Catrin

For my 50th birthday last fall I learned how to ride a bike for the first time in my life For my 51st birthday, I am going to ride my very first 200K brevet on October 16 and have plans for more to come next year. I work with a personal trainer at my fitness club who is assisting on the fitness side, and as a mountain biker he certainly understands the fitness needed for endurance cycling.

I decided to do this about a month and a half ago and have been working to increase my endurance/mileage base since then. I have one "long" ride a week, and I try to get at least 3 "short" rides in. I try not to increase my long ride more than 10-15% each week, though I am trying to pay close attention to how my body feels before jumping the mileage.

For example, these past two Saturdays my long rides were 50 miles - had nutrition problems the first time (extremely hot/humid temps) so decided to keep it at the same mileage this past weekend. That went much better even though it took me considerably longer to do the same mileage due to it being a VERY hilly route. I am still looking for my inner hill-climbing beast Right now I am really focusing on hills as much as I can so I can get faster in them. I do not know how hilly the brevet will be, but it seems to be on the flat side of Columbus, OH.

This Saturday I will do my first metric, two weeks after that will bump it to 70 or so and see what that feels like. For a normal short ride I ride between 26-30 miles. I am capping my short rides at 30 miles.

Does this seem a reasonable progression in mileage? I am not the fastest out there, but outside of hills my average speed is around 13.5 on my beloved steel steed (Long Haul Trucker). Depending on how hilly the October 16 Brevet is, I am not concerned about a DNF due to not being fast enough and my speed will increase by then.

Any other suggestions about preparing for the Brevet?

gyorpb

Once you're reasonably fit, I wouldn't worry about the distance too much. 200K really isn't all that far. You'll run into things you have little experience with, though; navigation, perhaps riding in the dark.

.tsooJ

CliftonGK1

Sounds like you have a pretty good plan in place for fitness preparation. For a first one, some other things to be ready for:

- know how all your repair gear works, and practice fixing a flat. You don't want your first time to be trial-by-fire.
- get your route sheet ahead of time and do a computerized "pre-ride" with your favourite mapping site or software. Look for tricky turns, odd forks in the road, road name changes, and make notes on your route sheet.

Those are the two things I see new riders struggling with. One guy earlier this season couldn't get his pump to work because he never switched the chuck from Schrader to Presta. Last year I got more bonus kilometers than I care to mention due to not pre-checking the route, and not paying attention to mileage on the cue sheet: If a road sign is missing, knowing the route ahead of time is really helpful!

Barrettscv 

What 200k event are you planning for?

unterhausen

seems like a good plan. Work on the equipment too, lights and reflective gear may come into play at that time of year. Also think about how you will deal with the potential weather that you may run into. Probably need a rain jacket.

Catrin

It is a RUSA brevet in Galloway, Ohio on October 16.

I hadn't thought as far as the weather, this is a good idea. Thanks to CliftonGK1 for your advice on the mechanical basics. While I have practiced changing a tire on my other bike, I have not done so on my Long Haul Trucker - which is my all-day-long bike...

I am glad to hear that my approach seems reasonable - am trying not to ramp up my mileage so quickly that I get an over-use injury that would call a halt to everything.

StephenH

My advice: Ride like heck, ride 6 or 7 days a week, don't cap milage, set a minimum. 13.5 mph without the hills is slow, and makes for a long brevet once you add some breaks and hills and wind in.

FYI, I'll be 50 in September, rode my first 200k in June a year ago, still find it a challenge riding in the heat, but still got in 800 miles in July.

Catrin

I know it is slow...but I just learned how to ride a bike 8 months ago! I am not unhappy with that speed right now but do keep working on it - and I rode 600 miles in July. The "short ride" cap right now is to prevent an over-use injury until I am in condition.

Homeyba

I'm not a big fan of putting on miles just for the sake of putting on miles. You do need to increase your speed and climbing but you can do that pretty easily with speed and climbing specific training , which should be part of your brevet training anyway. Remember, it's quality training over quantity training!!!!! Over use injuries can be a problem, especially for new riders but I'm not sure about the "10% rule" though. I always thought that was pretty silly What's going to happen when the rides start getting longer? Are you going to ride 90 miles to train for 100, are you going to ride 900km to train for a 1000km???? Once you get up past 100-150 miles there isn't a whole lot of benefit as far as training goes except for figuring out your nutrition and later on the 600k your sleeping arrangements. Once you get to the point where you are doing 30-40 mile training rides 3-4 times a week, with speed and climbing work included and a 70-100 miles "long" ride on the weekends you should have a good base for everything up to a 1200km ride if you should want. btw, I'm 48...

