Non sport related but I am aiming to be more positive and control stress and anxiety better as well. Ive started with some small changes.
Firstly tidying my desk, I do my personal projects at my desk as well as work and I didnt tidy up after so I am trying to work with soldering irons, glue guns, endless bits and bobs all over my desk. Now its completely clear.
I used to check my Teams and Email as soon as I wake up, I told myself that I have teams hours a head and I need to respond early, but thats bollocks, Im not operational, they dont need an instant response. Unless there is an emergency, work will have me for the 9-5 and nothing else. Teams and email apps are off my home screen on my phone and notifications are off out of hours.
Exactly - a lot of my rides naturally fall in the 80km range so I typically don’t make much effort to push further on a regular basis. I might at least keep track on how it goes. EDIT - hit c20 in 2018 and 2019 whilst doing c105 miles / week but in 2020 and 2021 did fewer longer rides despite similar weekly mileage, probably lockdown related.
Having hit 100,000m of ascent in 2021, I’m less bothered about an ascent target but if it’s on, I’ll probably push for it again
Exactly this.
Club runs tend to be 70-80km.
I’m now 1km from the meeting place, I used to live 12km away, so easily got over 100km each ride.
I managed 23 in 2021
Nine of those were imperial centuries, and two of those were 200km
Highlights of that year were;
167km on my birthday in 0 degrees in the snow
163km the following week in 20 degrees!!!
163km on the TT bike the following month (May) in the snow and hail
2 x 200km rides on back to back weekends
162km Derby to Buxton and back ride (as per @mw22) - only it chucked it down for me!
142km IMUK DNF after three punctures
162km hilly (1,917m) death march the following week
179km Outlaw Bike leg
164km Winter Solstice ride (never again! Freezing - only just made it in the daylight )
If you’re doing gravel rides 100km will take a greater time/training load than many road routes. Would the goal be more achievable if it was 25 x 4hr rides?
I think these sorts of goals are so important. All power to you. I’m trying not to look at my phone at all before 8:30am or after 10pm. Plus the usual drink more water and get better sleeping habits.
I’m looking at my year and trying to come up with a semblance of a plan/targets to keep me motivated.
My own, and that of my friends’ has somewhat diminished for the Trans Kernow that we entered for April. I don’t think i CBA with the logistics, kit, time away etc. So instead, i’m thinking about a long solstice-ish ride (i.e. on the weekend before or after). If the weather is decent, it’s 16.5 hours between sunrise and sunset.
Haven’t ever ridden over 180 km before, so was initially thinking about a 200km ride. But then with that much daylight, even at 20kph, a target of 250km seems reasonable (bearing in mind we have unavoidable hills here - no flat routes in any direction without a rudder and sails).
I’d never ridden over 180 either - I managed almost 300 on a day trip once. Albeit with a group for first half.
I think if you’ve got 180 in the legs; you’ll be fine going to 250. My issues werent muscle or nutrition (going slow enough you can digest anything). But comfort elsewhere…
Shoulders were absolutely wrecked and I was holding onto top of bars which I never do. The other was my feet swelling up (Was quite warm) so rode the last hour or 2 with shoes pretty much undone.
This. Can have all three meals at a cafe and enjoy it
Break it up as four rides of ~80km.
So 50miles, breakfast.
50 miles, lunch.
50 miles “tea”
50 miles to home.
The target of riding 100km every other week plays into the above and breaking it up.
I rode my first measured 200km on my birthday back in 2019 - just to Chirk and back at 30kmh.
It makes an IM bike leg seem easy.
I did 262.5km in 2020 - it was 32° and I got cramp at the end about 30km from home, so-called it a day
I also had a chorizo scotch egg half way and spent the next two hours wretching
That one was HILLY and took 11 hours
The 2x200km rides in 2021 were FLATAF and >30kmh.
2022 I got bored of my own company and quit. It was also the day of a train strike and I didn’t want to get to Llandudno knackered and gave to get a taxi home
2023 is an organised one, so should be easier.
Target is just to finish, so people messsing around and taking forever at cafes shouldn’t bother me
“Right let’s go!”
I need the toilet.
So do I.
I need to adjust my brakes.
I just need to call my GP
Etc etc. like sat down for 20mins and you ain’t done that?!?!?
It’s that which grates on me
I’ve just signed up to Komoot, as it seems to be de rigeur for the bikepacking/gravel pit crowd. It plots some pretty tidy routes even with limited input from me.
Greenwich Observatory to home is 295kms … that seems like the kind of pointless ride that makes sense around solstice-ish time. Train up, ride back.
Fair point. Hadn’t really thought about that. I was pretty much ready to lob my bike in a ditch towards the end of the IM, and that was only a 6.5hr ride!!!
I had forgot about that!
Yeah. So this. It’s quite painful and consumed my thoughts up until I got cramp.
I ended up buying some wide fit size 12 shoes for hot/long days
I didn’t find it anything like that. And I’ve felt the same at IM each time.
It was enjoyable, REALLY enjoyable (I got lucky with the weather and wind - god must like me more than Poet!). But it was a whole different level of pain tho. So plan those breaks, be as comfortable as possible from the outset. Change positions whenever you can. An ache at 100km will be crippling 8 hours later!
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