Final preparations for my 100 mile road ride
Discussion
There is less than 4 weeks to go until 2 friends and I will ride 100 miles in one day on the road. Whilst I appreciate that this isn't exactly Norris McWirter mileage for many people, it is a big distance for us.
I'm riding at least 30 miles, at least 3 or 4 times a week at the moment, and pushing to average about 17mph - We'll not be looking to ride at that pace for the 100 mile'r. I'm swimming to keep the heart and lungs happy on the non-riding (raining) days.
I'm happy that we'll be fine over that mileage on the day, however would like any tips people have for ensuring that I'm as ready as possible for the day. Specifically:
What should I do for the final few days before WRT training / mileage?
What should I do for the final few days before WRT food / drink?
What should I do for the very last day before WRT training?
What should I do for the very last day before WRT food? - Naturally I'll take a sabatical from the standard Friday beer and takeway regime.
What's best to do WRT food and drink on the day? - Hate most fruit, and those energy bar things make me wanna hurl - Mars? Orange Juice/Squash? Mixed Grill and a Guiness?
You advice is much appreciated.
I'm riding at least 30 miles, at least 3 or 4 times a week at the moment, and pushing to average about 17mph - We'll not be looking to ride at that pace for the 100 mile'r. I'm swimming to keep the heart and lungs happy on the non-riding (raining) days.
I'm happy that we'll be fine over that mileage on the day, however would like any tips people have for ensuring that I'm as ready as possible for the day. Specifically:
What should I do for the final few days before WRT training / mileage?
What should I do for the final few days before WRT food / drink?
What should I do for the very last day before WRT training?
What should I do for the very last day before WRT food? - Naturally I'll take a sabatical from the standard Friday beer and takeway regime.
What's best to do WRT food and drink on the day? - Hate most fruit, and those energy bar things make me wanna hurl - Mars? Orange Juice/Squash? Mixed Grill and a Guiness?
You advice is much appreciated.
mat205125 said:
What should I do for the final few days before WRT training / mileage?
ease off big time, perhaps only 30 minutes on the turbo gentlymat205125 said:
What should I do for the final few days before WRT food / drink?
just keep it balanced, don't over do it!!mat205125 said:
What should I do for the very last day before WRT training?
none.mat205125 said:
What should I do for the very last day before WRT food? - Naturally I'll take a sabatical from the standard Friday beer and takeway regime.
chicken and pasta with pasta and chicken followed by pasta.....all washed down with gallons of water!!mat205125 said:
What's best to do WRT food and drink on the day? - Hate most fruit, and those energy bar things make me wanna hurl - Mars? Orange Juice/Squash? Mixed Grill and a Guiness?
breakfast - good stuff anything really cereals and bananasduring the ride - you'll hate it but bananas and fluids with some nutrient bars/gels in pockets if needed.
The important thing to remember is take nothing that you've not used/eaten/drank a lot before you might find you react in strange ways to it...I've a mate who can't use one type of SIS drink stuff as it makes him pee for britain every 5 minutes but another one he's fine with.
Good luck
Thanks guys. I knew someone would suggest bananas 
We're hoping for a bit of warm weather, and will be stacked with water to keep hydrated ... I'm being a pesimist and predicting driving rain and a 20mph headwind for the day.
Getting into a rhythm is going to be the toughest part I think. I'm the middle of the 3 WRT fitness, and it will be a bit of a struggle to find a pace to suit all ... I'm sure you've found too that going at a slower pace can feel a lot more tiring than bombing along nicely at "your" pace. Apart from a quick 10 mile loop last Sunday, sadly there will be little opportunity for a pre event ride for all three of us.
We're hoping for a bit of warm weather, and will be stacked with water to keep hydrated ... I'm being a pesimist and predicting driving rain and a 20mph headwind for the day.
Getting into a rhythm is going to be the toughest part I think. I'm the middle of the 3 WRT fitness, and it will be a bit of a struggle to find a pace to suit all ... I'm sure you've found too that going at a slower pace can feel a lot more tiring than bombing along nicely at "your" pace. Apart from a quick 10 mile loop last Sunday, sadly there will be little opportunity for a pre event ride for all three of us.
The Londoner said:
Mat, which ride? Seeing where you are and when the ride is, is it the Wessex 100 on 7th September?
