Very long ride......

Hi! I've been reading these forums for a bit now. There's always tons of good advice. So I thought I would ask for some.......

Has anyone done any ultra long distance rides? I am planning on doing a 24 hour, 326 mile ride at the end of June. I have been training and training and then training more. Seems like I spend most of my time at work or on a bike! Doesn't do a lot for the home life.

What I am wondering is: How do you convince yourself mentally that you are capable of doing such a long ride? I've done back to back centuries. Will do three in a row Memorial Day weekend. And in a couple weeks, will do about 170 in a day. But I still can't get my mind around the idea of 326 miles without much rest. Has anyone done something similar? Any ideas for me? Thanks in advance!

Well... I've never done anything like 326 miles (let me just say wow!) But when I do something challenging I try to break it down into more manageable chunks. Like when we did our first 200 K, the last five miles I was just talking myself through to the next turn. Because of course I had 3/4 of a mile left in my legs.

Last month I did a 91 mile ride with 9100 feet of climb and I just focused on each individual climb as it came up. That's what gets me through the most difficult stuff. I find knowing the course helps me a lot too. "Of course I can make it up this. I've done it before." On this ride I stopped about 25 miles before I had wanted to. My lower back was getting really sore and I just wasn't having fun anymore. I beat myself up a bit over it later (after a lot of sleep). But my wonderful hubby reminded me that it was the most climb I had ever done and my first serious ride on a single. So... if this is your first attempt at something SOOO monumental don't be afraid to quit if things don't feel right. I suspect you've trained enough to know what's regular fatigue and what's weird. And celebrate the attempt because anything more than what you've done before is an awesome accomplishment!

There's some good articles out there on ultra distance training. We've signed up to do a double century in October and so I've been doing some research on that. I did a Google search on training for doubles and then read what interested me. A few articles turned up about how RAAM riders prepare. Those might help you out and give you some ideas of what to expect. You might also look for anything on Paris - Brest - Paris or Boston - Montreal - Boston. Those aren't races, but they are wicked long rides. :D

Good luck. I look forward to hearing how you do.

Veronica

WOW!!! I've done that many miles, but only over a whole week!!! What a challenge for you! Anyway, don't have any advice for you, but wanted to pass along a website

http://www.ultracycling.com/

and also am cheering you on! You are probably riding one of your 3 centuries right now!!!