Realistic miles in a day ?

[J4CKO]

I fancy doing a much longer ride (or rides) than my 15 mile round trip commute over the summer, my wife has relatives in Anglessey (Nr Holyhead) so waas thinking this would be a good destination, its about 120 miles from us in Cheshire, was thinking I might break the journey at Llanbreis and stay in a sort of Youth Hostel I stayed in as a 16 year old YTS trainee on an Outward Bound course as a bit of nostalgia. Its 98 miles give or take a couple so was wondering what my chances are as I realise that 7.5 miles to work is different than 100 plus miles though I feel its do-able.

Any pointers ?

Would do it on my Cannondale Hybrid, have the panniers, its comfy and pretty fast, Im 38 a bit overweight but seem to be reasonably fit nowadays.

I suppose its moore touring but I havent ventured in there, they have beards and icicles on the ends of their noses.....

 

[Plax]

That'll be Anglesey and Llanberis I think you are referring to there then!
Llanberis is approximately 30 miles away from Holyhead. So you're looking at about 90+ miles cycling to get to Llanberis.
Consider your route carefully. You might want to take the scenic route through say, Betws Y Coed to get to Llanberis. The cycle route along the A55 gets pretty bad after Conwy and the company that was building the bridges over the A55 from Penmaenmawr to Llanfairfechan has gone bust so that has stopped about 90% through completion (http://www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/pages/pe_y_cl_brs.htm). There is no decent cycle route past Llanfairfechan. They have a poorly signed Sustrans route through Abergwyngregyn, but it is a bad road and I usually take the A55 rather than cycle on it. Oh, Anglesey is also notoriously bad for not being very well sign posted once you wander off the old A5.

I'd practice doing a couple of 50 milers first. If you go at a steady pace and stop regularly for a bite to eat and you should be fine. The CTC lot I cycle with only go about 9-10mph and that is a doddle, you should be able to go all day at that speed. If you go your commuting speed you might struggle (doing a 50 miler without stopping at 13-14 miles per hour I found quite tiring!).

Finally if you need any more help let me know, I'm local to Llanberis.

 

[Paulus]

Hi there, a 120 ish mile ride over a couple of days is quite do-able. If you break it down into a two day ride, IE 60 miles a day, including stops for tea, lunch, cakes and more tea in the afternoon the ride is only an average of 10 mph over a six hour day pedaling time, which is well within most peoples capabilities.

 

[the reluctant cyclist]

I've been wondering about this too - I want to do a cycling holiday with my brother but I only normally do 10 miles at a time. (Although I do it in about 40 minutes).

So you lot reckon 50 miles a day would be okay? I want to enjoy the holiday!

Also, I'm not used to hills - should I look for a holiday somewhere flat or just go for it?!

 

[HLaB]

I've been wondering about this too - I want to do a cycling holiday with my brother but I only normally do 10 miles at a time. (Although I do it in about 40 minutes).

So you lot reckon 50 miles a day would be okay? I want to enjoy the holiday!

Also, I'm not used to hills - should I look for a holiday somewhere flat or just go for it?!

Just go for it, you'll manage it no problem with some tours I've been on some folk haven't done half that and they survive

 

[4F]

Also, I'm not used to hills - should I look for a holiday somewhere flat or just go for it?!

Come to Suffolk, no hills round here

 

[Cromcruaich]

I do about 11 miles in a normal day, then went with a mate and did a couple of days of 40-50 miles all panniered up with tents and stuff. Was fine really. Wasnt really fit or anything. Few issues - might get some chaffing over a longer ride - i just had cotton boxers and they caused some irritation. So maybe try out an alternative (like wearing lycra shorts under what you'd normally cycle in and ditching any underwear). Also having browsed around myself people take various creams with em (vaseline, bodyglide etc) I was ok, but might get a bit of sore bottom just from spending longer in the saddle. As per some other advice - pick route carefully - it makes a big difference to moral. I was miserable on some A roads (felt like gonna be mushed at any moment), but as soon as got off em it was like having a weight lifted off me. A roads were boring as well. Push harder on you current routes and do a couple of longer trips on the weekend - not for fitness particularly but just to highlight any weak points (bottom, chaffing blah blah) so you can do something about them. Get stuck in and good luck! edit** Sorry dont know whats going on, line breaks dont seem to be working!

 

[jimboalee]

Three years ago, I trained up to do Land's End to John O'Groats in seven days, the Audax UK Randonneurs Multiples.

I couldn't do that now.

E2E now? About 100km per day I would estimate at my present level of fitness. That's a Brevet Multiples, or two weeks.

I ride 30 miles per day commuting and sometimes a 50 mile club run on Sunday. If you're riding is over half of this, 100km per day should be possible.

 

[snorri]

+1 to what Paulus says
Also, get off to an early start in the morning and I'm sure you will surprise yourself when you check your mileage in the evening.

 

[J4CKO]

Cheers for all the advice, very useful !

Going to get it organised, agree about the starting early, get a few hours without too many cars.

Did twenty or so today, not much but I find it fairly easy apart from hills and I reckon Wales can be pretty hilly, would love to be able to go up hills convincingly, without panting so much, makes you realise how fit "Proper" cyclists are.

 

[fossyant]

If you are riding 10-20 miles a day, then a fifty will be easy for you - just take your time, eat and drink..no problems....

Commuting is a great 'base mileage'

 

[J4CKO]

Going to try and make the most of the weather and do a bit more, also wearing Lycra makes you feel like you have to justify it !

 

[jay clock]

First time I did a long ride was 56 miles and I had never done more than about 10 in a day. I had been commuting for a few weeks (10 mile round trip) and that gave me a massive level of base fitness.

Have a great ride