50-125 miles in a day range

[marinyork]

Right...

I know there are a lot of threads about 50 or 100 milers people are doing as one offs and quite a lot of people have done metric or imperials for the first time this summer (I did 66.5miles yesterday). What I was wondering is whether there is a general training regime not for those but for the intermediate distance and doing it more frequently. Say a 75 miler a couple of times a month or a 50 miler ever weekend.

I've had a look in the library in the long distance cycling handbook (I think it was, someone on here recommended it and I found that and a similar title) and found things like the fluid consumption tables useful.

I've done several rides around the 50 mile mark this summer and they seem to be getting "easier" in the sense of much smaller amounts of recovery time and I've found spinning the day before and after seem to help quite a bit. The speed still seems to be a lot to be desired but has scaled quite well from much smaller distances. The other thing is I'm cycling in a much more hilly environment than 2 years ago so I can't really compare distances. The other point is the further I go the more hills. On some routes it'd not be infeasible to have 6000ft of climbing. I've never had too much of a problem doing about 30 miles, it's above that it gets a lot harder.

So... what do people generally do to get upto this state of affairs (60 milers every week)? 20 miles a day most days or targetted training? Before anyone says it I'm not joining a club .

 

[domtyler]

Whatever your fitness goal the principles are the same. Just add five percent or so to your training load until you stop making noticeable gains, then repeat until you reach your long term goal.

In your case, this means starting with, say forty miles every week, plus several shorter high intensity rides in-between.

 

[Fab Foodie]

The major differences between 50 miles and 100 miles are comfort and fuelling.

You'll spend twice as long in the saddle and so you'll need to ensure that your bike fits well and is set-up for comfort, also good kit to wear is a benefit and make sure if you're going further afield you have good weather protection and tools etc.

The major issue is fuelling and hydration really, if your legs are OK after a 50 then propelling you on to 100 is probably well within their capabilities, but fuelling needs to be OK.
I'm no super-cyclist, but can rattle along for some 40 miles at a reasonable pace with just water and my flubber for company, however much further without fuel and I'm gonna bonk. If your going for a long day out you need to feed little and often from the start, same with fluids. People have their own fuel strategies and preferences and I don't think it matters what you choose to fuel with as long as it provides a good even supply of calories in mostly (but not exclusively) carbohydrate form. I'm partial to a burger and coke at 60 miles... Eat before you're hungry, drink before your thirsty.

Finally, pacing yourself is also important as is reading the terrain. Don't go out fast, take it easy at first, slart slow, finish strong. Don't fight headwinds, take hills gently, take advantahge of descents - either to make some velocity or have a rest. Don't "watch the clock".

Sure you'll have no probs beating the Century barrier, I've helped several newbies recently go from their first 10 miles to their first 100, once they've done 50, then 75 and 100 is small beer!

 

[Andy in Sig]

Forgive my figures for being metric but this worked well for me:

A 40 km loop two or three times in the week with a cafe stop at 30 km. Average speed of actual cycling time maintained at 20 kmh. A weekend run of 100 km. After about two months this got to be too easy so I started upping the weekend run and eventually got to 200 km.

That was about three years ago and for various reasons the amount of cycling I was doing dropped off a bit. However this year I've been doing a 95 km weekend run but have been doing actual running two or three times during the week as there hasn't been the time in the evenings for cycling. My dream target is to do 200 miles in a day, perhaps next summer if the spring weather is good enough to allow distances to be built up. I also reckon getting a high quality turbo trainer for the winter might help but I've not gone firm on that yet.

The bottom line is that I think it is important to do some significant work during the week to keep ticking over and the weekends seem to take care of themselves.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Pack up your tent and go on tour. Worked for me. Was doing around 120km a day fully loaded all summer in Europe. Soon as I got back to the UK I'm struggloing to do 40km a day...I think it's psykologikal, on tour there is no sofa, no warm home to hide in...just the open road

 

[Paulus]

60 to 70 miles a day is no real problem as long as you pace yourself and eat and drink as you go. The secret is to stop for refeshment every 15 miles or so. That way you won't run out of fuel, and you can keep going. Plan your route beforehand and you will have no trouble.

