fietsbob

That not touring thats gadgetry Here is your crowd Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Bike Forums

Renaud4Chemins

Well, just so you know, it happens that I did asked my physician yesterday. He laughed at me when I told him I was afraid of a heart failure. He told me that I am young, with no heart condition, and that my muscles would fail way before my heart would. He specifically told me there was not a (specific) chance that I had a heart failure. I tend to believe him, he has known me for a long time and he knows his job (even though, as stated before, a heart failure can happen to even the most trained athlete at any time, but in that case, you can't do nothing about it).

Also, I told him about my endeavour, and he told me it was feasible in 3 days but that I should train for a month beforehand (which I won't be able to).

Well, I'll try not to. I don't mind doing it in 3 days, I just want to do it under 3 whole days (i.e. 72h from start to finish). 2 days was my initial goal, that I'll try to achieve anyway (aim for "higher", you may reach just "high"), but I will settle just fine with 3 days if I can pull this off.

It's not as much about my body being overweight as it is about taking a revenge on life. In any case, it has nothing to do with losing weight, that I'll do when I come back from holidays by lifting some weight and eating less junk.

Thank you! This is the kind of advice I need. I bought a backpack with a straw attached to drink from (3 liters). I plan to take with me puffed rice biscuits (because I have been told that cooked rice would go sour) and peanut butter, so that I can refill my 3 macros. For blisters, I'll try maybe to alternate positions, and take short breaks once in a while, to ease the pain. But blisters are not that bad anyway (I was a scout when I was young, I know blisters ).

Time will tell. You may or may not be impressed. I do it for me. Plus I still don't see the foolishness in this, given that I will have all the tools I need, given what people achieve with the right willpower (of course training helps though), and given what I achieved when I was younger (yes, I was younger and less fat, but I did not have any training then). There is no foolishness, just determination and proper equipment.

Thanks for the help anyway! I am almost ready, I just have a few more muscle/diet questions that I'll ask on a more specialized forum.

I'll leave the 30th July at 00:01, and keep you posted in case some of you are interested about this challenge.

I'm sorry, I did not understand what you meant (I fear my english is not perfect).

wished

I wish the OP the best of luck, but I really don't see the point to think of this as "touring", more of a crazy single-person race. He appears to want a personal challenge, and this is certainly it. It's seems pretty unrealistic, but that appears to be his point. If he accomplishes it and brags about it on here I think many will doubt he did it, especially since it is going to be undocumented. Personally the whole idea I find to be of absolutely no interest to me, just crazy.

It's been said several different ways by many different people over the years, but I think that touring on a bike is more about the journey and not just the destination.

Renaud4Chemins

Thank you "wished". After looking up the term "touring" in my preferred dictionnary, indeed this is not what I am looking for. My goal is to set up a personal challenge and go from A to B in the least amount of time, nothing more.

Also, I won't "brag" (I don't see the point to brag in front of people whom I don't know and who live 10,000 miles from where I am, and in any case this is not my personality anyway) but I'll surely keep you posted. If people don't believe whatever I say (they already do not believe that my challenge is genuine...), it is the least of my concerns. I'll put data and pictures, and my profile on MapMyRide is set to "public" (for rides).

To each is own: you don't find a challenge like this interesting for you, as I don't find a "touring" trip interesting either

wished

That's my point, so why are you posting this in the "Touring" sub-forum? Try the "Road Cycling" forum if you have no interest in touring.

Renaud4Chemins

I'm sorry, it is my mistake, I arrived here from a Google search, I did not hand-picked the subforum. Maybe an admin could move my topic then?

Doug64

To put your proposal into perspective; the current record holder for riding across Canada averages "only" 450 to 500 km a day. He is currently riding across again to try to break his own record.

You would have to be pretty close to the same timeline.

From a more personal experience, I rode 1,100 miles in 11 days. However, I was racing at the time and rode from 250-350 miles a week, with a cuople of 400+ weeks thrown in,for months prior to the ride. It was still not an an easy ride due to the topography of the route.
You plan on doing half that distance in 2 days?

