whose the loon signed up for the transcontinental race?

[RichUK]

So Darren I see that they've announced the route for next year, will we get to watch your dot again?

[Gruffy]

Unfortunately the timing isn't great for me. I'm expecting to be completing a renovation around that time, so I'll be missing a year and hoping for a spot on TCR No6 in 2018. I have a few other things planned for 2017 though.

Any PHers entering the race?

Edited by Gruffy on Thursday 10th November 22:20

[K50 DEL]

Gruffy said:

Any PHers entering the race?

Definitely not entering on a bike but as it takes in the Transfargarasan I thought I might volunteer and use it as an excuse to take the red beast on a tour of some of Europe's finest driving roads.

[Celtic Dragon]

Looks like Juliana Buhring's thrown in her hat, this should get very interesting indeed!!

[Gruffy]

The Transcontinental Race No5

[Gruffy]

"It's the most extreme bike race in the world and I'm standing in a lingerie shop trying to choose between green and purple. This hasn't really gone to plan."

Day 7 blog entry: Survival Mode.

[timnoyce]

A great read as always Gruffy. Top work.

[snobetter]

love it, just wish I'd only found this thread when you'd finished writing up the whole trip...

[adamwri]

Once more, I'm in awe. Absolutely fantastic stuff, Gruffy.

[Janosh]

Great blog posts Gruffy - I've been boring my wife and club run mates with the tales from your race... keep 'em coming!

[tr7v8]

As I said on FB Brilliantly written, I can feel the strength of your pain.

[smifffymoto]

Gruffy,how are the tendons now and have you damaged.Will they ever be the same/ normal?

[Gruffy]

They were very bad for a time. They're mending and I don't think I'll suffer any permanent damage. Physio tells me it was as close as it's possible to get though.

[timnoyce]

Just out of interest, knowing what you know now, is there anything that you could have done differently to ensure that you don't suffer the same tendon issues again?

What was your mileage for the year prior to the TCR and also, how many 'uber' rides had you done? (also, how many back to back endurance days?)

I'm genuinely interested as I am just dipping my toe in the water of this long ride stuff having now done a couple of reasonable stints but am yet to suffer too drastically from anything more than the odd niggle. Shoulders and neck seem to go first, but the rest of me keeps on going as long as I keep the fluid intake constant, the food intake regular and expend as little energy as possible in riding too enthusiastically.

Hoping to get my Audax membership next year and will attempt to do at least one 'long ride' a month trying to fit it in around family commitments.

(previous 'long' rides for reference. The Welsh one was 4 of us cycling on a stormy day into a southerly wind, and the FOD one was largely in the dark and solo. https://www.strava.com/activities/723808933 / https://www.strava.com/activities/776605595 )

[Marcellus]

timnoyce said:

Just out of interest, knowing what you know now, is there anything that you could have done differently to ensure that you don't suffer the same tendon issues again?

What was your mileage for the year prior to the TCR and also, how many 'uber' rides had you done? (also, how many back to back endurance days?)

I'm genuinely interested as I am just dipping my toe in the water of this long ride stuff having now done a couple of reasonable stints but am yet to suffer too drastically from anything more than the odd niggle. Shoulders and neck seem to go first, but the rest of me keeps on going as long as I keep the fluid intake constant, the food intake regular and expend as little energy as possible in riding too enthusiastically.

Hoping to get my Audax membership next year and will attempt to do at least one 'long ride' a month trying to fit it in around family commitments.

(previous 'long' rides for reference. The Welsh one was 4 of us cycling on a stormy day into a southerly wind, and the FOD one was largely in the dark and solo. https://www.strava.com/activities/723808933 / https://www.strava.com/activities/776605595 )

If you scroll back in Gruffys blog I think you'll find blogs on see;
- several training rides to/from Peterbough
- popping to Bilbau for Tapas
- riding to wedding in Edinburhg
- riding some Audaxs
- droping in on on a Friend in wales
- ride home from Bristol

[timnoyce]

Cool. I've read them all but will revisit. I wondered if there were more undocumented long rides, as really that's still only a handful of long rides before taking on something as epic as the TCR when you're destroying yourself day in day out.

[Gruffy]

timnoyce said:

Just out of interest, knowing what you know now, is there anything that you could have done differently to ensure that you don't suffer the same tendon issues again?

