• This topic has 30 replies, 22 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by LMT.
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  • First 75 mile road ride…
  • LMT
    Free Member

    Riding 75 miles for diabetes UK this weekend, most ive rode before is 60 miles which was off the cuff ride I just went out on the road bike and didn’t stop.

    Pretty much against the clock 5hrs in the saddle looking at the times. What should I be doing this week, I did 10 miles yesterday, 10 today was planning on a 50 mile bike ride tomorrow as im day off work, then nothing Thursday as im working late shift, Friday im early so possibly another 10 miles.

    Any advice of things to do leading up to the ride?

    bigG
    Free Member

    not so much what to do as what not to do –

    Do not be tempted to fiddle, alter or change your bike setup this week

    Do not forget to use chamois cream

    Do not forget to eat plenty and drink lots of water all week

    Do take it easy, don’t go strava hunting this week

    Do enjoy it, it’ll be a laugh and if you’ve done 60 miles before then another 75 on top isn’t much.

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    Not sure I’d be doing a 50 mile ride tomorrow if you aren’t used to longer rides in general. Especially as it’s gonna be pretty warm I think.

    Just keep eating and drinking on the ride. First 70 mile ride I did recently, I just alternated between an energy gel and a cereal bar every 10 miles and it was all good.

    Just remember sun cream. Even if it’s cloudy, you’ll be out in it for a while.

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    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    I wouldn’t do 50 this week too late now to make a difference but it will just make your legs tired.

    In may I did a hilly 95 miles where before my longest had been 45 flat ish.

    Take your time drink/eat plenty, prob eat sooner than you think and you should be able to do it. You may end up riding through cramp but hay…

    Philby
    Full Member

    Depends on the route – a hilly 75 miles will be much harder than a flat one. Perhaps increase the length of your 10 milers. I don’t see too much problem doing a gentle 50 miler tomorrow but have at least one full rest day beforehand. You don’t say whether the event is Saturday or Sunday, if Sunday the 50 miler would be fine IMO – it would certainly improve confidence. Also do all your bike checks beforehand and agree with above about being well fed and hydrated.

    Whathaveisaidnow
    Free Member

    i’d do about 35 tomorrow, then the 10 miler friday is fine.

    like other shave said eat lots for dinner the day before, pasta, etc and pancakes or porridge or jam on toast in the morning if you can…then get some cashews and raisins mixed up for the ride, couple of bars and lots of dosed up drink

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    If you’ve done 60 miles before then 75 miles isn’t going to feel too different.

    You’ll be fine but more importantly good on you for doing something positive. Where’s your donation page?

    brakes
    Free Member

    then get some cashews and raisins mixed up for the ride

    see, people say this but how the hell do you eat these on the fly?

    LMT
    Free Member

    Link for justgiving is:

    https://www.justgiving.com/Lee-Martin13/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_content=Lee-Martin13&utm_campaign=pfp-share

    A fair bit of fund raising has been done through store, set this up this evening a bit late, should of done it sooner. No donations as yet but im sure will get a few over the coming days. Planning on a bigger ride in the autumn, just need to sort the final details.

    Saturday is the ride, its part of a 200 miler one of the guys at work is doing, im riding the last 75 with him, not starting the ride until 3pm Saturday, that will probably kill me more as im more an early morning biker!

    mboy
    Free Member

    If you’ve done 60 miles before then 75 miles isn’t going to feel too different.

    This

    Unless the route is pretty drastic, 75 ain’t going to be much harder than a 60.

    Eat lots the day before, something like chicken and pasta is a good idea for an evening meal, but lots of lean protein and slow release carbs are what you want. Eat and drink before you get hungry and thirsty whilst on the bike, and use things like Zero tabs in your water to avoid cramp and take some gels in case you do bonk and you need a quick pick me up.

    Chamois cream is your friend too, as are decent padded bib shorts.

    Most importantly though, as mentioned already, pace yourself… Starting at 20mph avg and finishing at 12mph hurts a lot more than setting off at 15mph and maintaining it for the same overall time.

    LMT
    Free Member

    Oops my oh edited the page details when she donated odd that, but many thanks to mike stw!

    On the way now, thanks for the advice will do a shorter ride tomorrow.

    mefty
    Free Member

    You will be fine – I have just done a 400 mile 4 day ride and I hadn’t done a huge amount more than you – certainly nothing more than than 50 in a day. However, it is going to be hot this weekend drink lots of water and probably worth use something to replace electrolytes.

    squin
    Free Member

    I agree, it’s more to do with not changing anything, particularly energy drink. What ever you’ve been using in whatever strength, stick with it (even if that’s just water).

