Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Audax => Topic started by: Jamesha on 30 January, 2020, 10:52:26 pm
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Hi,
I have been audaxing regularly for nearly three years doing mainly 200km and 300km rides.
I have tried some rides longer than this and found them very tough. I managed to finish Brevet Cymru within the time limit last year but failed on 500 and 600 events.
My goal for this year is to complete an SR series and I am hoping for some advice on managing rides above 300km.
Part of my problem is fuelling my rides. I have not really had any strategy on what and when to eat and feel that this had caused me issues on longer rides. I am hoping that some members can share what works for them. Do you plan your food intake in advance?, if yes do you rely on what is available at controls or carry food with you? - how do you fuel during the small hours of the night?
Any other tips for what riders have found useful when stepping up distances will be gratefully received.
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I have done two > 300 rides so far, a 400 and a 600. The 400 was by far the hardest and you can read about it here https://calumonwheels.com/2019/12/08/the-daft-story-of-my-hardest-ride/amp/
For the 400 I had 'help' for the first 200 km and then was on my own. For the 600 it was pretty much 100% solo. It depends on your temperament but obviously if you have a team you can work with you can make the >300s much easier.
I don't really plan fuelling in the UK - I tend to plan on stopping at a co op around 60 km in and getting a load more top up snacks. I broadly prefer to have an off the bike break approximately every 130 km which seems to be working for me so far. But my tummy can do odd things. On the 600 I found I couldn't really eat solids at around 280. This was worrying as I know without eating you're going to blow up big style. Thankfully it subsided an hour later.
For me the big stumbling blocks were psychological - in Belgium I basically had no choice but to ride on, if I'd happened across a train or a hotel I'd have 100% stopped. But with that experience behind me it's given me strength to go further.
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It's a long time since I've ridden.
I always had some of my favoured foods in the bag, for when I needed to eat.
I bought some food at every control but did not always eat it there. Sometimes it was bag food. Sometimes it was food that HAD to be eaten at the control. Sometimes I ate bag food whilst queuing at a control.
Sometimes I'd eat food in a queue and present the wrapper with money at the till.
Different foods work for different people on rides.
Food that suit early in a ride don't necessarily suit later.
We're all different.
Fatty foods suit some people but didn't suit me. They are almost always best avoided immediately before a climb.
You'll have to find out what works for YOU on shorter rides and repeat. Don't postpone eating till you're desperate and suffering, even if others are continuing their ride.
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A little and often works for me. A smallish meal every 60-100k, and drink enough as you pedal. For tougher events I'm more careful what I eat. Baked beans on toast for the hardest ones.
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How did you fail on the longer rides, were you truly incapacitated or did you just feel that you'd had enough and there was an available escape route, or did you finish but out of time?
In terms of fuelling I used to experience trauma and nausea on long rides and lost my appetite despite the fact that I clearly needed to take on calories. If this is the case the best advice I can give is to ride within your limits, don't push too hard and accept that finishing the ride is a great achievement, no matter if it's within the time limit or not.
Last year I accompanied a friend on a DIY 600 that he was riding as part of an SR series. As I was literally "only there for the ride" and knew we were heading off into some remote regions I decided to take all the food I would need for the ride in my saddlebag. A whole loaf of bread made up into sandwiches with various high fat fillings, along with a big bag of peanuts and it worked just fine! Being able to grab a sandwich whenever hunger beckoned worked a treat despite the initial weight in my bag.
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The brevet Cymru is not an easy 400. If you can finish this, even if it was tough you should be able to finish a 600 if you dont chose one of the tougher ones.
I generally fuel with a mix of normal meals supplemented by coke, chocolate and crisps.
I think sleeping at about 350km helps, after this I slow down, earlier than this and it is tough to make the next control in time.
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I do better if I stop and eat at controls. There are many who can grab and eat on the go; that just gives me indigestion and then nausea, then I don't feel like eating - so run out of energy. For stages longer than 60km (3 hours) I often add a quick snack stop. That works for me.
I've a list of favourite foods, which I've built up over time, which are generally available. Pretty much every little shop and service station will have crisps, milkshakes and sandwiches, Twix, and pork pies or sausage rolls. So I think about these as I'm heading to the stop, then buy what I'm thinking about. Then it seems more palatable. Similarly if it is one of those ubiquitous Costa coffee stops, then I think about a cheese and ham panini....
If you can ride 300km you can physically finish a 600km, the only things that will stop you are the head and the gut. Above helps me with both.
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Funny, I'm the opposite. Stopping for meals results in a massive slowdown for over an hour afterwards. Cant do beans on toast without getting stomach issues. Sushi packs work wonders.
