Planning a very long ride - 8 hrs

David Kerber wrote:
:: In article ,
:: says...
:::
::: 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:
::
:: How long is "long" (mile-wise, that is)?
::
::
::: 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'd probably put the first rest stop well before the 3 hour point,
:: and space them more evenly. Maybe 1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5, or 2-2-2-2.
:: Also, 30 minutes might be too long of a break; it might give your
:: muscles too long, so that you would need a long warm up again when
:: you start back up YMMV a lot on this, and will probably depend on
:: the weather (temperature particularly). More frequent, shorter
:: breaks work well for many people, such as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.

How many times (or how many miles) would you break on a century ride?

::
::
::: 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
::: o 12:-1
::: o 2-4pm
:::
::: TIA,
:::
::: -Badger
:::
:::
:::
::
:: --
:: Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
:: newsgroups if possible).

Badger_South wrote:
:: On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:34:30 -0700, Terry Morse
:: wrote:
::
::: 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?
:::
::: Why not just do an organized, supported ride? They typically have
::: rest stops every 1.5-2 hours apart. It's a great place to find out
::: about pacing and fueling, and there's sag if you need it. Try a 100k
::: to see if you like it. If that was too easy, try a 100-mile.
::
:: Well there probably aren't any organized supported rides in my area.
::
:: There are weekend group rides, I hear, but never been able to track
:: any of them down to an actual person. (I'm in Charlottesville, Va).
::
:: In addition, I'd want to ride my own pace, and would worry about
:: being dropped and having that affect the motivation. I realize in an
:: ideal sitch, your suggest -would- be the way to go. Also the area
:: around here that people ride these things are probably too hilly.
::
:: I'm planning the ride in Va Beach, where it's mostly flat, and doing
:: it on bike paths. (there's 137 miles of them down there!). It would
:: take a big stroke of luck to find an organized ride in Va Beach to
:: co-incide with my attempt, but I'll definitely try to check that
:: out. I'm heading back down there in about a month. Even if the ride
:: was a 50 miler, I could do that and then finish up on my own. Great
:: idea...

Have you checked with your local bike clubs? They have lots of organized
rides around here, I don't see why they wouldn't there.

And don't worry about being dropped...check your ego at the door before
leaving home. I did my 35-mile organized ride last Saturday (turned out to
be 38-miles 'cause I failed to turn at one paced) and didn't mind not being
with the pack. Besides, there are riders of every level out there...I found
people that I had to pass up simply because they are going way too slow --
and they were much smaller than me. I ended up riding with this one nice
lady who had only been riding a week - on her hubbies bike - and had bought
herself a bike the night before this ride! The lady didn't even understand
about shifting gears...so she would fight her way uphill in too high a gear
and then fly down the other side. of course, I would drop to granny gear
and smoke her going up the hill (that was too funny given that I must weight
80 lbs more than her). I would get to top, wait for her, and then she'd
eventually come flying by...and then I'd have to catch up to her

The organized ride was a lot of fun. They had good rest stops, too. Free
food. I even won a raffle price -- a basker full of biking goodies -- high
viz yellow vest (in XL), insulated water bottle, sweatband, park allen
wrench set, some kind of lube stuff, atlantic coast biking tour book, biking
socks, two chocolate bars, some energy gel stuff, and a bunch of toostie
rolls! It more than covered the $20 I spent on the ride.

And they had great sag support - so if you give out someone will come pick
you up, or help fix your machine!

If I had 137 miles of flat roads to ride, then I'd try a century tomorrow

In article ,
says...
David Kerber wrote:
:: In article ,
:: says...
:::
::: 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:
::
:: How long is "long" (mile-wise, that is)?
::
::
::: 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'd probably put the first rest stop well before the 3 hour point,
:: and space them more evenly. Maybe 1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5, or 2-2-2-2.
:: Also, 30 minutes might be too long of a break; it might give your
:: muscles too long, so that you would need a long warm up again when
:: you start back up YMMV a lot on this, and will probably depend on
:: the weather (temperature particularly). More frequent, shorter
:: breaks work well for many people, such as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.

