Author Topic: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride  (Read 23976 times)

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #75 on: 24 January, 2010, 08:32:10 pm »
I guess it depends on whether you do audax for fun...

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #76 on: 24 January, 2010, 08:54:26 pm »
I've packed just once, early last year on the Killhope grimpeur. Only 100km but I'd ridden the previous day and didn't have it in my legs to continue. It was blowing a gale and I knew I was running close to the time limit. I packed at the last point I knew I could bale out and shorten the route. The ride still came to 75km or so. and there were big climbs to get back to the start/finish.
I was chuffed to meet someone else who had packed when I entered the first pub I came to. We were soon joined by another rider who'd had enough. So I didn't feel so bad.

My one DNS was on a DIY on 1.12.09 fell off on ice and damaged my ankle. Limped to the start, made my apologies to my ride mate and got the train home.I haven't ridden since. Determined to ride next week.

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #77 on: 24 January, 2010, 09:56:56 pm »
In 32 years of Audaxing, I've failed to finish 5 events.

Windsor-Chester-Windsor (knee trouble)
The Elenith (ran out of time/friend couldn't continue) (2)
Kidderminster Killer (got lost/had a mechanical failure) (2)

Co incidentally, all of them started in Kidderminster.
I don't want to grow old gracefully. I want to grow old disgracefully.

simonp

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #78 on: 24 January, 2010, 10:21:29 pm »
I was hard pressed to continue from the lunch stop on the Golden Tints in 2008 after bonking badly just before getting back to lunch.  Took an hour of feeling utterly crap and struggling to eat my lunch before I felt able to continue.  Once I got going again, I was fine, and even managed to catch up with Ara so I wasn't on my own.

Andrew

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #79 on: 25 January, 2010, 11:39:06 am »
The only audax I've DNFed is a 200 out of Ruislip (Middlesex). The first 100 I was fine but I began to tire after that. Got to around 150km and there was just nothing left. I was shattered. I packed  at Thame and got the train home. To this day, I have no idea what went wrong. I'd ridden plenty of 200s before and I wasn't ill either before or after. Maybe just fuelled badly, who knows. I just put it down as 'one of those things'.

These days, I do my own rides so it's pretty much impossible to pack. I ride (or not) according to how I feel. I have cut routes short though, heading home when I felt tiredness (or boredom!) setting in.

waxer

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #80 on: 25 January, 2010, 12:35:07 pm »
i have packed in on 2 rides, first a 400km at beatock in scotland, this was after having a stomach infection a few weeks before, i guess it was to far to soon after an illness.
the other DNF was PBP 2007, this was at about 390km, after leaving the control i just ran out of steam. i have thought over this for sometime and have come to the conclusion that i had not eaten/drank enough for the distance i had covered, guess the old body just said thats enough.
i do seem to have a problem remembering to eat and drink on a ride, i get to focused on the time to complete the ride, i'll just have to work on it.

bye
waxer


keep on pedalling......

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #81 on: 25 January, 2010, 01:44:04 pm »
i do seem to have a problem remembering to eat and drink on a ride,

So do I. One of the first things that goes seems to be the ability to recognise that it would be a good idea to stop and eat - I plod on, losing much more time than the 5-10 minutes it would take to eat a malt loaf, and then I'm miserable and want to pack. It's crazy.

jogler

  • mojo operandi
Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #82 on: 25 January, 2010, 03:16:51 pm »
This eating business is something that I have always struggled with.I usually get it wrong & bonk at some stage of a 60km+ ride.Only occasionaly do I get it right & that is when the experience & wisdom of those I am riding with call a cake stop.
On the second day of my E2E I discovered that a diet of Snickers bars,dark chocolate Kit Kats & several bottles of Lucozade between breakfast & tea time kept the energy levels up.It became a bit boring after 3 weeks ::-).
Perhaps that is why I only lost 2kg over 20 days & 1016km.That & a full- English cooked breakfast each morning & a 3 course meal & Guiness every night :)

Chris S

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #83 on: 25 January, 2010, 04:22:08 pm »
On the second day of my E2E I discovered that a diet of Snickers bars,dark chocolate Kit Kats & several bottles of Lucozade between breakfast & tea time kept the energy levels up.It became a bit boring after 3 weeks ::-).