What was your mileage for the year prior to the TCR and also, how many 'uber' rides had you done? (also, how many back to back endurance days?)

I'm genuinely interested as I am just dipping my toe in the water of this long ride stuff having now done a couple of reasonable stints but am yet to suffer too drastically from anything more than the odd niggle. Shoulders and neck seem to go first, but the rest of me keeps on going as long as I keep the fluid intake constant, the food intake regular and expend as little energy as possible in riding too enthusiastically.

Hoping to get my Audax membership next year and will attempt to do at least one 'long ride' a month trying to fit it in around family commitments.

(previous 'long' rides for reference. The Welsh one was 4 of us cycling on a stormy day into a southerly wind, and the FOD one was largely in the dark and solo. https://www.strava.com/activities/723808933 / https://www.strava.com/activities/776605595 )

The three key mistakes I made were 1) rushing my route planning and ending up on 25-36% climbs 2) riding up them instead of walking and 3) not getting my bike fit dialled early enough. I had a great bike fit that flagged up a suggestion for different shoes that would let me put the cleats much further back, removing the achilles. Unfortunately this was 3 weeks before the race and our decision was that it wasn't worth the risk so close. I'd done other ultras without issue, but obviously nothing quite as extreme as TCR.

2015 mileage was 10,000km which was mostly made up of 50-60km training loops and fast 160-200km tempo rides where I'd bonk with an hour or two to go. There was no structure to any of this. In 2016 I rode 7,000km before the race but, again, the structure was missing. Through work, injury and family commitments I had lots of long breaks off the bike. I'd do nothing for a week and then ride a 200km route. Then do nothing again until the following weekend. It's not an effective way to train.

I blogged on the longest rides.
London-Hull. My first 300km.
A couple of audax rides.
London-Bilbao via the Tourmalet. My first multi-day ride.
London-Edinburgh. My first ultra at TCR pace.
London-Pembrokeshire. 412km in foul conditions.

The Welsh blog entry is a good example of how there's a big jump from 300km to 400km. The punishment curve ramps up quite suddenly around there, so that's worth exploring. At that distance digestion, conditioning, muscular endurance and a host of other issues start to present themselves and you can't continue to run a deficit like you can at <300km. The long stuff is essential for learning how your body reacts to it but they are tough enough to set your fitness back rather than make you stronger, so you want to minimise that if you're training for something in particular. One long ride a month is a good schedule. If you plan to race ultras then adding in back to back rides will be useful closer to the time (4-6 months out) but from a fitness perspective don't overlook intervals and all the standard principles of 'typical' training.

In training I suffered with some knee issues (old injuries) and neck/shoulder pain from a whiplash injury, but the achilles weren't even on the radar. Even on the race they didn't really start grumbling until I was over 1,000km in. Those odd niggles you mention, they may be early warning signs of something similar. The best advice is to increase slowly if you can and pay careful attention before making any huge jumps. If you've not already done so then I think it's worth having the best bike fit you can find (I recommend Scherritt, the Bike Whisperer). At huge distances - especially racing with little/no recovery between days - even small issues can become major issues. I worked out that the TCR was roughly 1 million pedal revolutions, so you can imagine how crucial it is to get it as close to perfect as possible.

[timnoyce]

Great stuff. Thanks for taking the time to put together such a thorough reply, appreciate it.

2015 I put together a similar distance of around 10,000km which was almost entirely made up of my 27km /250m climb each way commute. I would generally treat that as a time trial / interval training and it's amazing the base level of fitness that I created and have managed to largely hold together till now. This year life has got in the way a bit so my overall quantity is down (only about 6,000km) but the quality has been a lot better with far more rides of 50km plus.

Not sure I have any plans to do any specific events as such but I do really enjoy getting out there and challenging myself to do rides where the outcome isn't necessarily a given success. I've got young kids so always try and fit in a longer ride if we go away for a weekend I'll left my wife drive there with the nippers and then cycle there after work which means I've done rides that wouldn't be possible if I were to simply take a half or full day out of the weekend.

Onwards and upwards!

[Gruffy]

Day 8's blog is up. Back from the dead to deliver the most angry, depraved and foul-mouthed English lesson any Italian has ever received.

https://theadventurecapitalist.wordpress.com/2016/...

[ALawson]

Another good write up. Would have enjoyed to hear diatribe had you been wearing a GoPro!