How does anyone actually do a 200 Km ride in one day ??

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ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
How do you manage that. Do you visit convenience stores to buy your OJ on the way? Or do you start off with your special OJ mix and end up with water?
I have 2 bottle cages on the bike so I carry 2 bottles made up in advance and I try to drink 1 bottle per 50 km.

Sometimes I forget to drink until towards the end of the first 50 km and so end up not drinking everything I have with me. That is usually ok unless it is a hot day and I am sweating a lot but I have been caught out a couple of times. Some people say only drink when thirsty but if I do that I feel that I am playing catch-up for the rest of the ride.

The fitter I am, the less I need to drink. Unfit, I was drinking 5 * 750 mL per 200 km. Fit, perhaps more like 3 * 750 mL. Currently, somewhere nearer to 4.

I carry a 600 mL Coke bottle with a screw top which I fill with the an OJ/maltodextrin mix and carry in my bag. (I wear a Camelbak bag which also holds my phone, tools, spares, chocolate, money, keys, and spare clothing.)

I try to have a stop at about the halfway point and split the OJ/powder mix from the Coke bottle into the by then empty 750 mL drinks bottles and then top up with water. It is quite a lot to carry but at least I know that I have everything I need except for the extra litre of water which is usually easy to get from a cafe, public toilets or shop.

Oh, and I often squeeze a lemon into the carbo/OJ mix to give it a nice refreshing 'tang', and if conditions are hot I add a pinch of salt. Not enough to make the drink taste salty, but it helps to help replace some that I will sweat out. (I have finished hot 200s with my face caked in salt so I know that I am losing quite a lot.)
 

Siclo

Veteran
Last Saturday:

https://www.strava.com/activities/576572266/overview

Breakfast : Cornflakes - too early for porridge at the B&B
On the ride : 36 Jaffa cakes, 1 flapjack, 1 ice cream, 1 pint choc milk, 1 litre fresh orange juice, 3 litres water, 4 sachets of salt. No bacon butty as the cafe was too busy and I had not got enough time in hand to wait. :sad:
Evening : Cumberland Whanger BBQ, 2 pints Hawkshead Red
Following Morning: Full English Breakfast x2

Pretty much went to plan but missing the bacon butty made 155 to 185 km harder than it needed to be and forgetting my sunblock has left me with a scaly forehead
 
OP
OP
Dave7

Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
Last Saturday:

https://www.strava.com/activities/576572266/overview

Breakfast : Cornflakes - too early for porridge at the B&B
On the ride : 36 Jaffa cakes, 1 flapjack, 1 ice cream, 1 pint choc milk, 1 litre fresh orange juice, 3 litres water, 4 sachets of salt. No bacon butty as the cafe was too busy and I had not got enough time in hand to wait. :sad:
Evening : Cumberland Whanger BBQ, 2 pints Hawkshead Red
Following Morning: Full English Breakfast x2

Pretty much went to plan but missing the bacon butty made 155 to 185 km harder than it needed to be and forgetting my sunblock has left me with a scaly forehead
You must be the only person alive to do a 200 Km ride and put 3 stone on :smile:
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
My experience of a 200k ride in one day yesterday. The Ditchling Devil audax: I got up at the crack of dawn and rode to the start (20km) but afterwards I was very tired and couldn't face 20k of battling through Balham and the terrors of Tulse Hill, so I decided to get the train from Richmond. On a Sunday. With services plagued by "staff shortages"*. As a result it was nearly 10pm when I got home.

For me this represents the problem of 200k rides. I'm pretty slow (it took me nearly 12 hours). Even for a relatively nearby event, it's hard to fit it into one day. If I want to do a long ride (For me that equals 160k. 200k is a bit of an exception) the best thing to do is to get up early and start from home, negating the need to get to and from the event. Even then the whole day is pretty much wiped out.

I suppose another approach would be to go faster, but that's not very likely.

* "Staff Shortages" translates as: We do not think it worth hiring sufficient staff to provide a service. We'd rather cut costs and cancel things. Sod you.
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
"Slow" is pretty subjective. If the 12 hours was your elapsed time, rather than moving time, then it sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Indeed, and I was quite happy with my overall speed. Which is why I'm unlikely to go faster. Which in turn means that the only 200k events that I can enter without unacceptable (to me) levels of faff and inconvenience are ones that start practically on my doorstep.

As the OP surmised, its difficult to fit into one day.
 

Fubar

Guru
I know this could get some very silly answers but..............hey-ho.
As an old fart who is gradually building the mileage up I don't do serious speed cycling e.g. today I did 27 miles and AVERAGED 11 mph.
I am planning a 100 miler but thinking..........hang about...........I will have to set of at 0700 in order to allow, say, 2 hours for breaks.........and still not get back till 1900
So....for anyone to do 160 miles in a day they would have to AVERAGE, say 16 mph.
That is serious cycling for the average person.

You mean you DIDN'T read this? :whistle:
 

Shut Up Legs

Down Under Member
Indeed, and I was quite happy with my overall speed. Which is why I'm unlikely to go faster. Which in turn means that the only 200k events that I can enter without unacceptable (to me) levels of faff and inconvenience are ones that start practically on my doorstep.

As the OP surmised, its difficult to fit into one day.
My average speed allowing for stopped time would probably not be too different from yours, plus I have no driver's license, and so my cycling range is (generally) limited to how far I can ride and back in 1 day. My absolute limit (so far) was leaving at 4:50am, getting home at 8:30pm, and doing 250km (with about 4000m climbing). I've only done that one twice, though, because it's pretty tiring (very scenic, though). Here's my ride report for the 2nd one I did: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/revisiting-lake-mountain.146855/
 
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