Programme for an attempted 100 miler

[The Essex Spurs]

That's weird because I have a route on there but it isn't well explained by me direction wise.

It's Witham loop

 

[The Essex Spurs]

Also got lots of videos under the name Mid Essex Cycling on Youtube!!!
Well that's my dinner break nearly over and just over 5 hours before work beckons

 

[mjr]

I personally wouldn't want to do an open road 100 mile sportive, where's the fun in that? And they mostly give gels, energy bars and bananas, those barely count for 'food'. I'd just plan a route, find a ride buddy and pick a couple of possible dates.

I'm with you, but an open road 100 mile sportive will usually have the advantages that someone has checked the route is actually reasonably cycle-able, signposted it and organised some sort of recovery service in case your bike breaks and there will probably be lots of people cycling the same route, sometimes with extra temporary warning signs for motorists. The main disadvantages are that some of the people will be dangerous fakey-racers who farking well merit warning signs and most sportives add a time pressure because they don't want to pay the workers to man the finish all day.

That said I have just looked and formulated a really nice route which would encompass lots of places I have cycled in my time and as your thread says I am never more than 20 miles away in the loop.

Doing lots of loops around home has been mentioned at least twice now I think. I don't get it: riding 100 miles lets you go somewhere that you can't reach by doing a shorter ride, so why not go see somewhere else? 100 miles from Witham is the Suffolk coast and back, or Debenham or Bury St Edmunds or the London Olympic park and back... and if you're OK doing a one-way, pretty much anywhere east of a curve through Brighton, Oxford and Spalding.

 

[The Essex Spurs]

London Olympic Park???? Look at my username...I'd be lynched!!!!

 

[Spinney]

As long as your bum can take it, there's a big difference for me between 2 hours and 10 hours. My first 100 miler, I rode the last 10 standing up pretty much!

^^^ this
In my case, too, it was the stamina of my bum that had as much of an effect near the end as the increasing aches in my legs and their increasing reluctance to pedal me up hills.

I prefer doing long rides solo. I get very slow near the end, and the frequency of stops increases well beyond what my OH would tolerate! I also find that planning a route with the last bit fairly flat and on familiar roads (which they will be if you do a loop) helps, as you know what is to come rather than potentially being faced with a hill you weren't expecting.

 

[vickster]

I'm with you, but an open road 100 mile sportive will usually have the advantages that someone has checked the route is actually reasonably cycle-able, signposted it and organised some sort of recovery service in case your bike breaks and there will probably be lots of people cycling the same route, sometimes with extra temporary warning signs for motorists. The main disadvantages are that some of the people will be dangerous fakey-racers who farking well merit warning signs and most sportives add a time pressure because they don't want to pay the workers to man the finish all day.


Doing lots of loops around home has been mentioned at least twice now I think. I don't get it: riding 100 miles lets you go somewhere that you can't reach by doing a shorter ride, so why not go see somewhere else? 100 miles from Witham is the Suffolk coast and back, or Debenham or Bury St Edmunds or the London Olympic park and back... and if you're OK doing a one-way, pretty much anywhere east of a curve through Brighton, Oxford and Spalding.

I also fear the quotient of impatient idiots in cars will increase if lots of cyclists in Lycra are felt to inconvenience them. Don't need the added stress of more mgif motons as well as wannabes on bikes

 

[The Essex Spurs]

^^^ this
In my case, too, it was the stamina of my bum that had as much of an effect near the end as the increasing aches in my legs and their increasing reluctance to pedal me up hills.

I prefer doing long rides solo. I get very slow near the end, and the frequency of stops increases well beyond what my OH would tolerate! I also find that planning a route with the last bit fairly flat and on familiar roads (which they will be if you do a loop) helps, as you know what is to come rather than potentially being faced with a hill you weren't expecting.

Yes I agree with most o that.I hate the first ten minutes of riding as the legs have to get warmed up and once they are the breathing settles etc but 100 miles if after all 100 miles and not to be taken lightly and stamina is possibly my enemy at present.

