LandKurt

I had a slow start to the weekend with only 28 miles on Saturday. I made up for it Sunday with my longest ride yet, 64 miles, my first metric century. It took me about 5 hours and ten minutes. This was a self supported ride by myself, just going around the nearby research center. I never got more than ten miles from home, so I could have bailed at any time, but I kept going. I was out in the late afternoon till near sunset, it was sunny and warm, near 90, but not too humid with the dew point around 60.

I had some trouble with my stomach being somewhat knotted up most of the ride, which is unusual for me. Maybe it was the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I ate shortly before the ride. I was fairly hungry and figured starting a long ride famished would be a bad idea. Or maybe I was drinking too much ice water from my CamelBak. I’ve only had it a few weeks and I’m still trying to get used to it. It loaded it with plenty of ice and still had ice left after the ride. Near the end of the ride I added about 12 oz of warm water to the 100 oz reservoir to help melt some of the remaining ice. I’ve learned too much ice means sucking dry on solid ice is a possibility and too little means warm water after a few hours.
I consumed about 500 calories of snacks during the ride, maybe not as much as I should have. I doubt I could have done much better with my stomach unhappy. I kept wondering whether eating or drinking more or less would be best.

I’ve done a number of 52 mile rides in the past few weeks. I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever manage to break that barrier. I almost feel like it’s just a matter of how much misery you can endure. Maybe misery is a strong word, how about discomfort? Somewhere between 20 and 40 miles for me it becomes an exercise in cycling while semi exhausted. Saturday I rode 25 miles and was still feeling strong at the end. Yesterday by 25 miles I was feeling worn down. Of course, Saturday I was out in the morning when it was a little cooler. Last Sunday I rode 52 miles in the lower 90’s with high humidity. That was fairly miserable; yesterday wasn’t too bad for August in Maryland.

Mr. Beanz

Good job Man! It gets better. The discomfort is usually only for a ride or tow of longer length. If I do lots of 40 mile rides, then the first 50 will seem tough. That's why I like to stay on top of the distance. Usualy 50 atleast once a week. That keep everything else comfy.

As far as P&J, works well for me. I was feeling kind of low on a mtn climbing century. 60 miles in I felt like I was running out of gas. I swallowed a couple of P&J sandwiches. The final 20 mile climb was sweet!

One thing that works for me is eating something solid about 75% of the way into your ride. If I do 100 miles, I need to eat something at mile 65-70'ish. Then I can sprint at mile 90.

If I do a 50 mile ride, I'm fine with just about nothing onthe ride other than water. Over 60, some Gatorade and maybe a Clifbar. 100, I need something solid.

So figure your 62 mile is my 100. You might try eating something at mile 40. If you do, don't be surprised if you do the entire 100!

On some climbing centuries (10,000ft +), they serve turkey sandwiches. Geeze, those are the best turkey sandwiches I have ever had!...You are not far from home, make it one of your turkey sandwich rest stops!

mkadam68

S'funny: I can do crits no problems. But I think this would just drive me nuts. I need a destination on my rides. Regular loops I just lose motivation after awhile.

Good job on the longer distance/breaking the barrier.

EasyEd

Good job on breaking the metric barrier!

RatedZeroHero

I'll be the harbinger of sorrow...

cant recall where I heard this but I did...

when you drink very cold liquids before your body can use to hydrate, it has to be warmed up... so if you need the water there is a delay...

and ingesting really cold stuff will actually mess with your core temp and the body will try to warm the core...

my current water bottles are 1L Dasani and no ice...

try to leave out the ice next time and see if it helps...

same goes for hot stuff on cold days... actually makes you colder...

takingcontrol

very true, also bad for horses and pets, with them it is a form of colic (internal temp to hot+ very cold water= cramps +pain)

Neil_B

I've seen LandKurt's course. It's very pretty, and filled with small rollers. There's enough variety to keep most folks satisfied.

Congratulations LandKurt!

LandKurt

I suspect the size of the loop you do makes a big difference. I can do a two mile loop around my immediate neighborhood. I sometimes tack on a few extra miles doing that, but it would get boring doing that very often.

The research center I mentioned is the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. It is 6600 acres (10.3 sq. miles) of government agricultural research land, much of it wooded, situated just outside of the D.C. Capital Beltway, a nice green oasis in the suburban sprawl. At just a couple miles from my house it’s quite convenient to me. My regular loop is an even twelve miles. Twelve miles of low traffic scenic farm fields and wooded lanes is a lot less boring than a two mile loop of suburban streets.

But I will admit to a reluctance to get too far from home and a hesitance to commit to a long ride. It’s easiest to just head for the center and start riding, tacking on more distance if I feel up to it. Previously I would be out of energy, fluids or time after about 50 miles, on Sunday I managed to go one more 12 mile circuit and break the metric century for the first time.

To illustrate, here's a couple photo's from my regular route; one of farm fields, one of the road through trees:

RatedZeroHero

I remember years ago we had an Iranian exchange wrestler stay with a good friend of mine...

he wouldn't put ice in anything...

and only drank warm room temp beer...

also saw somewhere that Americans are just about the only culture that sucks on ice cold stuff when its hot and hot stuff when its cold... (dont get me wrong there is something about a giant mug of killer coffee on a wintery cold day that just soothes the soul...)

it takes calories and energy to get the water to a usable temperature... could be the source of the cramping... think of it as eating snow...