It's not an official organised event, it's just something that we wanted to do for ourselves to raise money for our chosen charity. One of the mates I'm doing it with has a son that attends a school specialising in children with various needs and requirements, and they need a hydrotherapy pool.Since the three of us are involved in club motorsport, we decided to ride a lap of Silverstone, then from Silverstone to Castle Combe, and then a lap at the other end. Details are here if you are interested, and I'll fire a load of pics up after the day:
http://www.justgiving.com/snapbikeride
mat205125 said:
What should I do for the final few days before WRT food / drink?
In the final few days before the ride start carbo loading, pasta, potatoes, grains etc. Make sure your big evening meal the night before is pasta, this is great for slow burn energy and will keep you going all day.Eat bananas for breakfast and take a few with you as snacks, along with a few mars bars etc, but dont overdo the food during the ride or youll risk cramps and indegestion.
Edited by omega man on Thursday 7th August 16:48
Yup. load up in the days coming up to the ride. have a hearty, but not huge meal the night before.
On the day make sure you mix it up, take a variety of energy gels/foods/bars, but break it up with fruit, sweets, cakes, jam sarnies etc. Nothing worse than eating the same thing every time.
DO NOT try a new energy product on the day itself. Anything you use must be something you've been using for at least a week or so previous. Otherwise you run the high risk of spending a day on the porcelain office chair.
Take it steady and enjoy it, I've not done a road century yet, its on my list this year.
On the day make sure you mix it up, take a variety of energy gels/foods/bars, but break it up with fruit, sweets, cakes, jam sarnies etc. Nothing worse than eating the same thing every time.
DO NOT try a new energy product on the day itself. Anything you use must be something you've been using for at least a week or so previous. Otherwise you run the high risk of spending a day on the porcelain office chair.
Take it steady and enjoy it, I've not done a road century yet, its on my list this year.
I used to do lots of hundred mile rides, in fact if me and my mate came back and the odometer said less than 100 miles we'd ride off again to make sure we did do 100 miles as we'd feel short changed otherwise lol.
Compared to the daily rush to bike to work on time every morning we saw the 100 mile sunday rides as a bit of a day off.
100 miles is nowhere as bad as it first might seem in one day .. take the sensible advice above, don't set out like it's a 10mile sprint and you'll be fine
I used to bike 200 miles through the week (work and back each day and 30 miles each evening) then the 100 on sundays week after week and in the summer if you set out early enough you can get 11 possibly 12 hours to do 100 miles in, that's not really so tough all of a sudden
My tip though for your first ride is to not plot a route that takes you 50 miles in one direction, because when you get there you know youve got 50 miles back (sounds obvious but read on) .. if you plan a more circular route around your home you can be home in 16 miles or so if you plan it right (a 16mile radius will be a 100mile round trip) so if you get tired at say 60 miles you know it's only 16 miles home not 40 if you take a direct route back .. just something to consider at the planning stage.
Compared to the daily rush to bike to work on time every morning we saw the 100 mile sunday rides as a bit of a day off.
100 miles is nowhere as bad as it first might seem in one day .. take the sensible advice above, don't set out like it's a 10mile sprint and you'll be fine
I used to bike 200 miles through the week (work and back each day and 30 miles each evening) then the 100 on sundays week after week and in the summer if you set out early enough you can get 11 possibly 12 hours to do 100 miles in, that's not really so tough all of a sudden My tip though for your first ride is to not plot a route that takes you 50 miles in one direction, because when you get there you know youve got 50 miles back (sounds obvious but read on) .. if you plan a more circular route around your home you can be home in 16 miles or so if you plan it right (a 16mile radius will be a 100mile round trip) so if you get tired at say 60 miles you know it's only 16 miles home not 40 if you take a direct route back .. just something to consider at the planning stage.
Sarkmeister said:
I did 100miles three days in a row last year, id definitely recommend having several bottles on your bike
We're going one better ... Two bottle cages per bike, and a Merc Sprinter loaded with cool boxes of drinks. We need the van to get to the start, and home from the finish anyway, so might as well load the kit into it too ... It's sign written with the race team logo as well.Hey - if you've got a support van, then it gets a whole lot easier. Just carry one bottle and a mobile phone ! Arrange a few meeting points along the way to re-stock and it will make the ride seem so much more achievable.
There's nothing wrong with your training, I did LeJog a few years back with several 100+mile days and all my training was solo 25-35mile rides. Riding hard for a couple of hours is quite taxing, when you slow down you'll cope with far higher mileages. Just try to pedal lower gears so that you don't feel strain in your legs - it's pushing big gears that tires you out on a long ride.
