Right. I feel fully stupid asking this but have any of you lot managed or done 400 miles in 24 hours?

I’m conscious there are a few ‘machines’ on here who have or could easily manage it but I’m hoping to hear from some punters like myself who aren’t really up to it but have put in the effort and managed it or come close.

I know I couldn’t do it solo, but figure that a group of four ought to be able to do it if they can synchronise food and piss stops. 18mph average for just over 22 hours.

Yes I know it’s sad, but I keep wondering if I should give it a go at the end of summer if I manage to keep up my current run of “training”( managed 6 or 7 club runs already this year which is a record for me.

(Road obvs)

Anyone else in the Manchester area not really that good on a bike but want a pointless challenge to tick off in a few months?

The UK 24 hour TT record is 541 miles which suggests a 400 mile effort in 24 hours would be really difficult solo.

Have you ever done a 200 mile ride?

this is on a motorbike, right? 😆

That’s really asking a lot for a ‘normal’ person.

Yes I know it’s sad,

Why is this sad? Pushing your limits is the antithesis of sad.

Why not just see how far you can ride in 24 hrs or ditch the 24 hrs thing and ride 400 miles however long it takes?

It took me 15 hours to do 200 miles, so not a chance.

It’s obviously doable but what gets people on rides like that is rarely the legs, it’s more commonly the head (mentally giving up) or just general illness – bad reaction to food, aches, pains, saddle sore etc.

It’s more the support you have in place during the ride. I’ve done 250 without too many issues but that was following a signposted route (Rapha Manchester to London plus a bit extra to home at the end of it) and with all the support laid on so I had a change of clothes, bag transfer, feed stations and so on.

Picking the route is pretty crucial as well; if you’re on narrow country lanes, hilly routes, through town centres etc your average speed will go way down. You either need long stretches of A-road (deeply unpleasant) or a big parkland circuit (deeply boring).

I did 280 in 28 hours and 220 in 15 hours, 400 in a day is a serious achievement. The Manchester to London ride is 220 miles and is a big old day in the saddle, not sure I’ve got another 180 in the locker.

And in reply to above, route would be crucial. Some hills are important to break things up, make you stand up a bit and coast down, but not too many climbs to make it overly hard. From Manchester that may be a challenge, if you’re near Cambridge you may be better suited.

Or try a 600k audax. It could give you a nice route, and some stops for food and sleep. Time limit of up to 40 hours for 600k.

The Manchester to London ride is 220 miles and is a big old day in the saddle,

Has to be said, I was quite bored for some of that ride. Towards the end I just wanted it to be over. I was still going strongly, in fact I was surprised at how consistent my pace was throughout the ride whereas some people I passed in the last 40 miles or so were really suffering.

But at 150 miles in when you’re going “shit I’ve STILL got 70 miles to go – that’s like a normal Sunday clubrun still to do”.

The other fairly major one I did was Dunwich Dynamo and then a ride to Cambridge afterwards. We’d had issues with the Ipswich train the year before so genius here decided to ride the 85 miles to Cambridge. After riding 125 miles through the night to Dunwich. On a singlespeed. Suffered a bit on that one. Adding up the mileage from home to the start in London Fields and then Liverpool Street station to home afterwards was about 240 miles in total. Had a bit of a sleep on the beach and obviously the train ride home but the whole lot was done inside of 18hrs. I had absolutely no desire or ability to ride another 160 miles after that!

I’ve done about 300k in around 12 hours, I was pretty glad to get home (Audax so mostly on my own). The idea of turning around and doing it all over again….No Way!

The longest single ride I’ve done is 240 miles in 24 hrs. Solo, and on a mix of terrain including some forest track and with 2 ferries. The biggest lesson was paying attention to stopped time as I soon learnt every minute not pedalling was hitting my average speed. I seriously doubt I could sustain 18mph, even in.a small group.

I’ve done 200 (twice) which was enough.

I did 750 on a motorbike once.

Cheers chaps loads of good info/ opinions.

Totally agree about the route and that was indeed going to be my next question. The best I’ve found so far (and this really is sad) is the Alderley bypass. I can’t recall the exact distance, but its around 6 miles a lap I think on very very smooth tarmac cycle lanes. Only hitch is the roundabouts at each end (especially at rush hours) and the monotonous scenery.

Last year when trying to push up my average speed I noticed that the surface has a huge impact. Seemed to be 1mph between a goodish surface and an amazing surface.