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carb loading is quite important for me, two days of high* carbs before the ride gives a good "base" to work from. i can't eat big meals when i'm riding, the food just sits in the stomach giving indigestion problems. small snacks every hour on a bike and easily digestible food at controls. i have my garmin reminders set up prompting to drink every 20min and eat every hour.
* i don't count, but somewhere around 10g per kg of body weight per day
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I have done two > 300 rides so far, a 400 and a 600. The 400 was by far the hardest and you can read about it here https://calumonwheels.com/2019/12/08/the-daft-story-of-my-hardest-ride/amp/
For me the big stumbling blocks were psychological - in Belgium I basically had no choice but to ride on, if I'd happened across a train or a hotel I'd have 100% stopped. But with that experience behind me it's given me strength to go further.
That's a great blog, thanks.
In my Audax career todate I have done 20x100km brevets, 35x150, 42x200 and 1x300. Its got to be psychological! I have a library of excuses & reasons but I am eliminating them one by one, here all ride distances cost the same, (which is mostly just the brevet card and BRM homologation cost, very few are "supported" in any way), so once I crack the longer distance I am going to save heaps in ride fees. My 300 (310) was very flat therefore with the expected wind but wasn't so bad, 15h55, quite pleased with myself except I was curled up in the 24 hour truck stop / service station (final control) toilet for about an hour afterwards being sick, the staff would come in every 5 minutes to see if I was still alive, they brought my bike inside to keep it safe, after a hour I crawled next door to the caravan park where my tent was pitched and I was surprised in the morning that I was still alive, great experience though. This year is the year of SR.
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I always planned for a 20-minute break every 50k and a 1-hour meal break every 100 during the day. Approximately, of course. On longer rides I'd have pizza for dinner and save a chunk for breakfast: not many restaurants open at 3 am.
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Don't dash off too fast Rainbow Dash! I always have a better ride if I've ridden in slow-ish to the start, ECE'd or not, as a gentle warm-up. Think tortoise, not hare; start at the back of the field, and don't get sucked into anything competitive; you might pass a lot of the speedy riders later on! [Yes, I know for some it's always a race!] But look at the way the pro teams shelter the GC riders and sprinters, and burn out their domestiques - don't emulate the latter!
That said, at some point on the silly longer rides, I know I'm going to have a Mega Bad Patch, so accept that I need to ease off a bit, have an extra snack stop, go for comfort food [ice cream, chocolate, beer, crisps, Ginsters etc, depending on the season and what's available]. I find crystallised root ginger good for stomach issues and marzipan is good energy-dense food to carry in the bar-bag. Little and often, with meals alternating sweet and savoury, so I don't get bored with just shovelling the calories in.
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I find crystallised root ginger good for stomach issues and marzipan is good energy-dense food to carry in the bar-bag.
You've been looking in my bar-bag. Seeberger ginger is good, if it's available in Borisland. I also carry mini-salami to supply a bit of salt, fat & protein occasionally. It makes a welcome change from sweet stuff, but it also tastes marvellous when eaten with a bit of ginger.
What I never carry is nuts: when you bite them they break into lots of small pieces that are easy to inhale & choke on.
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Listen to Tomsk - he knows his stuff!
I'm one of those guilty of NOT following his sage advice - forever dashing off at a pace that would be fine for 100k - but will punish you badly on a 300 or 400k. I always think "Oh, I'll just slow down later", but it just doesn't work like that.
Tomsk led a helpers ride for the Asparagus & Strawberries 400k last year. With his sensible pace setting it was the most enjoyable "long" ride I've done (which may, or may not, have had something to do with the company and stops variously for cake, curry and beer).
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The only things that will stop you are the head and the gut.
I fully agree with this. Once I sorted out these issues, longer distances became very manageable.
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Listen to Tomsk - he knows his stuff!
I'm one of those guilty of NOT following his sage advice - forever dashing off at a pace that would be fine for 100k - but will punish you badly on a 300 or 400k. I always think "Oh, I'll just slow down later", but it just doesn't work like that.
Tomsk led a helpers ride for the Asparagus & Strawberries 400k last year. With his sensible pace setting it was the most enjoyable "long" ride I've done (which may, or may not, have had something to do with the company and stops variously for cake, curry and beer).
Recovery from early over-enthusiasm is possible on longer events. From experience I can tell you it's more difficult part-way through a hilly 300, if you're riding fixed-wheel. But it still can be done.
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If you can ride 300km you can physically finish a 600km, the only things that will stop you are the head and the gut. Above helps me with both.
