Anyone cycled 300 miles in a day?
Discussion
A mate is doing a ride for charity next year and is doing 150 miles per day for 9 consecutive days and then 300 miles on the last day. Obviously he's doing loads of training but I'm contemplating joining him for the odd 150 miler and then doing the final day, I'm just not sure quite how bad 300 miles would be and therefore how much training I'll need to do. The longest I've done is 110 miles solo on quite flat ground and a number of sub 100 mile sportives that were very hilly.
z4RRSchris said:
480kms odd / 25kph = 20 hours ish.
sounds like a lot of cycling.
That's the plan, if it was easy he wouldn't be doing it. He only got a bike a month ago so he's certainly got his work cut out for him.sounds like a lot of cycling.
I must admit I think I'll struggle to devote enough time to get up to 300 miles, but 150 miles is achievable.
I did Land's End to John O'Groats in 9 days a few years ago, so averaged a little over 99 miles a day, with 124 being the biggest day. That was supported, on a road bike, and with very little distance training beforehand.
150 miles a day with reasonable prep for the same number of days is doable.
300 miles in a day is a whole different kettle of swimmers. With 1200 or 1350 miles already in his legs, that's quite a challenge. But to a certain extent, it's a mind over matter kind of thing.
300 miles at 15mph is 20 hours, so doesn't leave you a lot of wiggle room if you're struggling for average speed.
150 miles a day with reasonable prep for the same number of days is doable.
300 miles in a day is a whole different kettle of swimmers. With 1200 or 1350 miles already in his legs, that's quite a challenge. But to a certain extent, it's a mind over matter kind of thing.
300 miles at 15mph is 20 hours, so doesn't leave you a lot of wiggle room if you're struggling for average speed.
300 miles is, imho, pretty immense. 25 km/h over that sort of distance is a huge effort too, it doesn't sound like much but audax pace (for similar distances) to hit the time controls is usually 12-25km/h so you're already pitching at the high end!
Will you be able to keep up or ride at the same pace? Will you both ride for the same periods without stopping, eg is he doing 50kms then stopping for a while or doing 150kms and what suits your body. The longest I've done is about 140 miles and it was quite a challenge even for a largely flat route. We had one big stop of about 45 minutes half way but kept other stops to a bare minimum.
Don't underestimate the time it will take, Unlike sportives with signposts at junctions you have to make those decisions yourself, even if you have a gps you will still check and double check and after 200 miles your brain will be tired and you will make mistakes. A gps battery alone will not last 300 miles either so if you are reliant on it for navigating you will need a second power source.
You will need to plan refuelling and carry lots with you, we thought there would be shops along our route but there weren't as many as we thought open on a Sunday afternoon! Good luck....
Will you be able to keep up or ride at the same pace? Will you both ride for the same periods without stopping, eg is he doing 50kms then stopping for a while or doing 150kms and what suits your body. The longest I've done is about 140 miles and it was quite a challenge even for a largely flat route. We had one big stop of about 45 minutes half way but kept other stops to a bare minimum.
Don't underestimate the time it will take, Unlike sportives with signposts at junctions you have to make those decisions yourself, even if you have a gps you will still check and double check and after 200 miles your brain will be tired and you will make mistakes. A gps battery alone will not last 300 miles either so if you are reliant on it for navigating you will need a second power source.
You will need to plan refuelling and carry lots with you, we thought there would be shops along our route but there weren't as many as we thought open on a Sunday afternoon! Good luck....
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 14th September 10:09
Cheers for the advice. He'll likely have a motorhome support vehicle and someone on a motorbike, so won't need to transport all his gear which will be a blessing. He's also planning to contact cycling clubs along the route to get people to ride with him where possible.
I shall aim to get a couple of 150 mile days next to him, I'll be fine with the pace, and then just play it by ear next year to see if I can get the miles in my legs for the last day. With 2 small kids, disappearing for a whole day on the weekends will be a struggle for me. Might just have to extend my daily commute to get the miles up.
I shall aim to get a couple of 150 mile days next to him, I'll be fine with the pace, and then just play it by ear next year to see if I can get the miles in my legs for the last day. With 2 small kids, disappearing for a whole day on the weekends will be a struggle for me. Might just have to extend my daily commute to get the miles up.
When I was doing circa 150 mile rides a few years back:
As said above navigation can be a PITA, stopping to check junctions/read maps/turn Garmin on and off is frustrating and eats into time, I often ended up riding main roads which was unpleasant but easier to navigate and quicker
Things will start bothering you that you never noticed before! Make sure your shorts are 100% comfy, you bike position is 100% spot on.
