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Again..best wishes & best of luck..both with the training & the day itself ..hope you enjoy it and let us know how you get on
Haha, I should've put two and two together, 40miles + Peak District. Yer do the shorter one, it will still be enough of a challenge with the time\fitness you have at the moment. Maintain your fitness after and enter another event later in the year.
Sign up to Strava if you haven't already, even just to log and remind yourself of what you've been up to. You can't lie to yourself when you haven't done enough, plus you feel satisfied seeing it all laid in front of you when you have. Keep the thread updated too, i'm sure people will be happy to give some positive nagging when needed 😛
I just checked the 'hardest' MTB ride I did in recent times; around Exmoor so similar type of riding to the Peaks. 45km, 1600m climbing, and it nearly broke me and I was riding regularly at the time. Don't underestimate the challenge.
As suggested earlier, they could use this info to pace their effort this time around. If the bike bug bites again and they try the event in 2019, they might be in a much fitter place and fancy increasing the pace.
True but just for the record, if you do a Threshold test to find your swap-over point, that number won't actually change much as you get fitter. What does change is the amount of power you can output at that level, so while you might go faster you can't actually go any harder.
This is my observation that I'd make to any of the top pros; in effort terms when I climb a big hill I'm working just as hard as they do in relative terms, trouble is I'm just going slower. Consequently I have to work hard for longer which i why they should respect my achievements far more than I respect theirs 😉
I'd take a different approach. 11 weeks. Thats nearly 3 months. 1/4 of a year.
40 miles is a decent distance, but its not [i]that[/i] far. 2000m is a reasonbale amount of climbing, but all those climbs are perfectly rideable with the possible exception of House Of Pain, and you'll get a cardio rest on the majority of the descents. There's also a decent distance along the reservoirs that's virtually pan flat.
If you really WANT to do it, just commit to doing it. I wouldn't say you need any fancy training plan - just get out and ride whenever you can, and MAKE time for it, commute, night ride, whatever. Cannock isn't so flat, and it's not much more than an hour to the Peaks so you can get some onsite practice in. A decent day ride or 2 before hand would help. It's not a race, it's just riding your bike, so go ride your bike. Eat plenty, drink plenty and it'll go. Might not be easy, but it wouldn't be a challenge if it was, right?
How are you getting on with your training OP?
Right, I know that route I can get the train out and chase you if you want!! Feeling unfit and fat but in need of a challenge at the moment
csb
How are you getting on with your training OP?
Unfortunately I can't make this weekends ride as the revised date clashes with other commitments.
My training wasn't going brilliantly due to snowmageddon/the beast from the east and work - I think my longest ride since getting back on my bike has been about 15 miles.
I had decided to drop to the shorter 25 miler - which I might have had a chance of getting round.
What has happened though is that despite the disappointment of not being able to do this ride I've made a few changes to diet and training and since January I've shifted nearly a stone in weight. This has led to increased enjoyment on rides and improved general fitness and my mental state. I still have about the same again to shift (getting there slowly).
I'm back to where I was nearly 2 years ago with times and fitness levels out on the trails - managing to clear tougher climbs than I was before Christmas and not feeling knackered at the start of the ride.
Good luck to anyone who is taking part this weekend - hopefully the weather will play ball!
40 miles isn't the problem, it is the terrain in the Dark Peak which are the killer. The climbs are hard (often steep and techy) and the descents even add to the fatigue; as do all the gates.
I often think 40 miles in the Dark Peak is not like 40 miles anywhere else in England. (Apart from the exception of the Lake District high fells perhaps maybe).
I have managed a 40 miler in the Dark Peak. I rode 2 or 3 times a week regularly (never really had a long time off the bike) mostly doing shorter rides like 20-30 miles. Once I could do about 30 miles on similar terrain without being excessively tired towards the end of these rides, I knew I was ready for the 40 miles.