reneuend

I just finished my first 200k, but not without a struggle at the end. I was doing pretty good until around the 95 mile mark, then I started feeling sluggish and I got the "shakes" like a sugar low or something. I drank a bottle of water and a bottle of Gatoraide between each checkpoint. I was eating trail mix, oatmeal cookies during the ride. I ate a powerbar at the halfway point. What should I do differently to prevent this next time? I have a 300k brevet on April 29th.

Time: 10hrs 56min.

pedex

eat more, drink more, ride more, get in better shape........not necessarily in that order, but do em all anyway

big john

Was this a hilly ride? Have you done a lot of distance rides before?

Snicklefritz

If you had the shakes, it sounds like low blood sugar was a factor. This will definitely contribute to early fatigue. You mentioned what you ate and drank...at what intervals were you doing this? A lot of people say that you should drink at least 1 water bottle per hour or slightly more depending on how hot it is. I generally alternate one bottle of water and one bottle of sport drink. Count up the calories in the food you ate and figure out how many calories per hour you were consuming. There are guidelines for how many carbs you need to consume per kg of body weight during competition. Were you grazing so-to-speak or did you tend to eat larger amounts of food at futher spaced intervals?

Without knowing your riding level or what you weigh, it sounds a bit like you weren't eating enough and perhaps not the right kind of stuff. I'll look up the guidelines in Carmichael's nutrition book and post the info on how many carbs you should eat.

johnny99

Sounds like the bonk. You are not eating and/or drinking enough.

GP

Some, or all, of it may be in your mind. Once you know you can do the distance, it gets easier. Maybe.

Machka 

I've mentioned this before, but ....

The recommended calorie intake on rides over 2 hours is 250-300 calories per hour. An energy bar is about 250 calories, so if you aim to eat one of those per hour, and supplement it with your sports drink, you'll be there.

But here's the thing with ultra distance riding ... you are likely burning about 5-600 calories per hour out there. 250-300 calories per hour can keep you going for a long time because of your stored calories (from your meals in the days before the ride, and your breakfast), but eventually your resources will run down. Mine seem to run down somewhere between 6 and 8 hours on the bicycle, depending on the amount of effort I'm putting in. When that happens (or just before it happens) it is a good idea to plan to eat a meal of some sort. I try to stop at a restaurant, or a very well-stocked convenience/grocery store, every 6 hours or so, to eat a sandwich, hamburger, or whatever seems appealing to me. After I eat a meal, I can usually keep going for another 6 hours or so, eating 250-300 calories per hour, again.

I recommend getting a Bento bag so that you can keep your energy bars right there in front of you at all times. I find it is a lot easier to eat an energy bar per hour if I can nibble it ... a bite or two every 10 minutes or so.

Also, get a variety of energy bars. I find I get sick of one type as soon as I'm finished eating it. Therefore, I bring a whole bunch of them in different brands and flavors. I'll even bring a few granola or cereal bars for some variety. If one isn't appealing, maybe another one will be. You might also want to look at Hammergel ... it is one of the better gels. I bring a flask of it along as a back-up resource. When I start to feel a little "off", I knock back some Hammergel which picks me up again fairly quickly, and I follow it up with something more substantial right away to keep me going.

As for drinking, the recommended amount is one 750 ml bottle of water and/or sports drink every 1 to 1.5 hours.

Trust me ... eating enough can make a world of difference!!!

All the best on your 300K ... if all goes well, my first 200K of the season will be at the end of this month ... I can hardly wait!!

oboeguy

^^^^^^^^^ What she said.

Definitely learn to eat more on the bike. Also, ride long distances more: the body can be trained to use more fat for energy, which is a virtually unlimited energy source in the body when talking about 200km rides, as opposed to glycogen which is basically capped at 2000 calories at the start of the ride. No joke, you'll find this in any bicycling science book.

Oh, I also recommend eating a banana once in a while. Potassium FTW! When I first rode the NYC Century for the full length, there was a banana-grab in the Bronx which really picked me up (plus it was cool grabbing a banana from a volunteer's hand while still rolling). I always seem to get a lift from a banana on long rides.

Edit: gels are awesome for a quick shot of energy too. I saved my caffeinated gels for the end of the Montauk (145+ miles) Century last year. What a boost having two at once!

Deanster04

Carry packets of honey for a quick sugar fix.

EventServices

Cycling Rule #240:
Eat BEFORE you get hungry.
Drink BEFORE you get thirsty.

If you wait until your body says it's hungry/thirsty, it's too late.

lrzipris

My problem with quick energy boosts is the equally quick drop I usually experience after too-short a time. And if gels help me, I don't notice anything--they might, I just don't recognize the effect. Instead, I've found that I'm usually all right if I nibble a little bit--energy bars, bagels--just a bite or two, at frequent intervals, sometimes almost steadily.

Whatever routine you develop for ingesting foods and liquids, follow it [I]before[I] you begin to bonk: don't wait until you sense that shaky feeling to remember that you need to drinlk or eat more. For me, at least, it's easier to maintain a sense of well-being than to recapture it once you've depleted your resources.

msheron

That was 124 miles or so...............a long ride. It is like anything, the distances and learning how much intake of food will help you greatly. I 300 K in one one day? That is 185 miles or so! Dude, that is hardcore.

reneuend

The 200k was held in Paris, Kentucky. It was rolling hills with one big hill near Slade, KY. My daily training route is at least as rugged, but I only ride 20 miles for training. I know I should put in bigger rides ahead of time, but family obligations make it difficult. I guess I'm ok with being slow as long as I don't feel like I'm going to fall apart.