Why would you set unrealistic goals with little chance of success to make you feel better about yourself; rather than a realistic target that is a challenge, but achievable?

I wish you the best.

cb400bill

Thread moved from Touring to Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling with 3 day forwarding.

clasher

I don't think you're massively overweight and it might be possible to do it without any training. I think it'll be agonizing but if you are set on doing it you might make it. 300km a day for 3 days straight it's outrageously insane. I did my first 300km brevet in 17.5 hours and it was hard work. I'm 1.8m tall and ~96kg so no lightweight. I worked up to riding long distance though and I don't think I would have just jumped right into it. I'm 35 too and I don't understand the urgency on your part but good luck anyway.

I'd get some decent lights and make sure to get a lot of sleep the week before you go. Ride at a pace where you can sing to yourself or talk to someone and hopefully you won't reach a point of exhaustion. I would avoid pushing hard gears and try to spin easier gears it might help your knees. I would also suggest walking up some hills so as to stretch your legs and use some different muscles, this will give the cycling muscles a bit of a break. Plan to stop and eat sometimes and enjoy the ride as much as you can.

If you get good lights you can do some of the riding in the dark when the heat of the day isn't as intense and take a longer lunch break or a siesta during the early afternoon. A good cycling cap and sun sleeves might help keep the threat of heat stroke away, I've seen lots of strong riders succumb to it.

Renaud4Chemins

I already explained that I realize that 2 days may totally not be feasible, but I'll aim for 2 days so that I can do it in 3. If I aim for 3 days, I'll do it in 4. And my goal is to beat my uncles' record of 3.5 days.

Thank you for your support Doug64!

Renaud4Chemins

Thank you!! Finally! Someone who agrees with me that I am not *that* fat! I sure may have fat on my hips and belly but I'm still in overall good shape and I got strong thighs! Thank you

Sometimes you just have to throw yourself in it, no matter if you did not have plenty of time to prepare... My goal is not to have a pleasant ride and visit the country. I think you are right, it's going to be difficult, but otherwise there would be no point doing it (at least for me).

I bought myself a "ThorFire", I heard that it is a good light. I also got a backup flashlight that I'll strap on the helmet in case of need.

I plan to ride mostly during the night because like you said it will protect me from the heat of the day (especially in south France during summer). I plan to sleep from 12pm to 4pm, during which time I will use a portable solar cell to charge my phone and light batteries (I also bought two backup batteries just in case).

Isn't walking up a hill (instead of cycling) considering like "cheating" or something? Because I would be doing a (really tiny) part of the trip on foot...

Thanks anyway for all your advices, they are (really) much appreciated and I kept a note of them!

unterhausen

don't worry about cheating, I have walked a couple of times on a 1200 km grand randonnee and finished in the 94 hour time limit.
48 hours is really ambitious. Although people finish all 1200 km of Paris-Brest-Paris (pbp)in that amount of time.

As someone said above, you should be able to split your route. Lots of things fail at 300km or so, because almost nobody rides that far in one ride.

Typical distances for PBP riders are 440km the first 24 hours, 360km the second day, 300km the third
and 150 the 4th day. Ok, so my numbers don't add up, but it's close. I have a lot of trouble on the 2nd day until early evening. 3rd day is fine.

Good luck

Renaud4Chemins

If PBP riders pedal 16h each day, then I'm royally f****ed because I thought professional riders could do like 600km per day (based on 16h of riding per day and 8h rest inc. breaks and sleep)

I calculated that based on a 3 days ride, I would need to ride at 18km/h for 16h-long in order to achieve the goal. It seems hard, but achievable. In that regard, the slowest "Tour de France" contender achieves an avg 24km/h, and they have lots of mountains to cross (that drastically diminishes the avg speed), which I won't (for an average "stage" on semi-flat road, the avg speed is 40km/h).

Also, I thought that maybe a too long nap would allow my muscles to "rigidify" (sry vocabulary) and I would then have a hard time going back on the saddle. That's why I thought I'd do what skippers do on their boat: sleep several times, but for a short duration, so that my muscles stay warm. I don't know, it's just a naive thought.

