Tell me about… South Downs Randonee 100miler

Over 6 days Paceman you wuss? 😉

We did similar route over 4, which we found about right. I can email route which opens in Google Earth if anyone wants it?

I did the BHF off road London > Brighton last year. Did 83 miles on the day, of which those on South Downs were the toughest.

Your training sounds fine to me.

Oh yeah, you’re right about Black Sail being a carry:

🙂

I did the short version from devil’s dyke to Eastbourne and even though it was 40 miles or so found it really tough!

Only one water tap all the way so take lots of water.

Food is vital as posted before…

Single speed it or this foolish?

Is there still room this year? I might sign up again!

My training over the winter has been a 3-4 hour weekend ride, with running and gym work in the week to keep the weight off and the cardio fitness going. Over the last four weeks i’ve been commuting to work 3 times a week (13 flattish road miles each way) and getting in a 2-3 hour ride on a Saturday and a 4 hour ride on a Sunday. I plan to introduce 1/2 evening rides a week once the light improves, and also have a couple of 60 milers booked in the diary in the month running up to the big day.

Sounds alright! Here’s my completely unqualified advice on training…

Some people have “deep legs” and could pull off a really big ride on a schedule like that. Unfortunately, some of us are the opposite and have to really work on the endurance and build up to very close to the full ride distance to be certain of not blowing. Only you’ll know what kind of rider you are.

If you think you fall in to the latter and have only done 60 miles before, that last 40 will be a big unknown in terms of what your body will do. I’ve ridden with some strong road racers who’ve blown apart in the last 30 of a cyclosportive as they’re only used to crits and 50 mile chaingangs.

I’d start skewing some of your weekend rides a bit, do a really big ride on the Saturday and then just a short one on Sunday to loosen up. The closer you can get to the full distance in your riding, the more adapted your body will be when it comes to the big day, try and get within 80% of the distance then give yourself a fortnight to taper down before the big day.

Its might be helpful to do one ride in the midweek where you’re doing say 20 mins x 2 at a hard pace (sustaining approx 85% mhr as a rough guide). Although you should be aiming to stay comfortably aerobic on the day, you’ll inevitably hit sections where you have to raise the output for a reasonable period due to steep climbs or a rush of blood to the head! Doing 20×2’s will give you a little more headroom if you find yourself in such a situation. Don’t bother with really short explosive intervals though, they’re not much use unless you’re racing a criterium!

Good luck! Its a damn big ride. I did SDW over 2 days as part of my training for La Marmotte 2 years ago. I think if I ever tried to tackle SDW in a day, it’d be the other way round!!!

PS pray for dry weather and fit some fast tyres!

Cheers Mingsta… good advice.

I’ve been approaching this in terms of hours in the saddle rather than distance at the moment. I’m now up to a 5-6 hr ride on a sunday, with some longer ones coming up over the next month or so. I’m doing approx 150 miles per week riding. The training seems to be going well. I’m riding the Trailbreak 100km from Duncton to Eastbourne in a couple of weeks which will give me a fair idea of where I’m at I think, especially as this includes all the worst climbs on the SDW 🙁

I’m riding with three Pals, Paceman…..who are all around the age of 50 (yikes!)

I too have been rather concerned about getting it right on the day, as once the energy has gone…..its GONE!

We’re loading up with food and being met at Devils Dyke for a large lunch and a food/drink re-stock for the final 40 miles.

As has been said before, pace will be the key, you can always go for it on the last 30 miles, but until then it’s all about energy conservation.