First 100 mile TT - advice needed

[e-rider]

I'm considering doing a 100 mile TT but I have a few questions:

1. I'm not going to be fast; will the organisers hang about if I take 5 hours?
2. The most I've done are 25 mile TTs where no food is needed and one water bottle is more than enough, how do people manage for water/food on a 100, especially if it's hot? Is it just a case of taking two bottles, or do you need a helper to pass more from the roadside (is that even allowed)?

This should do for starters. Cheers

 

[palinurus]

I'm considering doing a 100 mile TT but I have a few questions:

1. I'm not going to be fast; will the organisers hang about if I take 5 hours?
2. The most I've done are 25 mile TTs where no food is needed and one water bottle is more than enough, how do people manage for water/food on a 100, especially if it's hot? Is it just a case of taking two bottles, or do you need a helper to pass more from the roadside (is that even allowed)?

This should do for starters. Cheers

1. Yes. When you fill in your CTT form they'll guesstimate how long you'll take and should start you early, the fastest riders will generally start later.

2. Two bottles and preferred food (I don't normally use gels and stuff but for TTs they make more sense- crumbly stuff is hard to eat- but whatever works, bread pudding if you want. Whatever you eat it makes sense to test it beforehand in training). You can have a helper hand you drinks- I'm pretty sure anyway- check the regs. beforehand. I ride to events so I don't have a helper- I'd probably use some big bottles, perhaps an extra behind the saddle- there are solutions.

 

[palinurus]

There isn't much I can find in the regs. about helpers.

"23. Feeding

Competitors may only be handed food, drink or equipment from a helper who is on foot.​

The use of breakable vessels is prohibited.​

Every precaution must be taken to ensure that other traffic is not impeded."​

​

​

 

[oldroadman]

One question - why? 100 mile TT....Now a 160km breal in a 220 km race I can see as a tactical move, but a straightforward TT? Different mindset TTers have

 

[totallyfixed]

Yes you can have helpers, you can even have a following car but it is only allowed to pass you once in each 10 miles. dr_pink my better half has just done her first 100TT and I was the helper. If you can't get anyone to help one of the other competitors helpers will usually help out at handing bottles up, it's not unusual for one person to look after several riders.
How much to eat and drink depends on you and the course / weather but I would go for a minimum of 4x500ml bottles and the same number of gels, the latter are difficult to hand up to a moving rider so tape them to your top tube or bars. We use a triathlon type bottle that sits between the tri bars with a straw so you don't have to move much to drink, well worth it. Hope that helps a bit and let us know which one you are doing and how you get on, we may already know you

 

[e-rider]

I've done plenty of 100 mile 'rides' before, just never TTed that distance so was thinking of giving it a go. I estimate about 5 hours on typical flat course.

And thanks for the advice. I usually drink about 4x 500mL bottles on a normal 100 mile ride in summer.

 

[e-rider]

I had no idea that these events are so rare - I've already missed the only one in my region and don't want to travel over 150 miles to get to such an event! This might have to be a plan for next season now ;-(

 

[Arsen Gere]

FWIW it might be worth looking at Ironman feeding regimes.
I like a bottle with electrolytes of some kind. I found this doing a marathon, I took a high 5 electrolyte drink on the last 5 miles and I felt a lot better and my pace picked up.
Now I use half a tablet of a high 5 zero in a 500ml bottle or 1 in a litre speedfil bottle that fits above the cranks in the frame. I add in a carb of some kind but keep it week, about half the recommended amount. I do this because I can have a gel ... or a drink, but if the drink is too sugary my stomach wont empty, you get the sloshing about feeling if it is too sugary and I can dilute it with the weaker sugar/electrolyte drink. You see people throw up if they consume too much sugar without the liquid to digest it.
If I make the electrolyte stronger I get a headache.
HTH

 

[Cubist]

I've done plenty of 100 mile 'rides' before,

Oh no you haven't you naughty little spambot you!

 

[Mr Bunbury]

I did my first 100 mile TT on Monday: the Anfield 100. Before this I'd done TTs up to 25 miles and also at 12 and 24 hours, so this was filling the hole! FWIW my 25 mile PB (which will hopefully fall next week (EDIT: it did fall, I got 58:43)) is 1:01:21 and I got 3:46:04 on the Anfield, which is not regarded as a very fast course afaik. I've written a full report on YACF, over on the Ride Reports section. Here's the course; we did an out and back on the dog leg, then did 3.9 laps of the circuit.

Eating: I had what I thought was a lot of food the night before, but this was sandwiches on the train rather than a proper meal, so it was hard to judge. I was off at 06:15 so I didn't eat that much for breakfast, which is something to bear in mind if you also get an early start. In retrospect I really should have had more, as I felt hungry throughout. I took four gels (one for each lap) and two spare energy bars, and just about survived on what I had. I dropped one of the gels 1/4 slurped, at which point I knew I'd need my second energy bar. I was annoyed by this because the first one had been really hard to open - I actually had to stop to get someone else's supporter to open the second one for me!

Drinking: There was a neutral drinks station that we passed on each lap, so I left them bottles to be handed up on laps 2 and 3, at 57 and 75 miles. I took two 700ml bottles with me at the start (one of water + electrolyte tablet and one of coke) and my bottles for handing up were both 500ml bottles, with the same combination of drinks. I ended up drinking nearly all of my second coke bottle but hardly touched the second water; I should probably have emptied it before the final lap when it became obvious that I had enough to go on. The big name riders (winner was Richard Handley of Rapha Condor Sharp) had their own support cars to hand them bottles etc.

As for your time, have a look on the CTT results section and you'll see that 5 hour times are not exceptional, so you won't be holding everyone up. However, I'm sure you'll go faster than that - be bullish about it! You are one crazy-fast motha, remember

I'm considering doing a 100 mile TT but I have a few questions:

1. I'm not going to be fast; will the organisers hang about if I take 5 hours?
2. The most I've done are 25 mile TTs where no food is needed and one water bottle is more than enough, how do people manage for water/food on a 100, especially if it's hot? Is it just a case of taking two bottles, or do you need a helper to pass more from the roadside (is that even allowed)?

This should do for starters. Cheers