Ideally I want a lovely flat smooth road round a lake with at least one hill to park the pit stop van on top of. Remove part of the brak8ng and accelerating for the stops..

You.Are.Mental.

That is all

a 400 mile effort in 24 hours would be really difficult solo.

Yep agreed. No way I could do it solo.

Have you ever done a 200 mile ride?

Yes. Did a long ride last year. Which I thought had scratched the itch enough, but it appears not…

I live in Norway where the “Styrkeprøven” Trondheim-Oslo ride was last weekend. That’s 543km (340 miles ish) and plenty finished in under 20 hours so must be some punters in there. Not sure I fancy it myself though!

If you can knock out 400 miles in a day then I’d give serious consideration to entering RAAM or similar ultra endurance races…

But more realistically this:

Why not just see how far you can ride in 24 hrs or ditch the 24 hrs thing and ride 400 miles however long it takes?

You say you’re doing frequent club runs, these can skew your estimation of long distance rides because the pace is higher but riding with a bunch significantly reduces the physical load for the individual…

Maybe try some long solo rides, just to see what sort of pace you can sustain all on your own, how about a solo double century? or maybe look at an audax or two if you want to build up to some sort of distance challenge…

I think, like you said, a team is probably needed In Order to pitch for that 400miles in 24 hours attempt. And that team would need to have trained together and built up to such a challenge. In which case I reckon you’ve already missed the window as summer solstice falls on the 21st (Thursday) making this week the best time to try, and you’re not going to have that team together and ready for this coming weekend… But 2019 might be a goer.

I’ve done some fairly long distances unsupported, most recent was 400k in 20 hours over mixed terrain.

400 miles is a huge ask, the only scenario I can see where it is remotely possible is a supported 24 TT with decent weather and low elevation.

If you haven’t ridden properly big distances yet you won’t have an idea of your sustainable pace, mental toughness or ability to process nutrition etc. Why not start the usual Audax build up of 200,300,400,600?

There is also the merit of the achievement. Would you get more satisfaction from riding 200 solo or 400  in a group?

My brother did something like 430miles in 24hrs when he was in his early thirties, he has also done 239miles in 12 hours, as a gauge of how crazy he is, he also did the Kidderminster killer 300km Audax on a BMX bike 🤔

Edit – I’m pretty sure they were TT events, done in a star shape for flat terrain but we are talking 20 odd years ago

400 miles in 24 hours is a massive ask. You can build up distance/stamina over time but being able to do that much speed over that distance is much harder. You don’t say what your current furthest/fastest numbers are.

That said…

Doing it up and down a British bypass is going to send you round the twist. Seriously, I wouldn’t even think about it. If you’re aiming for the TT record and need marginal gains then sure, but otherwise it’ll break you. The longest two rides I’ve done have been 360 and 300 miles. The latter had four loops, not even the same loop but clover leaf style, and I still found the 360 psychologically easier to deal with because it was A to B. (Note also that being able to point to a map and say “I rode from here to here” is much more satisfying than saying “I rode between these two roundabouts 70 times”.)

Crazy legs indeed. 🙂

fair play.

Do the South Downs Double. It will be a lot more fun.

Pretty sure my brother’s efforts were all TT events, but yes great percentage is in the mind, we never thought anything of cycling 150miles as teenagers because to us it was the easiest way to get from A to B, no big drama no preparation, just what we did if we wanted to go almost anywhere. So he must have had a very good base built up over the years to achieve those figures.

I am a fairly average rider, but as people above have said most of it is mental, i did Newcastle to London which is 310 miles in 19 1/2 hours ride time but 22 1/2 hours with the food stops.

You go through a lot of ups and downs during the ride and i found it easier as i fell in with a really good group who all took their turns on the front and worked as a group which made a difference, i would of struggled a lot more riding it solo.

The secret i found is eating real food as much as possible, nothing more disheartening than pulling sweets or gels out when you are 18 hours in, and breaking the ride down in to sections of about 40 miles, so you are not aiming for the end, you are aiming for that next food stop in your head, get there, refuel and then start the next leg.

If i was designing a route, i would not have it finish in a city like London though, the toughest part when your legs are jelly and eyes going in different directions was to navigate London traffic and stopping all the time for traffic lights and having to unclip.

