Afternoon folks,

Riding a route next Sunday on road with some friends that has no bail out option (over to skegness) and getting the train back.

I’ve never spent more than 5 hours in the saddle before.

Any tips for across this week to make sure this is successful?

Cheers

If you can handle 5 hours then just ride at 20mph.

HTH

Comfortable kit, eat and drink, keep the tempo steady, minty arse lard.

For a moment I thought we were moving into the late classical period and I got excited. Oh well. As you were.

Check the weather forecast. If there’s a headwind develop the flu. Otherwise it’s no different to 50 miles on the road, just twice as dull.

take it easy, keep eating, comfy bib shorts and happy bottom bum butter, it’s really not that bad unless you are trying to go fast

I’ve never spent more than 5 hours in the saddle before.

and did you finish that ride sprightly and ready for more, or as a sobbing manchild curled up in a corner?

cos the advice might be different depending on the answer….

it’s basically pacing though, make sure you stay steady, stay fed and watered and just keep plodding along, and unless there is anything on your bike so broken that it won’t survive the trip do NOT change anything position wise before the ride!

I finished the 5 hour one before with thighs screaming but we’d been doing a lot of mid ride surging and raced every climb.

What’s all this arse cream advice for? What does it do? Do you smear it kind of sack backwards to crack?

we’d been doing a lot of mid ride surging and raced every climb.

do less of that ^ and you’ll be fine then

Otherwise it’s no different to 50 miles on the road, just twice as dull.

That.

Usually spend the second half wondering why I bothered & cursing why I didn’t go out on the MTB.

Any advice on resting before or riding the day before? Carb loading needed?

Rest a couple of days before and hydrate.

Usually spend the second half wondering why I bothered

😀

Any advice on resting before or riding the day before? Carb loading needed?

Depends how fit you are really. Carb loading not worth it for a steady 100

Several less than regular cycling friends of mine have done a Derby to Skeggy century and survived – the ride at least, if not Skeggy.

Hope for a tailwind, take it steady, no racing, eat and drink regularly, two days off riding before.

Keep looking at the Alfreton-Skeggy audax as my first 300k ride. Maybe next year.

Did my first one yesterday, biggest before that was 130km, a few at 120km. Yesterday was a big group and 200km with 2000m at a hell of a pace into a lot of head an sidewinds 🙂 Was fine lots of eating, lots of drinking and lots of head down and going.

What do you do with the lardy bum butter stuff?

Stop halfway at a cafe, eat and drink plenty, start slower than you think you need to, if you started too slow ride the last 10 miles as a time trial to make up time.

What do you do with the lardy bum butter stuff?

Spread it all around your happiness. You might never have got chafing before but on ultra long rides it remarkable how much skin you can lose.

To the OP, my advice is to keep calm on the ride and protect yourself until you are settled into your rhythm. Don’t get pressurised into over exerting and keep your HR down. Nice high cadence and low torque to stave off any fatigue, and eat regularly. If they are friends they should not force you to push on beyond what’s sustainable.

Enjoy yourself and good luck, hope you get that first century

I’d say watch the drinking though. I’ve not done a century, but loads of rides that are close to it. Initially I went out with the view of eating and drinking alot. I don’t seem to need alot of fluids compared to mates of mine who on normal rides seem to go through alot more fluid than I do, but on this ride I thought i’d up my fluid intake. The problem was I just needed to stop to have a pee twice as often, which when you want to crack on gets to be a bit of a PITA and I got p’d off and knackered continually chasing the group back after stopping.

My main advice would be to pace yourself. I always go out too fast and on rides and start to suffer around mile 65 or so. But if I make sure I take the first 20 – 30 miles easy then its all good.