chadteck

These.

You probably drank about half of what you should have. I generally follow the above guideline on days where the temperature is normal. The other day I did a little over 40 miles and it was around 95 degrees, so I drank twice the recommended amount (4 - 24oz bottles in just over 2 hours), which worked out about right.

I know a lot of people prefer "real" food, but I use maltodextrin in my water bottles (sometimes with a little salt) on rides over 2 hours. It is easier to keep track of your consumption rate and more convenient than having to eat and drink separately.

HarryStoddard

I measure my daily sweat in barrels. I don't know if it's the Irish blood in me but I tend to smell, if I smell at all, and I don't, a bit like peeled potatoes.

On a ride you sweat a lot more than you notice because of the wind.

kwrides

You may be different, so don't take this personally, but my experience with people who say they don't sweat and don't need deodorant is that they are the only person who thinks they don't need deodorant. There is nothing worse than the stink of stale pits.

chipcom 

commuting by bike will help you get more hours in as part of your day, rather than as something you need to schedule.

khatfull

I wish I could but I'm a network consultant who drives to 2-5 clients a day....toting equipment and all. I live on the extreme east side of the Twin Cities and generally work 3/4 of the way, 30+ miles, on the other side...which means even if I could do the 100+ mile distance I'd have to do on a daily basis I'd have to ride through the heart of both of St. Paul and Minneapolis, out and back, every day. Just dealing with lights on surface streets would make the time required impossible.

There just isn't enough time in a day to do that. Then there'd be the showering, toting clothes besides, changing....argh! If I worked closer to home at a normal company job I'd sure commute...and have actively been looking for precisely that reason.

Spin Cycle

You just need to do the following:

1. Find your limits
2. Exceed them
3. Repeat

I remember when the 6 mile ride to the brewery patio felt like an accomplishment. Now I usually don't eat anything while on the bike for rides less than 50 miles but I eat well before and always carry food (on weekend rides I just head out without a specific route or mileage goal in mind). This weekend I had a big black bean burritto with quac before, had a Clif jell at 50 and a bar at 60. If I do alot of climbing or push my average speed I'll eat more. Basically just listen to your body, but it's a good idea to drink more fluids than you think you need.

waporvare

Yeah, I never eat during any ride of 50 miles or less.

recursive

I do, but regardless of that, you know that's not relevant advice to a beginner completing his first 35 mile ride. Especially if your body is not used to that, you need to eat.

Treker

To answer your question, no, you're not a sissy? You're a road warrior determined to look after yourself.

The sissy's are the ones on the couch with the remote.

RUOkie

I have the same problem. Started riding last summer, but not seriously until Sept. What I have done is to add interval training(30sec sprint--1 min recovery--repeat X 10), hill climbs (I have to search here in OK for them), or merely pushing my cadence/speed for my 1 hour rides during the week. I also did (please don't flame me ) spin class after work all winter to maintain fitness. Then I do 2-3 hour rides over the weekend when I have more time. The metric century I did 2 weeks ago in 40mph winds was easy at a relaxed pace (despite having never ridden >50miles)

Pinyon

It sounded like you were pretty dehydrated to me as well. When I'm doing a training ride, I try to drink enough so that I have to stop to use the restroom every 1.5 hours or so. Good rule of thumb for my body.

You should also take at least 150 calories or so of food for every 1-2 hours that you ride. You will see lots of suggestions on how much to take, but I say play it by ear and eat when you feel like it. I prefer a handful of snack-food every 1.5 hours or so. If I eat any more than that I feel sluggish, and any less than that and I may bonk after 3-4 hours of riding. I know people that literally need to eat twice that amount, and some that can only handle watered-down sports drinks (100 calories per hour range). There is a wide-range of what works for people. You will need to experiment with it.

+1
I much prefer real food to energy bars, gels, and drink mixes as well. Things like dried fruit, nuts, salty chips and crackers, fig newtons, oatmeal cookies , etc. Energy bars, gels, and sports drinks can upset my stomach. Just a handful of real food works wonders.

bakerjw

Are you a sissy? You rode 35 miles and probably feel beat up afterward. Will you do it again?

If you you answer no then yes you are a sissy! If you answer yes, I will do it again then your question is answered.

