Originally Posted by The Octopus
Good advice above. I'd add that there are some (I'm one of them) who think that there's minimal benefit to training beyond about 200K. Physically, if you can ride a 200K brevet within the time limit, you're not likely to have fitness issues on the longer brevets, including -- I'll make the bold statement -- a 1200K. The issues that you've got to deal with are mental and logistical, and both can be solved (although moreso the latter) by getting out there and riding and by talking with and reading the ramblings of more experienced randonneurs.
It may sound counterintuitive, but I think one way to train for the longer brevets is actually to train yourself to ride faster, which means doing shorter rides. You've got the distance bug. You've got good base miles. Saddle time? Check. Mentally, you're both tough and flexible. Logistics? You've got trial-and-error combined with lots of internet info gathering plus chatting up every randonneur you've ridden with about what works for him or her. An equally important arrow in your quiver is to get a bit faster. Buys you the luxury of not having to worry about controle closing times -- huge mental benefit. Buys you the luxury of sleep on the longer brevets. Also buys you the luxury of less night riding, which can be slower, more dangerous (especailly if you're solo) and cold. Increases the number of people you can ride with, which means more riding companions.
I'm not talking about going out and training to ride Le Tour or anything. Just increasing your average rolling speed by 1mph means your 600K just got 2-3 hours faster, depending on where you're starting from. That's huge!
Good luck!
Agree on increasing speed - and the way to do this quickly is with short intense rides (with appropriate recovery!)\
Browse the
UMCA website for training articles - 1 of the authors completed RAAM and didn't train beyond 100 mile rides... he just kept improving his intensity.
And from personal experience I agree on not training much beyond 200k (I'd stretch it to 300 for myself). Prior to this past Brevet season I'd not ridden more than 200k. I finished the 2,3,400k with plenty of time in the bank on each. I struggled to mile 221 of the 600k with serious knee pain and nutrition / hydration issues. You can do the longer stuff provided your base is solid and you work towards a higher intensity.
Personally I still like getting some long training rides in - nothing like spending the entire day on the bike - but I need to balance that with intensity - and I think I'll see big improvements next year.
I fell into the "every ride must be a long ride" training pattern this summer while doing a brevet series - and while I rode alot of long rides, I'm sure I rode plenty of "junk" miles.
Now that the brevet season is over I've noticed a change in my loop ride - its getting quicker - and I think the thing thats doing it is I've given over 2 days a week to hill repeats and interval work. I'm a long way from "getting faster" - but a goal for next year is to knock significant time off my brevets.