fit. The real trick is knowing how much further to push each time, and letting yourself recover properly.

Okay, but you had said 100km (62 miles) which is a lot longer than 3 hours on the bike for most of us.

milemuncher1

Years ago, I fvcked my fuelling up. I ended up in the back of an ambulance, because I flaked out. Before a long ride, I will eat a lot of complex carbs ( the night before ). I will eat a banana, on the morning of the ride. I'll stop for a coffee and cake, at the halfway point, then use Jelly babies / malt loaf, to get me home.

darkhairedlord

Take it easy and ride gentle but long. One good long ride and your legs will breeze through subsequent medium length rides. I find I struggle after winter on anything over 20m, one 60m ridden gets them back. Then I can build the pace back up.

rumbataz

DJ58 wrote:

rumbataz wrote:

Thanks for the advice everyone. I must start riding my road bike! I'll take an energy bar with me next time. As for what's in my water bottle: just plain water.

Why weren't you using your road bike?

So here's the issue I have with using my nice, shiny road bike: it's got SPD-SL pedals on it and the roads around here are stop-start in terms of cycling so I would be unclipping every few seconds or minutes.

I'm fixing that issue this week by putting flat pedals on the road bike so I start to ride it more. Currently I'm riding my hybrid more than 90% of the time simply because of the convenience of flat pedals.

Once I'm riding it more than 90% of the time I'll put 'proper' pedals back on it.

homers_double

I find SPDs are slightly easier to clip in and out of and the double sided pedals makes it easier too.

rumbataz

homers double wrote:

I find SPDs are slightly easier to clip in and out of and the double sided pedals makes it easier too.

Yeah, so I hear. I'm going to put the flats on first and ride the road bike a lot and then move to SPDs. I'll keep my SDP-SL pedals and shoes until I've cycled a few thousand miles on the road bike and I'm a lot more confident.

I think I'm worried about falling and damaging myself and the bike as the drivers round here are mental and I've often had to unclip within a second and it just ruins the cycling experience for me.

I love cycling as it's liberating and gives me an endorphins rush and I think that starting again with flat pedals will give me the motivation to use the road bike and enjoy the experience.

milemuncher1

rumbataz wrote:

homers double wrote:

I find SPDs are slightly easier to clip in and out of and the double sided pedals makes it easier too.

Yeah, so I hear. I'm going to put the flats on first and ride the road bike a lot and then move to SPDs. I'll keep my SDP-SL pedals and shoes until I've cycled a few thousand miles on the road bike and I'm a lot more confident.

I think I'm worried about falling and damaging myself and the bike as the drivers round here are mental and I've often had to unclip within a second and it just ruins the cycling experience for me.

I love cycling as it's liberating and gives me an endorphins rush and I think that starting again with flat pedals will give me the motivation to use the road bike and enjoy the experience.

I've got a knackered left ankle, so riding the bike with SPD-SLs on, isn't a good idea, on a short, and / or start-stop route. I have most of my bikes set up with single sided SPD / trail pedals, with a flat side, and an SPD mech, on the other side. I use multi release SPD cleats, which means I can get out of the SPD mech, by lifting my foot straight up, reducing / eliminating the need to twist my left foot out. The pedals are slightly larger and heavier than my SPD-SLs, but it's a small compromise to deal with, so that I can use my bikes as much as I like.

svetty

My ha'pennyworth would be to not get seduced into thinking that feeding is all that relevant to rides of under a couple of hours. Assuming a decent meal at normal meal-times you will have enough glycogen stores for this duration and riding on this will encourage the physiological adaptation you are developing to improve your endurance and stamina. Over this distance you may need to take in some carbs depending on how long/fast you are going. There is a whole industry trying to sell energy gels, bars, drinks etc and they are mighty persuasive.....

ben@31

Surely it cant do you any harm to eat one thing between 1 hour and 1.5 hrs in ?

Milemuncher1 wrote:

I've got a knackered left ankle, so riding the bike with SPD-SLs on, isn't a good idea, on a short, and / or start-stop route. I have most of my bikes set up with single sided SPD / trail pedals,

Interestingly even after cycling for a few years I always unclip with my right foot only. At junctions I keep my left foot clipped in. The heel on right shoe is way more worn than my left shoe
After a while stop-start routes though a city centre with SPD type pedals is second nature and sub concious, If I cant get my right foot back in after setting off, I give the crank another rotation or two with my left foot to keep moving and not falling over.

milemuncher1

ben@31 wrote:

Surely it cant do you any harm to eat one thing between 1 hour and 1.5 hrs in ?

Milemuncher1 wrote:

I've got a knackered left ankle, so riding the bike with SPD-SLs on, isn't a good idea, on a short, and / or start-stop route. I have most of my bikes set up with single sided SPD / trail pedals,

Interestingly even after cycling for a few years I always unclip with my right foot only. At junctions I keep my left foot clipped in. The heel on right shoe is way more worn than my left shoe
After a while stop-start routes though a city centre with SPD type pedals is second nature and sub concious, If I cant get my right foot back in after setting off, I give the crank another rotation or two with my left foot to keep moving and not falling over.

I'm ambidextrous, but favour my left hand, the same seems to be the case with my feet, when riding.

ForumNewbie

ben@31 wrote:

Surely it cant do you any harm to eat one thing between 1 hour and 1.5 hrs in ?

Milemuncher1 wrote:

I've got a knackered left ankle, so riding the bike with SPD-SLs on, isn't a good idea, on a short, and / or start-stop route. I have most of my bikes set up with single sided SPD / trail pedals,

Interestingly even after cycling for a few years I always unclip with my right foot only. At junctions I keep my left foot clipped in. The heel on right shoe is way more worn than my left shoe
After a while stop-start routes though a city centre with SPD type pedals is second nature and sub concious, If I cant get my right foot back in after setting off, I give the crank another rotation or two with my left foot to keep moving and not falling over.

Same here, my left foot remains clipped in until I get off the bike. I use normal double-sided SPDs. I don't see the point of single-sided SPDs unless you sometimes cycle in trainers or other non-cycle shoes.