Pacing, I was running a 39/53 chainset at time, I just stayed on the 39 ring all day, bar the odd downhill, my legs felt pretty fresh after 150 miles, the last bit of my ride was my daily commute and I was almost as quick as I was commuting! I only had a 25 lowest gear at the back and this meant hills at the end where hard work, it also meant I had to waste energy at the begining out the saddle on steeper climbs, where as I would have prefered to stay seated.
Food, work out what your body needs and responds well to, I can be really sensitive to getting the right amount of food in me over longer distances.
As said above navigation can be a PITA, stopping to check junctions/read maps/turn Garmin on and off is frustrating and eats into time, I often ended up riding main roads which was unpleasant but easier to navigate and quicker
Things will start bothering you that you never noticed before! Make sure your shorts are 100% comfy, you bike position is 100% spot on.
Pacing, I was running a 39/53 chainset at time, I just stayed on the 39 ring all day, bar the odd downhill, my legs felt pretty fresh after 150 miles, the last bit of my ride was my daily commute and I was almost as quick as I was commuting! I only had a 25 lowest gear at the back and this meant hills at the end where hard work, it also meant I had to waste energy at the begining out the saddle on steeper climbs, where as I would have prefered to stay seated.
Food, work out what your body needs and responds well to, I can be really sensitive to getting the right amount of food in me over longer distances.
Last month I rode 410 miles on the first day of the TCR and 340 on my last day. The blog write-up is taking me a while but I've got the first three days published so far, if that's any use. Here's the 410 miles of day 1. There are some other entries earlier in my blog that are more focused towards training. Aside from fitness I think there are two important factors to think of:
Learning
What happens to your body after that much time in the saddle? Your digestion, your muscle imbalances, ability to ride without sleep, contact points. Things are quite different from a century or even a double. If the final ride is very important then you'll want to learn this stuff in advance. There are no formulas though. Everybody will be different, so you really need experience. If it's less critical then just get that experience on the day. You may also need to learn to eat everything on the bike and generally be able to do everything without stopping, or with seriously efficient stops. Chances are your mate won't be hanging around here if he's trying to put in big miles.
Conditioning
It's going to hurt. You can mitigate that by getting the body accustomed to that kind of treatment. Start building up your time on the bike gradually, but consistently. I'd suggest aiming to have a double-century under your belt before the big day. This will also help you to flag up any bike fit issues.
Learning
What happens to your body after that much time in the saddle? Your digestion, your muscle imbalances, ability to ride without sleep, contact points. Things are quite different from a century or even a double. If the final ride is very important then you'll want to learn this stuff in advance. There are no formulas though. Everybody will be different, so you really need experience. If it's less critical then just get that experience on the day. You may also need to learn to eat everything on the bike and generally be able to do everything without stopping, or with seriously efficient stops. Chances are your mate won't be hanging around here if he's trying to put in big miles.
Conditioning
It's going to hurt. You can mitigate that by getting the body accustomed to that kind of treatment. Start building up your time on the bike gradually, but consistently. I'd suggest aiming to have a double-century under your belt before the big day. This will also help you to flag up any bike fit issues.
Edited by Gruffy on Wednesday 14th September 17:25
Gruffy said:
Good stuff
Cheers, I'll start reading through your blog at the weekend and direct him to it. He's taking it very seriously, this year's challenge was to run from London to Stockport, 10 marathons in 10 days days and it hurt, a lot. So he's really going for it on the preparation side for next year. I'm just trying to assess how much involvement I can have as very much a recreational cyclist, as he absolutely does not want cycling support from people you can't go at the pace he needs. So whilst this year lots of people ran with him for short distances or cycled with him, next year there'll be much less support as only a handful of us are cyclists and even those that are have never tried 300 miles in a single session.If you're able to do 150 miles then you'll be able to do 300, with a bit of learning and conditioning beforehand. I had a very strong friend ride with me on a 420km London-Wales ride (a bit less than 300 miles) in really tough conditions. He felt it was a bit easy for him so he was pushing ahead on hills but was paying for it from about 350km onwards. That's the kind of thing you can only really learn from experience. You obviously won't be as well prepared as your mate (though hopefully fresher) but chances are if you do get it a bit wrong you'll find out close enough to the end of the 300 and you'll just roll in an hour or two later.
I've done a couple of 11hr 180 milers and a 17.5hr 290 miler (London to Paris, for transparency, that's 17.5hrs moving, total of 7hrs elapsing waiting for ferries etc).
