i have entered a few events this year, the first being the dirty reiver in kielder.
i ride every day, just steady away riding tho, to and from work, roughly 20 miles per day.
if i continue doing this, will it get me through 130km or would something a bit more structured be more suitable?

it is 10 years since i entered any kind of event, and i want to enjoy it.

In a word – ‘no’

You will have good base fitness but my own experience is that no amount of smart training with intensity and stuff can prepare you properly for a long distance

I have done a few mega events in the past and although I have never done the full distance as a training ride I have built up over a couple of months by doing a long weekend ride until Id ridden 2/3 of the event distance a couple of times in the month before

Looks like a good event – enjoy it 🙂

Training?

I’d say, if you can, stick a series of hill climbs in your routine then do reps on it or pick a really hilly touring weekend and hit it hard.
Then I’d say train for a long time in the saddle, base fitness you’ll be fine on, but it’s a long day and over very rough/mixed terrain. This you’ll need to train on if you can, a weekend up in North York Moors hitting both the climbs and the gravel roads will help no end.

All the rest you know.

It might. I got round the Kielder 100 on a training schedule of 3 or four 20 miles each way commutes a week. I was riding quite a lot of them fairly flat out though so you might want to up the intensity.

Also, I did scrape into the last checkpoint 5 minutes before the cut off time and I’m not sure I really enjoyed the end of it but it’s was do-able for me.

20mi per day isn’t going to come close to cutting it for an 80mi ride.
You don’t necessarily need any structured intervals etc, and can continue to use your commute as the backbone of your training, but need to ramp up some long rides at the weekend.

I’d start with 3hrs for the long ride and add 30 mins per week or so.
3, 3.5, 4, 2, 4, 4.5, 5, 2.5, 5, 5.5, 6
You get the idea.
Aim to do 70%ish of your anticipated event time 3 weeks before the event, then dial it back taking the 10 days before the event very easy.

Do some long bike rides.

Following this thread with interest,as I’m also doing the Dirty Reiver 130km.
I’m not planning on ‘racing’ on the day,I just want to go out & enjoy it.
I’m planning on doing a few long rides in the preceding weeks,at least one will be 130km.
One interesting part of my ‘training’ is a week on Fat Bikes over in Finland two weeks before the Dirty Reiver.If nothing else at least I should be aclimatised if there’s a arctic blast at the DR 😆

we will be having a beer the night before then Mark…… 😀

If you are doing it on a Cross bike I would practise changing tubes after last years event. I have never seen so many in one day.

no, comfy touring bike with bombproof tyres.

Ton looking forward to pre event beer or three,the only problem is that the campsite’s booked up!
I’ve got a pitch for the Saturday,just got to sort out something for the Friday.
Oh & I’m also doing the Lakes Jennride as training so I’ll be having a few scoops on that one too.Cheers!

Hmmm im doing the 130 Reiver as well Ton. Better do some sort of riding before hand 😕

I did it last year, bailing at the 130km mark for a number of reasons but basically because I’d long since stopped enjoying it. I’d had a really crap night’s sleep the night before as well which really didn’t help.

The distance wasn’t too bad, the feed stations were very good and if you pace yourself well it should be OK – with the caveat that all long rides beforehand will really really help!

Use the widest tyres you can; I did it on 35c CX tyres and while they coped fine there were a few bits where I’d have been grateful of some extra cushioning.

You will be requiring waterproof socks and overshoes no matter what the weather is at the start!

also entered a couple of audax rides in feb and march.
miles make smiles…….. 😆

I recently bought a Norco Search & I’ve just got some WTB Nano’s 700×40 to fit .I’ve read that this is the largest volume tyre I can fit in the Norco so I hope it’s up to the task…
If any of you are on Strava there’s a Dirty Reiver group on there,some of the mileages people are putting in make my knees ache just looking at them 😯

Ton, I’d do some long, timewise, rides ideally with a good proportion of off-road. What’s fine for shorter rides might not work for many hours in the saddle and you’ll start to focus on the niggles rather than the riding.

i will be going for the slow steady approach…….maximum value for money that way.

My recent training experience would be no it won’t be enough.

I’ve trained for long distance events each winter doing long z2 rodes on the turbo – up to 3hrs and getting out and doing long mtb miles in Spring. On the back of this I can do 12hrs in the saddle eg Torq in your Sleep etc.

I’ve been time crunched this winter have done more shorter sessions and split sessions. On the back of this I’m finding 4hr Z2 rides very hard.

Your commute will give some base and opportunity for intervals but you need a weekly session dedicated to building distance/time.

I found club road rides of 60-80miles was good prep for the couple of times I did the Kielder 100. Would love to do this but see its sold out. If anybody has a change of heart I’d be up for it.