    I did a 52 mile charity hike in the Pennines a couple of years back; on the day I decided that Lucozade Sport all day was worth a try that day. Huge mistake as I ended up having the sh1t$ during the walk. Body all over the place.

    Still completed it in 15.5 hours, but struggled for the last 20 miles as my body had previously emptied everything out!

    aP
    Free Member

    My training for the Maratona dles Dolomites in 2011 was bromptoning 25 miles a day.
    You’ll be fine just pace yourself, start steady and finish strong.

    LMT
    Free Member

    The only thing I was going to change was to get rid of my baggy shorts, been using bib shorts last few weeks under my baggies, only problem is trying to figure out where to put stuff!! if I go full mamil.

    I do have a proper cycling jersey but have found its too warm recently so was going to stick to a climachill t-shirt I got a couple of weeks back as that’s more comfortable in the heat, just no pockets.

    cloudnine
    Free Member

    A road jersey normally has 3 back pockets with plenty of room to fill up with stuff..
    Other options would be a saddle pack or frame bag that fits in the front triangle (deuter do good cheap one) http://www.wiggle.co.uk/deuter-front-triangle-bag/?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&utm_source=pla&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=uk&kpid=5360546537

    tomd
    Free Member

    A 50mile-er the week before probably isn’t a great idea. Maybe just go out for an hour or two to keep the legs going.

    +1 for what everyone is saying about not trying anything new. Don’t be tempted to try ANYTHING you haven’t tried and tested. Even little things like socks – just stick to what you know. Especially food. That “magic” energy juice someone offers you could end up with you in a right mess.

    hooli
    Full Member

    I would say take it easy this week but keep your legs turning over. If you have done 60, 75 should be fine as long as you don’t get caught up in the moment and go off too fast.

    nemesis
    Free Member

    75 will be fine based on what you’ve said so long as you keep eating and drinking during the ride and you don’t try to be a hero early on. Keep spinning, take the early hills easy and you’ll be fine.

    As above, you won’t get any fitter between now and then so just relatively short rides for now just to keep things ticking over.

    Eat and drink well beforehand. Check your bike (brake blocks, etc).

    Proper cycling kit shouldn’t be too hot, at least not while riding. You may well have a fairly thick top though so maybe consider a new, thinner one as the pockets are useful.

    olddog
    Full Member

    I did my first sportive a couple of weeks ago and although not a big step up in distance for me it was pretty hilly. Advice as above – easy early on, good nutrition and hydration including the day before. No beers the night before (ok I had one bottle of beer).

    I used a small saddle bag for multi-tool, spare tube, couple of zip ties and a quick-link. Carry food, lightweight gilet, phone in pockets of my roadie top.

    In terms of rides – I did a couple of 60 milers on the weekend before the ride – but nothing much after that, bit of light jogging maybe, can’t really remember, worked for me

    Saccades
    Free Member

    I did a 125mile hilly (10K feet) sportive after a max training distance of 50miles. Repeated again this year and my learnings are:

    You know that gear you have that you can potter about for hours in (65% effort), try not to get too much faster/effort than that. Unless you can tag into a group going a little faster and you can draft.

    Draft.

    Take it steady on the climbs, if you drop out of the group you drop out, no point killing yourself unless you are near the end (always easier to cycle a route you know btw).

    Take ibruprofen/neurofen alternatively every 2 hours if you are not used to distance.

    Get a good sleep the night before (my first year I didn’t sleep worrying about lasting the distance, really struggled compared to this year) and rest for a the few days before hand.

    Loads of chamois crème, when you finish shower as quick as possible to reduce the chance of chafing.

    I like powerbars, they work really well for me, coupled with zero tabs in water. Nibble and sup on a regular basis.

    Get water bottles/pump/tubes on the bike – only soft items like jacket&grub in your jersey pockets, after 2-3 hours in the saddle the hard/solid items can really annoy you in a Chinese water torture kind of way.

    Your faster than I am so you should be well able for it.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Lots of good advice already, I’d just re-inforce having plenty of gels and bars while at it. Maybe neck a caffeine gel halfway round.

    What’s the total vertical ascent do you know?

    onandon
    Free Member
    LMT
    Free Member

    I cycling the Birmingham City bit this morning, 30 miles through the city, the stop start stop start didn’t help. Picked up another bottle cage and off to get some gels this afternoon.