I can do a 200 without eating. It is neither pleasant, nor an experience I would recommend. (Nor was it intentional). But that is simply not sustainable when you start talking about real distance. Something I've really struggled to learn is to eat. When I do long rides by digestive system shuts down and just doesn't want anything beyond water. On the TCR I got to the end of the start parcours and found a gas station, i sat staring at a muffin for over 45 mins trying to persuade my stomach to accept the food. I was in a bad way with the heat by that stage. I thought I'd drunk enough, but in hindsight I'm not so sure.
I have found that generally M&M's and coke can always be poured in. The former are less useful when it's 43°C...
i have my garmin reminders set up prompting to drink every 20min and eat every hour.
Now that is a feature I'd love my wahoo to have...
Don't dash off too fast Rainbow Dash! I always have a better ride if I've ridden in slow-ish to the start, ECE'd or not, as a gentle warm-up. Think tortoise, not hare; start at the back of the field, and don't get sucked into anything competitive; you might pass a lot of the speedy riders later on! [Yes, I know for some it's always a race!] But look at the way the pro teams shelter the GC riders and sprinters, and burn out their domestiques - don't emulate the latter!
It has become accepted within RNL, that I am Lantern Rouge. Everyone else is just so much faster than me. But at the start if I can get into the middle of a group, I can usually get a few km in at a 50%+ faster speed than I do on my own. I know I will fall out the back at some point, usually on a hard 90° turn where I just don't have the sprint necessary to get back on. Tho my Amsterdam attitude to junctions, and traffic lights has lead to me jumping 16 other riders in a single junction... (oops). Riding in a group, esp in strong winds, can be really effective at energy savings, if the group is going at a speed that doesn't require you to burn too many matches.
I find on longer rides it also helps to have a good awareness of what the weather forecast is going to be. This helps a lot with the gauging when to use your limited reserves. If you know it's going to be 200k into the wind, then turn for 200k of tail wind, you know that you can put a lot into that first 200k, eat a good meal, then enjoy the wind home. But if it's going to be the other way round, you know not to give it too much on the first bit, so you have the reserves necessary for the headwind slog.
Some people like to recommend breaking up a ride in their head into multiple short sections "I just need to do 60km to CP1" "Now I need to do 70k to cp2" etc... But I find that the last 20km of any ride is a slog, and doing this just means I have 4 last 20km's on the ride, rather than 1...
TLDR: Drink more water, don't forget to eat.
J
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My other learning is that part of the reason I find the ride dragging on a bit is having to ride at night and be frit of potholes in the road. It is definitely worth investing in your seeing lights on longer rides, they don't necessarilly have to cost a fortune but they can really make a big difference. In my 600 I had to stop for my mid-ride snooze earlier than I planned because my lights weren't good enough to let me confidently barrel along at night time on country lanes.
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My other learning is that part of the reason I find the ride dragging on a bit is having to ride at night and be frit of potholes in the road. It is definitely worth investing in your seeing lights on longer rides, they don't necessarilly have to cost a fortune but they can really make a big difference. In my 600 I had to stop for my mid-ride snooze earlier than I planned because my lights weren't good enough to let me confidently barrel along at night time on country lanes.
I have noticed that I have a total ambivalence towards night riding vs day riding, yet many riders I talk to say things about wanting to limit night riding, or not enjoying it etc... I wonder if this is partly related to the fact that since day 1 I've had an edulux II on the front of my bike.
On RatN most nights by 1am the only dot moving was mine.
Some of the best rides I've had have been at night. On xmas day this year, I was riding up the Rhine towards Mainz, there were no street lights, no other vehicles, just me, the road, the river, and the stars. For the first time all day the clouds had cleared and I had a clear view of the stars. Orion to my right, Cassiopeia to my left. I rode along looking up as much as looking at the road. My podcast app randomly added the 13 minutes to the moon soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, and the juxtaposition of music, location, and sky was just stunning. One of the best rides I've done in recent months.
J
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Yes that would probably help. When I did the ride to Bonn much of that was motor vehicle free paved cycling which would have been fine any time of day.
Looks like the Edulux II will be on the long-term shopping list when/if I also get the dyno saved up for... All Points North isn't until May so not desperately needed yet but it'd be nice to have.
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Yes that would probably help. When I did the ride to Bonn much of that was motor vehicle free paved cycling which would have been fine any time of day.
Looks like the Edulux II will be on the long-term shopping list when/if I also get the dyno saved up for... All Points North isn't until May so not desperately needed yet but it'd be nice to have.
You have RatN before that don't forget. The leg along the north coast benefits from good lighting. Through the dunes I added my head light, cos it was quite windy. If I'd done Limburg by night, I'd have worn the head light then too.
J
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Ah I've pulled out from RATN, doing London Wales London with some new audaxers instead.