Did you have any teeth left after that? ;)

border-rider

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #84 on: 25 January, 2010, 04:31:02 pm »
This eating business is something that I have always struggled with

As others have said, it really is the key to successful long distance cycling.  

You have to train yourself to be able to do the miles at a pace that's not ripping through your carb reserves faster than you can replenish them, and all too often that's a lot slower than you think.  I use a HRM for this early season, and just get in loads of miles at a pace I know I can trundle at all day.  It's slow.  As the weeks go by I get a bit faster at it, and I can go a bit faster for a bit longer on events.

Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #85 on: 25 January, 2010, 05:17:48 pm »
 I use a HRM for this early season,

Me too.... just to make sure that I keep the pulse right down to 50-60%max.  The memory of last years late autumn rides at peak fitness are still there and it is easy to overdo it.

3peaker

  • RRTY Mad 42 up
Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #86 on: 25 January, 2010, 07:46:39 pm »
I thought I could boast having completed every ride since I started this game in 1982. But no, there is one famous 'pack', though I returned to complete the ride after a restart 5 months later.

Whilst riding the Autostrada en route Granada around midnight, I was leaving an entry from a Servicio and I went flying. The result of riding into an enormous pothole was a broken clavicle.  My insurance recovered me to UK.

I returned to Spain in late August 2001 and made a successful 16 day ride of the 3000km Trafalgar-Trafalgar.  You will need to read my account of the time and in the Arrivee archives but it is a very good adventure. The ride, together with a 300, gave me a SR, a series I have continued consecutively since, so this year I am an on for a bionic SR, from my hip replacement in 2000.

On a 1000km in mid-Wales I had another 'prang', when I was forced into a hedge by an oncoming tractor AND TRAILER!!! Narrow lane and nowhere else to go.  The Builth Wells Cottage Hospital confirmed no breaks (I had brakes) but the remaining 600km was fairly painful.  Even passing within 4 miles of my home a day or so later did not cause me to pack, as I still had to recover my vehicle from Midhurst and it seemed just as easy to cycle there.

SteveP
SteveP

Promoting : Cheltenham Flyer 200, Cider with Rosie 150, Character Coln 100.

3peaker

  • RRTY Mad 42 up
Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #87 on: 25 January, 2010, 07:56:16 pm »
for a bionic SR... I mean Bionic Ultra SR.
SteveP

Promoting : Cheltenham Flyer 200, Cider with Rosie 150, Character Coln 100.

3peaker

  • RRTY Mad 42 up
Re: The whys and wherefores of Packing a ride
« Reply #88 on: 25 January, 2010, 08:24:28 pm »
Changing the subject to non-Audax, I had an infamous 'pack' whilst attempting a 3 Peaks record in 1979.  I left Fort William at noon (timing to satisfy Glasgow Herald) to run up Ben Nevis and then cycle down to the Lake District to run over Scafell Pike.  On the ride through Lancashire, I was battling into a (felt Gale-force) headwind, when it struck me that if I set a Record, it could easily be beaten riding with a backwind.  So, after 32hrs I jumped into my support wagon and we headed for home.

The following year, I repeated the attempt, starting from Carnarvon at 0300hrs (timing to suit MY schedule), climbed Snowdon at dawn, managed to clear the Lake District by dusk and descended Ben Nevis before dusk the following day. Record in the bag 41h 51m!!  (Note, you will understand I have little time for the current '3 Peaks Challenge' game, where teams can sleep on the road to complete in 24hrs but that is changing the subject to mountaineering).

That was 440miles on the bike and 9hrs in the mountains but with a full support team; not quite the way we play Audax with lengthy cafe breaks.  But AUK was still in its infancy then.

One thing that strikes me here is that once you have done all the planning and overcome the reasons for packing, it is so much easier to do it second time around.

SteveP (3peaker)
SteveP

Promoting : Cheltenham Flyer 200, Cider with Rosie 150, Character Coln 100.