I started riding last July and remember feeling like I had done an impressive feat after a 16 mile ride. I got better and was able to go further. Then one Saturday I went out with some guys and we did a 40 mile ride most of the way up a mountain. A few weeks later I did a solo metric. Now a decent ride begins at 30 miles and a really good ride starts at anything over 50. I say this as I am in my mid 40s and as of last Summer was in terrible shape.

Trust me, you'll look back on this post and chuckle in a few months. Keep riding.

phantyk

Heh, yeah, I've checked with my girlfriend and other people repeatedly. Trust me, I don't want to be "that" guy.

To all the rest of you, thanks a lot for the advice. This thread has helped a lot. I wish I could respond to each one of you but there are too many! Sorry I got back to this so late, I was building a gate. Yay for summer projects! (Not sarcasm, I enjoy working in the shop) Next in line is a new 16x16' shed.

brandontw

Well, just to chime in here... I just rode around our ring road here in Reno for the first time last Sat.

Its around 23 miles, with 2 pretty serious hills. Previously Ive been riding the 12 mile round trip to work and back semi-regularly, and thats about my longest ride, so hopping right into the 23 mile mccaran loop was double the distance, and all in once shot rather than at the beginning and end of day.

I surprised myself with how decent i did, i made it in around 2.5 hours, without stops due to tiredness (stopped for a snack and at a bike shop) but at the end of the ride there was the second major hill, and it just about killed me, plus it was about 90*F that day.

I made it, but felt like death for a few mins right afterwards. The way i see it, if your not doing rides that hurt, then your not pushing very hard.

Also consider hills into it. If your doing hills, they take a lot out of you. I feel pretty confident that if we had a hundred miles of flats around here i could ride it fairly easily, but not with hill climbs...

Like others said, eat before you leave(not a ton), and drink plenty of water.

n8tron

I came at distances differently, I didn't start "cold". I starting biking 5 miles to work, so 10 miles a day every day and occasionally going further now and then. Two years later I finally got a decent road bike and was really nervous if I could do a long ride. I did a 50 mile ride no prob. It just takes time to work up to it.

But you should have toasted that entire bottle of water. DRINK TONS you can't drink to much... well sort of.

For what it's worth, I can bike all day and all night, but I'm a huge sissy coming down hills. I ride the brakes like crazy... I've reached 40mph or so but doing sharp turns at that speed or in the 30s just freaks me out!

Anner77

I'm the OP's girlfriend, I've smelled his pits and even after his so-called "sweating" outside in the heat and working hard he doesn't smell bad. I am so jealous!

MrCrassic 

We all start from somewhere, and so will you. With each distance ride (doesn't have to be every ride), go as far as you think you can handle...and then go a little further. You'll be riding centuries and their ilk in no time.

Regarding your question, I did my 38 mile ride much slower two years ago than you did your 35. Nowadays, that ride is a short one for me, and I usually do it in two hours or so.

Also, it's pretty fundamental that you eat right on your ride. If you were really hungry towards the tail end of it, then you didn't eat enough. Just starting out, you will eat a lot, which is okay. As you learn portion control and your body acclimates to distance better, you will feel like eating less. It takes time, but you'll get there. Just don't eat too much crap and you'll be good to go!

After my first century, I ate Pork Fried Rice with Gen Tso's Chicken and Shrimp (i.e. NOT Chinese Food) like a monster. And it wasn't enough because after riding home, I ate some more. After last year's century, I was only hungry enough for some sushi and rice.

You might have exercise-induced asthma, which makes you cough and wheeze only after working out. If you're really concerned, see a doctor about it. You should be drinking a water bottle an hour, but it can vary from person to person. If you don't feel thirsty, then you're fine.

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MrCrassic 

I don't know if you bake, but cookies have much more sugar and energy bars (Clif Bars, specifically) don't have flour. I don't know how Clif Bars are made, but when I made my own, honey binded everything together, whereas eggs bind everything in a cookie. Actually, I believe Clif Bars use brown rice syrup as a binder, which is fine since some recipes call for some corn syrup instead of honey.

Not an oatmeal cookie, but the last time I ate a choco chip cookie on a century, my stomach blew up. On the other hand, if I eat a Clif Bar with the same choco chips, I feel fine.

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Johnny Colnago

htfu u sally