Thinking of doing the 150-mile Flat-Out-In-The-Fens

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Dunno whether it's a mid-lie crisis as Mrs Browser suggests, but I was looking at which sportives fell on days I wasn't working next year, one of which turns out to be the Wiggle Flat Out In The Fens.
Prior to now the furthest I've done is 100 miles in a day without much in the way of prep apart fom regular 23 mile round trip commutes and this was not an organised sportive so we carried all of the food we had on that run.
I'm thinking start after Xmas doing 30-ish mile runs and build up towards July, gradually increasing the mileage as I go.
Does anyone have any tips, things to avoid etc?
 

Broadside

Guru
Location
Fleet, Hants
Haven't done this one myself but had intended to last year. I spoke to some people that did it and they said never again. They found it to be a bit dull, flat countryside sounds good initially but with no hills to climb there is no respite with any sort of downhill to keep things interesting, they said it was just one hard slog and boring by the end of it, so it's now off my to-do list! It was also a bit of a trek for me coming up from Hampshire so I didn't mind crossing it off the list.
 

Chris.IOW

Well-Known Member
Haven't done this one myself but had intended to last year. I spoke to some people that did it and they said never again. They found it to be a bit dull, flat countryside sounds good initially but with no hills to climb there is no respite with any sort of downhill to keep things interesting, they said it was just one hard slog and boring by the end of it, so it's now off my to-do list! It was also a bit of a trek for me coming up from Hampshire so I didn't mind crossing it off the list.

I did it last year and I really enjoyed it. It is a long day and your right that it can get a bit tedious without much change in scenery, also there are some really long straight roads which if you get a head wind on can be very draining. (one 10 mile dead straight bit into a head wind sticks out!)

I would say that doing it on your own is tough, I went on my own but was lucky to join up with a few people into little groups which helped on the long straight roads but also to break up some of the tedium.

I am seriously thinking about doing it again this year as overall I did enjoy it.
 
Hi Browser. I've ridden FOITF for the last three years, the +150mile route each time. The first two were based in Bourne and they moved to Peterborough this year. It seems to be getting more popular each time. It's the only pay for event I do - nice and easy to get to for me. I wasn't going to bother with it again next year (at 30 quid!) but KiloToGo had a 25%-off offer last week so I've signed-up again for 2012. And it will give me some motivation to get the miles in next year.

Yes, it is flat, but it would be wouldn't it and it's not like the area is an unknown to you. It's as challenging as you want to make it and how much effort you want to put in. The last two year's rides were rather on the hot side (in the upper 20's) and I found it quite a mental effort to keep my pace up towards the end. And unless you go out of your way to ride with someone else you'll find you won't see too many people after the shorter two routes split-off.

For my training (in addition to a weekly commute of about 160miles) I tend to do Sunday morning rides increasing from 2-2.5hrs up to about 4-5hrs and aiming for a couple of +100s a couple of weeks or so before the event. It's still a bit of a grind on the day - but this seems to work for me.

Let me know if you want to know anything else about the event.
 
Thanks for the replies, 'speshly yours Alien8. It's OK dmoran, having grown up in the fens I'm well used to the relentless flat grindy nature of cycling in these parts (I rather like it actually :thumbsup: :wacko: ).
I've got to see if my employment situation is going to change, which will dictate whether or not I can defenitely do it but that aside I'm definitely going to give it a go. Only thing I do want to do is change my saddle as the Selle Italia which came on my Tif is not the most comfortable for long distances.
 

TVC

Guest
I'm thinking of this one, I need a different challenge next year, all the Sportives and rides round here tend to seek out the best hills, so flat and open will be a different type of riding for me. The one thing that puts me off is the prospect of a steady 20mph wind against what ever direction we will be mostly riding.

I'll make the final decision over Christmas whilst I put together a calendar of events for next year, the main block is that the Leeds 10k Run is a couple of weeks after , and I like to do that for personal reasons.
 
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