I also found a very detailed article about what "Tour de France" riders eat/drink, it can give me some ideas on how to stay efficient.

Anyway thank you for sharing your experience, this helps knowing what to expect (how the body will react).

deex

My biggest concern would be muscle fatigue. Fatigue on your leg muscles, fatigue on your neck muscles and wrist fatigue. Shouldn't you be practice riding already?

Renaud4Chemins

This is my biggest concern too because I don't know how my muscles will react after a few hours.

Someone already gave me the good advice of walking up a few hills in order to switch the muscles being put to use.

Also, I can change positions from time to time, or take a 5min break once in a while and take advantage of this to do some stretching.

I was wondering if maybe aspirin could help muscle fatigue...? I'll ask my doctor but if someone has advice for this...

Also I read somewhere that I should be eating carbs+prot (75/25%) all ride long to replenish muscle "strength".

Other than that, I don't know what to do... Put heat on my thighs? Like a "tiger balm"?

I don't have time to train (only 2 weeks) just as I didn't have the time back "in my youth" when I rode 650km in 4 days. I just need to ride 25% more in 25% less time. With the right mindset, it should be feasible... Right?

Steamer

I think you will learn 10x more on the actual ride than you can on this forum thread. Let us know how it went.

Renaud4Chemins

Thanks Steamer! Yes, one way or another, I'll let you know.

njkayaker

People who do these sorts of rides put a great deal of effort into preparing for them.

They aren't going to have a lot of patience for somebody who thinks they can ask a few questions on the internet and do such riding without any real preparation.

For someone who knows nothing, you sure are picky about the advice you will accept.


It's irresponsible to give advice to random strangers who are clearly ill-prepared for the venture they seek advice about.

Renaud4Chemins

I just hope so much for you that I fail in my enterprise, because otherwise you would have put all those enormous, bold, underlined, agressive red letters for nothing, and you would only look like an idiot, and I wouldn't want that...

In any case, call me stupid, but I don't see the irresponsibility in helping someone who affirmatively made his mind to ride 25% more km than what he already did, in 25% less time.

Quite the contrary, it is imho irresponsible from someone with experience to not share this experience with someone who could benefit from it in that it could prevent injuries or something.

I appreciate a good hard challenge... And you seem to like to judge. To each his own...

njkayaker

You are not in a good place to suggest that other people look like idiots.

Since you don't know anything about what you are venturing into, your opinion about it is not really worth anything.

The way to "prevent injuries" is to have the appropriate preparation. You don't have enough time to acquire the appropriate preparation.

But you don't want to hear that advice.

Renaud4Chemins

I am not the native english speaker here, but please pay attention, I said that you would, not that you are.

What, so I'm not entitled to have an opinion because I'm not Lance Armstrong or something? That's nice.

First, even over-prepared athletes suffer from injuries.

Also, I already told that, but I already did a 650km (404 miles) trip in 4 days, ok it was 15 years ago but it was still without any preparation and with a lame bike and almost no equipment. And it went well.

I still agree that I am a complete beginner and that I have much to learn, but that experience proves that one can ride without preparation and without getting injured.

Other people have helped me and given me great advice (on this forum or on others) and I think I am ready for this challenge, no matter what you may think.

njkayaker

My statement still stands. You are in a poor position to discuss other people's "would be" stupidity.

I didn't say that.

That you are entitled to have an opinion doesn't make that opinion worthwhile.

This makes you sound reckless.

And you don't see that that is different. And being unprepared then didn't make sense either.

It's different and you might have just been lucky. What "complete beginners" say about stuff isn't likely to be meaningful.

Renaud4Chemins

I see that you softened your reply. What I received by email was:
Worthless to whom? You? Given your rude behavior toward me, I couldn't care less what you decide is worth or not.

And even though I am not Lance Armstrong, I can say whatever I want, and you don't get to talk down to me like that.

And if I wish to go for a long ride, it doesn't matter that I am a professional or not. Riding is not restricted to professionals/experienced only.

I am a beginner. I will be slower, I will make mistakes, I will learn. But I am not forbidden to ride, and therefore advices are most welcome.