Lots of ideas for eating. I haven't found what works best for me. And I knew I was begging for trouble when I didn't grab a sandwich at the halfway point. I felt compelled to just keep moving. My average speed at the halfway point was approx. 15mph (including rest stops), so I lost some of it coming back. Avg speed at the end was 11.6mph.

I didn't carry my camera on a camera mount and I kind of regret it despite the added weight. Don't you find it entertaining to see and show where you've ridden? Since this isn't a race against others, what difference does weight matter? I'm probably going to hate myself during the 300k, but I'm going to setup my camera next time. I think I get 20 hours to finish the 300k, right?

FYI - The fastest time was 7hrs and 33minutes. I was impressed!

Flywolf

Not to hijack the thread from the OP, but you know despite the fact that I totally agree and know that you have to keep eating on long rides, I just can't, sometimes eating more than one energy bar will make me sick. I am trying to force myself on eating more during long rides. Last ride I tried the newtons fig bar and it seem to work, but only eat one.

big john

If I'm doing 100 miles on a Saturday, it helps a lot if I can do 50 on the previous Wednesday. I've also been advised to keep a food journal about what I've eaten and how it has worked, (have had a lot of stomach trouble). I think regular food helps me more than powerbars, etc. A sandwich, a baked potato, a banana or 2 and then some bars. When touring, I can eat huge amounts of anything, but when pushing a century with faster riders I have to be careful what I eat.

Avalanche325

Sometimes you have to try different foods to find what works. I was doing a century and was pushing pretty hard. My first stop was at 55 miles. I was doing fine. I had the usual, for me, banana, orange, and cookies. At about 75 miles I made a quick stop, I felt like I needed fuel, but felt full. So I stuck with my usual bananas. It didn't seem to help. The next stop had peanut butter. I still felt full, but stuffed half a sandwich down. After about five minutes, bang, I felt great and made it the rest of the way with no problems. 108 miles.

So now, if I know that peanut butter, or peanuts works for me. On a big ride is not the best place to learn, but it worked.

bbattle

300k is Machka's warmup ride; do what she says and you'll be fine.

reneuend

Not hijacking at all...actually, this is part of my problem. I was surprised at how little I had eaten from my stash at the halfway point. I think I'll have to carry a few sandwiches along the ride and see how that works. April 29th doesn't give me much time to figure this out!

I'm going to keep plugging this year with these brevets until I finish or fail. There is the 400 and 600k in June. I can't imagine what these long rides must be like in the rain... What am I doing?

Fox Farm

I find that eating some protein helps me out on long distance rides more than sugar oriented power or energy gels, bars, etc. Having a few sandwiches cut up into 1/4s will help. Some hot soup, particularly with sodium, is also good.

Keith99

But is it does happen then:

STOP, eat, drink, and don't start again when you think you can wain until you are growing impatient. Then it is just too soon to start again instead of way too soon.

Albany-12303

200K in April? You animal!!

I hope to get into good enough shape for 200K in July.

Machka 

Running a 200K brevet in April is actually quite normal where I'm from. In fact, compared with other parts of the world, it is just a bit late. Half the people I know in Randonneuring are already past their 300K and getting ready for their 400s or 600s. We Randonneurs start the season early!!

Machka 

That's something you have to work on while you are training. I was in a similar situation during my first year of Randonneuring too ... but I've gotten much, much better.

Some tips:

--- Eat a good meal the night before
--- Eat a good breakfast the morning of the ride
--- Start eating on the bicycle as soon as your bicycle rolls off the start line. Yes, I know that seems early to people who are used to recreational rides or races, but for long distance riding, it works.
--- Never stop eating. I find if I stop nibbling my energy bars for anything longer than about 30 minutes, my appetite diminishes ... 60 minutes and I do not want to eat anymore, and will actually feel sick if I try.
--- Nibble. Don't try to eat a whole energy bar every hour on the hour, instead put the energy bar in a convenient location (i.e. Bento bag) and take a bite ... 10 minutes later, take another bite ... 10 minutes later, take another bite, etc. ... all the way through the whole ride.
--- Eat what you crave. Do not get hung up on what you should eat for a healthy diet. If you crave potato chips ... eat potato chips. If you crave salted almonds, eat salted almonds. If you crave pizza, eat pizza. If you crave it, it will stay down better than trying to force something down which you have no taste for.
--- Liquid nutrition. In almost every ride I do over about 400K now there still comes a point where I am struggling with eating and when that happens, I switch to liquid nutrition. For me, (and many RAAM riders!) Ensure Plus works really well. A lot of other Randonneurs (especially in the US) use Sustained Energy. It would be a good idea to find something in liquid nutrition that works well for you. You may not need it every time, but it is a great back-up plan.

All the best!!

Albany-12303

Starting early in Saskatchewan? Do the bikes there come with plow attachments?

Ostuni

this thread is a good example of how a topic that has been covered 1000 times in previous threads is worthy of a new thread... good stuff, and have learned some great tips that i would otherwise have not seen....

machka, you should publish a pamphlet or small book about long distance riding... i'd buy one!

edit: reneuend, congrats on the 200k!