Advice for a long event

[Kiwi Stoker]

I haven't done a ride more than 180km but here's what I have learnt for afterwards.

Make sure you prepared for after the ride beforehand. Mix a recovery drink up, have your loose clothing laid out and compression tights. Also have a selection of snacks in case you just cannot go out or face a meal.

Look into if a spa, pool etc is available- I used to love a soak in the pool after a full day of hot, sweaty riding.

Elevate your legs (if you have compression tights just putting a pillow under them will really help).

I find a massage the day afterwards is the best. They really can only do a light rub at the tents on the finish line if they have them.

[velo]

Wow! How lucky am I to have such experienced ladies willing to take so much time to help me out. Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your thoughtful and excellent advice. I literally wrote down everything in my cycling journal so I can have these words of wisdom with me. Here's kind of a summary of most of what I've read:

- Ride your OWN ride; don't get caught up in the excitement and ride out fast
- The first 20 or 30 should feel "too easy" - this means you're pacing yourself
- Eat early, eat frequently and eat small (I know that your body can only absorb about 350 calories/hour, so I plan to eat just about that amount and plan on a variety of things including honey stinger blocks, pb on mini ww bagels, bananas, mini snickers, which I like better than payday, gels, sports beans, and turkey/cream cheese roll ups, cut into little spirals)
- Gear down early and often ; spin instead of hammer; anticipate climbs and descents
- Don't stop unless you have to and keep breaks short (I will have personal SAG vehicle, so plan to use the organized stops mainly for the port-a-potties and plan to pack my own lunch)
- Eat every 15 minutes or so (I have set a timer on my garmin to go off every 30 minutes just in case, so I'm eating AT LEAST that often, as every 15 is more frequent than I have been eating on my centuries)
- Sweet will become unappetizing in the last 1/3 of the ride - have something savory (great advice and this is what I've been doing for my centuries)
- Have plenty of sunscreen and perhaps sunsleeves as temps will feel different than true air temp
- Have a personal SAG stop at Greenfield, as next SAG is a ways away
- Frozen washcloths near end - heaven!!
- Use a top tube bag for food
- At start, keep to the right and hold my line to avoid the chaos
- Get to the start early and get to the front of the pack
- Endurolyte pills
- Cut food into small chunks (another very excellent piece of advice that I had not thought of)
- Paydays (I prefer Snickers, but same principle - fast energy, but not too fast to spike blood sugar)
- Note symptoms of heat stroke in others and self
- Put ice in sports bra; have lots of cold energy drinks and water
- EAT THE POPSICLE!

Thank you again for ALL of the great advice. I have ridden this, but it's been so many years, I have a hard time remembering much other than the heat and that ascent into Richmond. I think I have a pretty good base - I'll have about 2350 at the end of this week and by go-time probably close to 3000 with an additional 500 trainer miles. I plan on my longest ride before to be 130 miles, then a week to 10 days of taper with my last ride being a very easy ride on Thursday.

Indy, thank you again for your experienced advice.

Susan - you totally rock and I am in awe of your abilities. What you are doing is nothing short of amazing and proof of how strong women are. I hope you thoroughly enjoy Alaska (how cool is that?!!) and the UK this summer. Fun! Thank you again for all of your sage advice. I will take it all to heart and be thanking you from the saddle next month.

[thekarens]

This is a total thread jack, but Susan do you have a blog? I'd love to follow it if you do. What amazing adventures to ride in such cool places for those distances!

[indysteel]

As far as eating every 15 minutes versus 30. I typcially don't eat that often either, but that's why I ate smaller chunks of food during RAIN. It was less food but more often. I think it helped.

Wow; a 130-mile ride a week or so before RAIN. That's more ambitious than anything I did to train for it, and I have to wonder whether a week to ten days will be enough to recover from it. Maybe I'm just slow to recover, but I will tell you that took me about two full weeks after RAIN to feel like myself again physically and mentally. If I were you, I'd either forego that ride altogether or do it at least two full weeks in advance. I truly believe that your base is more than adequate as is. But perhaps some of the ultra-distance cyclists on TE will chime in on that.

[velo]

I'm sorry Indy, I may have not been clear. No, I'm planning to do the 130 one day this weekend, three weeks from the ride. I might try one more century the following weekend (the final bit of the course - out and back), but after that... at the 2 week mark... plan to not do anything ambitious at all. I'm slow to recover, too, and will need that full 2 weeks to take it easy, do some spinning for moderate distances and then that last week really cut it down. Last few days prior will be little to no riding, with perhaps some easy walks. Trying to be smart about this. I know you can over-train and then mess things up for the event day.

[indysteel]

I'm sorry Indy, I may have not been clear. No, I'm planning to do the 130 one day this weekend, three weeks from the ride. I might try one more century the following weekend (the final bit of the course - out and back), but after that... at the 2 week mark... plan to not do anything ambitious at all. I'm slow to recover, too, and will need that full 2 weeks to take it easy, do some spinning for moderate distances and then that last week really cut it down. Last few days prior will be little to no riding, with perhaps some easy walks. Trying to be smart about this. I know you can over-train and then mess things up for the event day.

That makes good sense. Let us know how the 130-miler goes.

[Catrin]

No constructive comments to make, but have fun! It looks like you have some great advice from those who know. Do keep us posted on how everything goes!