0 - 400 in 6 weeks?

[Cycling Daddy]

Coughs gently and waves hand in air...I am back from managing my son's racing
Hope no one minds  me butting into this thread. 
I have just entered this 400 having been freed of other commitments.  Having weighed up all the options, taken stock of my level of fitness, lack of experience carefully read all the useful messages e.t.c I saw what was sensible and did the opposite.  What I am really after are pointers as to what I should be doing twixt now and the pleasure punishment I have just organised.
I have some experience of long distance walking including 24 hour walks so I have a grip on some of the psychology and am acquainted with sleeping on park benches!!  Sleeping whilst standing up...getting spooked in the hour before dawn etc

1.  I commute with increasing frequency (30kms. each way of stop start (73 traffic lights)  urban roads) and am moving to a 200 km a week base.  Would it be better to do fewer longer rides e.g. 2 x 100?

2.  I have been and will be working on comfort, padded gloves, fat tyres etc. but need to test this on longer distances? (probably answered by 4 and 5)

3.  I know I am slowish especially on hills (up surprisingly) my commute is usually averaged at 20 kph rolling average.  Do I try to improve this?  Is that even possible in 4 weeks? Or do I just trust to my ability to keep going through the night hours.

4.  I have booked for a 160 BP next weekend but  wonder whether to make this a 200??

5.  I was then going to do a 200 on the 5th/6th should I try to make this a 300 e.g. with an 'ECE' as I think it is called

6.  I could do more rides on the 12th and 20th.  but was wondering if I should ease off before the event?  Usually dreadful after an effort but seem to bounce back over a day or two.

7.  How important is it to practice night riding?  I am used to commuting in the winter but this is a different order of riding. (probably knackered, in pain and on unknown roads but fewer lorries trying to crush the last gasps of life  from my by then wretched frame)

7.  Thanks for reading this long list of questions...you might think I am mad but sanity seems to be at a premium on this forum

Don Quixote aka Cycling daddy

[Peter]

My experience is very limited (3 x 400 and 1 x 600, although loads of lesser distance rides).  I doubt if you need to do much training, with your commute.  I should think the crucial point is how comfortable you are on the bike - I mean in the arsal area.  The effect of soreness on your mood and your will to live is a real bummer (sic).  That is the big one.  You shouldn't need to practise night-riding; you just need good lights and possibly to allow in your schedule for being a bit slower after dark.  It's also possible that you may let the enthusiasm for the event make you go faster at the start than is best but that shouldn't be the end of the world if you keep fuelled up and accept getting slower!

I'm hoping to ride this so we'll see if I can practise what I preach!

Good luck

Peter

[LEE]

3.  I know I am slowish especially on hills (up surprisingly) my commute is usually averaged at 20 kph rolling average.  Do I try to improve this?  Is that even possible in 4 weeks? Or do I just trust to my ability to keep going through the night hours.

20km/hr is pretty slow but the traffic lights may be the cause, most Audaxes are on roads that allow you to make decent progress.

A cafe stop makes a serious dent in your moving average, in fact moving average is almost irrelevant in Audax, it's a game of overall average.  Eg. 50km/hr moving average is useless if you stop for an hour every few miles.

I've never used moving speed as a guideline.  Audax allows 6hrs 40 mins per 100km.  I use 5hr 30mins per 100km as a goal, including all stops. Sometimes circumstances mean it slips nearer to 6 hours per 100km but that still puts time "in the bank".
That's fairly achievable and allows time for punctures.

If you don't "dick about" in cafes then 6hrs/100km is pretty easy, i.e. a 24hr/400km.

So just make a note of how many kms you should have covered at a certain time of day, maybe in 50km increments, just to keep yourself roughly on track.

[Somnolent]

I have some experience of long distance walking including 24 hour walks so I have .....

something many new randonneurs won't have.

Mrs PpP (off a not dissimilar background) went from 2 x 100km in 2011, to first 200km in January 2012, first 300km in April 2012 , first 600km in May 2012.

Natonal 400s are good for a first 'un - the numbers on the road and the support at the controls makes a big contribution.   

[Cycling Daddy]

Thank you for the encouragement and advice. 
I finished my first 200km yesterday which is happy. 
Took quite a time 12hrs 10 mins.  with a surprising 1 hr. 30 non moving time. 
Navigation was quite smooth (combination of Garmin thanks to Bikey Mikey and route sheet).
Hills were a slow up, some were by my standards steep if short (10%+) and that gets me off my bike since if I pedal I go into oxygen deficit.  In fact the pushing worked well since it gave  different muscles a chance to stretch.  The cure is to lose weight and that id s rather more of a long term project than the 400.
Some of the scenery was really interesting and that caused some slowing and stopping and some minor off road excursions.  It also seems polite and anyway interesting to also spend time chatting to the kind folks doing control duties.
Something that is giving me cause for thought however is an increase in my irregular heart Ectopic beats this has been checked and is benign and common though mine is pronounced.  AN effect of prolonged cycling is to increase the epinephrine (adrenaline) and runs into the next day.  Probably have to have the GP advise on that.
L

[jogler]

 
Took quite a time 12hrs 10 mins.  with a surprising 1 hr. 30 non moving time. 

That's a typical time for my 200km audax rides.

[Hummers]

The 'cure' is to ride more 200s and do so regularly.

Weight loss, stamina, speed etc will follow your desire and will to go further.

H

[Cycling Daddy]

Well I think I am up  for this completing Hungerford Hurrah yesterday and heart rhythm is OK.  I dehydrated pretty badly lesson learned maybe. Finished in 12 hours 8 mins.  having got a bit lost.  Now pondering whether to carry little and run the risk of needing something I do not have or putting the Ortlieb on (well one of them).

[Cycling Daddy]

A very big thank you to all of you who have helped and advised.  Yes it is possible to get ready for a 400 in 4 weeks, even if I am an OAP.  I was lanterne rouge at the National...still coming in a full hour before closing time. 
The TLC was vital to this success, stopped me wimping out at Rosley.  Significant too was the route.  Not flat sice it crossed the pennines twice but it had many kind if not flattering sections.  Will Ioó be back for.more...yes.  However this would all come easier if i had.done more 200's first. Les

[Hummers]

A very big thank you to all of you who have helped and advised.  Yes it is possible to get ready for a 400 in 4 weeks, even if I am an OAP.  I was lanterne rouge at the National...still coming in a full hour before closing time. 
The TLC was vital to this success, stopped me wimping out at Rosley.  Significant too was the route.  Not flat sice it crossed the pennines twice but it had many kind if not flattering sections.  Will Ioó be back for.more...yes.  However this would all come easier if i had.done more 200's first. Les

Well done that man! 

H

[Pingu]

As is customary on these occasions: chapeau, CD 

[lisat]

A very big thank you to all of you who have helped and advised.  Yes it is possible to get ready for a 400 in 4 weeks, even if I am an OAP.  I was lanterne rouge at the National...still coming in a full hour before closing time. 
The TLC was vital to this success, stopped me wimping out at Rosley.  Significant too was the route.  Not flat sice it crossed the pennines twice but it had many kind if not flattering sections.  Will Ioó be back for.more...yes.  However this would all come easier if i had.done more 200's first. Les

Well done.  I will be hoping to do this next year, and will definately be getting a few more 200s in before then.  In fact I am doing one this weekend.
Lisa