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Ah I've pulled out from RATN, doing London Wales London with some new audaxers instead.
Oh. So we won't meet in Amerongen then. Doh. Sorry to hear that.
Good luck with LWL and APN.
J
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It's all personal. I found the best thing was not getting over zealous at the start with everyone else which is often hard to do and go a touch slower then you would on a 2 or 300. Minimise the faff at controls and never stop for more than 45mins unless sleeping; your metabolism changes after about 45minutes to repair mode. Don't over eat at controls but have nibbles for on the bike; for me nutty flapjack or malt loaf - if you have it in a jersey pocket and have a waterproof over the top you can actually toast it...
Eat what your body tells you; it can sometimes take a while to decide that when you are in a 24hr garage at 3am looking at shelves of food. I'm a veggie off the bike, on an audax if I want a pork pie I eat a pork pie.
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Ah I've pulled out from RATN, doing London Wales London with some new audaxers instead.
Oh. So we won't meet in Amerongen then. Doh. Sorry to hear that.
Good luck with LWL and APN.
J
Might see you in the TCR though! I am angling for a Roubaix control spot as I know you like cobbles so much ;D
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On 400s I always felt very discouraged when I got the first smell of the night air. We'd stop for dinner in a town, ride out an hour later and as soon as we'd hit the countryside the smell of the fields would hit me like a hammer. The feeling would wear off in ten minutes, but if during that time someone had suggested quitting I'd have found it hard to resist.
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Riding into the night is a splendid feeling for me. It's the cold light of dawn that I like less (especially when it really is cold).
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It's funny: I never minded it on 600s or 1000k+ rides, but something about the 4 pm start of the 400s got me every time.
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Riding into the night is a splendid feeling for me. It's the cold light of dawn that I like less (especially when it really is cold).
Indeed. I'll happily push on into the night but prefer to be off the road 2-5am when my sleep requirement really kicks in. I find this less of a problem with an evening start when, provided I have banked some sleep, I can ride straight through.
To the OP - I discovered sports nutrition a few years ago. It's not to everyone's taste and you have to experiment but I find a bar & gel every 50s and light feeds at controls to be the best combination. On a 400 or 600 I will have the odd sit-down meal but I tend to prefer to keep moving and minimise stops.
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^Ditto
Love the sense of mystery and adventure as night falls, particularly if meeting revellers emerging from pubs. But after 1am it turns into a horror show.
Such is my dislike of riding in the small hours that if I'm not fit enough to finish a 400k before 1am I wont entertain it.
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It's funny: I never minded it on 600s or 1000k+ rides, but something about the 4 pm start of the 400s got me every time.
Oh I love a late start to ride through the (first) night. The adrenaline is flowing, as you begin to tire and feel the effects of the night the sun pops up and makes everything lush. Much rather prefer that than being drained going into the dark and fighting the dozzies.
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The Straggler and me are known as Lanterne Rouge riders, we could be quicker if we want to or need to recover time for a mechanical or headwind, but generally our approach is to only use 80% effort, start at the back, and reach busy controls as others are leaving, saving waiting time.
I tend to set the time targets between controls, this keeps our pace consistent and buys the stopping time, which we use as we wish, sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes 40, even going into the red if we know we can buy it back on the next section. So really we do what many do, treat a long distance ride as a series of short ones, taking whatever stops are needed, eating what you can, I am down to milkshakes after 200k or cola to soothe my throat.
For us this allows for an enjoyable ride, we finish fresh and well within time limits as a rule.
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I tend to plan food stops in advance - starting with the control towns/village halls and then reducing the 'gaps' down to 30km ish scouting out shops or cafes using Google Maps. Sometimes organisers will identify mid-course shopportunities in the rider notes.
From experience, Co-ops and BP/M&S petrol stations have a good range of vaguely healthy stuff. Costcutter/Londis/Mace tend to be more limited to pasties and flapjacks.
Wetherspoon pubs are usually consistent, if uninspiring, and usually serve food within 10 minutes of ordering it.
The old advice to "eat/drink before you're hungry/thirsty" is very wise - and it's good to have some backup snacks in a pocket or saddlebag.
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Hmm. I think I've probably made most of the mistakes in the book.
- Ran out of food, had to resort to raiding the hedgerow for sustenance.
- Started with little sleep the night before.
- Started with an enormous hangover.
- Started with little sleep and an enormous hangover.
- Set off far too fast and suffered the consequences.
- Forgotten money or bidons or clothing.
- Turned up on the wrong day.
- Turned up on the fixed because I thought I was on a different, flatter, ride.
- Misread the routesheet for several bonus kms.
