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Lethal`;30483641 said:
Are you a club member? We got a club place really easily last year so worth asking your secretary if you are.
Road Cycling
- Thread starter FrenchTart
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Are you a club member? We got a club place really easily last year so worth asking your secretary if you are.
It's less than 5 miles / 20mins so going flat out is easy. Do a longer ride where you need to pace yourself.Roady;30483404 said:EDIT: Lunchtime fail at 'easy' riding. Tried to keep power below 250W on the flatter/downhill and found it hard lol? 103% intensity!
Is it just my mindset of maintaining cadence and carrying any speed rather than really easing off? I can ease off on hills but on the flat/downhill I can't seem to do it!?
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Lethal`;30483641 said:
That bike was spec'd and built specifically for one race. It's a long distance off-road tourer type thing rather than a hardcore xc racer.
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platypus;30482979 said:
Out of curiosity, which route are you taking. Are you going on the North Sea cycle route?
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Roady;30481788 said:Volume. What's your weekly volume like now? As you'll be potentially doing an additional ~200 miles a week. If your current/average volume is under 100 it'll knock you for six, even just riding 3-4 days will load you with so much fatigue if you're continuing with weekend riding you'll find it hard. If your volume is currently over 100 your body should adapt quite quickly to the increase if starting at 3-4 days and decreasing the leisure miles slightly.
Basically if you're going from 50 mile weeks to 200 miles it'll hurt! 100 mile weeks to 160-200 will be much easier adaption. Von would be a good one to offer his experiences as he switched his commute last year to quite a long one.
Regardless, you'll sleep like a baby! Just make sure you factor in all the extra rest you'll now need. No point getting up 2 hours earlier to commute, if you're not going to bed at least 1 hour earlier!
I sleep 7-7.5 hours a night during the week, I do need a 8/9 hour night over the weekend to feel fresher. But I am old (36)! When younger, very unfit but with a slightly more active job I'd sleep 5-6 hours a night.
Volume at the moment has varied but I've been trying to increase it and was at 75 miles this last week and will probably end up on the same again this week too. Without the leisure riding the commute will be 175 miles a week, leisure riding (which I'll have to knock on the head for now will usually be 35-50 miles depending on where we head out.
And you're right about sleep and needing more, slept like a baby last night but woke up this morning and felt exhausted so will get an early night this evening and should feel better tomorrow. And not much younger than you myself at 30, can tell that I'm starting to need more sleep as well.
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BennyC;30481692 said:Ahh right, I'm with you now. Well you could just quintuple what you eat for your 2m commute
How long is a piece of string? Assuming a 150w avg = 540cals/hr, 200w=720cals/hr. I'd also consider not just the amount of calories but reflect on the profile of your ride, if it's pretty flat and steady state and your HR stays mostly in your aerobic zone then you're not going to need 150g+ of carbs. Vs up and down steep rolling hills.
Equally it might be uphill on the way in and mostly flat on the way home. Or you might find a head/tail wind on some days. Or you draft a bus for 5 miles. This is why everyone should buy allllll the PM's
A safe bet would be 4-500cals extra each way assuming the amount of effort or work is similar on both stints. If you find you're slowly losing weight or not recovering then increase this. I wouldn't worry about gaining weight as being on the bike 2 hours every day it'll be easy enough to quickly create a deficit and shift any short term gain while you find the right balance.
I'd also not forget to address mobility & stretching work either as another 5-6 hours cycling a week will warrant it.
'Don't stand when you can sit, don't sit when you can lay, don't lay when you can sleep'Try not to be overly active on rest & recovery days either
Cheers for all the advice on the calorie intake, will certainly help a lot and gives me something to aim for. Will weigh myself weekly so that I can keep an eye on any weight loss and adjust from there if I need too.
Mobility and stretching work are something I definitely need to be doing as well as had a few issues with it last year (tight hamstring and calf (left side) from running and getting injured a few times.
And loving Don't stand when you can sit etc..... will keep that in mind.
Just found the multi-quote button, don't worry though Roady I won't be nicking your trademark.
(I love it by the way!!)Roady;30483726 said:Doh! Get a Charity place?
Unsure if it'd interest you (or platypus), but a couple of years back I came across James F's travel blog linked from these very forums. He rode from London to Shanghai, there's quite a few tidbits in there over gear, most of it camping related, but I'm sure there are several bits of bike/bars/mounting bags etc. He certainly mentioned kit which didn't work well!
Nice - link bookmarked.
