Update on progress toward my 1st ride!!
 

Well, it's less than one week before my first ride (The Last Gasp, 62 miles on 10/10). Since getting my Bianchi Brava on 8/17, I've clocked a little over 400 miles, with my longest being 44. I think this ride will be quite a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it (I'm also taking the next day off work, just in case!).

From taking a lot of the advice I've read here and in Long Distance Cycling (also a bike forums recommendation), I have had little or no physical discomfort as I'm building up. I've moved my handlebars up slightly, since the reach was resulting in locked elbows, but that's about it. This place is a gold mine of info (and some hilariously entertaining threads as well)!

I'm currently scouring the forums for everyone's ideas on pre-event eating and riding, just to see what is working for folks. I am going to ride on Tuesday and Friday, about 20 miles each and then rest up. As to nutrition, I am using Clif bars and Clif shots; they work really well for me on my longer rides. I also alternate between Gatorade and water. I think I should be OK.

My goal is to try and finish this in under 4 hours, not including breaks. It may not be the best time, but I'll be satisfied with it. Then it's a trainer for those short winter nights, as I ponder what rides to sign up for next year!! I'll update again after the ride and let you know how I did!!

Pasta the night before, not only for the carbs, but as an homage to
italian cycling too!
Take a rest day (or a VERY easy day) the day before the event.
Most of all ENJOY the event.

Marty

Pasta?


Seriously, good luck! And above all: Enjoy the ride.

I don't think it's a good idea to eat anything different than you normally do. You want to try new stuff before/on shorter rides just in case it doesn't agree with you for some reason.

If you get overwhelmed, just think of it not as a 62 mile ride, but that it's three 20 miles rides. You've ridden 20 miles before, right?

Have fun!

But then he'd be 2 miles short!

Drink plenty of water the day before. Get your best sleep 2 nights before the event as you'll likely have difficulties sleeping the night before with anticipation/excitement. Bananas are your friend.

Remember, you're out there for enjoyment, so enjoy it!

If you've done 44, and are eating something, have plenty of water - and feel ok at the finish of 44 - you oughta have no problem with 62. Nice to see that you're approaching cautiously though - the ones who don't respect the effort are the ones who don't finish... :)

Good luck!

Actually, for the water consumption, start about 2 days prior. Drink more than you normally do. This is because the body gets used to a certain amount of water intake. It starts to, after awhile, run the body as optimally as it can on what it's used to having. This being said, when you dump a bunch of extra water into your system, the body usually ends up not using it, and you end up just urinating it out, and gain little benefit from the extra intake. 2 days should give your body enough time to "learn" to retain and use the extra water for the day of the ride.