RogerB

Catrin, I agree with your progressive approach. Overtraining or ramping up too fast can put a halt to everything. I'd say working the long rides in is also really important.

You might consider, on some of your shorter rides, working in some intervals. This will help you increase your average speed, as well as your strength for climbing, and even your on-bike recovery. At the very least, when you're on the long ride that matters, you'll mentally have "been there before."

RogerB

Homeyba pretty much beat me to it.

unterhausen

I'm a big fan of the 60% rule. Ride a 200k, 300k, 400k, 600k, and 1000k, and you are surely qualified to ride a 1200k.
Actually, I think that the longest ride you really should do in regular training is around 60 miles. And those should be quality miles, if you can't keep in good form over that distance, it's not really working as training. That was always my benchmark ride when I was racing. Anything over that distance is akin to a death march, easy to burn out if you do it regularly.

As far as longer distances, my first 300k was when I realized I could ride as far as I want. After that, I didn't really feel compelled to train over longer distances. Once I had that realization, I didn't really need to prove it to myself over and over. This year on the 400k, a lot of people dropped out due to the early season heat. I took forever because I was sick, but I did finish. There was never really much doubt, although I was wondering if I would finish in the time alloted. I still like riding longer distances, but I don't consider it training.


I have realized I needed more short, speedy training. My most miserable miles are in the first 100 miles, then things get better for me.

Catrin

I am trying to focus on quality riding as well as quantity - thought right now I am only doing one "long" ride a week - but am trying to ride 5 days a week. I am working on sprint intervals twice a week and am seeking out every hill that I can find. This can be challenging in central Indiana, but have started driving down to southern Indiana (Brown & Bartholomew counties) every two weeks for my long rides - LOTS of hills there.

I greatly appreciate all of the advice - it is quite helpful to hear this from those who do long-distance riding. Less than a year ago I was in horrible physical condition and am amazed at what I can do now - and have only just begun

Carbonfiberboy 

Yup, riding hills on a bicycle is where it's at. Totally weird concept but there it is. Good program. To train for whatever LD, 150-200 miles/week is plenty. You're right to keep working on speed. That's the secret.

I try to stand at least every 10 minutes, by the clock.

Nutrition and butt and neck pain are the commonest show-stoppers.

Other than time! Work on doing very quick control/rest stops. Brevet speed is about staying on the bike. Any speed is faster than stopped. Although - when I was learning to climb passes, I'd stop for 1 minute every 1/2 hour. That worked well.

thebulls

Hi, Catrin,

Sounds like you've got a good approach -- make sure that the "in-between" days, the days when you're not doing intervals or your weekly long ride, are just extremely-easy recovery rides, with heart rate as low as you can keep it. Let everyone else pass you on the bike path, or whatever. It's only on days where you are not working hard that your body can build and adapt to the really hard days. So if you never have recovery days, you make it really hard to get stronger. John Hughes of UMCA fame has a nice $3.99 article called "Intensity" about interval training on the Road Bike Rider website, see https://www.roadbikerider.com/bookstore.htm

If you haven't yet, you might email the Ohio ride organizer to see what they're planning for this brevet. Southeastern Ohio can have a lot of challenging hill climbs -- I grew up in Columbus and did a lot of hiking in the Hocking Hills.

Also, on ride speed -- you have 13-1/2 hours to finish a 200Km. So if you find you're riding a little slower than you'd hoped, or if you run into mechanical or other issues, keep an eye on the clock, but don't panic. For the first several years my rule of thumb was that if my overall average speed was above 10.8 mph then I didn't need to worry, and if it started to fall below then I was starting to be at risk for not being able to make up the time if I got a mechanical or some other issue. At 10.8 mph, you have a 1.5 mph buffer between you and DNQ/DNF. That rule is pretty good for events up to 400Km, but on a 600Km or longer it means you get very little sleep. As you progress to the longer events, then if you're trying to finish as fast as possible, then you need to think about Maximum Sustainable Speed, otherwise, Maximum Comfortably Sustainable Speed. It takes a lot of brevets to learn what you those speeds are for your fitness level, and what you need to do to be able to sustain them given the terrain, weather, etc. I've now ridden a little more than 25,000 Km of RUSA events, and I'm still learning with every ride, it's part of what makes it fun.

A big part of randonneuring is learning how to get in and out of controls fast. Don't ever think of them as rest stops -- your goal is to buy something edible or drinkable, get the card signed and get a receipt (even if it's not required, it's saved more than one brevet where I didn't notice that the clerk forgot to write the time), and get rolling again. Eat while you ride, just pedal slower for a bit. If you're riding with friends who are dawdling in the controls, I'd recommend saying "I'm just going to poke on down the road for a bit, I'll see you in a few minutes when you catch up." That usually gets them moving, but if not, then at least you'll be moving. If they don't catch up soon, then you might be riding by yourself for a bit, but with the comforting knowledge that they'll be coming up behind you if the cue sheet is confusing or whatever.