    At least I know the route through Birmingham and visited every store we are passing, rest of today just planning a walk nothing too long and then relax, Friday luckily I’m early shift at work so no problem with sleep that night.

    Rest of the day trying to get coverage for sponsorship, I only set a £200 limit to get to, stuck at £50, managed to get some good retweets via work, time to tweet David miller he’s not up to much might get a retweet!!

    Frankenstein
    Free Member

    Just enjoy it and bring fluids/fuel or plan for stops.

    Pace yourself.

    LMT
    Free Member

    Yep ordered some gels and jelly beans form Mersin yesterday, and looks like they will be delivered today, didn’t want to ask guys on here as I know all spare cash goes to bike bits but struggling for sponsorship, stuck at £75 although I’ve had a few retweets and shares no money is coming through, if anyone can donate then great, or if you guys could share the link with other forums/groups to gain more coverage and more sponsorship would be great.

    Rest day today except I’m working late shift at work boo!

    LMT
    Free Member

    Job done yesterday although we had a few hitches along the way. Did a total of 90 miles, which is pretty impressive for me, the downside is I didn’t have the pace, really caught me out. Will explain:

    Me and rich from work took the train Solihull to Hereford was the plan, the train tracks got hit by a lighting bolt outside ledbury so we got off the train, the replacement service refused to take the bikes on to Hereford so we went to the Tesco store as we knew ledbury was on the route. We got there an hour before the group ride, lashing it down with rain and thunder and lighting above us we decided to keep moving as were wet already, we then got to Hereford the wrong store as there are 2 of them, quick photo with the store management then onto the next Hereford store, still ahead of the pack we carried on to Worcester.

    Damn that hill!! Frome hill was immense and the lure of the café at the top kept me going but it was closed!!!! The sun came out and the scenery was just amazing, a great day out to be out on the bike, slowly started to dry out.

    We got to Worcester and tbh this was a bit of a disaster phone couldn’t find the stores, we went round in circles, in the end found the right store, greeting with banana’s and much needed water. We waited 20 mins as the group caught up with us, then on to the next Tesco store. Came very apparent to me that I wouldn’t hit the pace the 2 guys riding 1 was a semi pro and the other rides regularly with him so they can ride at 18-20mph I can’t get close, off to Quinton in Birmingham via droitwich I peeled off, told them to carry on I would detour and find my way home before dark. Tbh I was and still am a bit gutted but the pace was beyond me, I couldn’t match it or even come close.

    I stayed on the route until Bromsgrove, looking back stupidly went via rednal which killed my legs, although the downhill at lickey hills was immense! then on to Tesco Hall Green the overall finishing point just before 10pm. I honestly thought the group would be there, but nope they made it just after midnight.

    A great day out, ive raised so far £75 for charity that we wouldn’t normally of raised, ive realised that I just don’t have the pace to hack it with the younger guys anymore and that I will continue to enjoy cycling but not worry about my pace and just enjoy it, it got a bit painful towards the end last night!!

    Many thanks to the guys on here who have sponsored me, I got the mileage done!! if anyone wants to sponsor now the route is done the link is above.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    good effort and you rode more than you expected

    there always folk faster than you so dont be put off by that be pleased in what you achieved

    Chapeau

    Next time the century [ or convert this to km 93 miles would have been 150 😉

    LMT
    Free Member

    Yep, I did 144km and over 3,000ft in climbing that I recorded on strava. Need to get a gps unit as strava killed my phone yesterday.

    I take away the fact I enjoy cycling at my own pace and that’s not the same as others, I did a great thing for charity yesterday and raised funds that wouldn’t normally of got there, and the fact I don’t feel too bad today just the odd aches.

    bigG
    Free Member

    Sounds like an epic day out, you did the sensible thing letting them drop you, if they weren’t willing to drop their pace to suit the slowest man (general principle in a lot of group rides).

    I’d say don’t let it out you off riding with a group, it can be a lot of fun and easier. Just find a group that rides at your pace. Our club, along with a lot of other clubs, run a development / easy group that we use to encourage new or slower riders out and get them into group riding, it’s been a roaring success in Stirling.

    G

    LMT
    Free Member

    It was more the case of running out of daylight and time, 2 of the guys were doing the whole 205 miles, our local lbs does a relaxed pace ride, hoping to get on one of those, normally I’m working late on the days, keep pestering boss at work for an early shift that means actually leaving on time.

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