- Had the routesheet disintegrate in a day of stormy rain.
- Lost my brevet card.
- Discovered I'd loaded only part of the route on my Garmin.
I'm sure I'm still capable of adding to the list. It's all part of the fun.
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I’m still very much learning. I started with a viewpoint that anything is possible, and have gradually set limits for myself - which I still resent, rather than starting from the point I’ve done 100k, I’m not sure I can do 200.
Coming to it later in life has some advantages. I’ve learned something along the way, but still have the enthusiasm of the beginner. I had a colleague who lost a huge amount of weight and took up running. One of his club mates told him, “I really envy you. I’ve been running all my life, know exactly what I’m capable of, and know I’ll never be as fast as I used to be. You’re still getting faster and don’t know what your limits are.”
There were some shocks. Stomach problems being the biggest one. I always thought my stomach was bulletproof and I could eat anything. Finding that was not the case was a surprise. Scrambled eggs really work for me. At a cafe stop I’ll always try to have scrambled eggs on toast if my guts are a bit fragile. I’ve come to recognise that is known as gastric distress, and is the main reason for people packing on endurance events.
Repeated mishaps gradually wear through my cloak of invincibility. 4 punctures on my only 400, and a broken garmin due to water damage, had me very close to packing. A helpful soul gave me a park tools tyre boot, which saw me through, but I was quite close to the time limit, cold wet and lost.
Breaking it down into sections works for me, but my mood and motivation picks up at the end. In fact halfways is a huge psychological boost, and it feels as though “it’s all downhill from here!”
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Many in Audax have come to it 'later in life', some having had joint issues in other, higher impact activities, some just choosing a challenge.
As I was silly/audacious enough NOT to withdraw from my first 600 on a Saturday/Sunday when I'd spent the previous Thursday puking my guts up, I was prepared to be gentle on my fragile digestion and pack should the need arise. I'm lucky that I can miss one night's sleep without too much trouble -I suppose years as a junior doctor trained me up!
I've always been something of a solo rider as my pace was painfully much slower than most. Getting food right is a balance between what's available, what 'works', what you fancy and the time factor.
IMHO it's NEVER worth pushing the next feed until you're completely depleted, even if the next control is theoretically only a few minutes off. A quick snack can put the power back in your legs and if you ARE totally depleted you might be past the stage of a feed boosting you. (There's also the pssibility of something like a p*nct*r* delaying your arrival at a control.
Faffing kills time and it's worth planning exactly what you want to do at any control, doing it and going. I think it's usually best not to leave a control wth any basic need unmet. My usual list:
Eat
Drink
Food for the road
toilet
Bottle refill
Clothing adjustment
Rest
Suggest avoid excessive queuing time by doing something else on the list while others queue. (That's why eating bag food in the queue might help, just because you can start digesting and absorbing it ASAP.)
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It's funny: I never minded it on 600s or 1000k+ rides, but something about the 4 pm start of the 400s got me every time.
Oh I love a late start to ride through the (first) night. The adrenaline is flowing, as you begin to tire and feel the effects of the night the sun pops up and makes everything lush. Much rather prefer that than being drained going into the dark and fighting the dozzies.
I enjoyed late starts too, but a 400 starting at 4 pm made me feel stale at nightfall. As I said, it always passed quickly. 9 pm or 10 pm starts were great.
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I have done two > 300 rides so far, a 400 and a 600. The 400 was by far the hardest and you can read about it here https://calumonwheels.com/2019/12/08/the-daft-story-of-my-hardest-ride/amp/
For me the big stumbling blocks were psychological - in Belgium I basically had no choice but to ride on, if I'd happened across a train or a hotel I'd have 100% stopped. But with that experience behind me it's given me strength to go further.
That's a great blog, thanks.
In my Audax career todate I have done 20x100km brevets, 35x150, 42x200 and 1x300. Its got to be psychological! I have a library of excuses & reasons but I am eliminating them one by one, here all ride distances cost the same, (which is mostly just the brevet card and BRM homologation cost, very few are "supported" in any way), so once I crack the longer distance I am going to save heaps in ride fees. My 300 (310) was very flat therefore with the expected wind but wasn't so bad, 15h55, quite pleased with myself except I was curled up in the 24 hour truck stop / service station (final control) toilet for about an hour afterwards being sick, the staff would come in every 5 minutes to see if I was still alive, they brought my bike inside to keep it safe, after a hour I crawled next door to the caravan park where my tent was pitched and I was surprised in the morning that I was still alive, great experience though. This year is the year of SR.
