Couch to 1400k

[Nebulous]

Hi @Pat "5mph" To be honest I've never liked the cross bike. I had an Edinburgh Bike tourer, which I did like, and it was written off when I was hit by a car. I've always regretted not replacing it with another touring bike. I run it with marathons, not pluses and flat pedals. I can jolly it along and get a fast 30 miles or so out of it, but I never feel enthusiastic about it. I really don't see it as suitable for LEL.

Now - given I've said that, maybe I should just sell it and buy a steel bike which will do for LEL and work use.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Well @Nebulous you never said you did not like your cross.
In that case, N+1!
But will you have time to be at one with N+1 (lol) in time for LEL?

 

[zigzag]

i think you are already fit to do the distance (my longest ride before lel was 200k that i've done twice), i would recommend to set your bike up for comfort, so you do not get saddle issues and numb fingers. it's a mental challenge more than a physical one, keep riding 100-200k rides always push harder going up the hills - it's a better technique to cover the distance in shorter amount of time and makes you fitter. stop doing longer rides in july and do the 50-80km at high intensity instead, two-three times a week. you'll be good to go and enjoy the event!

 

[jefmcg]

numb fingers

Numb fingers is almost guaranteed by day four, along with fluid retention. Over on YACF and surgeon had to take time off work afterwards, until she had proper feeling in her hands. It took me weeks before my feet stopped feeling weird

Just saying. The advice above is solid.

 

[jefmcg]

but I'll need a box. Which one?

http://www.bikeboxhireaberdeen.co.uk/index.html ?

 

[Nebulous]

http://www.bikeboxhireaberdeen.co.uk/index.html ?

That's a good find. Prices I saw were more than that.

I've already bought this though. Just waiting for it to be delivered.

I do get numb fingers with long rides on the bike. I broke my left arm as a teenager and it is always that hand which gets numb. One thing which helps is moving around. I'm a natural fidget, so I tend to roam from the tops to the hoods to the drops anyway. Numbness appears to happen when I 'forget' to move, which I assume will be more likely on a ride of this length. Once it sets in it doesn't lift until I get off the bike. Sometimes it doesn't shift until I have a shower.

 

[Nebulous]

i think you are already fit to do the distance (my longest ride before lel was 200k that i've done twice), i would recommend to set your bike up for comfort, so you do not get saddle issues and numb fingers. it's a mental challenge more than a physical one, keep riding 100-200k rides always push harder going up the hills - it's a better technique to cover the distance in shorter amount of time and makes you fitter. stop doing longer rides in july and do the 50-80km at high intensity instead, two-three times a week. you'll be good to go and enjoy the event!

50-80k at high intensity is what I am used to. I have a lot of hills and do tend to push on up them. Club run on Sunday was 85k with 1000m of climb.

Are back to back rides important? I'm thinking I need to be doing 120k+ on both Saturday and Sunday regularly.

 

[martint235]

Don't overcomplicate it. HRMs etc aren't really necessary for LEL. So here's my view on what you need to achieve between now and then:

• If you can cycle 50 miles, you can cycle 100 miles. Find foods that you like to eat, are readily available and don't upset your stomach (I'm fine with most things but work well with full english and/or fish and chips)
• When you've done a 100, have a good look at your bike and what you can make more comfortable. Doesn't need a commercial bike fit. I set my LEL bike up by feel.
• Once you've ridden a 100 miler you can ride a 200 miler. Just requires more food and at the right times so I'd decide before hand when you are going to eat (for me it's now every 50 miles) and eat then regardless of whether or not you're hungry. Key point: I find the jump from 100 to 200 is where the mental aspect really kicks in, you're now going to be on your bike for over 12 hours. Find out what works for you, mine is treating it as 4 50 milers (fits in with eating)
• Now you've done a 200 miler, try doing two 100 milers on consecutive days. This brings in another of the mental aspects, getting back on your bike when you are already tired.

At this point I think you're good to go. In 2012, I was as fit as ..... and fully ready for LEL then in 2013 I found that my previous eating plan (every 100 miles-ish) was no longer working for me. A good friend set up a couple of training rides to try out a new eating regime (50 miles) in March. In April, my mum passed away so I hardly rode a bike between then and LEL so I didn't really have much more than core fitness to go on. And stubbornness.

I'd say LEL is 80% mental, 19% eating and sleeping and 1% whether or not you've had a training plan. It's worth having a rough plan for the ride but I binned mine on the first day as I only got to Pocklington rather than Brampton. Lack of sleep saw me in a really bad way by the time I got to Barnard Castle southbound but 6 hours sleep sorted that out.

Good luck!!

