Advice for a long event

[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!

[velo]

Well, this weekend helped to boost my confidence a little bit and I made sure to take the advice given here to assure success. Thank you again, all.

I was able to get in a 130 mile solo ride on Friday and was happy with both my average and how I felt afterward. I finished right at 8 hours in the saddle with only 3 short 10 minute breaks in between. My hydration was good, as indicated by needed pit stops (). WW bagels with PB, bananas, honey stinger energy chews (sweet, but not as bad as gels), and Skratch got me through the ride. Had half of a turkey sandwich on last two pit stops and each stop, downed a bottle of water, consuming a total of about 11 large bottles of fluid. Afterward my legs were tired, but I feel that I could have ridden another 30. The biggest hurdle was just boredom, since I was alone.

I rode a short, very slow recovery ride of about 20 on Saturday and then was able to ride a short, medium effort ride on Sunday of about 25.

I'll do a century next weekend, then about 10 days out start tapering and upping my calorie and fluid intake. Should have a base of about 3000 miles by the time of the event, so I think I'm about as prepared as I can be. Just trying to ride when it's hot to acclimate my body, as I'm a hot weather wimp.

Any additional thoughts or advice is very welcome!!

Susan - can't wait to hear your report of the Alaska ride!!

[indysteel]

Velo, you rock. One hundred and thirty solo miles with a 16+ mpg average is awesome. You have RAIN in the bag.

[velo]

I hope so, Indy. Thanks! I think I'm going to be about as prepared as I can without quitting my p/t job and neglecting my family.

[Susan Otcenas]

You have RAIN in the bag.

I agree with Indy. Looks like you are very very well prepared for this event. Sounds like you are doing everything right, practicing your event day strategies, and listening to the very sage advice provided here. All that's left to do is to stay healthy, then enjoy the event!!

As for me, the Alaska Solstice 600K was freakin' AWESOME. I haven't written a ride report yet, but I've put up a ton of photos in a public album on my facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/susan.otcen...5691132&type=1 Photos never really do it justice, though. The ride organizer got some great shots as well. I love this one of me, riding along the still partially frozen Summit Lake https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater The ride is super remote, with vast stretches with ZERO services. You really need to be self sufficient. I carried lots of food and 3 bottles at all times, plus all my repair gear, warm clothes, etc. If you want to see the route, I uploaded my ride segments to Strava, here. http://app.strava.com/athletes/870991 We lucked out with incredible weather, warm days, not too cold at night, and a rippin' tailwind for part of the first day. I had no mechanicals, got nearly 4 hours sleep at the overnight control at 400K, and recorded my best ever 600K finish by over 2 hours. (finished 600K - 372 miles -in 34:50). Having 24 hours of daylight certainly helped, as I usually slow down in the dark, which wasn't an issue here. All in all, an incredible weekend.

[velo]

Hi all. Just wanted to give a quick update even though it's been 2 weeks. We had a great ride and beautiful, warm, but not hot weather in spite of 12 or so mph headwind the whole way (this is a one-way ride). We had one mechanical that really set us back. My husband SAGged for the 4 of us, so we waited and he whisked bike and rider away to the nearest bike shop (we were still in metro Indianapolis) to get bike fixed. That probably cost us about 1.5 hours or so, maybe a little less. Nutrition was good, hydration was good and I felt strong at the end. My garmin says 162.11 miles, 10:22 rolling time, and just under 4800ft of ascent. I'm very happy with that. Because the end is a slight upward grade and the wind was in our face the whole day, I told my husband that if we didn't have others with us, I would have turned around and done 38 more to get my first ever in my life double-century in. That would have been the day to do it. I really nailed the nutrition and feel like my training was adequate. So all around, it was a success and it was nice to do this very wonderfully organized event again after being away from it so long. Kudos to all of the volunteers and organizers cheering us all along the way and a special thanks to my husband and daughter for spending a long and BORING day leap-frogging us across the state. Finally, thank you to all of you here for your words of wisdom and encouragement. Just goes to show that this is not a solo sport - it takes a team.