Two things that may help with stomach troubles over 200km:
1) Consider anti-reflux medication. I found that taking a rainitidine tablet six hours into a 300 helped with my stomach troubles
2) Keep the stomach and kidney areas warm - especially if the weather is (a) below 12C or (b) on events where there are lots of climbs and descents (I learned this on the Kernow and SW, when I packed due to stomach troubles the first time I tried it and continued on despite second-day stomach troubles the second time I rode it) - I got hot on the climbs but immediately chilled especially in the stomach area, on the descents - this repeated cook-chill played havoc with my digestive system. Goretex do a kidney warmer for cyclists which helps keep the gut warm and makes it easier to digest food.
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Don't exhaust/stress/fatigue yourself by getting too:
Hot
Cold
Wet
Dry
Hungry
Full
Sore
Tired
Busting for a leak/loo.
Lost
Attending to these matters is not rocket science! You need sufficient clothing and bag space to be able to add and remove garments as conditions vary, You should always have some available drink and food. Attend to any minor discomfort before it escalates to a major pain.
Stress causes fatigue; avoid!
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Suggest avoid excessive queuing time by doing something else on the list while others queue. (That's why eating bag food in the queue might help, just because you can start digesting and absorbing it ASAP.)
I've taken to refilling bottles / water bag early on, along with anything bike-related like changing light batteries or sorting out mechanical niggles, so I get the outdoor faffing out of the way while I'm still warm from riding. Minimises the amount of time spent getting cold before I can get going again (I run hot and freeze at controls in all but actually warm weather), and is usually a good way to not waste time in a queue.
Related: If you're riding with a group, and waiting for someone else to finish faffing, go and check your tyres.
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You need sufficient clothing and bag space to be able to add and remove garments as conditions vary
...and you need to be able to stow wet gear without getting your dry stuff wet. My rain jacket usually goes through a couple of straps on the outside of the saddlebag, and on significant rides spare gear is in labelled freezer bags. Sorting through six different black items at dead of night is boring.
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I have been audaxing regularly for nearly three years doing mainly 200km and 300km rides.
I have tried some rides longer than this and found them very tough. I managed to finish Brevet Cymru within the time limit last year but failed on 500 and 600 events.
Last year's Brevet Cymru was not easy with 8 dark hours of temperatures reaching down to zero. So completion of an 'easier' 600 is well within your grasp.
I've taken to refilling bottles / water bag early on, along with anything bike-related like changing light batteries or sorting out mechanical niggles, so I get the outdoor faffing out of the way while I'm still warm from riding.
After arrival and before going to 'control' I sort everything out on the bike so that I can return to the bike, climb on and ride off: especially useful if there's a group leaving. So: GPS stuff whether that be charging or loading a new track, refolding map (I use road atlas sheets), clothing changes, lights, on-the-go food relocation - before going to eat/buy food/fill bottles/use the loo.
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Through experimentation the correct answer to “Would you like jalapeños on that?” is an emphatic “no”.
I also have found for me that it is often better to plod a long slowly than stop.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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https://audaxing.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/what-i-ate-on-the-bryan-chapman-memorial-600km/
- little and often beats enormous meals
- lots of liquids is good
- electrolyte tablets (like Nuun) good, Carb Drinks bad
- there are some foods that are tolerated better. In my case Fruji
Have to agree with Tomsk about pacing. If you want an easy method with no special equipment for limiting your pace - only breathe through the nose
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Through experimentation the correct answer to “Would you like jalapeños on that?” is an emphatic “no”.
I’ve found that if I have gastric distress then spicy food is one of the things I can have!
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Have to agree with Tomsk about pacing. If you want an easy method with no special equipment for limiting your pace - only breathe through the nose
Under-performing is the key, for me - sort of the opposite of the fighter pilot's "Never throttle-back in combat". Or the great Beryl Burton: " Ride everywhere as fast as you can".
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I find 2 dinners the night before are handy. And breakfast.
Then ride it as a series of rides from control to control.
Have a proper break at each control.
Drink enough and eat enough, before you get hungry/thirsty.
I'm finding you have to want to finish - as I no longer have anything I feel I need to prove to myself I'm finding this harder now.
Pick rides that suit you as much as you can. (for me this is a 400 that starts at lunchtime as I'm going to ride through the night anyway and it means I don't have a prolem getting there/back on a train. Alas the popular start time for a 400 seems to be 6:00 am.
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https://audaxing.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/what-i-ate-on-the-bryan-chapman-memorial-600km/
- little and often beats enormous meals
- lots of liquids is good
- electrolyte tablets (like Nuun) good, Carb Drinks bad
- there are some foods that are tolerated better. In my case Fruji
Have to agree with Tomsk about pacing. If you want an easy method with no special equipment for limiting your pace - only breathe through the nose
Frijj/Yazoo (sweet milkshakes) are a godsend, especially latish on longer rides. Ubiquitous in garages etc and untaxed (VAT, sugar tax) at present. Water is taxed, milk and milk drinks are not (yet).