And if you don't want to give me advices, and especially when you talk to me this way, then you are just a judging moron. Plain and simple. Truth hits hard. I too will experience it in a few days. No thanks to your kind anyway.

pagedeveloper

[QUOTE=Renaud4Chemins;18906033]Thank you! Yesterday evening I bought myself some good stuff (strong front lights, batteries, stuff like that), it will help me ride during the night when the temperature is cooler. I will keep you posted early August (except in the case that I physically cant).

Have you thought about how you are going to carry all of this equipment, food, water, and the like?? Also rice might be really hard to eat. If it is cooked, and it get air it will get really hard, and making it not do well in your stomach.


I am sorry for your loss. That's why I seek advice to prevent heart failure (even though it can happen to anyone at any time... even while eating breakfast).
Thanks for the tip for aero bars, I'll look into it!

Then I would not be trying to do this long of a ride without some training.



I understand he did. But what I am looking for is advice on how to accomplish this challenge this summer. I got enough people around me trying to discourage me from doing it... What I need now is professional advice to have the best chance at it.

You need to then listen to what everyone is telling you. It is great that you want to do this kind of a ride, but not riding in that long, you need to build up to it. That is a great goal, but I think that you need to rethink it.


Personally, I think that you are biting off more then you can chew. If you are not sleeping for the 40+ hours, when you get off the bike you will most likely fall into a heap and sleep for two days. Our body is not meant to go that long without sleep. Some else said something about sleeping. That at a specific pace you can at least get 8 hours of sleep. I would do that, it would give you time to let your body at least heal or give your legs a rest to not get a large muscle cramp, or just not be able to move.

Here is another question, do you have anything set up for if you do get hurt? So you want to do this ride, (as everyone else has stated you are doing it in the wrong manner??) Now, what have you set up so that if you are ridding, and get hit by a car, fall asleep while you are riding and hit a pole, the back of a parked car? You legs get so cramped that you can not move? What is in place for that? What if you get to the full 550 miles, now how are you going to get home? Or you get 200 miles into it, and get a flu bug, or have trouble breathing and need assistance? Did you think of that one??

Again, I think that you are taking the wrong approach at this, you should build up to it. I give you a ton of credit for wanting to do this, but I think it is being looked at in the wrong way... Let us know when you return...

pagedeveloper

[QUOTE=Renaud4Chemins;18916190]I see that you softened your reply. What I received by email was:

Worthless to whom? You? Given your rude behavior toward me, I couldn't care less what you decide is worth or not. And even though I am not Lance Armstrong, I can say whatever I want, and you don't get to talk down to me like that.

How is he being rude, you asked for advise and it is being given. You are trying to do more then you are able to do without the proper training. So here is an example. you boxed in college, and did well at it. Now 20 years later, you all of sudden think that you want to do it again. You call a professional box (add a name) and tell him that you want to box him because you did so well in school. One, they would laugh at you. If they said yes, would you just go jump in the ring with them?? NO you would not. They would hit you one time, and you would be hearing bells for days. If not unconscious for a week. So if you want advise and ask for it, then listen to what is being said.

And if I wish to go for a long ride, it doesn't matter that I am a professional or not. Riding is not restricted to professionals/experienced only. I am a beginner. I will be slower, I will make mistakes, I will learn. But I am not forbidden to ride, and therefore advices are most welcome.

You are not a "professional" but you are trying to act like you have been riding 200 + for years, now you want to add double to your ride. That is not even a feasible. Yes, we are all bike riders here, that is why we are here. You said that all the people in your life are telling that you should not do it. Now, you come here and ask for advise, and then tell everyone that you think that they are being rude, or a moron because you "ASKED" for something and got an answer that you do not like.

I think it is great that you want to accomplish such a feat, but "YOU ARE TAKING IT" the wrong way. If you think that I am being rude, a ??? (add a word that makes you feel good) then fine I am. If you make the ride, and show the group you did it, I think we will all tell you "GREAT JOB". I think you need to learn to listen also. You are making a really big mistake.