ibarunnin

So I'm contemplating doing my first 60 mi ride tomorrow and have a few questions. I generally ride 18-25 miles every day / every other day (depends on the week), and do 30-35 miles once every week or two. My longest ride was last week at 40 miles. So, is jumping up to 60 miles reasonable? I didn't really have any problems with the 40 mile ride except for being a little numb due to the stock (real crappy) saddle. The only reason 60 is the number is because I found a great route that I could do around a like, which would have incredible views. Thanks...I realize the answer to this question is generally dependant on the individual, but insight would help. I'm just a little apprehensive because (as a runner) I know jumps in mileage can increase the risk of injury.

AngryScientist 

if you can do 40 comfortably, 60 will be no problem.

i would advise you to put whatever financial (or other) motivations you have and toss them aside for a good saddle though. subjecting your body to a saddle that doesnt agree with you is a bad idea for any length of time.

atmdad

If you've been riding as much as you say doing the 60 miles should not be that big of a deal. If you don't usually bring along something to munch on (power bars, fruit etc.) on your shorter, regular rides do so for sixty miles, stay hydrated and you should be fine.

Stop and relax halfway, enjoy the views/lake for a little then it's not a 60 mile ride, just two 30 mile rides in the same day.

kayakdiver

If you said.. I've ridden 10 miles before.. what do you think about me going off for a 60 mile ride? I'd say you're an idiot. But you have been riding on a regular basis and so have some fitness. Like mentioned above you should be fine. If you're really worried about it make 30 miles a place to stop and have some lunch and then finish up the second half of the ride.

Ygduf

60 miles in 1 day is easier than 25 miles every day...

hammond9705

Just do it

mercator

That there is some good advice

ibarunnin

Thanks for the input! I figured it wouldn't be too big of an increase. Although as with my training (as a runner) I tend to be pretty overzealous, which has lead to me being injured over the past couple of months due to a stress rxn of the Tibia. I just wanted to make sure this overzealousness wasn't carrying over in to cycling (too much) !

ibarunnin

And agreed! As soon as I have ~$100 on me I'm getting a new saddle...

ptle

You should be fine. Make sure you carry enough food and drink. I would have one water bottle and one bottle with something to give you back a little electrolytes. I've got a home recipe I use that involves some pretty basic stuff. For food some crackers and a banana should be fine if you eat well beforehand. For you, I'd be concerned about nutrition. I'm sure you'll have no problem doing 60 miles.

Homebrew01

Have you tried adjusting your current saddle ? Sometimes a very slight adjustment tipping the nose down or up can make all the difference.
If you've tried that, go for a new saddle. But you may have to experiment a bit to find one that fits you. Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it will be comfortable.

grwoolf

The only way I'd think you would have a big problem is if you are going from a 40 mile flat route to a 60 mile route with a bunch of climbing.

As others have mentioned, just make sure you eat a bit and keep hydrated early in the ride. I personally have no problem doing a 40 mile ride without eating anything, but once I go over 50, I better be taking in some calories during the ride or my energy starts dropping quickly. You might also reduce your normal pace just a bit to make sure you have some gas at the end. I'd guess that your biggest problem will be a very sore butt for the last hour or so. Try to get out of the saddle from time to time.

mrvile

If you say you already get some numbness doing 40 mile rides, I would probably put off doing anything longer until you either get a new saddle that works or get your current saddle position adjusted until you don't have any issues anymore.

Otherwise, 40 to 60 isn't too big a jump. Just bring some food, have enough water, and don't go too fast.

Brontide

I got my bike last month and after no more than 11 miles in one day I went last Friday and rode for 53 miles and over 1000 feet of elevation, so yes, it's dooable. My biggest mistake was that I did not bring a second bottle and I went without for a small gap ( thankfully was able to refill ). I probably also underestimated the calories I would need to recoup. My butt goes numb after 10-20 miles, I just figured it was because of my fat a$$, it's a good place to stop for a few minutes and snack on a granola bar.

So, go ahead, it probably won't be as hard as you expect. Give yourself enough time to breath on occasion if you need it.

I'm now looking at doing 50 milers on a more regular basis, at least until I can get my time down.

ibarunnin

I actually thought to tamper with the saddle today (don't know why I haven't thought of this earlier). I titled it down very slightly and threw it on the trainer to try out. It seems to be better because I think the saddle was title upwards, but very minimally so that I couldn't notice (only feel over time). we'll see tomorrow....

Brian Ratliff

I would stop half way or 2/3 of the way and have lunch. It's easy to bonk on 60 miles if you don't have experience with that and longer distances. There's a lot of difference between 40 and 60 in terms of your body's nutritional needs. At 40, most fit people can do that with no food and water. At 60, you're going to want to eat something at some point or the last 10 miles might be a bit of a personal hell.

I would also try to find another person to go with you. It'll be probably be a 4-ish hour ride. Make this a person who has more experience than you on a bike if you've got one handy.

And don't worry about the saddle too much. Don't let your junk go numb though; stand up in the pedals and shift around at the first signs of numbness and don't sit again until the numbness is gone. It's not going to hurt you necessarily, but I've raced time trials where my junk's been numb 15-20 minutes after the event is over and it's not fun. Listen to the little aches and pains your body produces and don't ignore them. Don't dwell, but don't ignore.

