Oh Dear

[Bluebell72]

After weeks of cycling at least one way of my 25 mile commute to work 3/4 times a week, (and feeling great) I had started to take weekend rides with hills in. (Not easy to come by where I live) Making an average of 15m/h

Spurred on by feeling better in myself, and noticing changes in body shape, I thought I'd enter a few sportives this summer.

Well, I downloaded the map for one of the routes, and rode it yesterday - 60 miles, (the most I'd done in one go was 114miles, about this time last year.)
It took about 6 and a half hours!!!!!! (av 11.4m/h, best speed 41.3, (come on!!))

I made two short stops, for snacks+drinks, lots of momentary ones as I stopped to check the map and a few more to backtrack after going wrong even fell off on the biggest hill up because I was messing around with the gears and couldn't unclip my foot fast enough

Now I know the route, I'm hoping to do it again next weekend, and hope to improve.
But I'm very scared. Don't want to be the last one in.

Please, has anyone got sensible tips (my OH bless him thinks I'm brilliant anyway, just for doing it, but his suggestion was to get a rope and tie one end round waist, other to bumper of sweep vehicle and make a last minute dash!)

Have I bitten off more than I can chew??

 

[montage]

You'll be fine!

Just keep putting the miles in on the bike and you will be well on your way to a many an enjoyable sportive this summer.

If you can keep getting longer rides in during the weekend, and use one or two of the commutes to really go for it speed wise, that should improve things.

 

[monnet]

+1

You might have been slower than expected for a million reasons. But like montage says, a long ride at the weekend, a couple of commutes where you push it a bit and add in some good recovery time and make sure you're getting the right food in and you'll have no problem.

I stand here now and say now, you will not be last. By a long shot!

 

[HLaB]

Please, has anyone got sensible tips.

Don't fall off, well it is sensible not to do so.

Joking aside you'll be fine you've done distances before and you are getting the miles in and you know you can go the distance. Like said if you want a wee bit more, try mixing up your commute harder rides/ recovery rides, good luck!

 

[Bluebell72]

Ok.
Thanks ####stressing####

 

[buggi]

you will find that you "strategically" ride your commute... in that ... you know the hills and the best way to climb them and because you are used to the route it will seem quicker anyway.

a 20 mile unfamiliar route will seem a lot longer and harder than a 25 mile route you regularly cycle. don't worry about your sportive. enjoy it.

 

[Fletch456]

There's some good advice to be had above. Riding any route second time around will be faster. I am a fairly worrisome kind of guy and I think nerves show a lot for me first time quite often cos it amazes me how different second time around can feel. So it will be easier and quicker.

You could be setting your sights too high...in terms of the time you would like? And like Monnet says your speed is affected by a million things so my advice would be don't judge it off one ride and be easier on yourself. Get decent sleep, eat well and push yourself as we all mostly do but be sure to enjoy it too. Measure your time / performance when you've done 3-5 rides longer than your 25m commute - which you will ride 'strategically' without realising.

Keep it up! You're doing better than you think.

 

[brockers]

Relax. And to second HLaB, maybe ease back a bit? You might be overtrained (your body needs a rest) and my gut feeling is to not even commute in this week, or if you do, spin a really light gear. Sometimes less is more. Too many people seem to be riding themselves into the ground on every ride they do and wonder why they don't get faster after a certain point.

There used to be an old racers' adage that to get faster you 'make your slow rides slower, and your fast (hard) rides faster'. If you really want to hurt yourself though, find a steep hill about half a mile long and bomb up it six times so you want to throw up. Then don't touch your bike for a couple of weeks! Probably a bit late for that now, though!

 

[Bluebell72]

find a steep hill about half a mile long and bomb up it six times so you want to throw up.

Extreme!

After I'd posted, I looked at the results of the last two years, and found that some people made a time of 7+ hours, which made me feel a little better.
I accept that journeys are longer when you don't know the route, and so I hope I'll get chance to do the route a couple more times before the actaul sportive.

I just seemed agonisingly slow and rubbish, and was feeling disheartened.

 

[MLC]

Bluebell,

Don't know how long you have got till the first Sportive (apologies if you have advised this elsewhere) but if you can complete the distance you've done the hard bit. The bit you want to do now is quality and speedwork and this means interval Training. That does not mean going all out on each and every ride but working slowly up. For example go all out for 3-4 minutes then recover for 2-3 and repeat that say 5 times in a 20 mile ride. Next week up the intensity very slightly so go for say 3.5 to 4.5 hard and just tweak up each and every week.

A good way is to increase intensity by 10-15 % each week for three weeks then on your fourth week do exactly half of your third week then return the next week i.e. week 5 to your week 3 level and start the cycle over again. Here you are building active recovery into your training. If you can imagine a pyramid at the bottom your rest is longer than your intensity but as you get higher up the pyramid the rest becomes less.

Training hard every day will have the opposite effect you must give your body time to adjust by bringing in active recovery such as week 4 and days off total recovery.

Be very careful that you do not push too hard listen to your own body very carefully during this phase as it is here you will be more likely to pick up an injury.

As you approach the sportive i.e. a week or two before taper your training so that you tick over you wan't to reach the event at your peak and not completely knackered becuase you trained so hard a few days before.

Look at each even as a stepping stone to teh bigger one. Pro-riders will pick one or two event to compete in to win. and use earlier races as precursor. They will not go all out to win each and every one.

 

[MacB]

you will find that you "strategically" ride your commute... in that ... you know the hills and the best way to climb them and because you are used to the route it will seem quicker anyway.

a 20 mile unfamiliar route will seem a lot longer and harder than a 25 mile route you regularly cycle. don't worry about your sportive. enjoy it.

Agree totally, familiar routes allow you to expend energy efficiently and conserve the maximum amount of momentum. I find strange routes a lot tougher, being in the wrong gear, braking when you don't need to, constantly having to accelerate/decelerate, it all adds up.

 

[Bluebell72]

Hi MLC, and MacB,

Your advice seems very sound, and I'm going to think more when riding about the increase and decrease of intensity while riding.

When I'd done the route last week, there were parts where there'd be a big hill, and I'd be working to get up it, small top, where I could get my breath back, whizz down the other side giggling like an eejit, and then, shocker, as the road led sharply round the corner, behind a hedge, a huge incline appeared from nowhere, and I'd be unprepared, in the wrong gear and make a rubbish start at it.

I was just giddy to be out on empty roads, and while I really enjoyed the first three-quarters of the ride, I was shattered for the last bit - of course, where the biggest hill is situated!

This last few days I've not been out, as my whole week's work has to be crammed into three days, so I guess I'm having a proper 'rest'