[LEL17] Having doubts about my ability to complete LEL

[madcow]

1.I know that feeling of trepidation. 

2. See you in Loughton 

1. At the start most long rides, I am passing the proverbial bricks. I even said so to a fellow Brit as we left the velodrome in 2015.
It's the unknown , no matter how far you have ridden in the build up.
At least on this one the Brits have home advantage. What all participants will (hopefully)  have is relatively well stocked controls and bag drops so you are better looked after than most audax rides.

Stan, get back on the bike asap  and plan to do another 300 within 2 weeks and then see if your mind and body have repaired and recuperated.
What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.
 I'm sure that point  2. will apply.

[Rod Marton]

The thing to do is only to think about the next control. 1400k is just too far to imagine in one go: split it down into sections. At some point during the event you will feel awful, everyone does, you just have to get through it.

Two things I find helpful to think to myself when at that inevitable low point:

1. "It's not as bad as that time on (insert event of choice) and I got through that."
2. "I'll go as far as the next control and see how I feel." Invariably I feel better.

[nammynake]

I'm feeling woefully unprepared. Longest ride this year (ever in fact) is 150 miles. I've done a handful in the range 120-150 miles but need to get my butt in gear and build up to some longer 300-400km rides, and in particular doing some long(ish) back-to-back days to see how my body reacts. I should say my rides have been at a higher pace than I'm expecting to ride on LEL - typically 16-18mph average over lumpy terrain, and I definitely feel fitter than a few months ago.

[madcow]

If you can manage that speed over lumpy terrain, then
(a) you shouldn't have any problem extending to 3 or 400k in reasonable times even if your overall speed suffers slightly
and (b) you should get enough sleep on LEL ( more than many will get anyway).

[CaptainVolvo]

I've also never ridden more than 150m in a day, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I will ride as much as I can before the start then rock up and give it my best shot. I might bail after day 1 or breeze round in 100 hours. I genuinely have no idea. What I do know is that I'll not find out if I sit on the sofa and wonder.

[tippers_kiwi]

I've also never ridden more than 150m in a day, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I will ride as much as I can before the start then rock up and give it my best shot. I might bail after day 1 or breeze round in 100 hours. I genuinely have no idea. What I do know is that I'll not find out if I sit on the sofa and wonder.

Love it!

That's what it is all about. I suspect very few can prepare perfectly (whatever that might be) but my aim is pretty much the same. Ride as many miles as I can fitting it around all the more important 'real life' stuff, turn up and pedal until I can pedal no more (or hopefully until I am finished)

My hope is to turn up confident my body will handle it but with some anticipation about the upcoming adventure. It worked for PBP* and I had a ball

*Hanging onto Tomsks back wheel for about 86 of the 87 hours probably helped me as well to be fair.

[Wycombewheeler]

I just finished a 300km brevet with 9000ft of climbing in cold miserable rainy weather in 17 hours.  I could not imagine getting on the bike again the next day for another 300km I was so knackered.  Or the next day.  I know there is still time to train and complete a SR series, but my confidence is a bit shaken at this point. 

Any thoughts?

Only by doing rides that are hard do we get stronger, if you cruised round a comfortable 300 and found it easy it wouldn't really be training.
As others have said if you have already booked flights and accommodation no sense in not riding.
I would start and see how it goes.

[Von Broad]

To those that feel unprepared, do I have any thoughts?
Well, apart from - "what on earth are you doing attempting something like this you fool, don't you have anything more meaningful to do with your life!".......... not a lot actually.

Although.........there is one thing I would genuinely pass on that is outside of ones ill-prepared run-up to the event, and that is: check your bike over. FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. This is something you have complete control over. At least before you start.

That means - tyres, tubes, brake and gear cables, state of chain to cassette wear etc....all the basic stuff.

You have an excuse for yourself, one which I would whole-heartly emphasize with, but you have NO excuse for a poorly prepared bike.
Love your bike and your bike will love you back [or something like that!] You don't want to be messing around with things you could have easily sorted out at home but couldn't be arsed - you're going to have enough issues dealing with yourself, never mind a crap bike.

