Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Multi Day Riding - London to Paris

In June I'm cycling 310 miles over 4 days as part of the London to Paris charity ride.

I feel my training is going OK but I've been accused along with another person of being competitive when sharing my training plans and using a training plan which is over the top. I'm not going to go into the details now as I don't want to affect the answers.

If you were helping someone train for a 310 mile multi day ride with the longest day being 90 miles and the ride was in the first week of June, what values would you expect for these questions in mid march

1) Max distance on a weekend ride
2) Total distance per week
3) Average speed for the max distance ride.


If you have anything else you'd like to add regarding the training I'd be very interested.

I'd ride pretty much however I wanted to in March, since the ride is still three months away.

Weekends, I'd either blow it off entirely, do short jaunts, or go on centuries.

My work commute is 25 miles, round trip, so I'd try to keep that up daily for a weekly total of 125 plus whatever the weekends held.

I'd aim for an average speed on distance rides that was .5 mph faster than my usual.

But mostly, I'd think up some sharp retorts for people calling me names over a training schedule.

I'll add a few more details as your answer was on track for me but as this is a charity ride most of the people so far could be classed as non riders.

If someone at this point in time could not complete a 5 mile ride how would you rate their chances of completing the ride?

If someone at this point in time could not complete a 5 mile ride how would you rate their chances of completing the ride?

Improving that much in so little time is such a function of the individual's personality, I wouldn't even hazard a guess. Somebody who can do it can do it. Somebody who can't can't. It's certainly quite a lot to attempt, and most people wouldn't (not necessarily couldn't) do it.

I think you're right on that one. I went from not being able to cycle two miles to doing 65 miles (and feeling like death for a week) in about two months. But that was partly due to my refusal to be beaten by hills or give up and accept a lift. I didn't do anything like that distance again for an other four months and stuck at 30-40 miles as being a long ride with 20 miles as being decent.

Well, for most people 30-40 miles is a long ride. It's not until you venture into the asylum that your frame of reference changes. :)

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I do centuries for fun some weekends, and go for 40-mile jaunts on the occasional morning, but haven't done 310 in 4 days. It seems in my ballpark, though, so I thought my opinion could be relevant.

I'd like to see you doing a 30 miler in about 2 hours, plus another 30 miles or more during the week, right now. That would give you a good chance to work up to the ride from there.

A typical century training plan, 10 weeks out, which would apply well to your situation:

10 15 20 Off 12 40 15
10 16 21 Off 13 44 17
10 18 23 Off 15 48 18
11 19 25 Off 16 53 20
12 22 26 Off 18 59 22
13 23 29 Off 19 64 24
14 26 31 Off 20 71 27
16 27 33 Off 20 75 29
17 27 36 Off 20 75 32
19 28 36 0ff 10 5 begin ride

You only add 10% to your longest ride each week, which means you should be getting in a 40 miler this weekend. Based on that plan, and raw opinion, those other folks need to get off their

Chewy

Thanks for the advice and the confirmation of my concerns.

I'm quite happy doing 75-85 mile rides and not feeling particularly tired/stiff and and do back to back 50-60 miles rides over a weekend. I've got a 160Km ride with 2000m of climbing planned for early April and can do 60 miles in 4 hours. So with my current training plan I feel comfortable.

This weeks issue is that I gave blood on Tuesday and it hit me really hard and I've been finding it hard to do 20 miles at tempo to brisk. I'm going out tomorrow for 40-50 miles at pace below tempo as that's how fast that group rides.

If someone at this point in time could not complete a 5 mile ride how would you rate their chances of completing the ride?

Could not, would not, or did not?

This actually sounds more like a touring question. A lot of people tour (loaded) 100 mile days with little training other than commuting. 80 miles a day could be 3-4 hours in a paceline taking turns to pull at the front or perhaps just 4 20 mile 2 hr rides seperated by a nice picnic provided by the support crew. Both can be fun. What are you thinking, what are they thinking?

...do back to back 50-60 miles rides...can do 60 miles in 4 hours. So with my current training plan I feel comfortable...

It sounds like you're ready to rock right now; no worries.


...A lot of people tour (loaded) 100 mile days with little training other than commuting...

A good point. They could be thinking 8-10 mph all the way. Even so, they should put in 500 miles minimum between now and then, and it doesn't sound like they will. My commute is 120 miles a week; I could do the ride off that if it was 10 mph.

If you were helping someone train for a 310 mile multi day ride with the longest day being 90 miles and the ride was in the first week of June, what values would you expect for these questions in mid march

1) Max distance on a weekend ride
2) Total distance per week
3) Average speed for the max distance ride.

Did your friend ask for help?

If so, just go ride with your friend ... for fun. Don't worry about distance, and definitely don't worry about speed. Sometime in mid-May your friend might want to be able to handle a 60-70 mile ride, but for now, just have fun with it.




If someone at this point in time could not complete a 5 mile ride how would you rate their chances of completing the ride?

Their chances of completing the ride could be excellent.

And if your friend is unable to complete a 5 mile ride now, trying to get your friend to ride the 40 to 85 mile rides you're doing now is unreasonable. Leave your friend alone ... let your friend practice (not train) for this ride as your friend sees fit.

Luckilly it's not my friend, just someone posting on another forum who was criticising my training plan as being over the top. I'm just concerned by the amount of comments I'm seeing from people who're on this charity ride about the training they're doing. As you have to raise a minimum of £1,250 I think there's a real responsibility on the entrants to make sure they train sufficiently.

Really I don't even know why I care as there's nothing I can do about it, but I just feel people should take it seriously.

Luckilly it's not my friend, just someone posting on another forum who was criticising my training plan as being over the top. I'm just concerned by the amount of comments I'm seeing from people who're on this charity ride about the training they're doing. As you have to raise a minimum of £1,250 I think there's a real responsibility on the entrants to make sure they train sufficiently.

Really I don't even know why I care as there's nothing I can do about it, but I just feel people should take it seriously.

Some will, some won't. It's the same with the MS150 rides, or likely just about any charity ride. There is always a whole range of abilities and levels out there.


The other thing is that some people can pull off amazing rides with very little practice. I observed this while randonneuring in Manitoba. One of the ladies I rode with swam fairly regularly during the winter, but didn't touch her bicycle.

Come early April she would hop on and do a 100 km ride in preparation for the brevet season ... and then she'd do the 200K brevet, and 2-3 weeks later the 300K brevet, and 2-3 weeks later, the 400K brevet, and 2-3 weeks later, the 600K brevet. In between the brevets she might go out for a short evening ride around her neighborhood ... maybe, if she felt like it. After the 600K brevet in late June she might do one or two more rides during the rest of the summer, and then hang her bicycle up for the winter.

She did just fine on the rides, and wasn't stiff and sore after. But she ate well during the rides, and stretched lots during the rides, and didn't ride fast, and just had a great time out there.

Personally, I would want to do more riding than that in preparation for my brevets, but that worked for her. You just never know!