Women's opinion please!!

[VeloMel]

This is my second year road cycling. The season just started and I hadn't been out since Oct. Of last year. My fiancee had me go on a 30 mile ride with him my 3rd day out, it took us 2 hours. I'd say I "bonked" twards the end. Is he trying to kill me? I just don't know if that is going to "hurt" me going all out like that so early in the season.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I just started riding after a whole winter off and I'm not in great shape now because of it.
So far I've done.... 10 miles and 16 miles. By mid season I can do 50 mile rides or more with no great problem, but it takes a month or two to work my way up to that comfortably.

If I feel a ride is too long for me for whatever reason, I just say so and I do a shorter one.

[MartianDestiny]

Completely depends on how experienced of a cyclist you are, where you were at the end of last season, what you did over the winter, and how "hard" the 30 miles are.

I stopped riding at the beginning of October (maybe even before then) last year (school, new dog, weather, etc). Did nothing (except attempt to train a dog) as far as exercise all winter. Got on my bike last month and just went. Yea, it hurt. Yea, I got dropped (by racers who had trained all winter...). But, yes, I finished 30 miles without falling over, bonking, or dying. Two weeks (give or take) of solid riding and gym time and I'm getting just about back where I was last year, at least as far as endurance.

But at the end of last season I was capable of doing unplanned centuries with a day's notice, hanging with the "intermediate" group (16-18mph average) for 65 miles, and 30 miles at 15 mph was an extremely "easy" "recovery" day or a mid-week, before work jaunt. If 30 miles was difficult for you before it certainly won't be any easier now, but if it was a wimpy little "get out and spin" ride then it should be no problem. In the middle, well I wouldn't say it's the end of the world so long as you are physically capable of doing it. Just listen to your body, more than muscle soreness or prolonged muscle soreness=back off and then start back slower. Won't ruin your season, if that's what you are worried about.

But you HAVE to hydrate and eat. Otherwise it doesn't matter how in shape you are, you will bonk, and then you will get road rash, and then you'll get a trip to the ER for IV fluids....NO FUN.

[Biciclista]

remember not to depend on your ride partner for stuff like nutrition and water.
Always carry food with you, like a candy bar or an energy bar, and water too.
Velo, we can't tell where you're from so we can't figure if you didn't eat enough or if it was so hot that you were suffering from dehydration issues. So tell us more.

[OakLeaf]

I can't go two hours of hard riding without eating. Used to be able to, can't any more. Took me a while to figure it out. An hour and a half is about my limit.

Whether it would "hurt" you... what do you mean by hurt? What are your training goals for the season? What you do after a long, hard effort is super-important in your recovery. (1) Eat - 300-500 calories of mostly carbs within the first 15 minutes, plus a few grams of protein, and replace any fluids and electrolytes you didn't replace during the effort. (2) Static stretching. (3) Ice any injuries, some people "like" an ice bath regardless, 10 minutes or so. (4) Compression sleeves or stockings.

If you've got a whole lot of delayed-onset muscle soreness, then take a few days of gentle activity to circulate the lymphatic fluid and bring blood circulation to the damaged muscles, gentle enough to not cause any more breakdown until you're ready for some more hard effort (but not excessively hard, next time).

[azfiddle]

I've been reading Nancy Clark's books on sports nutrition and nutrition for cyclists. Fuel for the ride comes from glycogen, and the amount of stored glycogen you have available in muscles, liver and blood is less than 2000 calories (that may be too high if you weigh less than 150). I don't have the exact numbers, but it was something like 1300 calories worth of glycogen in the muscles and 350 in the liver. After that, you've depleted your energy source.

For me, 2 hours of riding uses about 1200 calories, and I am down to 113 pounds, so I probably have less glycogen available. If I do rides less than 1 1/2 hours, I don't need a snack. Now I know why I really need to start eating if I ride more than 25-30 miles, because I have used up all the available energy. Hope that's helpful

[VeloMel]

I was a very strong rider last year. I cycled up the kancamagus last year, I feel lightyears away from that now. I only ever ride with men, mostly my fiance. I drink 2 times as much water as he does, and I feel like I need to eat a lot more than he does too. It's hard for me to tell if he's a freak of nature or I'm too needy. I do want to enter hill climb challenges this year, and I want to get back to the shape I was in last year. I guess I just need to do some research on training and nutrition for long rides.

[Veronica]

It's not that you're too needy, it's that your body needs are different.


Veronica

[MartianDestiny]

It's not that you're too needy, it's that your body needs are different.


Veronica

Quoted for truth.

Eat and drink in the amounts that YOUR body is telling you to. I can down an entire powerbar and a bottle of HEED in a 30 mile ride, especially if I'm exerting myself (note I didn't use a speed to represent that).

[Crankin]

I'm the same way. It takes me a long time to ramp up for the season and I do fairly strenuous stuff in the winter. I always drink tons more and need to eat more than most people. I am good with just water for 15-20 miles, but only if I am well fed and hydrated before. Over 20 miles, I need energy in my drink, as well as solid food, in little bits as I go. Heat affects me greatly.