Seriously.

[Veloman]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  So true.

Myself and Vorsprung were doing bike mechanics at Brampton on LEL in 2013 and the condition of some of the bikes was shocking in terms of basic maintenance; "did you consider ensuring the chain and jockey wheels were not completely gunked up before starting?" or "did you consider checking if headset was greased before starting?" or "did you consider replacing the frayed brake/gear cable or split brake/gear outer cables before starting?" or "do you always wait for metal on metal contact before replacing the brake pads?" etc etc.

Quite shocking the condition of some of the bikes.

[madcow]

Gary is also speaking from experience,having done the same job at Barnard Castle.
I think the only thing that he didn't fix was the Mercian bike where the head tube and main down tube had come apart.

[Salvatore]

Gary is also speaking from experience,having done the same job at Barnard Castle.
I think the only thing that he didn't fix was the Mercian bike where the head tube and main down tube had come apart.

If he of all people didn't fix that then his standards are slipping.

[hatler]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  So true.

Myself and Vorsprung were doing bike mechanics at Brampton on LEL in 2013 and the condition of some of the bikes was shocking in terms of basic maintenance; "did you consider ensuring the chain and jockey wheels were not completely gunked up before starting?" or "did you consider checking if headset was greased before starting?" or "did you consider replacing the frayed brake/gear cable or split brake/gear outer cables before starting?" or "do you always wait for metal on metal contact before replacing the brake pads?" etc etc.

Quite shocking the condition of some of the bikes.

That's astonishing. A once in four years experience, which costs a bundle, and you have to prepare for for months ahead of time, and people blow it by letting their bikes get in that kind of a condition. Weird.

[hatler]

Is it possibly a sub-conscious way of giving themselves any easy way out ?

[Von Broad]

Gary is also speaking from experience,having done the same job at Barnard Castle.

I can't speak of other nationalities, obviously, but my over riding memory of being on the bike stand at Barnard Castle, was this: I never ever saw the experienced AUkers, [not that I know them all, but I now a few]. Never saw 'em. Why was that? Well....go figure as those over the water would say.

Not that I minded, as volunteers we're there to do what needs to be done, and I've no complaints whatsoever with all that, but [generally speaking, and sometimes crap happens] it was very, very noticable that those riders who knew all about this kind of thing, were nowhere to be seen when it came to the bike stand.

I think my most memorable instance at BC was a guy[looked a bit like Worzel Gummidge] who was riding some beaten up kind of 14 speed reck that looked like it had been pulled out of a skip [and I should know what they look like, cause I've had a few myself] who appeared at the bike stand gesturing about this that and the other, but I could not make head nor tale of what he wanted to express at first. Not speaking his particular version of what sounded like an East European language, we eventually communicated that the gears weren't working properly. Ok, fine, go my advice was, go have a cup of tea and some food and I'll see what I can do. So....quick inspection saw a clapped out old relic with a sadly frayed rear shifter cable and gears that were all over the place. So...new [very cheap] cable, bit of fiddling about and things sooner or later looking much better. So, chap returns, gets on bike rides round the car park, come back, gives me a massive thumbs up and the biggest, beaming smile you've seen since the revolution, and off he went into the night. And you kind of think......what one earth is going on here? But I suppose that's the good thing about LEL and maybe the bad thing too! He made it though

[rob]

Gary is also speaking from experience,having done the same job at Barnard Castle.

I can't speak of other nationalities, obviously, but my over riding memory of being on the bike stand at Barnard Castle, was this: I never ever saw the experienced AUkers, [not that I know them all, but I now a few]. Never saw 'em. Why was that? Well....go figure as those over the water would say.

I remember talking to you there on the way back South.   Myself and my erstwhile antique riding partner were just about to pootle off to our Travelodge at Scotch Corner.

I think your comment was something along the lines of - 'not had to look at your bikes have I ?'.   This is because we were prepared.

[Exit Stage Left]

LEL is clearly a big task, and it's bound to cause a bit of foreboding. It 's interesting to see how the anxiety is displaced. Much of the online traffic is about preparation as displacement. If you can get all the components right, then the task will fall into place.

