Top tips for going longer

[zigzag]

we had 649k on the clock at the end of a 600 ride last year. got lost, rode up and down looking for info controls, don't ask.. my mate who was on his first audax wasn't impressed.

[teethgrinder]

Science.

Indeed.  And science tells us that the only way to get enough energy for longer rides is to burn fat. No matter how much you eat you won't be able to replenish muscle & liver glycogen faster than you are burning them.  If you can do long, steady miles on low energy input in the early season (now is not too late) you can develop your fat metabolism to run at higher HRs and so provide a greater proportion of energy at audax pace.

+1
You prety much eat your food for the ride before the ride and store it as fat. You've got a limited time that you can use carbohydrates and eating during the ride will extend how long you can run on carbohydrates. You need carbhydrates to burn fat, so you still need to carbo load before a ride as well as keep topping up during the ride. I also find that on linger rides (600 and over) I start going for protien too. Another thing I've noticed is that when I don't do so many miles, I get hungry after much fewer kms than when I'm doing a lot of riding. But when I can ride 200 miles without food, I can sit down and eat for a small family when I do eat. I get full up very quickly when I do few miles.

My best tip would be build up the distance and pace yourself. Go 1mph slower than you think, you can always speed up at the end if you are able.

[Tigerrr]

Have a poo before you start.

[Manotea]

you can always speed up at the end if you are able.

There's no arguing with that.

At least he didn't add, "and if I can, anybody can"!

[TOBY]

Have a poo before you start.

. . . and if I can, anybody can!

[LEE]

Be mentally prepared for the ride to be over distance. Both my 400 and 600 last year were about 25K over IIRC, which is not a lot in the scheme of things,

BCM600 is 619km.

As you say, those final 19km are a long way once the computer reads 600km completed.  It doesn't matter that I know it's 619km, when I get to about 598km my brain seems to think it's all over.

[Deano]

On the mental approach, it can help not to look at the distance or time on your computer, so put it to something neutral, such as max speed.  I made that mistake on my first 400, and the last 100 km were pure shite.

[Chris S]

Have a poo before you start.

And if you can't, or it just doesn't work out, have a "feel" for where pooing opportunities may present themselves on the ride. Supermarket bogs are generally OK, but some Public Conveniences remain at large, and are sometimes OK.

I needed "somewhere" at short notice on a ride during the winter, and Reepham Public Loos on the route fitted the bill. Yay for public loos.

[YahudaMoon]

Find the biggest slowest pack of riders and wheel suck at the back NEVER GO IN THE MIDDLE AND IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES EVER GO AT THE FRONT OF THE GROUP OF RIDERS.

Also at a cafe stop never make the suggestion that it may be a good idea to make a move and get back on the bikes.

[Androcles]

If a 200 is a long day in the saddle then a 300 is ALL day in the saddle.  On my first 300 I tried not to think of the distance until after the first 100k.  Setting off after 100 and still getting further away from home made me think a bit about the distance, but at that point it was still before 11am and all I needed to think about was that I had all day to finish the ride.

An afternoon start 400 is a nice night ride which you ride out to and home from.

A 600 is a bit like leaving home and living on the bike.

[innesh]

I don't have trouble eating per se (obviously haven't ridden far enough yet...) but often succombe to 'supermarket brain death' and the associated 'service station eating disorder', where one wanders the shelves in a trance like state searching for something you can bare to eat amongst the overpriced over processed pap on offer.

This has troubled me in the past - until I discovered milkshakes.  No matter how bad I feel, I can always manage to slurp a bottle of Frijj.  Lots of calories, bit of protein, lots of fluid.  No doubt eck will be along to say that anything milky is poison, but it works for me.

BTW, Frijj is the only true milkshake.  That Yazoo pish is just that.

[eck]

Anything milky is poison. 

[eck]

To expand: I used to get bad heartburn on long rides. I fancied milky stuff - milkshakes, rice pudding, etc etc. Often, later in the ride, I'd need to speak to Hughie.  

It took a while, but the penny eventually dropped - it was the milky stuff was making me sick.  

OTOH, for those of you joining in the Mull 300 entertainment this weekend, I do not recommend two pints of Magners at the lovely hotel control at Glenfinnan. You do not need to ask how I know this.  
ETA: this is how:
From Y L G's Balluchilish 300 a couple of years ago.

[jogler]

^^^
Fair enough.Anyone know if they keep a decent Guiness ? 

[MercuryKev]

To expand: I used to get bad heartburn on long rides. I fancied milky stuff - milkshakes, rice pudding, etc etc. Often, later in the ride, I'd need to speak to Hughie.  

It took a while, but the penny eventually dropped - it was the milky stuff was making me sick.  

+1 I was often getting an upset stomach on rides and I only just twigged that the commonality was that I was eating a big bowl of cereal before the ride and having milky coffees.  After I looked into it it seems that I'm lactose intolerant  - my last two 200s I steered clear of the milky things and my stomach has been fine.

[GrahamG]

Just before you feel the vinegar stroke coming up, just think of John Major in sock-suspenders.





How did this go for five pages without some smut?!

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Several Audaxers find that a milk drink settles the stomach but, of course, YMMV.

[thing1]

On the mental games around the distance, I sometime catch myself thinking funny things like "argh if only we didn't have this grubby little road / silly dogleg out to this bizarre info control, we could be up over that straight road and well on the way toward blah blah blah.. " if you follow. Or, "I've done the 600km, where's the arrivee and my rice pudding?".
I can appease these very easily with a mental reply: "the total distance for this event is 619km. Doesn't matter if I do them here now, or sometime later. In total, that is the distance I shall cycle."
I can then settle into a semi-fatalistic zen knowing the routing is out of my hands and I should just sit back and enjoy it all as it passes.
Same for meters of climb too. (But doesn't work quite the same when touring or doing a DIY).