 

[Crackle]

That is probably a sign of dehydration. Electrolytes may help - I used to find it difficult to eat enough on very long rides until I started adding electrolytes to my bidon (I like products such as Nuun or High5 but others just add a pinch of table salt to their bidon). They make it easier to drink enough to stay properly hydrated, which in turn makes it easier to digest solid food.

I might try some of those on longer rides and hotter days. I think I experienced this last September when I did 70 miles over the Denbigh Moors on a strikingly hot day. By the time I got to the pub and ordered food, I struggled to eat it and felt ill for the next 24hrs. I couldn't even manage a 2nd pint, so it was quite serious.

 

[smutchin]

I couldn't even manage a 2nd pint, so it was quite serious.

Blimey, that really is serious!

 

[mjr]

London Olympic Park???? Look at my username...I'd be lynched!!!!

Doesn't it depend who else is playing?

I prefer doing long rides solo. I get very slow near the end, and the frequency of stops increases well beyond what my OH would tolerate!

Faulty OH. Replace and retry More seriously - not everyone gets grumpy if someone wants to go a bit slower.

I also fear the quotient of impatient idiots in cars will increase if lots of cyclists in Lycra are felt to inconvenience them. Don't need the added stress of more mgif motons as well as wannabes on bikes

That goes both ways, as the motorists know there are lots of other cyclists around watching them, possibly recording them, probably ready to assist any cyclist they cut up. I'm never sure if that aspect is an advantage or disadvantage.

I might try some of those [electrolyte tablets] on longer rides and hotter days.

I prefer to keep eating. That bag on the front of my handebars in my avatar is often 50% food or more on longer rides

 

[mkmark666]

Hi

I’d been doing regular 50 mile rides and went for (and completed) the metric century first.

With that box ticked decided to try the Imperial century. I lowered the effort/pace a bit compared to 100km ride to ensure I’d have the confidence and legs to do the extra 2.5 hours required for achieving the magic 100miles. That approach seemed to work for me.

Also, chose a calm, spring morning and set off at stoopid o’clock (5am-ish).
HTH

 

[smutchin]

High Intensity Interval Training which they call Sweet Spots

I don't want to get sidetracked with quibbles over training terminology which isn't relevant to the OP, but 'sweet spot' is most definitely not high intensity - it's more a sustained effort below functional threshold power, designed to build up endurance (by raising your anaerobic threshold). Also known as 'tempo'. Andy Cook, who devised the plans for BC, described it as 'comfortably hard, not hardly comfortable' when I interviewed him last year.

If the OP does want to do some proper 'training', two or three 'tempo' rides of 40-60 mins during the week, with a long, steady ride at the weekend is about as complex as it needs to be. I've never really bothered with structured training myself - my long rides are 'training' for even longer rides...

 

[nickyboy]

Or you can do what I'm going to do tomorrow.......

Glossop to Llandudno as a final recce for the CC ride. Pick a flattish route, make it an "out and train back" instead of "out and back" and then just wait......for a massive tailwind

102 miles tomorrow but I'll be flying along and it certainly won't feel like a hundred

 

[mjr]

I don't want to get sidetracked with quibbles over training terminology which isn't relevant to the OP, but 'sweet spot' is most definitely not high intensity - it's more a sustained effort below functional threshold power, designed to build up endurance (by raising your anaerobic threshold). Also known as 'tempo'. Andy Cook, who devised the plans for BC, described it as 'comfortably hard, not hardly comfortable' when I interviewed him last year.

Then I feel the RideLondon magazine author has misunderstood because they describe a one-minute sweet spot as "close to a flat-out effort" on page 51 of this year's edition. The recovery periods are longer than usual for HIIT but it reads like basically a form of it, rather than tempo riding. It sounds like there's going to be an awful lot of RLers pushing harder in training than Andy Cook intended.

 

[smutchin]

Then I feel the RideLondon magazine author has misunderstood because they describe a one-minute sweet spot as "close to a flat-out effort" on page 51 of this year's edition.

I haven't seen the magazine, only the training plans on the BC website. If they're talking about one-minute intervals at flat-out effort, that's not what is usually understood by 'sweet spot' and does indeed sound more like HIIT.