Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Benchmarks

Is there an effective way to tell when you are ready for the longer rides? I want to try a 50 mile ride with a friend, but i do not know how ready I am. I regularly ride 15-20 miles with no trouble. I figure I could add a mile a day until I reach the goal, but that would take the fun away. Is there some level I should be at in the 20 mile range, or do I just have to try and see what happens?

try and see what happens is the best way, i think.

don't worry if you feel beat after your first 50-miler - the second time you try it, it'll surely be a little easier.

just make sure your friend is willing to wait for you if you slow down over the longer distances. if not, it may be best to try it alone the first time around.

If you can do 3/4 of the distance with no great strain, you should be fine. Part of the trick is to increase your training distance 10-15% a week, til you're in that range. Another part is to eat and drink (lots!) while riding. Count on 200-300 calories per hour. You'll be burning more than that, but 200-300 cal seems to be the limit for what most folks can absorb while exercising.

SP
Bend, OR

If you can do 20 you should be able to do 50, especially with care toward your food/water intake and with one or two shortish rest breaks. Just don't rush it, and don't go out too fast, and you'll get there eventually, especially if you do an out-and-back route where you don't leave yourself any shortcut options :)

I did my first 50-miler back when my usual long ride was in the 17-mile range. It's definitely do-able.

My biggest mistake was trying to do it on 2 water bottles and no food. Take along some food -- about the equivalent of 1 banana for every hour of the ride. In addition, try to drink about 1 bottle of fluid every hour.

You can get a lot more sophisicated than that, but those basics should make your first half-century a pleasant one. (However I make no promises about butt/leg soreness!)

Is there an effective way to tell when you are ready for the longer rides?Who knows? What do you mean by "effective?"Some exercise coaching experts advise the 3X rule.

The rule states that no workout or hard effort should be more than "three times" the daily base that the athlete maintains. Typically this means if you ride an hour a day, you're ready to go for three hours. Obviously this kind of speculation is ridiculous - your mileage may vary.

Any by the way, again another thread uses "only mileage" as a metric of ride difficulty. Hills and wind can make a ride three times as long, ten times as difficult.

Another metric is the weekly mileage rule: you can ride as far in a day as you have been riding in a week. Rando folks know this understates it a little - you can probably ride further than that, but you're going to hurt. There's also the 2X rule: you want to ride a distance fast and easily, then ride 2X that distance per week for a few weeks. So for your ride, you'd ride 100 miles/week for maybe 3 weeks before. You still may run into eating/drinking issues that you didn't anticipate. If you find yourself sitting in a ditch while your eyes strobe, eat something.

If you find yourself sitting in a ditch while your eyes strobe, eat something.

... or wandering around in a strange village (http://groups.google.com/group/ohiorandos/browse_thread/thread/856a9e9d57ee2ea1?hl=en) and you can't remember where your bike is, eat, drink, sleep and get an EKG.

... or wandering around in a strange village (http://groups.google.com/group/ohiorandos/browse_thread/thread/856a9e9d57ee2ea1?hl=en) and you can't remember where your bike is, eat, drink, sleep and get an EKG.

holy sh1t, that's a great story!!


I remember little from the rest of the night. I remember talking to a
horse during the night. I remember thinking that the rain felt like
it was getting warmer and that I could just lay down there and would
be ok. And I remember thinking that this must just be a wild dream.


At about 8:00 the next morning the local gendarmes found me walking in
circles around a very tiny French village of about 8 houses. I did
not know where I was, who I was or what I was doing. I was mumbling
incoherently. And, worst of all, I was without my bike. They put me
in the police van and called an ambulance.

and he still finished in 66 hours... wow.

holy sh1t, that's a great story!! and he still finished in 66 hours... wow.

One tough (crazy?) hombre, huh?

One tough (crazy?) hombre, huh?

if i've learned anything from the rando world in the last year, it's that there is a very thin line between crazy and tough - sometimes they even overlap.

thanks again for sharing that link, great story.