Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Healthy or Harmful for really long rides

Just like some feedback
for people who do long hours and distances on a bike? So i am talking about 100km rides or more
65 miles +
200 km even in one day etc
12 hours rides etc using as examples

is it still healthy to ride that long on the body? or is there a point of it being dangerous to the person?
lets assume the cyclist doing long distances is reasonably fit
not a couch potato

You get Stronger.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/ScreenShot094.jpg
The 42 Ride NY to LA
72 miles a day average for 58 days:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/577805-The-42-Ride-Ends-in-LA

Meet Dex 61 y/o rider

2989 miles in 12 days 19 hours
http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/rcracer.php?s_N_Entry_IDx=2728&s_N_Entry_ID=2728&s_N_Year_ID=34

If you eat & hydrate well during the ride a 200k will do nothing but good.

It's not bad for you in itself, but the potential for trouble increases the longer you ride.

As long as you do it right, it's as beneficial as any other form of exercise. There is always the chance you might get an injury, but about the same as any other sport.

100 km really isn't very long. It's sort of the gateway to long distance cycling.

Riding 100 km once a week, or even several times a week shouldn't be harmful as long as your bicycle is set up correctly (to reduce injury and increase comfort), as long as you're eating and drinking enough, and consuming enough electrolytes, and as long as you listen to your body and rest when needed (both during the ride and between rides).

I don't see any harm in it. I do at least on 65-100 mile ride a week along with 5 other rides of 25+ miles each.

The only "harm" I experience is a sore butt because I just cannot find the right saddle. :lol::lol:

Oh, I do have trouble sleeping after doing a long ride. I think my metabolism just gets strung up and messes me up for a night.

Oh, I do have trouble sleeping after doing a long ride. I think my metabolism just gets strung up and messes me up for a night.

I have trouble sleeping the night before a long or longish ride ... but after I sleep like a log. And lately, I sleep like a log for several nights after.

I wish I could ride 100km per day, it's just not practical for me. From a training perspective, it's probably not the way to go

Hey i like the calender - I used to use one just like that before I started using Excel.

And 72 miles a day is impressive.

Why do people post simple questions that they already know the answer to?

The time spent performing an activity has nothing to do with whether it is "healthy." Is working in an office 40 hours a week "harmful" or healthy?

In general the genetic disposition for human beings dictates that considerable activity is desirable to avoid many diseases and lengthen life span.

However, for each person, and for each situation there is a basis or "it depends" disclaimer when trying to determine the costs and benefits of a course of action.

But I don't understand these simple suppositions. If you are smart enough to type you should know these things as common sense. And if you don't - no amount of of didactic exposition will enlighten you.

Nice calendar, didnt u find u burned out at all with a big workout plan like that?

Nice calendar, didnt u find u burned out at all with a big workout plan like that?

No, I ride with others and have fun on each ride.
Here is pic at 2000 milies.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/Oct20102000Miles.jpg

way a go. That is great.

How often do u change the tires/
i see u use a touring bike
3 chain rings, that is good.

what has been ur most challenging ride to date

Hey i like the calender - I used to use one just like that before I started using Excel.

And 72 miles a day is impressive.

From the calendar: 22 rides for 2047 miles = 93 mile average

The 72 mile came from The 42 Ride NY to LA

way a go. That is great.

How often do u change the tires/
i see u use a touring bike
3 chain rings, that is good.

what has been ur most challenging ride to date

The bike is a Felt F-80/85 road bike. I use a topeak beam seat post rack and 700 X 28 tires.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/F-85.jpg

Most challenging:

My 2nd 100 mile ride, a timed ride at The Indianapolis Speedway 500 Race Track.
Took everything I had to finish.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/Bartape2.jpg

Most fun:

The 42 Ride:
Got Paid to ride this one.

http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/South%20Super%20Racer%20Girls/?albumview=slideshow

West Texas Big Big Bend Ride:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/TMT%20BB%20Ride/t.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/TMT%20BB%20Ride/IMG_4165.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/TMT%20BB%20Ride/IMG_4141.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/TMT%20BB%20Ride/BFTMT.jpg

Looks like a great event. I was looking at your photo bucket photos, lots of nice friends

any plans in future to do such an event again,
was this just something random organized or was it with a specific organization that does rides across the usa like that? if so i might be interested, cheers

I got it from BF.

They flew us to NY and then home from LA
$3000 salary + $25 per diem each day.
2 support vans stayed with us each day. They supplied riding foods and drinks. 1 truck carried are stuff.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/541606-42Ride-A-huge-bike-ride-across-the-country.-And-people-get-paid-to-do-it-!

would u do it again

When I rode across the country, it was 3500 miles in 32 days with no rest days. 48 hours a week pedaling. My body survived just fine. The key is to get enough sleep and keep fed/hydrated. Of course it took a couple weeks for my legs to recover once I was done, but there was no harm that I could see.

would u do it again

It was a bike riders dream...

Many cycletourist ride approx. 100 km a day for several days, then take a day off, and repeat for the duration of their tours.


I prefer to cycle a bit less than that on tours so I have the time to stop and see things along the way. On my 3-month tour of Australia back in 2004, I averaged about 80 km a day, including some very long days, some shorter days, and lots of days right around the 80 km distance.


worldtraveller ... how often were you planning to ride 100 km and longer distances? You don't mention if you were planning to do them daily, or once a week, or once a month ...

You know - I guess form medical perspective exercise or any activity probably starts going down hill after 12-16 hours.

And if you incorporate a biological perspective and give credence to the theory of circadian rhythms then you know you're starting to hurt yourself after 24 hours.

I don't know who has studied or researched this "forced activity" recently. And you have to remember - medical research is never supposed to be knowingly harmful - so again who knows.