Here are the results of the 2017 24hr Champs

Provisional Result: CTT 24 Hour Championship

These are some of the most experienced 24hr riders in the country, riding race bikes with support teams. 15 of the 51 finishers exceeded 400 miles, which might give you some idea of what you are aiming at.

There is a mental aspect to riding that distance, but don’t discount the simple physical demands of riding at an average 400 mile pace for 24 hours. That’s not a pootle. It’s easier to have target destinations to aim for, and riding in wee circles for that length of time would drive me nuts.

I would also recommend the Audax route. If 600km is not enough, there are a number of longer distance events available. I’ve just ridden a 1000km event on the west coast.  The first day was a fairly hilly 285 miles in 20.5 hours, and I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to try and knock out 100 miles more! It was a tough event for me, but great scenery and good company made it an enjoyable challenge.

I rode 282 miles in 12 hours on Sunday with six minutes off the bike. This was the second 12 hr TT I’ve ridden. Last year I went from 25 mile TTs straight to the National 12 and finished 20th on 266 miles. That was a surprise, this year was not.

My training was 450 km per week, and I’d ridden the loop around the M25 in seven and a half hours without stopping. I did a lot of road and circuit racing too as I was chasing a second cat license

Now for the 24 hours. The Mersey Roads 24 is next month and I think i’ll enter.  The course is a clover leaf of three circuits to keep life interesting and support easy. It is the National CTT Championship, but you will be able to enter, just not on the line  closes on CTT website in 9 days

Yes a lot of it is mental, but you have to be comfortable on the bike, eat more than you can imagine, and pick your carbs very carefully. This needs practice. Tapping out the pedals at 18 mph is not so hard. You will need aerobars for resting the wrists

This is what even pacing looks like. Stops will absolutely kill your time and you will be forever chasing to get back  on long TTs a team hand up ffood and drink with minimal time off the bike. It’s not absolutely necessary on some courses but helps with time/speed. Garage stops will not cut it for pace!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1645228531/laps

There is also the 24 hr revolutions at Brands Hatch, but no aerobars allowed. So I’m out.

Cookea, both the Merseyroads and Revolutions are qualifiers for RAAM, you must have ridden one of them before being allowed to enter. Don’t ask me how I know this 😉

BTW tip for long distances is you ride to TIME not distance. I broke the ride down into 38 km laps, as I needed to average 38 kmh. I also did a lot of testing to check I was aero enough to sustain this speed at 200 Watts and 140 bpm.

Seven houra was a bit of a low, but come eight, I’d done 2/3rd! For a 14 it will be at 16 hrs I imagine.

But at 150 miles in when you’re going “shit I’ve STILL got 70 miles to go – that’s like a normal Sunday clubrun still to do”.

It’s odd, that was the point I got my head in gear and knew I’d be OK. “Yes, I’ve done 150 miles today but I do 70 every weekend, this is a walk in the park”, and it was. The last 50 flew by, very pleasant indeed.

Doing it again this year, not sure why but there you go.

Why not just see how far you can ride in 24 hrs or ditch the 24 hrs thing and ride 400 miles however long it takes?

I’ve sort of done the first option, sort of. And really want to try the specific target of 400 in 24 at some point. In a way I know I could do 400 miles in however long it takes. Need the time limit to give it some focus.

I know I could get *reasonably* near to 400, but am intrigued whether I can actually do it. The logistical part will be just as hard as the pedalling. Actually, given that I need 3 other people the logistical part might actually be harder. 😳

So last year the goal was a triple century. I started with the club pootle at 9.30 in the morning. I did a couple of extra miles as they fannied around ordering in the cafe and then a couple more as they chatted afterwards. Even then it was probably slower than going myself. I think that got me around 45 miles in total.

Then I just rode randomly round the Cheshire lanes till 3pm on my own til I had to pick my son up from school. That was amusing with him plodding along on his tiny islabike. “C’mon son you’re killing my average speed here”

Cooked him tea and waited for his brother to get home, then headed out with a mate again. He gave up around 10pm so I rode through Manc with him to his house. Then back. Bloody traffic lights.

The I just lapped the Alderley bypass for hours with the occasional diversion to the 24 hour Tesco for coke and sandwiches. I thought I’d missed the target at around midnight but managed to up the speed on the good surface. Hit 300 miles at around 9.15am.

I think I was cycling for only around 19 hours, so there’s margins to be made there, but that would still only get me to around 350. In order to get the additional 50 I need a group, or a different body.