[nscrbug]

Heck...am I the only one who thinks that 30 miles in 2 hours is pretty dang good??? :confused: Yesterday, I rode 42 miles with my cycling partner...and it took us 2 hrs and 40 some minutes. Maybe I just suck that bad...:eek::o

[Veronica]

A lot depends on the terrain. It takes me around two hours to go 12 miles when I'm climbing the local mountain. :D

Veronica

[redrhodie]

Yesterday, I rode 42 miles with my cycling partner...and it took us 2 hrs and 40 some minutes. Maybe I just suck that bad...:eek::o

Absolutely not! There's no sucking there! Those are respectable times, windy or not, and I'm guessing from its nickname Chitown is windy.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Heck...am I the only one who thinks that 30 miles in 2 hours is pretty dang good??? :confused: Yesterday, I rode 42 miles with my cycling partner...and it took us 2 hrs and 40 some minutes. Maybe I just suck that bad...:eek::o

No, you are not the only one. My average is usually around 10mph. Way slower than just about any of you! ;)

[Trekhawk]

It's not that you're too needy, it's that your body needs are different.


Veronica

I agree with V. I can not find the link but I remember someone posting an article about the fuel requirements of men and women during exercise. I think the gist was that men can exercise for longer using stored fuel but this is not the same for women. Also it mentioned that carbo loading in days before an event worked for men but not women.:)

[malkin]

Maybe we are all freaks of nature!

kancamagus Is this a real name? If I ever get tired of being malkin, maybe I'll become that!
All amid the dragon fungus lived the mysterious chicamungus...

[Veronica]

It's a road in NH - very beautiful and very hilly. I've only been out there once, even though I grew up in Maine. My sister and I went for a drive out that way.

http://tandemhearts.com/coppermine/albums/nova-scotia-2006/46-ns.jpg

Some scenery from the drive. :)

Veronica

[Crankin]

And it's a *very* tough climb.

[Bike Chick]

I also think it takes 4 to 5 years to build a good set of "bike legs." I've noticed that it doesn't take me near as long to get up to speed in the spring than it did the first 2 to 3 years of riding and I'm just as active or less active in the winter.

And one rule I learned the hard way: Never, ever, take off on your bike without food and water no matter how far you are going.

While on a camping/bike trip in Wisconsin one year the group decided at dinner to eat breakfast the next morning at a local restaurant in town before hitting the road for the day so DH and I woke up, packed up our tent and headed out with the group only to pass the restaurant on our way out of town. When we spoke up we learned that some folks in the group had decided we would ride to the next town (30 miles away) and have breakfast there. They had forgotten to tell us. Besides being really po'd, we rode the next 30 miles on a stale, half-eaten Clif bar we split between the two of us. I have never gotten on the bike without food since.

[marni]

the trick is to drink before you get thirsty and eat before you get hungry. Depedning on where you are in your training, weight,weather ,road conditions and riding style that may be every 10 miles or 25.

It also depends on what you eat and drinkas you ride I drink a combination of FRS and Accelerade when I ride. The Accelerade actually has quite a bit of whey protein in it so if I've eaten my morning steel cut oats with blueberries and walnuts, I can go a couple of hours at least before I need to eat but by the time I stop to nosh, I will have also gone through at least 22 ounces of accelerade and another 12 of FRS. Of course in the summer, in thhe heat and humidity of Houston I run out of liquid in 20 miles.

Right now I am working myself up to riding at least 30 miles before I step off the bike. but that is to build up TITS time (time the saddle) for some long distance rides. I alternate addind on five miles before I step down and then bringing my speed up over the same distance,Doing it iin 5 mile increments allows me to fine tune the nutrition aspect.

I firmly believe that you can never drink too much water either on or off the bike.

marni

[echidna]

Hi -
You may be able to store 2000 kcal of glycogen WHEN you're well-trained. It doesn't just appear in the muscles. You have to "teach" them - through repetitive training rides - that glycogen stores are required. Glycogen storage in muscle is an expensive process, metabolically speaking, and our bodies are programmed to be efficient. If you don't appear to need something, it goes away. When you stop using your muscles, the enzymes that help store muscle glycogen aren't made in the same quantity any more. It takes time to build the system up again.

Early in the season - particularly in a second season, where your body doesn't have as much memory of years of riding - you're not going to have enough storage to put down a 2-hour hard ride without adding fuel - and possibly electrolytes.

When you're more into the swing of things with your riding season, you may be able to head out the door for a 2-hour ride with a bottle of water and one of carb/electrolyte beverage and be perfectly good to go. That's because your body has learned to store more glycogen, and use it more efficiently. It may take several seasons before that system goes into "autopilot" as other posters have alluded to.

Did a club ride with a guy who's riding into shape yesterday. Seventy miles. He did great for - you guessed it - two hours. Up at the front, riding like one of the big dogs. No one guessed he was struggling. Then he bombed. Cramping AND bonking. He NEEDED fuel and electrolytes to get through the ride - as well as a lot of encouragement. Training up/getting fitter is hard. Don't make it harder on yourself by not fueling up as much as you need.