Stupidly agreed to do a 103 mile sportive tomorrow as training for and alps road bike trip next month.
Its too late for any ‘training’ – but do the stw collective have any tips…. ?

– I’ve done 90ish miles before but not in a sportive format. This will also be by first official (strava) 100+ ride.

Nip out now, you’ve time to a 100 miles before dark.

That way you’ll definitely know tonight that you can do 100 miles – so tomorrow will be doddle. 🙂

What difference are you expecting? if anything, it should be easier than riding it solo as you can look to join a decent-paced group.

Get away as early as possible to be ahead of the crowds of charidee riders in T shirts who will clog up the hills.

Every time a group goes past, jump on and stay with them as long as you can. Ask if they mind if they look like a group of pals or a club.

Stop at every feed stop to eat and drink, whether you think you need it or not.

Looking at the forecast, take a jacket and fit some mudguards.

Start Slow, Finish Fast.

Don’t be pressured into going at time fast a pace(above your norm)as you will probably end up blowing.

Yep agree, take it easy to start with and leave something for the later stages.

If posting your time on social media don’t include any breaks

Prey most of its East to West.

Eat and drink all the way round, sit on any groups (also do your turn) but don’t be tempted to push it too hard to stay in the group. If you’ve done 90 mile rides 100 will be no problem, especially when there’s other folk to sit behind.

If you can do 90, then 100 is easy. As above, set off steady, don’t jump on the back of a fast group too soon if you are not “that” kind of rider.

Ignore the sportive “format”. Some faster riders will want to post fast times – let them get off ahead of you. Ignore the charity riders as referred to above, if you can already ride 90 miles, you’ll be ahead of them after the first hill. That should leave you wandering between groups who are used to riding 70-90 mile rides at a sensible pace, so find a group at your pace, and get chatting – met some really interesting folk on sportives and audax events.

Eat and drink regularly, more and sooner than you think BUT make sure you are using energy products you are used to. Grabbing a load of the sponsors gels and powders made a right mess of one event I rode as they gave me chronic wind and indigestion for about 20 miles.

If you prefer real food and drink, just stop at a village shop/pub/cafe and buy some. You are not a pro racer, so you don’t have to act like one!

If you have that previous 90 miler on Strava or the like, maybe have a bit of a review, it’s a bit of a baseline innit…

what was your avg speed, did you start slow to warm up or jump straight in? how much climbing vs tomorrow’s 100? And what sort of VAM did you do? all pointers on your previous form.

A bit of data might be handy just helping you plan your day.
Ultimately ride the way that suits you.
Have a strategy and stick to it…

Good luck and enjoy your ride…

Thanks for tge advice guys – did it in just over 7 hrs. Was aiming for a sub 7hr time but the rain kinda hankered things.
When off a bit quick but pulled it back after 5 or 6 miles when I realised.
Lots of punctures due to the rain putting lots of crap on he road the night before and about 4 or 5 puddles so big you had to Ford them.

Great to hear from you – most importantly, did you enjoy it?

Apart from a very cold and wet 3 hrs, yes.
I knew that the extra 30mins over the 70 mile route were extra lumpy (some didn’t and had completely unsuitable gearing) so I took that bit easy and tried my best to regain some kind of decent average speed on the last (flatter) leg back to the start – didn’t work though.

Amazes me that (some) roadies enjoy the up’s only to drag their brakes on the downs though. Also was the only drop bar bike with mudguards on – we were predicted heavy rain all day!

Well done fella!
When’s your next one?

The next one is on Sept 18th – 3 days on the alps 60-80 miles a day 37k ft of climbing finishing on Alp D’huez. The sportive was the ‘big ride’ test/warm up beforehand.

Oversleep

You will need to do plenty more training for your Alps trip.
Unless your Sportive 100 was very hilly- you will find the Alp rides a different kettle of poissons- expect your average speed to be way lower.

The sportive was just under 7000ft climbing over 103 miles ‘ the alps is 12,000+ over 60-80 miles a day. But we do get proper stops.

It’s usually the length and how sustained the climbs are in the Alps that can hard to adjust too. The longest, most alpine climb in the UK is probably the one up the Bealach Na Ba and is about 6 miles long. The big cols in the Alps can be up to 10-18 miles long and 4% – 9% in average gradient. It’s a lot harder mentally to sit and just grind out the miles when it’s so sustained.