Most of the tenets surrounding life, longevity and health are based on the premise or regular life-long activity along with routine habits and regular as well as adequate rest periods.

Go crazy for 24 hours, but get plenty of rest afterwards- just saying.........

Long distance riding is bad for your bone density, but that is about it.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/is-bicycling-bad-for-your-bones/

So if its bad for bone density? then would increasing intake of protein and calcium. fix the problem?

So if its bad for bone density? then would increasing intake of protein and calcium. fix the problem?

Walking and weightlifting would help.


I walked about 800 km over the past year. Good for the calves, hopefully good for the bones too.

Did no one else notice this?

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/when-exercise-is-too-much-of-a-good-thing/

Short version is, both prospective and retrospective studies have shown a link between long-term participation in ultra-endurance sports and heart problems.

My knee-jerk reaction, of course, is to reject it, to say, "no, that's wrong, there's no way that can be true." But I'm trying to keep an open mind. I'm not giving up rando -- yet -- but I'm sure going to keep watching this issue.

Why do people post simple questions that they already know the answer to?

The time spent performing an activity has nothing to do with whether it is "healthy." Is working in an office 40 hours a week "harmful" or healthy?

In general the genetic disposition for human beings dictates that considerable activity is desirable to avoid many diseases and lengthen life span.

However, for each person, and for each situation there is a basis or "it depends" disclaimer when trying to determine the costs and benefits of a course of action.

But I don't understand these simple suppositions. If you are smart enough to type you should know these things as common sense. And if you don't - no amount of of didactic exposition will enlighten you.

I've worked with ultra athletes in business. It's a problem. From my small sampling I say they have difficulty focusing on tricky technical tasks mixed in with regular office interactions, and they tend to lose focus in long meetings. It's like all those monotone hours in the saddle or pounding the pavement trains the brain to idle. So, as a matter of common sense, if your activity includes 10 hours a day of extreme repetitive experience, it has an affect. I guess you'll decide for yourself if it's "healthy".

Just like some feedback
for people who do long hours and distances on a bike? So i am talking about 100km rides or more
65 miles +
200 km even in one day etc
12 hours rides etc using as examples

is it still healthy to ride that long on the body? or is there a point of it being dangerous to the person?
lets assume the cyclist doing long distances is reasonably fit
not a couch potato

This is not a simple question to answer. Generally, when you exercise the body breaks down tissue to some extent and has to detoxify it. The harder and longer the effort the more tissue is broken down and the longer the recovery time is needed. However, several things can effect this recovery time. How fit a person is. How old. Diet quality. Genetic endowment. Because the body only gets stronger during recovery time it is usually better to do high intensity short duration exercise most of the time. Yet, your body is compose of different muscle types that need different kinds of training. Basically, slow, medium and fast twitch muscles. And different people have different ratios of these muscle types so people have a tendency to gravitate towards exercise that works for their body and mind type. Generally, it works best of you ride long rides really, really slow so that you are only using slow twitch muscles. This builds endurance and gives the medium and fast twitch muscles time to recover. Then you should do lots of shorter really, really hard workouts most of the time. Which allow the slow twitch muscles to recover while the fast and medium twitch muscles are working.

Most people who are reasonably fit can do about up to 2 hours a day of medium level exercise and recover for the next day. When you start going over this time period you have to start managing your efforts or exercise timing and type to aid in recovering. So if you are doing 8 hours a day of exercise it is going to have to be at a low intensity. However, high intensity exercise is about 8 times more effective at building fitness. A 1 hour ITT at about 95% maximum effort would be more effective that 8 hours of slow low intensity exercise at burning fat, building muscle, and raising your metabolic rate. Plus you have more time to recover.

But it is also mentally difficult for most people to do this type of exercise. So most people focus on the long easy aerobic types of exercise.

You have to build up to doing long distance riding and find a combination of distances, speed and how often you can do it that works for you.

For instance 10 wheels could probably improve his speed if he did only 2 100 mile rides a week and did the other days as short intense rides. But speed may not be his objective as much as endurance and riding enjoyment.

So if its bad for bone density? then would increasing intake of protein and calcium. fix the problem?
My understanding is that because cycling is not a load-bearing exercise, and because you sweat out calcium, massive amounts of cycling can cause osteoporosis.

Most cyclists don't ride enough for this to be a problem. Someone like 10Wheels, though, might want to be careful. ;)

Calcium supplements will help but aren't a cure-all. Adding a load-bearing exercise (like running) may help.

If you're older you might want to get a bone density test anyway and let your doc tell you if you're below average.

Did no one else notice this? http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/when-exercise-is-too-much-of-a-good-thing/
Yes, it was discussed in this subforum when it came out.

As I said in that thread, that study discusses life-long elite endurance athletes and is still a bit preliminary. If you are in that elite group and are concerned, you might want to get your cardiologist to check for cardiac fibrosis. If you aren't, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

It's certainly not strong enough evidence to say that "amateur-level endurance sports are bad for you."

I've worked with ultra athletes in business. It's a problem. From my small sampling I say they have difficulty focusing on tricky technical tasks mixed in with regular office interactions, and they tend to lose focus in long meetings...

That's funny. Maybe the athletes you are working with are just not very smart to begin with? Did you work with them before they became ultra-athletes and note their loss of focus and ability to do technical tasks as they progressed in the sport? Of the ultra athletes I ride/race with two own their own companies, one is a Senior manager at of a Fortune 500 company and one has a Doctorate in Chemistry. Based on my observations ultra cycling is not only healthy for you, it can also make you well off financially! Just because you happen to notice a trend does not mean there is a direct correlation...

Yet, your body is compose of different muscle types that need different kinds of training. Basically, slow, medium and fast twitch muscles.

My muscles just seem to twitch sporadically. :)

KeS