Not everyone tolerates milk though.
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I find 2 dinners the night before are handy. And breakfast.
I’ve found it’s good to start the “little and often” thing in the 24 hours before a big ride. If you have a big dinner or a big breakfast you can feel *very hungry* mid-morning.
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Ideally, do not start any long ride with a food or sleep deficit from the previous week.
Carb loading is probably unnecessary but try to avoid skipping meals or curtailing sleeps.
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It's a tragedy that you don't get chocolate oat milk in most places. I had some in Bristol the other year and it was godly.
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It's a tragedy that you don't get chocolate oat milk in most places. I had some in Bristol the other year and it was godly.
My local Tesco, Waitrose and coop stock chocolate oatly . I think it has become quite widespread now.
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It's a tragedy that you don't get chocolate oat milk in most places. I had some in Bristol the other year and it was godly.
I initially read that as chocolate cat milk. Sheesh the audaxer demographic has changed since I was riding regularly.
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Night riding does get easier with time & experience, you never stop learning, here in West Yorkshire there are things to try & avoid.
Riding through Castleford after midnight.
Sleeping in Hedge bottoms, "Critters" start to nibble at you.
Never sleep in a corn field ……. Combined Harvesters do work night shifts.
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It's a tragedy that you don't get chocolate oat milk in most places. I had some in Bristol the other year and it was godly.
One BCMF I did they had instant lemon tea at all the controls, and I found it delicious. Back home I bought the same stuff and it was vile. I guess tastes change according to needs.
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Never sleep in a corn field ……. Combined Harvesters do work night shifts.
when I was young they'd stop when the air got to a certain level of dampness as that means you're harvesting damp cereal and have to pay £££ to reduce the humidity down to the necessary level for safe storage. though things may have changed since I moved into a town.
So you're OK if there's dew/rain etc.
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Frijj/Yazoo (sweet milkshakes) are a godsend, especially latish on longer rides. Ubiquitous in garages etc and untaxed (VAT, sugar tax) at present. Water is taxed, milk and milk drinks are not (yet).
Not everyone tolerates milk though.
While I'm firmly in the milkshake late in the ride camp, my tolerance for Frijj when digestively delicate has declined markedly since they replaced some of the sugar with sweetener, and I tend to avoid it when I've still got some cycling to do (it's fine on the train home, or immediately after a race). Supermarket flavoured milk is now my go-to option.
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"Supermarket flavoured milk is now my go-to option"
Tastes of ... supermarket?
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"Supermarket flavoured milk is now my go-to option"
Tastes of ... supermarket?
That's the stuff. :thumbsup:
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It's a first world tragedy that you don't get chocolate oat milk in most places.
FTFY
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Frijj/Yazoo (sweet milkshakes) are a godsend, especially latish on longer rides. Ubiquitous in garages etc and untaxed (VAT, sugar tax) at present. Water is taxed, milk and milk drinks are not (yet).
Not everyone tolerates milk though.
While I'm firmly in the milkshake late in the ride camp, my tolerance for Frijj when digestively delicate has declined markedly since they replaced some of the sugar with sweetener, and I tend to avoid it when I've still got some cycling to do (it's fine on the train home, or immediately after a race). Supermarket flavoured milk is now my go-to option.
Whilst I understand why this is done, I really wish full-sugar drinks were easily available for Audax and special occasions. I might even be prepared to pay a premium.
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Frijj/Yazoo (sweet milkshakes) are a godsend, especially latish on longer rides. Ubiquitous in garages etc and untaxed (VAT, sugar tax) at present. Water is taxed, milk and milk drinks are not (yet).
Not everyone tolerates milk though.
While I'm firmly in the milkshake late in the ride camp, my tolerance for Frijj when digestively delicate has declined markedly since they replaced some of the sugar with sweetener, and I tend to avoid it when I've still got some cycling to do (it's fine on the train home, or immediately after a race). Supermarket flavoured milk is now my go-to option.
Whilst I understand why this is done, I really wish full-sugar drinks were easily available for Audax and special occasions. I might even be prepared to pay a premium.
Yeah, I feel like they have not considered the needs of audaxers in these changes. However remember there are more calories in freshly squeezed orange juice than choice if you can tolerate the acidity.
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Freshly squeezed orange juice is 10% ±1% sugar.
Many other things are more. A fruit yogurt without artificial sweeteners will be around 15%.
