rogan wrote:Yep. Most rides over about ~150 km will contain a point where you don't feel so great. That is the point where your body switches from carbs to fats (it's more technical than that, and it's not a single point). To improve this, you need to teach your body to burn fat, hopefully from soon after starting. To do 300+ km, over ~13 hours, without relying heavily on your fat burning metabolism, is just about impossible. You cannot, during the course of such a ride, eat 4000 or 5000 calories (which is what you would theoretically need to do). One way to train your body to burn fat better is by going past 150 km. Well past. ~100 km rides will never do it. Not even 3 x hard 100km rides in 3 consecutive days.leximack wrote:i did a few 150 and 200k rides before i went 300+. Huge difference between 100, 200 and 300+.
200+ requires correct pacing and nutrition.
If you blow up at 150km because you went out a bit quick or didnt eat correctly then it is very hard to recover properly and complete the ride.
No idea what your longest ride is (not intested in how hilly it is) but get a 150k and then a 200km flatish ride under your belt and then add in hills after that.
Everyone is different with how much and when to eat and drink so you really need to experiment yourself. But as a general rule if your hungry then its probably too late!!
If you are doing it properly, you should hardly ever get hungry on "normal" rides at all - ie. up to about ~4 hours.
So yes you need to learn pacing, managing your system, your intakes of water and food. You need to be able to climb steep hills, and be able to concentrate for long periods. You need to be able to handle riding for long periods in other parts of your body - back, arms, hands, neck all get sore.
But most importantly, you need to have a metabolism that will allow you to do such a ride.
Long training rides, up to at least ~70% of the intended distance, are highly recommended.
Spot on
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that was ridiculous.