Lots of long slow cycling, lots and lots and lots of hills. If you see a hill, cycle up it.

Regular 100k rides with 400m of climbing every 20k should do it.

I’m staying in a pub this year, tent froze from the inside out last time

Hummm…

I did 150km in the torchbearer last year after 150km a week commute (virtually flat out) and generally an additional 60-80km on a sunday.

I was bollixed at the end of it. I weigh a chunky amount too (100kg).

I know the 24/12 is a mtb course so not as fast as a fireroad thing but you won’t have suspension for comfort.

I definitely do some long rides beforehand, I struggled with numb hands as I’d fitted barends for more comfort and the lockon grip was pushed right into the comfy spot for my hands. Ergon all in one jobbies for next time (I’d thought about them but decided I would be ok), so I can grip on the more tech sections (cost me chunks of time at the end as I minced).

I’m staying in a pub this year, tent froze from the inside out last time

Accommodation is the main problem there, there is just nothing nearby. The campsite filled up straight away, the B&Bs that are around are scattered over hundreds of square miles of forest.

I ended up staying in the castle with various other friends but that brought its own set of problems, not least that there were no toilets in it. Sound carried right through the place too, as soon as anyone moved the floors would creak badly and even whispers could be heard from a fair distance. I got hardly any sleep which was a major factor in me feeling so shit the next day.

Long back lane/track/forest road rides for me. Today was 104km and a bit under 1400m of ascent. Last week was longer but with less ascent. I’m planning a 200k audax a bit later – in March.

Turbo trainer, trainer road sweet spot base plan, Netflix or amazon and you’re good to go. 🙂

no way……i had a turbo when i was poorly with my ticker. my god the sheer boredom almost did for me…….. 😆

Do some long rides, plenty of hills and give up beer for a bit 😉

😆

Good hilly route the Reiver, though most of it is not mega steep. And whilst the vast majority of it is fire road and blue forest tracks, and even a little road, there are a number of sections that are full on MTB territory. Proper boneshaker stuff on a cross bike. In fact I found my back and arms were doing so much work they were getting sore at times and I was struggling to hold position, which I don’t normally get. That was on 40c tyres. Thinking of going bigger this year…

i have ridden 2 polaris events in Kielder forest over the years.
first one we did great on the saturday, but overestimated our fitness on sunday, lost all our points, and the 2nd one was a full on midge fest, being eaten alive the whole weekend, and spent the whole time in a mozzi net.

i remember the tracks being made of grey hardcore which was a bastard to ride on.

Pretty important this as you’re such a princess when it comes to bike comfort.

Yep, and last year we had some lovely blizzards to complete the misery !

Pretty important this as you’re such a princess when it comes to bike comfort.

i shall be riding the distance prior to the day, hopefully i will sort a comfy position by then.

Unless your doing it purely as a mental comfort blanket, i’d suggest only doing 70-80% of the distance before hand. No point piling on the extra fatigue for very small additional benefit.

i remember the tracks being made of grey hardcore which was a bastard to ride on.

Not sure exactly which tracks are being used but I’ve been out on quite a few of the more southern ones last week and over the weekend. Mostly they’re reasonably smooth but there’s quite a bit of logging action going on at the moment and those wagons don’t half chew the roads up. Also where it’s frozen and thawed the top layer is quite soggy. Mind you, it should be balmy by April. I’ll be checking your life jacket marshalling at the ford again 🙂

Training plan here for those seeking something more structured …

https://home.trainingpeaks.com/products/trainingplans/plans/12-week-200km-dirty-reiver-gravel-race-power-based

20mi per day isn’t going to come close to cutting it for an 80mi ride.

If your racing, then yes, but if you’re only looking to complete the distance then I’d disagree.

I managed an overnight 100 miler (RTTS) last year, just by doing my usual 8.5 mile each way commute and 20 odd mile MTB rides at the weekend. Was actually surprised by how easy it was, thoguh admittedly it’s not a hilly route at all from Carlisle to Edinburgh, 1200m over 100 miles is pretty flat.

Miles in the legs is not to be sneezed at, people who have toured and the likes for years are more likely to be okay than someone who is fitter but unused to long days in the saddle.

You’ll be fine Tony.

I agree, I can’t imagine someone who rides 20 miles every day either side of a day’s work is going to struggle with 130km in one day as a one-off, as long as you’re happy with the bike setup.

Anyone know roughly how much elevation is on the 130km course?
The route files only come out a few weeks before the event,so I know I’m in for 130K’s of fireroad type stuff,but I don’t know how much ascent is involved.

Anyone know roughly how much elevation is on the 130km course?

If the 130km course is the first half of last year’s course, then it’s around 7,500 feet.

Certainly you’d be looking at somewhere in the region of 1,000ft per 10 miles.