 

[fossyant]

Head south from Sheffield........

Me - 20 miles a day commute with longer, generally under 40 mile rides at the weekend, usually just one day off. Usually ride upto 50 miles in the hills on this diet of 20 miles a day commuting. My general longer rides are under 40 miles - just don't get 'permission' to vanish for longer.

That was good enough for a sub 3 hour 60 miles on my own in mid August, and a 5 hour 100 mile at the beginning of September (plus 20 getting to and from the start).

Sharky also did the 100 on a similar daily commute distance to me.

Important thing for that amount of time on a bike is fueling. 4 750ml bottles of energy drink got me 120 miles, plus food on the go.

 

[Mortiroloboy]

I do between 30 and 40 mile loop on a Thursday and 50 to 60 mile club run on a Sunday, with a cafe stop. I've done sportives and charity rides of greater distances, as others have said, it's down to fuel and fluid, if you can do 50 miles you can do 100 miles in a day, it's when you get into Mark Beaumont land that it starts to get a bit harder

 

[marinyork]

Hehe I managed to get comments from the great BFTB and fossyant.

Fuelling and food. Yes I have begun to realise this the last few months. Before this I did quite a lot of 30 milers but hit serious problems all of a sudden around 35 miles so rarely went above that distance. After looking at fuelling charts and temperature I've switched some of the long rides a lot earlier in the mornings at weekends/bank holidays and I think this helped a lot and this has made me want to push onto much larger distances more often. I think there's even been a bit spare in the system but didn't know that before I did a 48 and 42 over the bank holiday weekend. The recovery time just didn't seem to be there before to string them together.

Psychological, yes BFTB I think you're right. When I had to get to Leeds for a festival at a certain time it helped a lot! I don't have your abilities though. I probably should try some very mini tour, yours and cathryn's tour write ups are certainly interesting.

I probably should head further south but that's Joe24 territory! Andy in Sig's plan is probably pretty applicable right now, aiming for 40 miles at the weekend and see that as a standard ride. Sounds like I should be getting the midweeks at a 15-20 mile hilly route and a flatter and slightly shorter spin route.

I don't doubt that I could physically do a 100 miler, it's more scaling and time constraints. If things go well I might put 28s on both wheels or get an Giant SCR2/3/4 or some such like. Not so bothered about the century but being able to do a 60 miler + 6000ft of climbing on a regular basis would be great.

cheers

 

[fossyant]

60 miles and 6000 ft of climbs...hats off..

Just regular riding mate.... base miles.....it's like a pyramid....or so they say.....

Ride every day - fit it in to Uni/Work etc and it's a doddle... then go for longer rides... and drink/eat....

But ride hard on the daily grind....it helps..if you need a rest day, then ease off a little....

I can't do Noodley's miles, no way... 200+ KM rides... what 130 miles plus regular...nope.......Mr poor attention span here......

I only intend doing the mid route sportives next year - 60 miles, very hilly...that will do me...... ! I'll do the Manchester 100m again... tough....

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I used to have a 25 mile each way commute. I enjoyed doing it and gradually got fit enough to have a go at something longer. So one weekend, I did a 200km audax ride, and from there I regularly went out for 100 - 150 miles on a weekend. As others have said, it's mostly a matter of keeping yourself fuelled up. But I'd add that it's also important to know what is possible - for most people, anything over five miles is a drive, but if you are aware that 100 miles is possible on a bike, you'll do it.

 

[GrahamG]

I've got to start building up the mileage as I've recently put my name down for a somewhat challenging charity ride in 2010 - I'm going to try and do as many 'utility' journey's in this range as possible. For example I live in Bristol and often have to visit our Birmingham office (I moved from there last year), so I want to start doing it by bike, even if just in one direction.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I'd agree with comfort and fuelling. At present, I'm riding weekends only, and cycling is my only real form of exercise, so I'm not particularly fit, but did a 90-mile day recently without any issue. I did forget to eat on the latter part of that one, but fortunately the 'need fuel now' signal kicked in before I actually ran out.

Ben