Planning a very long ride - 8 hrs

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 23:34:14 +0200, "Jacques Moser"
wrote:

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 16:16:03 +0000, Badger_South wrote:



Nix that. I have a couple ppl who will help me. I want to be lean and
light, not lugging food. Maybe at some future time, b/c a 'self-supported'
ride is definitely a neat goal. But this time, I'm gonna do it like a 10K
race, on a loop and have friends throw me sponges and food, heh-heh. There
might even be balloons and strippers! ;-p


If you tell us when and where, somebody could paint "go Badger go !" on
the road, provided you accept to throw empty bottles for us to collect !

I would definitely not try to take showers in the middle of the ride, as
this would "soften" me too much; and if no shower, why change clothes ?

Well, I've done a couple long runs and it definitely helped me to jump in
the lake along the route (I had fresh socks and took off my shoes). I'll
pretend it's a duathlon, like bike-swim-bike, 'kay? ;-)


So you need your team to carry a full size swimming pool for you along
the road ?

Jacques

Yeah, they're gonna run along side, just in case!

-B
(actually I live near a river, and have a pool in my backyard. So there's
options)

You get my vote. 41 posts so far. Troll of the month for sure. Or, to anal
to ride with others. Quit posting and write when you've got your hundred out
of the way. If you are riding two or three times a day, 100 or more miles a
week then a hundred is no big deal. "Just Do It'".

Bill - top posted on purpose

"Badger_South" wrote in endless messages

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In article ,
Badger_South wrote:

I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a summer of
400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to pacing. Here's
something I've been thinking about:

Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat, then ride
for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat rest, then ride
final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme? 3-2-1-2?

People who do touring and stuff ride about 8 hours a day for like 2 weeks.
'Course they're sightseeing so it's more fun. It would probably require a
"support crew" to bring food and change of clothes and stuff. If you were
gonna do it how would you break it up?

I'm thinking the mental aspect would be the most difficult. Gonna try and
get the family interested in it to help with that.

I'm sure some here would say 'just ride for the 8 hours, what's the big
deal', but that would be OK for those who have ridden a lot (like frequent
3-4 hour rides), but my longest ride has been 3.5 hours, and only did that
once. I'm hoping to get some posts on others who have done something like
this, and their experiences vs the initial expectations.

I plan to start the ride early in the AM, like 5-ish, or first light.
o 5:30-8:30
o 9:00-11:00

_ I suspect you won't leave the house after this break. A steady
effort with short breaks is much easier on the body. If you take
an hour off and eat, that's pretty much a recipe for cramps and
upset. Also, with the schedule of "breaks" it would be easy to
over exert yourself in the early efforts. If you're going to
take a long break, 2-3 hours is much better.

o 12:-1
o 2-4pm


_ I'm not sure I see the point of this effort, but whatever
floats your boat. If you can ride for 3 hours, you can ride
for 8 if you eat, drink and set a reasonable pace. It's not
as hard as you're making it. The hardest part about such a
long ride is getting the bike comfortable and learning how
to drink enough.

_ Booker C. Bense

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Badger_South wrote in message . ..
I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a summer of
400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to pacing. Here's
something I've been thinking about:

With 400 mile months you should probably be in good shape for a long
ride.

Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat, then ride
for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat rest, then ride
final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme? 3-2-1-2?

I would nix the shower, far too disruptive to the whole idea. I would
also take shorter rest breaks but perhaps more often. Your body will
let you know when it wants to rest. Just make sure to eat enough food
that you aren't hungry.

People who do touring and stuff ride about 8 hours a day for like 2 weeks.
'Course they're sightseeing so it's more fun. It would probably require a
"support crew" to bring food and change of clothes and stuff. If you were
gonna do it how would you break it up?

I did a ride last summer - one 8 hour day (hoping now to try some
multi-day touring this summer!) I had a start point and a destination
point I wanted to get to that was about 80 miles away. (I obviously
didn't spend the whole 8 hours on the bike!) To me, the whole fun was
doing it solo. I wouldn't worry about bringing changes of clothes etc
- just wear something with wicking fabric so if you sweat a lot you
won't be drenched. You can carry your food with you or buy it on the
road.

My background previous to the ride was mostly short rides (5 mile one
way commutes) and the odd 1 to 3 hour long fun ride, but really I
hadn't had much mileage before that ride. I rode on my clunky mountain
bike with slicks commuter, and had a pannier with a bit of stuff in it
on the rack (clothes since I was staying overnight at my destination,
and a bit of fruit and power bars. I stopped to buy food along the way
although made a mistake at bypassing the last major place to buy
something and was pretty hungry for the last 20 miles of the ride.

If you don't have a rack/panniers you could get a camelback-style
water pack that also has a bit of room to stuff a spare shirt (if you
think you might want one) and a power bar or two. You could also have
sandwiches etc. in a handlebar bag.

