Prep for an 80 mile XC ride?
 

coming up in about 2 weeks is a long ride i want to do, there is an option for a 20 mile, 50 mile and a 80 mile... i would like to do the 80 mile one but wanted to get some opinions on what i should do to prep for such a long ride. i raced XC all summer and came out 2nd in my class for the race series, but i have never done anything over 40 miles before. on this specific ride there is about 7,000 feet of climbing and my teacher who did it last year said it took him ALL day (about 12 hours). latley i have been riding every monday,wednesday and saturdays at times, usualy only about 15 miles durring the week and 30-40 on the weekends.

So what do you think?
-Jonathan

I did the Cascade Creampuff earlier this year - 100 miles and ~ 18-19K feet of climbing. Unfortunately I did not get enough time to train - I was off the continent for a while before the race without a bike. However, rides like this are as much raced in your mind as on the trail. There were several guys that physically would have smoked me but didn't because they gave up - or gave in to the pain. It sounds like your fitness base is fine - when you get to the starting line just think that the only option is to finish, and you will. Plus, the faster you go - the sooner the pain stops.

Me and a friend rode 76 miles once in North Carolina on forest roads which took us over 4 fairly tall passes for western NC and it took us around 5 hours to do it. We both were racing at the time and were in good shape for cranking long climbs.

What is the ride ? Where? When? Sounds like a lot of fun. If you can ride 40 miles at race pace you will have little to worry about if you meter your efforts and don't blow up.

Plan your eating and hydration carefully. I am assuming this ride is sagged and will have refreshment stops.

Yeah, there will be 4 stops along the way... i think they have food at each stop aswell. http://www.cogwild.com/bendsbigfattour.html still dont know if i can pull it off. im sure i have the ability, but dont know if im up to it right now. :(

You'll be fine - pedal pedal pedal. Plenty of time to rest at the end.

There's an excellent book on the subject by Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D and Ed Pavelka called: Long-Distance Cycling. It's concise, well written and there's a good energy flow to it.

Regards.