The old original Lucozade was 20% IIRC and Ribena was around 15% before it was reformulated.
Milk drinks are on Special Offer at Sainsbury's at present.
Yop seems to offer 10% sugar and more nutrients.
The buggers have reformulated Mars drinks, which were wonderful when I was recovering from pneumonia...
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Hmm autocorrect seems to have done something there.(choice should read coke) I'm sure it has more calories than coke. I remember being shocked one time.
Yes m&s freshly squeezed OJ 200kj per 100ml
Coca cola 180kj per 100ml
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Another thought about stepping up in distance is that you end up riding at parts of the day/night you don't normally ride. I found 6am starts on my first couple of Audaxes a real challenge, so I started a whole series of training rides at 5am and 6am until I got used to it. Equally, it might be worthwhile starting a 100 mile training ride at 6pm just to get used to the night section of a 400.
Also, I've posted many times that 400 for many people is at least as tough if not tougher than a 600, because its never easy to fit in a proper sleep stop. So that might also be a cause of issues.
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Hmm autocorrect seems to have done something there.(choice should read coke) I'm sure it has more calories than coke. I remember being shocked one time.
Yes m&s freshly squeezed OJ 200kj per 100ml
Coca cola 180kj per 100ml
'Around 10% sugar' is a good ball park estimate for both fruit juice and full-fat Coke. Some folk may prefer apple juice to orange; sugar content is similar. It might be less acidic.
Sugar is 4kcal/17kj per gram.
Sugar and acid are not tooth-friendly; Think about your teeth on longer rides.
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For me the key is making a tough 300k ride the norm. When I first started cycling, a hilly 200k ride was a tough ride for me. But as I rode more and more 200s it became just a ride. When I started to move up to riding hilly 300k rides once again they were hard rides but the more I did they became the norm so the next day I could ride another.
400k rides are the most difficult IMO as you don't really have time to sleep but if your body is used to ridding hilly 300ks then you should be fine.
Fuelling is different for everybody. I have a friend who can't eat after a days riding so she's eating little and often throughout her rides. For me I'll eat little and often on rides up to 400k but on any ride longer I'll ensure I carb up just before I sleep as my body needs at least an hour after a heavy meal. And I've messed with around with gels and sports bars etc but find real food such as tuna sandwiches, bananas, homemade oatbars best for me on the bike with a proper meal such as pasta or rice as my pre-sleep
meal.
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Building up distances from 0 to 300 during events is the basics. Most longer organised rides (non Audax) I have done had an early morning start. So this goes along with my normal bio-rythm.
If you have a 400km. I devide this in a morning ride 200km, afternoon ride, 100km and an evening ride 100km. It's all a mind set, don't let the big numbers frighten you.
If you do a 600km, it's nothing more then riding 2 times a 300km, with you are familiar with. I normally book a B&B half way so thay you still have a good night sleep. I don't like to ride during the night.
If I do rides longer then 2 hours, I use BORN sport nutricion. My Garmin gives me every half hour an alarm signal so that I don't forget to eat and drink. Because your body has a limit of carbohydrate intake a hour. You want to maximise this, so that you don't run out of fuel. Bigger water bottles (2x 950ml) is more weight but you have to stop less to refill.
Also training your self to have short brakes during the ride, will make it easier to finish your ride within the time limits.
Shorter distances are a great way to build up some speed. You may benefitt from this on longer rides, because if you can drive faster, You have less time on the bike and more time for recovery (at (sleeping)brakes).
Also do some training on hills or mountains of against the wind if you expect to get this circumstances on your ride. Do some investigation about your ride so you know where the controls are (google maps is very helpfull) and you know in headlines where the route takes you to.
And ofcourse have fun!
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For me the key is making a tough 300k ride the norm. When I first started cycling, a hilly 200k ride was a tough ride for me. But as I rode more and more 200s it became just a ride. When I started to move up to riding hilly 300k rides once again they were hard rides but the more I did they became the norm so the next day I could ride another.
As a blatant plug, I've just rerouted the Cambrian 3D as when I mapped it on RidewithGPS it came out to 290km, so I sent it from Llangollen over to Glen Ceirog and back through the Berwyns and it's now been approved at 5190m ascent. That should fit the bill. All the other Cambrian Series 300s will also do.
An alternative is to ride to the start of a 300 to add some distance. Last year I rode from Basingstoke to Alresford, round Le Tour de Neuf Chevaux Blancs, and then back home, which made it about 360km and set me up nicely for my 400 and 600 later in the year. It doesn't have to be a formal E2E to add distance.
Even just an ordinary 300 perm might help - as this it does increase self-sufficiency when you have to forage for all your food.