PBP provides a model, in the sense that there is a natural progression through the distances;  200, 300, 400 and 600. Riders become attached to the methods they have used throughout that progression. One element is the bike they have used, which suffers wear and tear. But the bike is all part of the support mechanism that's stopping them dwelling on the massive step-up from 600 km, so fiddling with it might break the spell.

Lots of riders will be shuffling the anxiety to the corner of their mind, and filling the space with something controllable. There are plenty who have shuffled the condition of the bike into the same corner.

Clearly it's easier to ask about battery life in various makes of GPS, than to say that you are consumed by a sense of dread, and wish you'd never signed up for the escapade. However, in the same way that focusing on detail displaces anxiety about LEL. LEL might be displacing anxiety about something else.

[tonyh]

LEL might be displacing anxiety about something else.

Aye, there's the rub!

[alfapete]

LEL is clearly a big task, and it's bound to cause a bit of foreboding. It 's interesting to see how the anxiety is displaced. Much of the online traffic is about preparation as displacement. If you can get all the components right, then the task will fall into place.

Lots of riders will be shuffling the anxiety to the corner of their mind, and filling the space with something controllable. There are plenty who have shuffled the condition of the bike into the same corner.

Clearly it's easier to ask about battery life in various makes of GPS, than to say that you are consumed by a sense of dread, and wish you'd never signed up for the escapade. However, in the same way that focusing on detail displaces anxiety about LEL. LEL might be displacing anxiety about something else.

Where's the 'Like' button?

[Kim]

Or it could be that complete disconnect that people without mechanical sympathy sometimes have.  Bike failures are something that just happens, unrelated to use.  A bit like cars needing petrol.

Bicycle maintenance (or heroic bodging around the lack thereof) is deeply ingrained in the AUK mentality.  But plenty of accomplished cyclists don't give a stuff about bikes.

[grams]

I'm sure I'm not alone in expecting that I'll conk out on a ride like this long before the bike does, so I can see why the bike wouldn't get the attention it deserves. I can also imagine that all of the preparation rides people do are what wears out the bike to the point it's on the edge of failure come LEL, even if it's performed faultlessly up to that point.

And am I alone in having never greased a headset, at least as a maintenance task? Are we talking a traditional loose ball bearing one?

[Manotea]

I find the bearings in integrated headsets last about two years before they start to distintegrate and need replacing. Once the bearings start to seize you can usually coax a couple more months out of them by copious applications of 3 in 1 but by that stage you're living on borrowed time and they need to be replaced, a process akin to open heart surgery undertaken with a hacksaw, hammer and cold chisel. Oh what joy. But enough about about my maintenance strategy

[The French Tandem]

I can also imagine that all of the preparation rides people do are what wears out the bike to the point it's on the edge of failure come LEL, even if it's performed faultlessly up to that point.

A major overhaul 2 weeks before LEL is the right thing to do. There's no point in riding a 300+ km ride during these last two weeks!

And am I alone in having never greased a headset, at least as a maintenance task? Are we talking a traditional loose ball bearing one?

I did it last year on my 1989 racer. On modern bikes, just buy new bearings every second year, that's much easier!

[hatler]

A major overhaul 2 weeks before LEL is the right thing to do. There's no point in riding a 300+ km ride during these last two weeks!

But be sure to ride the thing a respectable distance after the overhaul to check it all works.

[The French Tandem]

A major overhaul 2 weeks before LEL is the right thing to do. There's no point in riding a 300+ km ride during these last two weeks!

But be sure to ride the thing a respectable distance after the overhaul to check it all works.

That's why I said 2 weeks before, not 2 days before.

[nammynake]

I'm planning my first long (for me) ride this weekend - 200 miles (17,000 ft ascent). I had hoped to have bagged a few more long rides and realise I'm leaving my build up dangerously late but still aiming to do a 400km and possibly a 600km before LEL. At this rate'll be getting my longest rides in mid-July which is quite close to LEL. But I'm still (relatively) young at 38 and recover quite quickly. Touch wood and all that...