[Closed] Long distance MTBing - advice required!

Space your training rides evenly between now and the Beast. Build in the distances at 2-3k extra for each ride. Make sure you get enough recovery time in between rides - 9 days or thereabouts. Try and mimic the Brecons as much as possible - height gain and gnarl. Make your last training ride about two weeks before the event. Take some energy gel or drink along on the day.

Good luck.

cheers mr woppit, some interesting advice there, not really thought about spacing the rides out. so i take it you mean when i get up to training rides that are 70ish mile - make sure i rest enough.

Yep. The spacing is because you need to give your muscles time to recover in between excercises. If you don't, you're likely to do yourself damage.

The part of training where you get better is the recovery. Recovery is when the muscles repair and become stronger. No recovery and you'll just knacker yourself.

You don't need to do all of your training long distance. Mix in some short high intensity rides if you want.

Google the selkirk merida, last years website is still out there and has training tips on it for events this distance.

Don't whatever you do go out the night before hand and drink beer and aftershock until 3am. Not the best preparation i must admit.

9 days recovery between single rides?

this is unlike any training plan i've ever heard of! you need to do the riding to have something to recover from otherwise it's sitting on the sofa!!

i'd recomend a book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountain-Bikers-Training-Bible/dp/1884737714

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountain-Bike-Fitness-Training-Metcalfe/dp/1840188588/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

or plenty of training resources on the net.

the 4 week cycle seems to be favoured by most. gentle week, middle, hard week, rest week. repeat.

Mr woppit's advise is god but you'll probably find you'll get loads of different advise.

Maybe try buying or using a road bike and just try to get miles in.
What you will have to do is condition your body. Try going out for 6-8 hour rides but at a slow pace. Get your body used to just being on the bike for that long. If you aim to do 1 of those a week that would be fine.
Do you commute to work?
If not try commuting or if that is an issue try just getting out on the bike for an hour or so a day. This will also help your mental battle of just being on a bike.Also, rest the day after a big ride. Your body will tell you when its tired and take that opportunity to rest it.
Take energy drinks, sachets with you on rides till you find out which works best for you
At 7-8 hours for the event your aiming just to finish by sounds of it so when you do the event go at your own pace. You will inevitably find yourself going quicker than normal, but thats just riding with other people. Also, use the stops to fuel up and rest. If your body starts aching slow the pace down to accommodate this.

As i said you'll get loads of advise but to summarise
A/ start doing big rides
B/ Do daily rides if poss ( not after a big ride unless its a 20 min pootle to the shops)
C/rest

cheers guys, good stuff. i do ride about 4 times a week on average. sometimes just quick 6 mile blasts round my area (peaks), other times i'll go out and do 4 or 5 hour ride - so sounds like im kind of along the right lines.

sounds like the next step is to get more 8hr rides in then, and gradually turn up the pace & distance.

main battle with me will be motivation and getting my head in gear....

My advice is to pick your routes carefully. In the event, there will be chances to take on more water (and possibly more food) at regular intervals. So ride loops from a base (car/home) where you can nip in to refill and go again. I tend to go for about 4 hours per loop, but find what works for you.

There are a whole load of different things that I get out of training, some obvious, some not:

- Not flipping out when I get a problem with the bike 9 hours into a ride
- Toughened arse to be in the saddle that long
- Toughened mind likewise
- Knowledge of what food works for me and the physical capacity to keep putting it in
- The mental trick of being comfortable while I do stop to fix/adjust/eat whatever. The little space around me isn't the trail for those few minutes - it's my home and I can relax my mind

What other people have said is sensible, too. But I would say that if you want to improve speed, don't ride long distances. The long distances will improve stamina (so you might finish quicker by not fading as much), but won't increase your top speed much. If you want to do speed, do short bursty stuff like intervals or just riding with people who stretch you.

1. You don't need to be doing 100km rides to prepare for a 100km event.
2. Hydration and food are as important as fitness for longer rides.
3. If you can do a 30 mile ride, you can do 100km. Training will just make it hurt less afterward and increase your speed during.

What other people have said is sensible, too. But I would say that if you want to improve speed, don't ride long distances. The long distances will improve stamina (so you might finish quicker by not fading as much), but won't increase your top speed much. If you want to do speed, do short bursty stuff like intervals or just riding with people who stretch you.

I ride to group rides. So, I get a long steady ride on my own, followed by riding with people who'll push me (though for me it's technically, rather than speed). then I ride home again.

If you do this, you'll still get to ride with your mates.

1. You don't need to be doing 100km rides to prepare for a 100km event.
2. Hydration and food are as important as fitness for longer rides.
3. If you can do a 30 mile ride, you can do 100km. Training will just make it hurt less afterward and increase your speed during.

I've also read this from rob dean here [url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/24-hour-solo-with-minimal-training-time ]/24-hour-solo-with-minimal-training-time[/url]

Little and often is the key I found, rides that is, not necessarily "training". Sounds like you're doing the best you can, and if you keep it up you'll be just fine. I did make an effort to get 3-4 >50mile MTB rides in in the preceding months. I also got used to eating regularly when on the bike.

You'll need a damn stubborn head and the determination that, when it all stops being any fun for a moment at 16hrs (which it will at some point) and you feel like you can't possibly carry on and possibly you feel a bit sick too, that you're just going to keep moving, slow down and eat your way out of it.

What i don't get is how do i know i can push my body past 6 hours etc if i don't train past this? Can riding little and often help for say the kielder 100 ?

I need to put in soma training for this and I was thinking i need to do some rides over 8 - 9 hours as this is what i will be doing on the day

[i]What i don't get is how do i know i can push my body past 6 hours etc if i don't train past this?[/i]
Self belief init 😉
Longer times are far more about mental attitude and eating and drinking correctly then fitness imo.
So if you can do 6 hours and feel pretty much as fresh as daisy at the end you can do far greater times. Of course if you feel like you're on your last legs at 6 hours then you've got problems 😉

radoggair - Member

Mr woppit's advise is god

Steady...

Can riding little and often help for say the kielder 100?

Have a look at http://mactually.co.uk/ and you'll see how little riding I did for K100 last year. Most of my riding is the 2.5 miles each way trip to work and back.

I'd say getting a heart rate monitor is a great way to train, and if you're training alone it helps with motivation. I just did the CRC 75km around the same area (first event at the distance), and the heart rate monitor really helped stopped me blowing up at the beginning, just go as fast as you can in the right zone and the miles soon zip by.

I'd also try some other events in the run up. I did 50km back in January and the experienced helped mentally for the 75km.