Long distance - how old is too old?
- Thread starter r04DiE
- Start date
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OP
OP
r04DiE
300km a week through London on a road bike.
Its a possibility, I'm afraid :O
Tin Pot
Guru
mmmmartin
Random geezer
A few thoughts - I'm 16 years older than you are, @r04DiE . Please don't be offended - critical comment is far more useful than the usual hallelujah chorus.
Here goes:
My suggestions:
First do two things:
Where in the country are you? There'll be some club nearby. Join. Then: Ride. Learn. Rinse and repeat.
Here goes:
LeJog is a ghastly ride - Cornwall is hilly with narrow lanes and fast traffic, the last section to JoG is on the A9 and that is even worse. The middle section is better but not by much. There are far nicer places to ride (for starters - Dungenessto Durness). But starting with audax is ideal - the majority of audax riders are older than you.
This is bollox. Have a read of Andy Allsopp's "Barring Mechanicals". It was his first ride of 200k His first audax. It was also the first 200k of LEL. An inspiring read. OK, Andy is an exceptional human being, but another friend did his first audax with me: it was a 600k. What you lack is self-confidence, not ability.
My suggestions:
First do two things:
- Join Audax UK, and enter an audax. You'll learn masses. I hope, for your sake, you don't finish it - because that way you learn. Success only comes after failure: you don't learn from successes. (I know very well how much can be learnt by failure. Oh yes.) The season is just starting so there are events all over the place. You'll find auks very happy to pass on knowledge, there are very few nobbers in audax, most have joined the sportive brigade. Audax is by its very nature a co-operative, collegiate exercise and not at all competitive. You'll find them knowledgeable and friendly.
- Have a think about doing London-Edinburgh-London. If you can do that you can do anything. It's the easiest event in the world to obtain a guaranteed place: you simply volunteer to help at a control this year. This gives you a guaranteed place in four years time and four years to get ready. OK, it's a very long way, but to do it you get a very long time. (Oversimplification, but if you ride it next time you'll be 51, and that puts you years and years below many riders.)
Where in the country are you? There'll be some club nearby. Join. Then: Ride. Learn. Rinse and repeat.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
Please don't be offended - critical comment is far more useful than the usual hallelujah chorus.
Hilly is good, not "ghastly". Choose a route across Cornwall and Devon which does not use narrow lanes and avoids A roads which take "fast traffic". Start on a weekday. One option (a poor one imo) for "the last section to JoG is on the A9". Only if you are pushed for time would this be the best choice. From Inverness and then Alness, rather than trudging up the A9 via Tain, head through Lairg north to the remote beauty of Sutherland and Strathnaver or Tongue, and then head east, with the Orkneys coming ever closer across the Pentland Firth as you finish off 1000 miles.
But the points I sought to make was that end-to-end, whether LEJOG or JOGLE, is widely recognised and appreciated by people in general, and with reasonable planning can combine fun with tangible achievement. It should also get you to places in Britain which you will likely never have visited (YMMV) and allow an enhanced appreciation of our wonderful island in all its variety.
https://ridewithgps.com/users/279650/routes
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
This leads on to something that buzzes round my head when I'm riding.
You don't need to do a named challenge like LEJOG or Dungeness-Durness or Calais-Brindisi to do a challenge ride. Nor do you need to enter an audax to ride 200k or 300k or whatever. You could just make something up. Those labels are just stamp-collecting. But you may need the high level motivation provided by the idea of a finisher's medal, or hoarding audax points or having recognisable bragging rights, or a little star in your CC sig line (my particular weakness).
To comfortably ride a long distance (and "long" has different meanings to different people) you sometimes need to forget the big picture. If your legs hurt, then pondering the fact that you are only 132km into a 200km ride with a huge hill at the end is likely to lead to despondency. On the other hand, pondering the fact that your legs are not actually dropping off, and are still working, and can continue working for at least one more minute, will help. What happens after that minute can look after itself.
Once you're on the bike your motivation needs only to keep you going, not get you to the end. If you keep going, you'll get to the end eventually. That instantaneous motivation can come from anywhere, from the sheer pleasure of riding your bike. So at a small scale, the big targets are irrelevant and can even be a hindrance. You're tempted to say "Hell fire, that's too far for little me, I won't bother at all".
But for many of us it's the stamp-collecting that gets us out there in the first place, even if it can also be a daunting and de-motivating factor. We need the structure and we like to collect stamps as well as ride our bikes. The trick is balancing the big and the small.
Ask: Do I want to do this, or do I want to have done this? If you can answer yes to both then you're half way there.
Sorry if that was a bit airy-fairy. As you were.
You don't need to do a named challenge like LEJOG or Dungeness-Durness or Calais-Brindisi to do a challenge ride. Nor do you need to enter an audax to ride 200k or 300k or whatever. You could just make something up. Those labels are just stamp-collecting. But you may need the high level motivation provided by the idea of a finisher's medal, or hoarding audax points or having recognisable bragging rights, or a little star in your CC sig line (my particular weakness).
To comfortably ride a long distance (and "long" has different meanings to different people) you sometimes need to forget the big picture. If your legs hurt, then pondering the fact that you are only 132km into a 200km ride with a huge hill at the end is likely to lead to despondency. On the other hand, pondering the fact that your legs are not actually dropping off, and are still working, and can continue working for at least one more minute, will help. What happens after that minute can look after itself.