How many times (or how many miles) would you break on a century ride?

I've never done a century, but on shorter rides (60 miles / 4 to 5
hours) or so), I find that 15 minutes every 1.5 to 2 hours works well
for me. I do munch a peanut butter cracker or chocolate chip cookie and
take periodic swigs of water or gatorade more frequently than that.

Other people with more long distance experience than me will weigh in as
well, I'm sure.

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

Badger_South wrote:
:: On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 13:09:19 -0400, "Roger Zoul"
:: wrote:
::
::: 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?
:::
::: Why not start doing long rides on the weekends, but increasing them
::: by 10% every other week or so. You can work on speed during the
::: week, but do your endurance riding on weekends.
::
:: Oh, I plan on doing more long rides, and want to have several more
:: three hour rides, and maybe a four hour ride. I seem to do pretty
:: good on 3-a-day rides of 60-90 minutes right now - no pain anywhere
:: the next day, etc. I think trying to slowly ramp up to 8 hours would
:: involve just too much boredom. (I have to get pretty psyched to do
:: 2.5 hours, but I know I'm just a noob, so I'll suspend that opinion
:: a bit.)

But that's what your target is...so if you going to be bored on your event,
what's the point? I have yet to get bored on a good route...maybe changing
up your route is in order!

Remember, you perform as you train. So if you want to get ready for an
event, you need to gear your training for that event. A sprinter doesn't
develop sprinting ability by doing only long rides, nor does a distance
riding develop endurance by doing mostly sprinting (even though sprinting
and training for speed will help improve speed on a long ride).

::
::: Personally, I don't like the "killer" riding events like you
::: mention since you're on the road with cars and need to be 100% all
::: of the time, and you have no base developed. Also, you don't give
::: your butt and muscles time to adjust with your plan. Chances of
::: injury seem too high to me....
::
:: Well, I'd take exception to the 'no base developed'.

I meant base for very long rides.

I'll have been
:: riding for a year, every single frikin' day, and many, many
:: two-a-day and a lot of three-a-day rides. I know it can take up to
:: 10 years to really develop your base, but sheesh. g I'm pretty
:: sure I could go out today, given sufficient motivation and do 4
:: hours on the road. (I'm not counting distance, just time, although I
:: would hope the total distance would add up to around 100miles at the
:: end.)

Wow...100 miles in 4 hours. I'm impressed. I'm counting on 8 hours.

::
:: I find that unless I'm nearly 'ready' to do a long ride like this, I
:: don't start contemplating it. I did the 50 miler after kinda having
:: the idea pop into my head a few days prior, (at the time my longest
:: ride was 22 miles, and 9 months of riding) and thinking 'why not'.

Yeah, but think about how adding another 50 miles on top of that 50 would
feel.

:: It was -way- easier than I thought it would be, and it was on the
:: 45lb beater bike. Had I been paying attention, I'd have tacked on
:: the extra miles later that day to equal a metric century.
::
:: I've read stories (admittedly of younger riders) only training for a
:: year to do some touring and then actually get in shape during the
:: tour. Of course they were riding with a group and stuff.
::
::::: 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.
:::
::: Build up slowly...
::
:: That's a good idea, but I'm going on the thought that in jogging,
:: you can run middle-of-the pack races pretty well on a 25 mile per
:: week base (for a year) and the longest run 1/3 that of the total
:: distance. For instance my first 10 miler I did on a few months of
:: 30miles/week, and doing a 10K race every couple weeks. My longest
:: jog was about 6.5 miles. I had no negative sequelae after the race,
:: and resumed my training post, no problem.

Have you read the book "Long Distance Cycling"? You can get it for $0.98
via amazon.com.

::
:: Thanks for the input, though, Rog. How's the new wheel holding up?
:: ;-)
::
:::::
::::: I plan to start the ride early in the AM, like 5-ish, or first
::::: light.
:::
::: That's what I do..
:::
::::: o 5:30-8:30
::::: o 9:00-11:00
::::: o 12:-1
::::: o 2-4pm
:::::
::::: TIA,
:::::
::::: -Badger

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 12:48:12 -0400, 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:
snip

You're not ready.