 

[zigzag]

50-80k at high intensity is what I am used to. I have a lot of hills and do tend to push on up them. Club run on Sunday was 85k with 1000m of climb.

Are back to back rides important? I'm thinking I need to be doing 120k+ on both Saturday and Sunday regularly.

if you can make time for them - yes, they would definitely help. not so much for fitness, but to observe what works and what could be improved with regards to nutrition, hydration, sustainable pace, posture on a bike etc.

 

[Nebulous]

Well that's my frst 200 done. A long hard day. Now all I need is to do 7 of these back to back. A local bike shop in Auchterarder offers free coffee to cyclists on the first Sunday of every month. I'm not sure they appreciated there was an audax passing through!

 

[Nebulous]

I'm currently in Gran Canaria. As usual a lack of research / planning has conspired to make this more complicated than it should be. We booked it before LEL was in sight and went for the old town of Las Palmas, rather than the touristy bits in the South. The organised bike tours go from the South and it is very difficult to get out of Las Palmas by bike. All the routes seem to require about 500 metres of climb in the first 10 kilometres or so.

I had imagined doing 80k most days in 3 hours. Nice hot weather, steady pace 27kph - what more could you ask for?

Instead I find myself puffing and wheezing uphill struggling to do 40k in two hours.

Today I did my longest ride of the holiday. 78k to the top of the volcanic mountain pico de las nieves. It wasn't fast and it wasn't pretty, but I got there with 2000 metres of climbing. At 85 kilos I will never be a mountain goat. I love going downhill, but it wasn't as good as I expected. Very sharp corners, narrow roads and plenty cars meant a lot of care was needed. My wrists were sore with braking by the time I got back to our flat.

I'm proud of the achievement today - lots of cyclists at the top - but will it bring anything to LEL? Time will tell.

So far in March 544km and 8189m of climb.

 

[Jerry Atrik]

I climbed Nieves last year , possibly one of the best climbs I've ever done . It certainly won't have done you any harm . Photo from the top with El Teide in the back ground .

 

[Nebulous]

View attachment 343400 I climbed Nieves last year , possibly one of the best climbs I've ever done . It certainly won't have done you any harm . Photo from the top with El Teide in the back ground .

Oh I'm sure it will have helped, but my expectation before I came here was to get more mileage in. I'm reluctant to play up my chances for LEL in case I don't make it!

I'm not a climber, the biggest climb I had ever done before was the bealach na ba, which was only 630 metres. Yesterday smashed that. Here's my photo from pretty much the same spot as yours if the link works. I 'swapped' photos with a German guy with me in my club kit, but stupidly I didn't check it. I don't think he was able to work the camera on my phone and the photo wasn't there after I got back.

 

[Nebulous]

Well that's another 200k in and a degree of learning. I didn't eat soon enough and went too fast in the early stages, meaning a difficult middle section.

1 hour 15 minutes faster than the last one. Roughly half gained on the bike and half gained by having less and shorter stops. I have to be pleased with that.

 

[Nebulous]

I completed a 300 yesterday, with 4200 metres of climb and it was tough. I had the beginnings of a cough overnight, then around 20 kilometres in on a steep descent we had quite a lot of rain and the temperature dropped to 1 degree. We reached Innerleithen, which is also on the LEL route and a group of bedraggled audaxers were crowded in the local co-op eating their food and trying to get some warmth. The next stage was about 90 kilometres into a stiff wind. I rode most of it on my own and developed a sore knee. I spent much of that stage trying to think of an excuse to bail out. I didn't just need an excuse to tell others, I needed one to convince myself. Soaking wet, coughing and my sore knee might have worked if I could have rolled them all up together, but somehow individually they didn't do enough

We reached Elsdon and some encouraging words from others, hot tea and a fried egg sandwich saw me determined to carry on. It got better from there, despite my stomach being reluctant to accept any foodstuff in Alnwick.

Duns was the nextr control, followed by the biggest climb of the day over the Redrigg. I stopped to help another rider with a mechanical and by this time we were descending in the dark on a steep twisty descent neither of us had ever done before. That was one of the highs of the day. I made the finish and a bonus was that with the short trip to and from the campsite and some detours I ended up with over 330 kilometres, which took me over the 200 mile mark for the first time.

I hadn't really appreciated what 4200 metres of climbing actually meant. They certainly make you work for those AAA points, don't they?

So a tough day, with a lot of learning and I'm beginning to understand what my equipment can and can't do. The stitching on the pad of my biblongs was quite annoying, with a degree of chafing, so I need to find some better ones. In contrast my light was amazing, very long-lasting with a better beam than others I saw. Yesterday has certainly lessened my worries about night time riding.