Multi-Day Ride: 100 miles a day

[Ivan]

Great knowledge sharing

Great knowledge sharing here!

i am having to push back my ride later in the year due to family needs. Kids are more important than bike! I got up to centuries on one day and 80km on the next. Felt good on Silvio, working out niggly pains here and there. Figuring out how much calories I need on these slower touring speeds.

Recently I found and use the free MAPS.ME app on iPhone/android. It downloads free open street map data and does it on a super simple interface, and uses only GPS so requires no data. Great for touring! Of course in south east Asia, data is so cheap like Chris says you will get a data sim card anyway - but this Maps.me app is really useful.

Chris, you did all that touring on your folding Cruzbike!? Great job! I will have to look up Perpetuem. I am fortunate that my stomachs does fine with solids. I have been making rice cakes for my long rides. On the last one I sprinkled Japanese furukake (seaweed and flavoured stuff on rice) on rice balls and it went down well!

I will check out that long lecture when I have some time. Thanks!!

Next month we have a local century ride that will feature me on Silvio and a friend on a Vendetta!

 

[tiltmaniac]

So, I've done some touring as

So, I've done some touring as well, but it was (three weeks) in the Alps in summer. That meant that the temperature in the valleys was quite warm, but the temperature at the top of the mountain passes was... not. It is odd seeing snow in summer while riding a bicycle.

Much of wgat I'll say has been said already, especially in the excellent video that was linked in on of the previous posts.

Dehydration is easier to spot than water poisoning not to mention easier to recover from.
Be sure that you don't drink too much, whether or not it has electrolytes in it. If necessary, if you're on your own, you can bring a scale to weigh yourself so you can know instead of guessing about hits. I'm guessing you have an excellent handle on this and probably wouldn't need to do this, however.

Do the same distances with about the same amount of climbing (or more) that you'll do on your tour for short numbers of days (i.e. 3 days). If you can do this, you're likely golden (and it looks like you're already there). The idea behind something like this is to ensure that you have the machine dialed in, you're in good enough physical condition, and to ensure that the machine is *reliable*. On my tours, I used bar-end shifters instead of brifters because they fail less often and I'd rather deal with some slight inconvenience than not be able to continue my tour (I've had several brifters fail while my bar-ends have just kept-on going).

On a long tour, it is impossible to recoup the lost calories. It is helpful to go in with a little bit of fat built up-- at 7-10k calories a day, you won't have it for long. Eat well and often. You'll likely not be able to feast so guilt free in regular life, so take advantage of it
I lost about 7 pounds a week on my tour. My buddy lost about half this, but his loss was mainly muscle, and he became much slower towards the end of the tour thanks to the reduced muscle mass. I, on the other hand, sped up.

I hope that your family needs get met and you're able to do this tour. I'd love to see the pictures from it!

 

[marshall2389]

My recent experience for

My recent experience for credential reasons:
2,100 miles, ~100,000 feet of climbing over 24 days. Three of those days were spent hiking.
650 miles, ~27,000 ft climbing over 4 days.
750 miles, ~50 kft climbing over 7 days.
and more...

I tried lots of different fuel and hydration practices over these rides. Here are some lessons from the experience:

FOOD: At first I thought I needed to input as much as I output. This lead to too much eating while riding. I feel much more relaxed and comfortable with a balanced breakfast of sugars (from fruit), carbs (whole grains), proteins, and fats. Some digestion time then ride for 3 or 4 hours with a some dried fruit when my blood sugar is about to drop. Lunch similar to breakfast. Both light meals. Little to no dried fruit for the afternoon ride of 2-3 hours. Dried fruit gives me good, level energy. It took me a while to realize I don't need to freak out when my blood sugar drops. My power drops and for ~5 minutes I ride easy. Then my body switches to using more energy reserves and I ride in a very peaceful, comfortable condition. Bonking happens when my blood sugar starts to drop and I get anxious/frustrated and push too hard.

WATER: Varies a lot depending on how much I'm loosing via sweat and breathe. During the summer heat and +100 miles per day the most water I'd intake was 32 fl oz with each meal, 64 fl oz each 3 hours of riding. I ride with 2 32 fl oz water bottles for trips with frequent water availability. This makes me take a water-fill-up break every 3 hours or so, which is good. More capacity was taken when needed.

As the days go on you will probably hit points of exhaustion, especially when first hopping on the bike in the morning and after lunch. It may feel like riding is impossible. It's not. Go easy for a while. Your body will pick up. We are endurance animals. Trust your body. Don't push at too high an intensity and you can go for daaaaaaays.

Have fun, experiment, don't get too fixated on a mileage, time, or destination. Swim in lakes and streams whenever possible. Connect and stay with hosts using this website: WarmShowers.org
It's a site for reciprocal generosity amongst traveling cyclists. I've met some great people through the site. A home-cooked meal and good company can be incredibly rejuvenating after days on the road.

Elliot

 

[marshall2389]

Here's some great

Here's some great info:

http://www.hammernutrition.com/downloads/fuelinghandbook.pdf

(Don't spend too much effort on precise measurements, though. Take away the core messages and ranges from the article, try them out, listen to your own body, adjust as needed)

 

[tiltmaniac]

What Marshal said...


What Marshal says is spot-on. The hardest part of the day for me (on the ~2000 mile tours) was the morning, where I felt tired, sore, and stiff. 30 minutes to an hour later, everything was working and feeling fine again (with the possible exception of the saddle region, but that shouldn't be a problem on a Cruzbike!).