Work up to it. Do a 4 hour ride this weekend. Add a half hour or an
hour every weekend.
--
Rick Onanian

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:

Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat, then ride
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
o 12:-1
o 2-4pm


I often do brevets and double centuries for enjoyment and my advice is
to go for it. Your plan sounds reasonable and you don't plan on
pushing yourself too hard. You also sound like you are regularly
riding 100 miles per week so a easy paced 100 mile 8 hour flat ride
sounds very reasonable to me. Getting you wife involved also helps.
My wife enjoys this and is more than happy to meet me with food. Just
be sure and eat and drink during your ride.

If I were on the east coast I would join you.

Enjoy,
Tom

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 18:46:43 -0400, Rick Onanian wrote:

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 12:48:12 -0400, 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:
snip

You're not ready.

Work up to it. Do a 4 hour ride this weekend. Add a half hour or an
hour every weekend.

I'm not ready, in regards to what? Are you saying I could -not- do this
ride at my current level of training by, say Oct?

Bet me $500, and I'll do it tomorrow, big guy! ;-

-B

Badger_South wrote:
:: On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 18:46:43 -0400, Rick Onanian
:: wrote:
::
::: On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 12:48:12 -0400, 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:
::: snip
:::
::: You're not ready.
:::
::: Work up to it. Do a 4 hour ride this weekend. Add a half hour or an
::: hour every weekend.
::
:: I'm not ready, in regards to what? Are you saying I could -not- do
:: this ride at my current level of training by, say Oct?

I think he suggested you work up to an 8-hour ride over time, rather than
just jumping to 8 hours of total riding per day.

You know, there are people who have PhDs (like Ed Burke) and years of riding
experience combined who write books on training for long rides (and other
stuff regarding cycling). You're educated, but a noob to riding...why not
avail yourself of accumlated knowledge and hard-won time in the saddle?

::
:: Bet me $500, and I'll do it tomorrow, big guy! ;-
::
:: -B

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 13:45:34 -0400, Badger_South
wrote:

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 13:22:38 -0400, David Kerber
wrote:

In article ,
says...

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:

How long is "long" (mile-wise, that is)?

I'm not too worried about the mileage, although I would hope that after 8
hours of well-spaced riding that it would be around 100 miles.

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'd probably put the first rest stop well before the 3 hour point, and
space them more evenly. Maybe 1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5, or 2-2-2-2. Also,
30 minutes might be too long of a break; it might give your muscles too
long, so that you would need a long warm up again when you start back up
YMMV a lot on this, and will probably depend on the weather (temperature
particularly). More frequent, shorter breaks work well for many people,
such as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.

Oh, I forgot to mention that. I find that a 2 min rest every 10-15 miles
helps a lot, and I plan to incorporate that in addition to the other rest
stops.

I like the idea of the first segment being around 3-4 hours, b/c I have
that much motivation, initially. Then knowing I'm 1/3 to 1/2 way there
helps with the last part. But I like your plan of 2 hours and a 10 min
break after that. As I said, I'm anticipating that the major hurdle will be
80-90% mental. ;-)

-B


Well, at the beginning of the day, mental can be a major hurdle. But
if you use up your glycogen stores, mental stuff gets real hard. A
brain without energy is a very unhappy brain, and things can get very
ugly.

This might be one of the major physical differences between 3 hours
and 8 hours. In 3 hours you might push the reserves down to zero, but
it's ok. In 8 hours, you have to add new reserves as the day goes
along.

Plan on eating throughout the day. Nothing worse than bonking in the
last half hour before the night's camp ground or final destination.
Those have been the worst times I have had when touring- being 5-10
miles from the night's destination, and being completely beat and
empty.


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.


Doing one day of excessive miles is actually quite easy. It's the next
day to watch out for!

I'm not ready, in regards to what? Are you saying I could -not- do this
ride at my current level of training by, say Oct?

Bet me $500, and I'll do it tomorrow, big guy! ;-


Why do you enter a newsgroup, ask for advice from knowledgeable people, and
then argue with the advice?

Just read and absorb and make your own decision!


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