Hmmm

I (5 of us) did 270 miles in 21 hours a fortnight ago. We didn’t TTT but we circulated every 2-5 minutes. This was essential – every individual had a dark moment, where they could tuck in the group and sort their head out while someone else who was feeling chipper did a turn. Solo would be much worse for the moments when you are having a bad time. We were going conservatively. This is the furthest any had been, as was the 210 miles we did the previous month. Knowing we could manage 210 miles helped – at that point there was ONLY 60 miles to go, and anyone can ride 60 miles so we are as good as finished.

That alderly edge tarmac is nice init 😀

There are a number of folk round ‘ere that did the SW300 over the weekend.  Terrahawk, DazH and some others I think.

I’m Manc based and partial to some daft things, as is Daz but i’m massively time poor at the moment with a newborn. Half the battle will be throwing a nice enough route together. SW300 was nearly 5000M of climbing and they did it in 25 hours total.

I (6 of us) did 300 in 23 hours (20 hours moving) a few years ago, was alright, really dull. It was a charity work thing so we rode to our offices in the centres of London, Manchester and Liverpool, which reduced the average speed significantly, and wasn’t all that much fun. We hit Manchester in the morning rush hour too, which was pretty grim as we didn’t know the route (I knew the London bit, and it was evening, so that was ok) and ended up on some stupidly busy roads.

Some parts were really cool – riding along the A5 dual carriageway at 2am in total silence was great, mopping along in silence. Most of it was really boring, and that was going somewhere, I think doing laps would be psychologically very tough, although I like the idea of a cloverleaf course so you’ve not actually got to do too many repeated laps.

I did 270 miles / 430 km on the first day of LEL last year in 20 hours.

Tail wind helped, plus riding in a good group for half the time. I probably stopped for an hour in total.

So extrapolating for 24 hours, the tail wind, giving it 100% as I wouldn’t have to ride the next 3 days, etc. I reckon I could do 320-340 miles in a day. With focused training / more aero / support maybe push it to 360 miles.

I think doing a loop / laps would be a lot easier, even if the mental challenge would be there.

My good lady did 200 miles off road doing Dirty Kanza. Can’t remember the time, 14 odd hours?

She trained a fair amount for it, and built up distance over a good period of time.

Seemed like it was a big mental thing to do, to be on the bike for that long, especially off road. Most I’ve ever done was 120k on the road & I was terminally bored even by 50km. I seem to be done on a road bike 2 hours in. I couldn’t imagine 10 times that/ Fair play if you have the mental capacity to keep plugging away.

Thats why I think a point-to-point  ride is mentally easier. There’s still the feeling of going somewhere, of crossing the land. Of course you’ve also got to be happy riding at night, something I love, even if it does complicate logistics. My 240 mile ride was on NCN78 from Campbelltown to Inverness. Mentally ticking points off the map as I rode was a real joy.

As Colin says, avoid faffing time. I’ve done three YD300 rides in order: 36hrs, 33hrs, 29hrs. The actual riding times for each were: 26hrs, 25hrs, 25hrs. In fact there was only one minute’s difference riding time between the last two.

As above, break the task into manageable chunks otherwise the whole will just seem too daunting.

One tip I came across is to have two average speeds displayed on your GPS: moving average and overall average which includes stopped time. The aim is to keep the two as close as possible. I also have moving time and stopped time displayed.

I know it’s not what you asked about, but I’d be picking a metric target. Having 400km or 500km to choose from (or 600km audax and not doing it all on your lonesome) options seems like you could still do something epic and have a catchy label to put on it.

i admit that’s mostly based on looking at 24TT results. That stat above about only 15 out of ~50 nationals finishers doing 400miles plus is what does it for me. A shorter but better route rather than just a big target. Or enter the 24TT nationals next year if you want!

IMO, 500km sound good to me, though I’m more likely to be planning 300km just now personally!

Enter this year’s national. You seem ready if I’m honest. I’ll see you there. Preece Island is the hub of the clover and apparently one big party all day. Can be done unsupported as helpers abound. It’s also fairly local to you

https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/race-details/16889

The next metric target would effectively be the 600k. When I cycled home from Alderley after the 300mile last year I think I effectively broke the 500k barrier, admittedly not quite within 24 hours but close enough for me to not be that keen to do it as a new target.

600k would actually be a good solo target thinking about it. Just put of reach but theoretically within the realms of possibility. Just need to spend less time eating and faffing. As various people rightly said above.