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Post by joneve on Aug 11, 2014 16:28:30 GMT
Really looking forward to it, despite the fact my longest ride to date is 53(ish) miles and I have no idea if my lower back is going to cope.
Eating plenty of carbs this week and always try and stay hydrated anyway...Staying at a mate's house the night before - he's a fitness freak and will be cooking up a carb loaded meal for the night before and I'll have porridge and eggs the morning of, probably. Oh and his Mrs. is baking up some legit flapjacks for the way round too!
Will report back after Sunday if I make it. There's a group of 6 of us doing it, so we should be able to get a mini pelly going to help each other up the climbs. Oh and the best part is, there's a few of us on Triban's - all of which I persuaded to by them!
Any other tips the wise folk of the forum want to relay, I'm open to all!
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Post by fatmanona5a on Aug 11, 2014 18:39:33 GMT
IF you are all riding together, do you really need six pumps, sets of tyre levers etc etc. There might be scope for 2 or 3 of the riders to ditch some of their kit?
Pace yourselves.Is the idea to get everybody round, or to try and get a "time".
Enjoy the day. For better or worse you and your mates will gain shared memories (take photos)!
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Post by robertsims on Aug 11, 2014 18:42:25 GMT
Which event is it?
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Post by chiban3 on Aug 11, 2014 18:46:23 GMT
Food, glorious food!
Presume it's an organised event so they should have a steady supply of flapjack stops, etc, but the main advice I would offer as someone who's struggled on getting up to those distances in these sorts of thing is to keep fuelling often, and don't wait til you feel hungry. Freebies, Gels, electrolyte drinks, just keep piling something in, every half hour or so. Your legs will just keep going, but your mind won't once you run out of food.
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Post by Rocket on Aug 11, 2014 18:56:40 GMT
Don't accept any cans of rice pudding though
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Post by joneve on Aug 11, 2014 19:26:53 GMT
Wiggle Mendips, Rob. And yes, it's an organised job, so 3 fuelling stations. But I will probably stick some Soreen and jelly babies (and flapjack) in my pockets and stick back on my horrible, discoloured saddle bag for my spare tube etc
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Post by ChrisD on Aug 11, 2014 19:31:20 GMT
... I will probably stick some Soreen and jelly babies (and flapjack) in my pockets... On a trip to the supermarket for a big shop yesterday I noticed 4 different varieties of Soreen all on special offer - standard, apple and sultana, fruity five and banana. Need to get lots of rides in this next couple of weeks to use up all the malty goodness I came home with!
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damo6
Peloton Rider
Posts: 294
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Post by damo6 on Aug 11, 2014 20:05:55 GMT
I was at the same point earlier in the year when I did my first sportive - I had done 50/60 mile rides and then signed up for a 93 mile sportive on the Tuesday for that coming Sunday. Best piece of advice I had past the normal stuff (and it will seem so obvious but can easily be overlooked) was make sure you drink loads of fluids the day before - I just had a water bottle that I kept draining all day - the downside to this is that you spend the day going to the toilet like a runner in the grand national But the benefit is you start off on the morning of the ride as hydrated as you possibly can be - as long as you then keep topping up with the fluids and eating as you go round it should help to offset the fatigue that little bit longer and make sure you don't bonk. Good luck
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Post by ChrisD on Aug 11, 2014 20:27:47 GMT
I did my first Sportive last Autumn joneve (the Wiggle New Forest that we might team up on this year) and chose the standard 70 mile ride as the Epic 100+ mile option had just sold out before I decided to go for it. While I had ridden similar and longer rides earlier in the year (mainly solo) what I wasn't prepared for was the chase effect of being in a group ride. After the initial bunching and clamoring for position it was exciting to enjoy some group riding. As things thinned out further I tried to use groups up ahead as potential goals, to either join them or even eventually slingshot off (if I could). I joined a couple of guys about half way through the ride and managed stayed with them for a while, when I tried my turn on the front I ended up going off faster than they did but then they decided they'd had enough of me and left me for dead. It was all good experience but the downside was I'd nearly emptied the tank by about 60 miles and that, coupled with not many groups nearby at that point meant the last 10-12 miles were very hard going indeed. I was glad I hadn't booked the full on Epic then but am up for it this year, with a better sense of pace and my own limits hopefully.
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Post by ChrisD on Aug 11, 2014 20:58:22 GMT
Don't accept any cans of rice pudding though Alternatively, if you are worried any of your friends might find it hard to hold themselves back and maintain a steady pace for the group, just tell them that the truest and noblest Triban riders always stock up on rice pudding just before a big ride. That should do the trick!
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Post by joneve on Aug 11, 2014 22:14:12 GMT
I was at the same point earlier in the year when I did my first sportive - I had done 50/60 mile rides and then signed up for a 93 mile sportive on the Tuesday for that coming Sunday. Best piece of advice I had past the normal stuff (and it will seem so obvious but can easily be overlooked) was make sure you drink loads of fluids the day before - I just had a water bottle that I kept draining all day - the downside to this is that you spend the day going to the toilet like a runner in the grand national But the benefit is you start off on the morning of the ride as hydrated as you possibly can be - as long as you then keep topping up with the fluids and eating as you go round it should help to offset the fatigue that little bit longer and make sure you don't bonk. Good luck Top job! Nice to know its doable! I've no doubt my legs can get me through it. My pathetic back is my only concern. The competitiveness in my will want to aim for the gold award time (just shy of 6 hours averaging 16.2mph), but in reality, I'll need a stretch at the fuelling stations just to keep me loose and will probably end up crawling round the last 20 miles or so! i try and keep as hydrated as possible in general anyway, so hopefully that will stand me in good stead!
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Post by baz on Aug 11, 2014 22:16:36 GMT
Good luck joneve , if you can do 50 then 90 odd will be fine specially with company, enjoy the day
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Post by ChrisD on Aug 11, 2014 22:30:04 GMT
Top job! Nice to know its doable! I've no doubt my legs can get me through it. My pathetic back is my only concern. The competitiveness in my will want to aim for the gold award time (just shy of 6 hours averaging 16.2mph), but in reality, I'll need a stretch at the fuelling stations just to keep me loose and will probably end up crawling round the last 20 miles or so! i try and keep as hydrated as possible in general anyway, so hopefully that will stand me in good stead! There's a fair amount of elevation on that ride by the look of the profile so I think the Gold time, though doable, is quite challenging. Perhaps see how you feel after you've got the first two climbs behind you and consider the pace. Unlike a tracker app like Strava, I don't think their timing chips stop the clock when you take your well earned breaks at each of the feeding stations. The key as all have said is to finish the day with a smile on your face even if your legs are complaining.
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Post by r0b1et on Aug 12, 2014 0:09:51 GMT
I have my first Sunday too, 102miles of new forest.
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Post by captslog on Aug 12, 2014 7:59:25 GMT
I've written this before in the "what to put in your saddle bag" thread, and I said at the time that it might cause some disagreement, (it didn't, which surprised me a little). However, here goes.
Take some Ibuprofen with you, the liquid capsules are the best as they get there really quickly.
The sons and I did our first sportive this year, and the youngest (19) ran into problems with pains. It's complicated and personal, so I won't say what the problem was, but this was around halfway on a 50 mile ride. So I did the domestique bit, left him with elder son and rode into the nearest village to find a shop. I came back with said medication, we sat at the side of the road for 15 minutes and had drinks and chocolate bars while we waited for it to take effect, and were able to continue and finish. I later took one when a muscle ache got bad enough to make riding unpleasant.
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