Once you're on the bike your motivation needs only to keep you going, not get you to the end. If you keep going, you'll get to the end eventually. That instantaneous motivation can come from anywhere, from the sheer pleasure of riding your bike. So at a small scale, the big targets are irrelevant and can even be a hindrance. You're tempted to say "Hell fire, that's too far for little me, I won't bother at all".
But for many of us it's the stamp-collecting that gets us out there in the first place, even if it can also be a daunting and de-motivating factor. We need the structure and we like to collect stamps as well as ride our bikes. The trick is balancing the big and the small.
Ask: Do I want to do this, or do I want to have done this? If you can answer yes to both then you're half way there.
Sorry if that was a bit airy-fairy. As you were.
frank9755
Cyclist
- Location
- West London
Youngster! As others say, age isn't a barrier to riding distances.
Like many, I started doing long-distance riding in my 40s, working up to TCR last year and IPWR this year at 49.
One of the guys I met in Australia doing the IPWR was Steve Watson, age 70.
Like many, I started doing long-distance riding in my 40s, working up to TCR last year and IPWR this year at 49.
One of the guys I met in Australia doing the IPWR was Steve Watson, age 70.
OP
OP
r04DiE
300km a week through London on a road bike.
Sorry - I have been busy.
@mmmmartin, @Ajax Bay, thanks for your comments, which I have read with interest. The same too for @Dogtrousers - really good to read your views. I must say its all very encouraging so I really must start taking some advice and look into Audax soon.
@frank9755 You're a legend, so anything you say I will just agree with by default
Thanks for the encouragement!
@mmmmartin, @Ajax Bay, thanks for your comments, which I have read with interest. The same too for @Dogtrousers - really good to read your views. I must say its all very encouraging so I really must start taking some advice and look into Audax soon.
@frank9755 You're a legend, so anything you say I will just agree with by default
Thanks for the encouragement!
byegad
Legendary Member
- Location
- NE England
You'll know when you are too old, if you happen to wake up move your elbows and feel wood on both sides.
Nice one. Audax riding is a brilliant way to get some mileage in your legs and help you to get used to distance riding. They are very well organised and are very friendly. You can either ride on your own if you are that way inclined or hook up with others. It's a very friendly form of cycling. Don't also discount 100k Audax as you can easy ride to and from the start/finish to make it to a 200k.
Where are you based?
OP
OP
r04DiE
300km a week through London on a road bike.
Thanks for that @ianrauk! Yes, I've heard thay they're a friendly lot and I am looking as much to pick up some tiips as I am test my longdistanceness. That's a good idea to include the ride to the start / finish in a 100k ride, so converting it to 200k, so thanks for that. The furthest I have ever ridden is about 170k, and that was an overnight ride after a week at work, so I am confident that I will be able to do the 200k. The crazy thing is that I'll be doing more than that, every day, for days on end if I take on something as crazy as the TCR. Just not sure I could ever do that, but let's see. One step at a time.
I'm in Essex, BTW.
Banjo
Fuelled with Jelly Babies
- Location
- South Wales
If your doing 200kms a week commuting I would say you can do a 200 km audax without any special training.
Personally I have never bothered with the badges and medals and have no idea how many points I have been awarded . The pleasure for me is riding a route with other like minded people.
I very much doubt I would bother to get up before dawn then drive 85 miles to Tewkesbury to do a bike ride on my own but have done that numerous times to take part in some of the excellent Audax rides that start there.
Once you have done a few you will start to make friends among people of similar ability as yourself as you will arrive at the cafes at the same time and probably share a table.
The way I deal with a long ride is partly by setting off very gently and once into the ride don't think of how far left to go just let your mind wander and enjoy the scenery A 200 km ride will usually have 3 or 4 control places. just concentrate on getting to the next one after a bit of food and drink and a natter you will set off refreshed heading for the next one.Chatting to other riders out on the road can prevent boredom setting in and a few more kilometres slip under your wheels barely noticed. The most depressing thing is to constantly watch your gps or computer ticking off one km at a time.
Personally I have never bothered with the badges and medals and have no idea how many points I have been awarded . The pleasure for me is riding a route with other like minded people.
I very much doubt I would bother to get up before dawn then drive 85 miles to Tewkesbury to do a bike ride on my own but have done that numerous times to take part in some of the excellent Audax rides that start there.
Once you have done a few you will start to make friends among people of similar ability as yourself as you will arrive at the cafes at the same time and probably share a table.
The way I deal with a long ride is partly by setting off very gently and once into the ride don't think of how far left to go just let your mind wander and enjoy the scenery A 200 km ride will usually have 3 or 4 control places. just concentrate on getting to the next one after a bit of food and drink and a natter you will set off refreshed heading for the next one.Chatting to other riders out on the road can prevent boredom setting in and a few more kilometres slip under your wheels barely noticed. The most depressing thing is to constantly watch your gps or computer ticking off one km at a time.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
What I found depressing about using route sheets and a computer was that I was spending so much time looking at them that I could hardly remember the rides!
I bought a GPS and never had to think about navigation again. I now give 99% of my attention to fellow riders, scenery, and where necessary - traffic!
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
