intransit1217

I've been upping my miles per ride and can do 30 -35 with no issue. Yesterday I went out for 50 and came back with 62.
This morning I did a 16/16 coffee shop ride.

Yesterday i was pretty beat afterwards, this morning I felt pretty ok, but we did fight wind on the r/t.

I had lunch, took a nap, and realized that my legs were kinda pissed at me. I don't know what tomorrow will feel like but I may opt for walking vs an uber-light short spin on the bike. Or do some upper body work.

Would it be better to go back to 35ers and inch up to 40, then 45 etc? Or does pushing ones self help the distance game?

spinnaker

Everyone is different so what ever works for you and what agrees with your doctor.

Machka 

And remember, you're asking the Touring Forum.

Many here "train" for a tour by commuting to and from work plus maybe doing some day tours or overnight tours on the weekend.

nun

Give yourself a day off for your muscles to recover, over training can hurt you.

Having said that it's good to mix hard days with gentler spins and hills will flats done at speed. I have a fairly flat fast 50 mile route I do, but also a 20 mile route with 2000 ft of climbing that is tough in a very different way. Get yourself some routes over varied terrain and you'll discover just how well you are doing. You might be better to ask training questions in the "Road" or "Training and Nutrition" forums.

imi

Listen to your body, eat, drink and sleep well and ride as far and fast - or short and slow - as you feel like that day...

I find stretching helps both before (sometimes) and after (always) helps recovery... but views on this differ...

10 Wheels

Keep it Fun and rest when you need it.

BigAura

Taking a day off is a good idea. A light day or alternative exercise is fine, but if you're really beat just take a full day of rest. Also be sure that you're hydrating enough and eating healthy.

Personally I don't push max-anything for tour preparation I just do what is comfortable. On both tours and preparing for a tour I look at overall averages and not individual numbers. A day off of rest or an easy day is always an option for me.

staehpj1

Not bad advice, but I will add that for me a really easy and short spin sometimes seems to aid in recovery.

Also as was said above, this is touring so keep it fun.

Are you training for a specific tour, for general fitness, or something else? Personally I think that especially on longer tours the only training needed is having enough saddle time in to not be in pain after several hours on the bike. Beyond that, on tour, just ride a reasonable mileage based on how you feel. That may mean short days for the first week or ten days, but that is fine. I personally figure that if I need a rest day on tour I over did the day before. I do take short days here and there rather than rest days though.

Tourist in MSN

At home - when riding for quite a few hours (four plus hours) during a ride, I try to get about 200 to 250 calories every hour to a hour and a half. Might be some energy powder in my drink, might be a granola bar, or maybe half an energy bar. That can help prevent that total lack of energy feeling that you can get at the end of a long day. I try to have some protein within a half hour after a long ride too, that could be some form of protein bar or some drink with whey powder or maybe some peanut butter on toast. I think Greek yogurt has high protein too, but that has not been on my recovery list in the past.

On a tour - I try to do something like above, but granola bars and energy bars are more convenient for me to buy and use than the drink powders.

I think this means I restoring about a third to half of the calories that I am burning during that ride and the protein afterwards is well documented by sport nutritionists for recovery. I do not think that coffee specifically helps me during my ride very much, but on most long rides, if I start in the morning I am also carrying a pint thermos of unsweetened coffee. I drink that instead of water until the thermos is empty.

If I am traveling alone and can schedule my time, I stop every hour to hour and a half for some calories, but never stop for more than 5 minutes to avoid getting stiff. But, when I tour with others (most of my tours), we often find ourselves stopping for a big lunch, then after lunch I am quite stiff and it can take 20-30 minutes in the saddle to be back to normal. I do not know why, but most of the people I have toured with want to get all their energy in one sitting mid-day. But many short stops with a small amount of calories works much better for me.

It is important to hydrate but it is also important not too consume too much water all at once. On a long hot ride, I might go thru a gallon of water. Sometimes I find myself forcing myself to remember to hydrate, I rarely get thirsty on a long ride so I try to make sure I do not forget.

intransit1217

Most of this is what I want to do. Trying to practice going long, staying out long enough to be in the fat burning zone, getting used to riding heavy bike. Gawd the energy savings of a road bike is incredible. My first goal is a supported tour. I'd like to be able to do back to back 60s for a week comfortably. Second goal is an unsupported ride to detroit and back over about 15 days. Beyond that, a RAIN.

intransit1217

I probably didn't rest quite enough during the ride as I was on a bit of a budget. I brought water and a banana, stopped at 23 mi. for a gatorade and a stretch, stopped at 30 for the banana, rest, the remaining 'ade, photos. Stopped at 31 because I found a cool photo op. Then on the way home stopped at 8 miles for another gatorade and some potato chips and a stretch and to add a layer as it had cooled off. I think I was starting to fatigue here. Then again about 10 miles later for the rest of the second gatorade and chips, then onto the house. I was drinking water regularly and it wasn't hot by any means.

Most of my stops were short aside from one intersection which caused some stiffness. Hmm. Maybe i under fueled a bit and this was a slow bonk. Usually bonks are rather sudden.

But that's why we do these tests, right Max?

boomhauer

You are hilarious.....

Tourist in MSN

A gatorade, banana, potato chips, that is pretty good stuff for a bike ride. Sometimes you just have a bad day. And some people have to work up to longer distances.

I find the part of me that stops functioning well on a long ride is my rear end, sometimes after about 6 hours on the saddle I get a bad case of what I call Brooks butt and I just need to get off the bike and walk around for 5 minutes.

MassiveD

I think it is better for you to do it over the longer period of time. My friend who trains for road racing does 500-1000 miles each spring, just spinning low gears. But that said, I don't ride year round, and I go out on tours with zero training, it's fine. I am up to 100 mile days within about 3 days. The longest time I was off a bike before going on a multi week tour was about 8 years. Touring isn't racing, and 10 mph made good at about 14 mph riding speed, is a doddle, you just need to keep it up for 8 or more hours.

Olympians didn't even weight train until the '36 Olympics, the idea that you need to do a highly scientific training regiment to ride a desk at the bank, or whatever, is just some harmless nonsense they invented to sell gym memberships. You don't need to train to engage in normal levels of physical exercise, there isn't any harm in doing it, just so long as one doesn't let the need to train detract from the enjoyment or possibility of going bike touring.

The exceptions are if you want to keep up with someone a lot faster than you, or if you want to do something like the Himalayas that is way out of the normal fitness level of the couchbound.

saddlesores

why not eat some real food, take some breaks along the way? just cut your intended
miles in thirds, stop for something a little more filling and nutritionful after each third.
doesn't have to be a full meal, just something other than junk food. break for 45 minutes to an hour. stretch, walk around, talk to the locals, take a nap.

fietsbob

ride Your Bike .. then go tour some where , Andride there. Dont have a Milage requirement as you will be carrying more start with smaller miles per day

maybe in a flat country,, then after a while the long day in the saddle will feel short . And you have to go Home , as your time to tour is ending.

I liked stopping at Pubs and having Lunch there.

djb

this is the case for me. Recently I have been feeling that I really need to stretch more post rides. I've been commuting on and off since the snow, ice and salt have gone, and am up to about 700km so far, and as in other years, I get to a point where I really feel post ride stretching helps the muscles a lot. When I say , get to a point, its been like this other years that after a while of biking, it seems some muscles are more stiff, or maybe its just cuz Im pushing harder now (I too take it real "spinny" for a quite a while early in season) and so the stretches really do help the muscles lengthen or whatever.