Above all, I try to follow the guidance of the two-week rule: If an injury is developing, figure out if it's something that'll likely heal in a couple of weeks, or something that is going to take longer (usually quite a bit longer). Tendon injuries take a long time to heal. Blistered feet or butts heal up fast. If it'll heal in less than two weeks, eat some ibuprofen, grit your teeth, and keep on rolling. The pain usually goes away in a bit. If it's going to take more than two weeks to heal, then you need to attend to the injury more than you need to finish the event. I've seen people finish a 200Km and it just hurts to look at them and then you don't see them again for a long time. Better to retreat and fight another day.

Aside from the two-week rule, generally, it's best to try to just keep going no matter what. You're going to be moving much faster even at 5mph than if you are walking or stopped. Usually if you're finding it really hard to just keep going it means you've gotten behind on eating. So eat something (no matter how much you may not want to), slow down and digest it, and soon your energy will come back up. Sometimes, if you're just completely staggered from a hard bit, it can be a huge pick-me-up to stop for just a few minutes, eat an energy bar, drink, and then get back on and ride. But if you stop more than a few minutes, it makes it that much harder to keep going again.

Look forward to reading your ride report.

Nick Bull

pmt

This really makes a difference; it's important to notice the upcoming control and say "OK, the control is coming, what do we need to do?" and make sure you're ready. Eat and drink on the bike; do *nothing* at the control that you can do while rolling. If you don't really need anything, but you have to buy something, plan in advance to just run in and get a little pack of Advil/gum/mints or such, so it won't weigh much but you'll use it at some point, even if not on this ride.

Another member of DCRand (Nick probably knows who) taught me last January to always "take a natural" in a desolate area, rather than at the control; it saves a lot of time not to wait in line.

A couple of us rode a Permanent today and practiced these guidelines with great results.

StephenH

I've spent my fair share of time at controls, but I think I needed that time, too! Not so much for rest as for cooling off.

I've never been on a brevet where there was a line at a bathroom, btw, maybe it's different up there where y'all have 100 guys going on a ride.

Catrin

Sadly I have had to put off the brevet until next spring. They moved the route to a much hillier terrain, and I've also pulled one of my hamstrings that is NOT happy with overly much hill climbing right now. I am still riding, but this has certainly interrupted my training I hate giving up on a challenge, but this is not a good combination.

I understand that brevets are generally a little easier in the spring and are typically the most challenging in the fall. This makes sense to me, we should be more fit in the fall than in the spring. Considering that I've only been actually riding for less than a year, waiting for the spring is probably not a bad idea anyway. I was looking forward to it though...but there will be other times.

So I am focusing on getting this hamstring to heal, riding as much as I can without causing pain, and looking forward to seeing what winter riding is like

lhbernhardt

When I first started riding a bike seriously back when I was in my early 20's, way back in the 70's, I'd follow stronger riders. It was hard at first, but the best advice I received at that time was, "you'll get used to it." And you will, all you need to do is just ride. Ride an hour and a half minimum every day, as easy or as hard as you want. You are not training to race, so you don't have to go hard. Going hard is just a shortcut that lets you avoid going long. One or two days a week (and not on consecutive days) go out for three and a half hours. On all of these rides, you should stay in the small front chainring and nothing bigger than the 15 or 16-tooth sprocket in back. If you are just starting out, you want to develop a spin that becomes second nature. You are training not only your muscles and aerobic system, you are also training your nervous system. If it becomes second nature to spin a small gear at 90 rpms, you will find that when you are riding in a group, you will be in the big ring and maybe the 16-tooth cog, and your body will just naturally spin this 80+ inch gear at 90 rpms and you'll feel comfortable doing it as you keep up with the strong riders.

And that's probably what my mentors back then meant when they said that I'd get used to it.

And the other thing about just starting out is that at some point, if you make too big a jump in your mileage, you will "bonk." You need to get thru this at some point; it happens to everybody. But the more you ride, the more efficient your body becomes. Right now, I could go out for a 100 km ride before breakfast without carrying any food, and I know I would not bonk. My body is just used to it. One thing you can start doing now is, after every ride, have a Coke or eat an energy bar. Your body has an hour and a half window for absorbing carbs at the end of a ride. Feeding it carbs at this point increases your body's ability to absorb carbs and you become less likely to bonk.

So, you'll get used to it.

Luis