Regarding charity. It's a bit hard to convince family/friends/workmates that 100 miles will be a challenge when they all know I cycle pretty regularly and the min sponsorship for most is £500+
Unfortunately not. I'm not super fussed but it would be nice to try one year. The idea of potentially getting caught behind a crash and waiting hours to get past doesn't sound incredibly appealing. Seemed like there were a lot of issues last year.One More Solo;30483756 said:
Soldato
Think I posted about it at the time but we came across one of the bad crashes last year. What has been seen...
I don't think the event has really been thought through, putting a load of nodders on twisty descents where they get carried away and take themselves or, worse, someone else out.
Don't let that put you off though!
I don't think the event has really been thought through, putting a load of nodders on twisty descents where they get carried away and take themselves or, worse, someone else out.
Don't let that put you off though!
One More Solo;30484986 said:Think I posted about it at the time but we came across one of the bad crashes last year. What has been seen...
I don't think the event has really been thought through, putting a load of nodders on twisty descents where they get carried away and take themselves or, worse, someone else out.
Don't let that put you off though!
Heh I bet. Similar at the Velothon Wales last year... incredible number trying to squeeze past each other up a narrow climb. Can only imagine it's the same on Leith Hill in RideLondon.
Soldato
I didn't get a spot this year either.
I think all the problems can be avoided if you go with the earliest groups. I'm sure Thom didn't see any congestion or problems when he smashed it in under 4h.
I think all the problems can be avoided if you go with the earliest groups. I'm sure Thom didn't see any congestion or problems when he smashed it in under 4h.
Shamrock;30485784 said:I didn't get a spot this year either.
I think all the problems can be avoided if you go with the earliest groups. I'm sure Thom didn't see any congestion or problems when he smashed it in under 4h.
I guess so but can you even guarantee they'll put you in the early groups? Got the impression that was relatively random too despite putting a time estimate.
Wonder if finishing time estimate has any influence on getting a place or not.
SoliD;30485900 said:
Not used or know anybody but I've seen this one mentioned loads of times: http://carbonbikerepair.co.uk/ Based in Dorking so perfect for a Surrey Hills ride when you drop it off
Cannondale not covering your bike?
Oh I know, I can and I do, I'm just trying to 'learn' how to not accumulate as much fatigue on such a short commute. I ride it 4 times a day. Morning & evening are with the other half so I ride at her speed, Lunchtimes it's my own speed (with limited time) so I'm never riding it as slow as the morning/evening!SDK^;30483894 said:
I need to just learn to rein myself in even just a small amount to see some 'results'.
- Last night one of us had to be home ASAP so after waiting for her I nailed it back (9 mins) - don't think I can do it much faster than that this time of year/current fitness using the cycle path (which meant waiting at a junction). Using Strava's 'Training load' that's 12.
- Tuesday night with the +1 in tow (typical commute, taking it easy) the ride was 12 mins with a training load of 8.
Lol. He's been here a week and he already knows me!IndigoGorilla;30484729 said:Just found the multi-quote button, don't worry though Roady I won't be nicking your trademark.
No worries with the advice, just be conscious of just how tired you'll start to feel! I used to go through 'grumpy' stages when I'd stop riding during the bad weather and restart again!
It was a good read, very tempted to revisit it and read again!Lethal`;30484914 said:
The closest I've done to a 'real' Sportive was the same, so many walking up a narrow road and only 50% of them 'keeping left' that those still riding (me and about 3 others out of 30 at the time!) stood no chance (had to get off and walk myself, I'd pretty much blown up anyway!). Thankfully by another climb later the field had thinned out.Lethal`;30485415 said:
Soldato
SoliD;30485900 said:
I follow Rob Hayles on Twitter and he re-tweets some of the work done by Re-carb
https://twitter.com/Re_carb
Looks like decent work but don't know much about them otherwise.
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Shamrock;30485784 said:I didn't get a spot this year either.
I think all the problems can be avoided if you go with the earliest groups. I'm sure Thom didn't see any congestion or problems when he smashed it in under 4h.
Yeah, no issues whatsoever if you're ahead of the masses obviously. If you're with a club the chances of getting a spot are vastly increased too if anyone has entered the general ballot and come up short.
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Thomas. PLease.;30486477 said:
How did you ensure you started with the lead group? Put in a low expected time?
Soldato
Yeah club entry with an expected time of 4h should see you in the front group. Actually easy to get a faster overall time if you are a few groups back though, as you should be able to surf the wheels up the the front groups. Pace is pretty punchy at the start though, and crashes likely.