I plan to start the ride early in the AM, like 5-ish, or first light.
o 5:30-8:30
o 9:00-11:00
o 12:-1
o 2-4pm

I started at around 8 a.m. (I'm not a morning person so starting at
first light would have been torturous). I tried not to stop until
having gone a decent distance - otherwise too many stops its hard to
maintain momentum. Though I stopped often enough looking for bathrooms
with the amount of water I consumed. Anywhere particularly scenic I
stopped to enjoy the scenery briefly and have a snack. I stopped a bit
longer where I planned to have lunch but found out when I got there it
was only a snack bar so had to make do with muffins and fruit, and I
stopped for maybe half an hour close to the end of my ride just to
rest my sit bones. (you really don't want to get up again once you've
done this so don't do it too often) I arrived at the end around 4 pm.
With less rest stops and a more efficient bike you could do 100 miles
in about the same time.

My only real gripe with the ride was a lack of hand positions - I just
had one with flat bars and no bar ends, so I was a bit stiff in the
shoulders, hands by the end. And I would have a more substantial
lunch.

Tanya wrote:

Badger_South wrote in message . ..

I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a summer of
400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to pacing. Here's
something I've been thinking about:


With 400 mile months you should probably be in good shape for a long
ride.


Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat, then ride
for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat rest, then ride
final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme? 3-2-1-2?


I would nix the shower, far too disruptive to the whole idea. I would
also take shorter rest breaks but perhaps more often. Your body will
let you know when it wants to rest. Just make sure to eat enough food
that you aren't hungry.


People who do touring and stuff ride about 8 hours a day for like 2 weeks.
'Course they're sightseeing so it's more fun. It would probably require a
"support crew" to bring food and change of clothes and stuff. If you were
gonna do it how would you break it up?


I did a ride last summer - one 8 hour day (hoping now to try some
multi-day touring this summer!) I had a start point and a destination
point I wanted to get to that was about 80 miles away. (I obviously
didn't spend the whole 8 hours on the bike!) To me, the whole fun was
doing it solo. I wouldn't worry about bringing changes of clothes etc
- just wear something with wicking fabric so if you sweat a lot you
won't be drenched. You can carry your food with you or buy it on the
road.

My background previous to the ride was mostly short rides (5 mile one
way commutes) and the odd 1 to 3 hour long fun ride, but really I
hadn't had much mileage before that ride. I rode on my clunky mountain
bike with slicks commuter, and had a pannier with a bit of stuff in it
on the rack (clothes since I was staying overnight at my destination,
and a bit of fruit and power bars. I stopped to buy food along the way
although made a mistake at bypassing the last major place to buy
something and was pretty hungry for the last 20 miles of the ride.

If you don't have a rack/panniers you could get a camelback-style
water pack that also has a bit of room to stuff a spare shirt (if you
think you might want one) and a power bar or two. You could also have
sandwiches etc. in a handlebar bag.

I plan to start the ride early in the AM, like 5-ish, or first light.
o 5:30-8:30
o 9:00-11:00
o 12:-1
o 2-4pm


I started at around 8 a.m. (I'm not a morning person so starting at
first light would have been torturous). I tried not to stop until
having gone a decent distance - otherwise too many stops its hard to
maintain momentum. Though I stopped often enough looking for bathrooms
with the amount of water I consumed. Anywhere particularly scenic I
stopped to enjoy the scenery briefly and have a snack. I stopped a bit
longer where I planned to have lunch but found out when I got there it
was only a snack bar so had to make do with muffins and fruit, and I
stopped for maybe half an hour close to the end of my ride just to
rest my sit bones. (you really don't want to get up again once you've
done this so don't do it too often) I arrived at the end around 4 pm.
With less rest stops and a more efficient bike you could do 100 miles
in about the same time.

My only real gripe with the ride was a lack of hand positions - I just
had one with flat bars and no bar ends, so I was a bit stiff in the
shoulders, hands by the end. And I would have a more substantial
lunch.

Hey Tanya
Nice ride report. I am a commuter too, do about 25 kms round trip
daily. Now and then I feel the desire to tune up the body a bit and
take a nice ride. Last Saturday I did a 87 km ride with lots of hills.
It worked out fine. I've been a slug lately, too many life pressures
getting me down maybe. So I took a handful of granola bars, couple
water bottles, rain jacket and poly long johns and hit the blacktop.
The ride was a scenic trip. I must agree with stopping long enough tp
enjoy the scenery! The rain became a bit of a bore, but not bad once I
found a Johnny on the Spot where I could put my longies on. A fruit
stand in the Fraser Valley sold me the most vivid snack of fresh picked
raspberries! Just fabulous..
If you've been riding regularly, it's not hard to now and then
dramatically extend your range harmlessly.
Next week, who knows?
Best , Bernie

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:32:09 +0000, Bill wrote:

You get my vote. 41 posts so far. Troll of the month for sure. Or, to anal
to ride with others. Quit posting and write when you've got your hundred
out of the way. If you are riding two or three times a day, 100 or more
miles a week then a hundred is no big deal. "Just Do It'".

Bill - top posted on purpose

"Badger_South" wrote in endless messages

Keeping a long thread alive by answering posts in not trolling. Riding
alone is not being anal. If you don't like this thread you don't need to
read it.

Jacques