The only advice I'd give is to drink frequently and not wait until you feel thirsty. On a long ride I would start drinking after 20minutes in the saddle and every 15mins or so after. When you feel thirsty it's generally too late and harder to re-hydrate. IMO hydration is far more important than what you eat, either before or during the ride
As for food, I don't like the energy gels or chewing mars bars so used a carbo drink (Boots the Chemists, nothing fancy) and carried old fashioned dextrosol glucose tablets - cheap and not to everyone's tastes but they work for me. Bananas also work fine, but carry them in the van & not your jersey pocket !
There's nothing wrong with your training, I did LeJog a few years back with several 100+mile days and all my training was solo 25-35mile rides. Riding hard for a couple of hours is quite taxing, when you slow down you'll cope with far higher mileages. Just try to pedal lower gears so that you don't feel strain in your legs - it's pushing big gears that tires you out on a long ride.
The only advice I'd give is to drink frequently and not wait until you feel thirsty. On a long ride I would start drinking after 20minutes in the saddle and every 15mins or so after. When you feel thirsty it's generally too late and harder to re-hydrate. IMO hydration is far more important than what you eat, either before or during the ride
As for food, I don't like the energy gels or chewing mars bars so used a carbo drink (Boots the Chemists, nothing fancy) and carried old fashioned dextrosol glucose tablets - cheap and not to everyone's tastes but they work for me. Bananas also work fine, but carry them in the van & not your jersey pocket !
pastrana72 said:
Sudocream,
no, no, no, no Assos saddle cream..............makes the whole experience perversly enjoyable....If you've got a support vehicle I suggest that they stop every 20miles and allow you to leap frog...that way if there's an issue they're with you within a few minutes but you're not stopping every 5 minutes for a chat....
A couple of years ago I did two rides to Paris...on one the support team did the 20mile thing and worked really well all the riders got into the rythm and we were really knocking out the miles, the 2nd time one of the support vehicles was driven by a wife of one of the riders...who wanted to share the ride with her hubby....result was every corner, set of lights, layby, hill, view, nice road she stopped...he stopped...we all stopped..absolute nightmare....in the end there was a breakaway of about 5 riders who sailed past the next stop....fortunately the other support vehicle started out came alongside the group we explained and then adopted the 20 mile routine!!
Ditto what B2hm said, eat before you get hungry and drink before you get thirsty.
If you have two bottle cages take one bottle of water and one isotonic/carbohydrate mix drink.
Jelly babies or small bits of Malt Loaf are good for snacking on the bike, I use a 'Tri-bag' strapped to the top tube for carrying snack food to hand on long rides.
Ideally you should be doing a few rides of seventy miles at the pace you want to ride at to accustom yourself to the time in the saddle, it is the neck, ar5e and hands that will feel it, practice keeping your head in different positions to use different muscle groups in the neck and stretch out the shoulders occaisionally, I do the latter on the bike;
Place the back of one hand in the small of your back and move the elbow back towards the centre line of your back to stretch the shoulder and repeat for the other arm.
good luck
If you have two bottle cages take one bottle of water and one isotonic/carbohydrate mix drink.
Jelly babies or small bits of Malt Loaf are good for snacking on the bike, I use a 'Tri-bag' strapped to the top tube for carrying snack food to hand on long rides.
Ideally you should be doing a few rides of seventy miles at the pace you want to ride at to accustom yourself to the time in the saddle, it is the neck, ar5e and hands that will feel it, practice keeping your head in different positions to use different muscle groups in the neck and stretch out the shoulders occaisionally, I do the latter on the bike;
Place the back of one hand in the small of your back and move the elbow back towards the centre line of your back to stretch the shoulder and repeat for the other arm.
good luck
pastrana72 said:
Marcellus said:
pastrana72 said:
Sudocream,
no, no, no, no Assos saddle cream..............makes the whole experience perversly enjoyable....I did LEJOG recently, 9 days of 100+ miles, and the biggest thing is to make sure you eat regularly.
As others have said, have a decent carb meal the night before and a good breakfast in the morning, preferably an hour or so before you ride. Once riding, snack every hour or so, maybe more if you start to get hungry. I used a lot of energy stuff but the best ones were Cookie and cream powerbars, they were awesome!
Good luck with your ride, I'd also try to get a 60 miler in before you go as once you've done 60 you then think, 'well its only another 40 miles'
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