A few of the below are just reiterating points already made but my tips:
1) Navigation (pt I)
DO NOT underestimate the mental strain. One of the 180 milers was the chiltern cycleway. The signposting is awful. You can take the odd "oops wrong way, double check" when you're fresh, but after 160 miles and with night falling, the sense of humour can seriously fail you. Making decisions gets more difficult, each need to stop and check gets more frustrating. I was using a combination of physical route map and google maps to check my position. You won't always be able to get a location or the data. You don't want your phone to die.
2) Navigation (pt II)
Garmins are a wonderful thing. However. The battery life on my 1000 is 6hrs with the turn-by-turn switched off. I carry a pair of mobile phone chargers with me. One should be enough to get my phone and my garmin to go the distance. One is just in case.
3) Lights
They will last N-x where N is the amount of time you need them and x is a number picked out of thin air, and having absolutely no relation to the battery power, the bulb type, the lumens or the brightness setting. They will die at some point. You won't know when. Have a back up. Cost isn't everything. On the way to Paris I took my top brand high end unit and borrowed a friends' cheaper one. Mine on its lowest setting lasted 3 hours. It cost £250. The Lezyne on its lowest more than adequate and lasted at least 5. It cost £40.
4) Temperature.
It gets a lot colder at night than you might expect. Be prepared. You'll have used a lot of energy cycling, heating your body will be more difficult.
5) Eating and Drinking
Age old adage - If you're hungry / thirsty, it's too late. Schedule your eating. Schedule your drinking. I aim to drink 1l per hour. I have a gel at 1hr and a bar at 2hr intervals. I aim to have a proper meal at about 6hrs. Don't rely on bars and gels. You'll want salt. You'll crave crunch. I take hula hoops. Temperature and effort of course alter the fuel requirements, and everyone is different.
6) Pain Relief
This may not be advisable so I'm sharing my own experience. I carry an ibuprofen gel, and I take ibuprofen and paracetamol at set intervals to keep it comfortable.
7) Know your gear
An 'epic' is not the time to try your new gloves / shoes / shorts.
8) Keep pedalling.
9) Accept that you won't enjoy it after about 150 miles. But you will after 48hrs.
A few of the below are just reiterating points already made but my tips:
1) Navigation (pt I)
DO NOT underestimate the mental strain. One of the 180 milers was the chiltern cycleway. The signposting is awful. You can take the odd "oops wrong way, double check" when you're fresh, but after 160 miles and with night falling, the sense of humour can seriously fail you. Making decisions gets more difficult, each need to stop and check gets more frustrating. I was using a combination of physical route map and google maps to check my position. You won't always be able to get a location or the data. You don't want your phone to die.
2) Navigation (pt II)
Garmins are a wonderful thing. However. The battery life on my 1000 is 6hrs with the turn-by-turn switched off. I carry a pair of mobile phone chargers with me. One should be enough to get my phone and my garmin to go the distance. One is just in case.
3) Lights
They will last N-x where N is the amount of time you need them and x is a number picked out of thin air, and having absolutely no relation to the battery power, the bulb type, the lumens or the brightness setting. They will die at some point. You won't know when. Have a back up. Cost isn't everything. On the way to Paris I took my top brand high end unit and borrowed a friends' cheaper one. Mine on its lowest setting lasted 3 hours. It cost £250. The Lezyne on its lowest more than adequate and lasted at least 5. It cost £40.
4) Temperature.
It gets a lot colder at night than you might expect. Be prepared. You'll have used a lot of energy cycling, heating your body will be more difficult.
5) Eating and Drinking
Age old adage - If you're hungry / thirsty, it's too late. Schedule your eating. Schedule your drinking. I aim to drink 1l per hour. I have a gel at 1hr and a bar at 2hr intervals. I aim to have a proper meal at about 6hrs. Don't rely on bars and gels. You'll want salt. You'll crave crunch. I take hula hoops. Temperature and effort of course alter the fuel requirements, and everyone is different.
6) Pain Relief
This may not be advisable so I'm sharing my own experience. I carry an ibuprofen gel, and I take ibuprofen and paracetamol at set intervals to keep it comfortable.
7) Know your gear
An 'epic' is not the time to try your new gloves / shoes / shorts.
8) Keep pedalling.
9) Accept that you won't enjoy it after about 150 miles. But you will after 48hrs.
Anything is possible. How about 517 mountainous miles in 31 hours.
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/cyclist...
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/cyclist...
okgo said:
Not done it myself, longest I did was just under 200 (with a fair few hills sadly!) but know a fair few people who have. Two mates of mine did 340 miles in one day the other week, 150 a day for the next two, one is decent, the other an older chap who isn't anything special.
340 miles in 1 day?! That's 23 KPH for 24 hours solid with no toilet or food breaks!
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