Good luck. I still remember my first 60 miler. It was with a club, and I was toast and cramping after 40 (it was a bit of a hard ride with hills and some friendly competition). Some kind soul dragged me to the highway, told me it was a straight shot 10 miles back to town, and left me for dead (in a friendly, conciliatory way; no hard feelings whatsoever). That was the longest 10 miles of my life. The extent of my food intake on that ride was a little cup of juice and a couple cookies at the halfway food stop. Not enough by far. I was envisioning eating the roadside plants by the time it was over.

Snicklefritz

^^^ Same thing happened to me on my first ride after moving out to california. I had good basic fitness but had only recently got into cycling. A friend and I were going to show up to a fun ride she had heard about, but she bailed at the last minute. I showed up on a mountain bike with knobby tires because that's all I had. What I thought was a "fun ride" and social event was actually an iron man training ride. How things got that mixed up in translation from my friend was beyond me. I managed to do the entire 100k without stopping and only on 1 bottle of sport drink and 1-2 energy bars. I could have stopped for lunch, but I didn't want to be the last person back to the start area, so I kept going and skipped the lunch stop. Needless to say, I was thrashed at the end of the thing.

If you've been building your fitness gradually, I don't think you will have a problem. Take some extra food and water to make sure you don't bonk, and do the first half a bit slower than the second half so you can judge how much gas you have left. Since I'm female, I can't speak to what will happen to your privates if you are on an uncomfortable saddle, but it sounds like other people had some good advice. That said, if you do get a new saddle at some point keep in mind that saddles with a lot of padding are not necessarily the most comfortable. It's a very individual thing. My favorite saddle is basically a carbon fiber shell with Ti rails. A lot of people ask me how I can stand to sit on it, but it's actually really comfortable in spite of looking very minimalist. It just happens that it fits my @$$ really well.

ptle

It involves sugar, a bit of salt, and flavoring. Check out the nutrition forums. They've got some good information. The drink mix I make gives you a little bit of calories and electrolytes, and the flavoring I use has a bit of caffeine and Vitamin Bs (mainly 12) for extra energy.

My gel recipes works really well. It's 3 parts brown rice syrup, 3 parts barley malt syrup, 2 parts honey (i like the flavoring), 1 part water. I use that as the base. I've added peanut butter and jelly with it in a flask. Makes it tastes like a liquid PB and J sandwich. I've heard coffee grinds can be used.

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=80141

Uni-Vibe

So true! The skinny firm racing saddles are actually MUCH more comfortable than the big squooshy kind, once you get in shape and get used to one.

ibarunnin

I can't say how glad I am that I ended up doing this long ride! It ended up being one of the best rides I've ever had. I had no expectations, and was just hoping to complete the 60 mile trip, and expected maybe to average around 15-15.5 mph. If any of you have knowledge of the finger lakes region in NY my ride started at Cortland and went all the way around Skaneatles lake. Disclaimer: please forgive me for boasting, but I'm quite excited as I surprised myself a lot!

For the first 2hrs I was riding relaxed and ended up going 31 miles for an average of 15.5mph. That brought me to the end of the lake where I relaxed on a bench for about 10 min, had a clif bar and stretched. Then, I headed out...

I must note that I made a complete fool of myself before embarking again. I tried to mount my bike and clip in while on grass. Of course you don't coast as long on grass as concrete, and I slipped when trying to clip in my left foot. I didn't have enough time to try again, and all my weight was on the clipped in right foot as I was slowing. So naturally, I should/faceplanted in to the grass with about 10 people around me. I was glad to at least be able to give this kid some comic relief, as he was sitting with his girlfriend on a bench, and saw me fall....and then proceeded to laugh so hard that he too fell (off the bench) .

Here is the best part! By the time I got back to Cortland I was still feeling great, so I decided to add on to make it 70mi. I never thought I would say this...but 4 hrs went by way too fast. I ended up riding 39 miles in the 2 hrs and 7 mins since the stop at Skaneatles (18.4 mph avg ). That put my trip at exactly 70 miles in exactly 4 hrs and 7 mins, with an exact average of 17 mph! I also have to note that the trip had an elevation change of 2200 ft, so it wasn't really like a pancake...

Here is the nutrition aspect of my trip (for anybody who's actually interested).

Breakfast: pb&j sandwhich, clif bar, banana and 2 glasses of juice

Ride:

2 water bottles filled with half water and half v8 splash
1 Gu at 1 hr
1 clif bar at 2 hrs
1 Gu at 3 hrs

Thanks again to everyone for the input! Also, my saddle held up quite well with the slight adjustment I made yesterday. I only had numbness around the last 5 miles. Granted, it's still a pretty uncomfortable saddle....but it's ok in my eyes since it allowed me to ride this long...

ibarunnin

Some pictures at halfway (courtesy of my camera phone):







Attempted panorama

Buffybike

Congrats on the great ride! I'm at about the same "level" as you, fitness-wise, and I'm working up to a metric century on 6/5. All the input left on this thread was really helpful.

msu2001la

Sounds like a fun ride.

ibarunnin

Thanks! And good luck and have fun with the ride Buffybike!

joshia37

Go for it...you've done a ton of 20's, 30's.... Find your cadence..see you at the finish line!