[DrMekon]

Several Audaxers find that a milk drink settles the stomach but, of course, YMMV.

My progression has been commuting to 13.5hr 200, to 14h50 300 (lots of drafting), to 9h40 200, to 8h25m 200 (lots of drafting). Got a 300 at the end of the month, then Seething 600 in July. My limited experience tells me...

1) using your commuter bike means no surprises wrt comfort
2) stopping (for food) any longer than is absolutely necessary provides no benefit to me. long stops make me feel worse.
3) riding with interesting people makes the time go quickly
4) riding with people who are fast makes the time go quickly
5) ice cream is awesome, ice cream and flapjack doubly so.

I´m planning to go a bit easier on my next 300, and try not to get caught up with trying to keep up with quick people at the front. There were a couple of points on my last 200 where I was well out of my depth, and I want to feel like I´ve done more than my fair share on the front. Also planning to do some of it on my own. Hopefully it will prepare me if I have some time between groups on the 600.

[Alouicious]

Try a test of discipline.

Formulate yourself a 100km round route.
Ride it in exactly SIX hours with three exactly 20 minute stops.

This means the riding time is five hours, which is a 20kmh average for the rolling bits.

The discipline is keeping your speed DOWN. What you will find is your average climbs to 20km in about 8 km. Then it climbs more so freewheeling and a lower gear are used to get the average back down to 20 - 21 kmh.

At about 75 - 80 km, you'll be gagging to ride faster. 

At the end, be honest with yourself and ask "Can I ride that twice again today?"

[Alouicious]

Several Audaxers find that a milk drink settles the stomach but, of course, YMMV.

My progression has been commuting to 13.5hr 200, to 14h50 300 (lots of drafting), to 9h40 200, to 8h25m 200 (lots of drafting). Got a 300 at the end of the month, then Seething 600 in July. My limited experience tells me...

1) using your commuter bike means no surprises wrt comfort
2) stopping (for food) any longer than is absolutely necessary provides no benefit to me. long stops make me feel worse.
3) riding with interesting people makes the time go quickly
4) riding with people who are fast makes the time go quickly
5) ice cream is awesome, ice cream and flapjack doubly so.

I´m planning to go a bit easier on my next 300, and try not to get caught up with trying to keep up with quick people at the front. There were a couple of points on my last 200 where I was well out of my depth, and I want to feel like I´ve done more than my fair share on the front. Also planning to do some of it on my own. Hopefully it will prepare me if I have some time between groups on the 600.

Riding with an imaginary friend makes time go quickly......

[Polar Bear]

Try a test of discipline.

Formulate yourself a 100km round route.
Ride it in exactly SIX hours with three exactly 20 minute stops.

This means the riding time is five hours, which is a 20kmh average for the rolling bits.

The discipline is keeping your speed DOWN. What you will find is your average climbs to 20km in about 8 km. Then it climbs more so freewheeling and a lower gear are used to get the average back down to 20 - 21 kmh.

At about 75 - 80 km, you'll be gagging to ride faster. 

At the end, be honest with yourself and ask "Can I ride that twice again today?"

What about those of us who just about average 20kph   

[Nuncio]

On the mental games around the distance, I sometime catch myself thinking funny things like "argh if only we didn't have this grubby little road / silly dogleg out to this bizarre info control, we could be up over that straight road and well on the way toward blah blah blah.. " if you follow. Or, "I've done the 600km, where's the arrivee and my rice pudding?".
I can appease these very easily with a mental reply: "the total distance for this event is 619km. Doesn't matter if I do them here now, or sometime later. In total, that is the distance I shall cycle."

619km?  That's an easy mental game.  Just replace Chepstow with 'Ghent', Menai Bridge with 'Aix', invent some good news, be sure to take the role of 'narrator' (definitely not Joris or Dirck) and the rhythm will get you there in double-quick time... which is fortunate, because you're on your own then unless Browning comes up with a 'And then I remembered I left the oven on in Ghent' sequel in the next few weeks.

How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, by Robert Browning

[Sorry. Just checked in Google Maps.  It won't work.  Ghent to Aix would just make a Populaire]

[Alouicious]

Try a test of discipline.

Formulate yourself a 100km round route.
Ride it in exactly SIX hours with three exactly 20 minute stops.

This means the riding time is five hours, which is a 20kmh average for the rolling bits.

The discipline is keeping your speed DOWN. What you will find is your average climbs to 20km in about 8 km. Then it climbs more so freewheeling and a lower gear are used to get the average back down to 20 - 21 kmh.

At about 75 - 80 km, you'll be gagging to ride faster. 

At the end, be honest with yourself and ask "Can I ride that twice again today?"

What about those of us who just about average 20kph   

The OP says he's ridden plenty of 200s. A 300 can be thought of as 3 x 100 rides, each of which can be split into four sections.
For the OP, riding at a rolling average of 20km will prob be torturously slow, but there is a method behind the madness.
With 12 sections over 300 ~ 320 km, getting the job finished in eighteen hours (16.66 km) should be a breeze.

Each section is only 25 km, or 1hr 15 mins, and then a 20 minute break !!

Yes, it will be tediously slow relaxing.

[jogler]

get the average back down to 20 - 21 kmh.

My issue is to get my average UP to 20kph