Ultradistance Cycling?

One day I'd like to do the LEL ... it's been one of those events on my list for a long time. Unfortunately it won't work for us for next year, but I am hoping to find something in the 1000 km range in Canada or possibly western USA. I'll have to wait till the 2017 schedules are posted.

You'll have to write something about the Borders of Belgium ... I'd like to hear about it!

Sounds nice.

I'm not a climber either, and at this point, we're picking quite flat rides as we build up our distance and get back into it again. This requires travel because Tasmania isn't flat.

But next year I'm hoping to feel more comfortable on somewhat hillier rides.

rileysowner wrote: »

Joanna2012B wrote: »

Wow!! I just rode 114.7km yesterday for the first time. I was very proud of myself until I came here....feeling a little inadequate LOL!! I just have my factory seat on my bike and my rear was quite sore about 80km in. Do any of you suggest a different seat or riding shorts?

I have not been doing any long distances since June when I injured my leg. I kept thinking it was healed, then went for a ride and fairly soon into it the pain would start coming back. I laid off pretty much all of July and other than short rides, all of August up to this point. Hopefully I can get back into longer rides soon. I am hoping to get out today and see how my leg feels for 50-60km. If it feels good I will start building up.

That leads to my comment, build up to longer distances. I also found padded biking shorts make a huge difference. I always laughed at friends who wore them, but once I tried them I understood how much they help over long distances. Trying out a few different saddles to find one that works for you it also a good idea. Oh, and make sure your bike it fitted properly. That made a huge difference for me. My seat was far to low and once it was properly adjusted everything went better.

Bicycle fit is the first thing I'd check ... get the fit right, and the comfort level increases immensely.

Then the saddles. Get one wide enough for your sitbones but not too wide. But be careful, a thicker or thinner saddle can throw the fit off.

Then the good cycling shorts. Just remember that thick padding is not necessarily the way to go. But make sure the padding covers your sitbones.

Those are the easy things you can do. The next step is a little harder ... fitness.

It really helps your on-bicycle posture when you develop core strength, upper body strength, and general fitness.

Machka9 wrote: »

600K Attempt. The short version ....

Saturday morning we started a 600K randonnee ... with some misgivings.

I had been very sick twice since the 400K randonnee we did in mid-August and we haven't been able to train the way wanted. In fact, we missed a 600K in mid-September because I was too sick to go.

Plus this area has been flooded and the Murray river was set to peak on Saturday ... so the route was changed at the last minute.

Nevertheless ... we began.

After dealing with headwinds, a wrong turn, a flat tire, faulty shifters, and my lack of fitness ... we rolled back into the start at the end of the first loop having cycled 390 km in about 23.5 hours.

And there, we called it a day. I gave it everything I had ... there was nothing left.


Still ... we covered 390 km faster than we did on our 400 km in mid-August.

The Stats
Distance: 388.2 km (+2 km getting to the start)
Moving Time: 19:22:19
Lapsed Time: 23:19:18
Elevation: 527 metres

The Randonneuring season has begun (it starts on Nov 1 for reasons I don't know) ...

And so we started with a little warm-up ride ... just a short one ...

We cycled the Ranelagh Ramble Randonnee yesterday. It is the first ride of the season and described as, "A lovely amble around some of the more delightful roads that the Huon Valley has to offer. Some gravel, a few hills and a bakery to begin and end the ride." "They" also threw wind, rain, and a range of temperatures into the mix.

Distance: 98.4 km
Elevation: 1080 metres
Moving time: 5 hours 26 minutes 47 seconds ... 18.1 km/h average speed.
Elapsed time: 5 hours 51 minutes 42 seconds

Derwent 100K Permanent ... and Ride 2 of the Petite Year Round Randonneur

Since this was a Permanent, we had a route (which we adjusted with the blessing of the route owner), but we were allowed to choose the date and start time.

We chose today and 10 am.

Our ride had a theme ... Hurry Up and Wait!

We set off more or less downhill in the beginning at quite a brisk pace ... and came to a halt a few km down the road to wait for our turn at road construction.

Back on our way again, and down into Sandy Bay, through the traffic, up the hill, and dropping down into Salamanca. Saturdays are Salamanca Market days and we landed right in the middle of it all. So, we were off the bicycles and walking briskly through the market.
City of Hobart | Salamanca Market

Back on the bicycles again, we rounded the foreshore on the sort of, almost, bicycle path weaving between the pedestrians. (it's a bit puzzling where the pedestrians are supposed to be and where the bicycles are supposed to be) Then onto the Cycleway ... we were flying along!

I had to take a short break a few km up the Cycleway, and as we pulled in, a long line of people on bicycles, who didn't look like bicycling was their thing, moved slowly onto the Cycleway. Over the new few km we passed them all, but added to the confusion and congestion was another cycling club who had been out earlier and was on their way back. Plus the fact that the traffic we encountered at the road intersections was thick ... Christmas shopping perhaps? There were a lot of long stops at those intersections as we and these groups of cyclists tried to inch our way through the traffic ... or dash suddenly when a small break opened up. Definitely kept things interesting! You had to pay attention!

At last we had moved through the congestion and were onto a relatively open stretch of the Cycleway and then onto the road and eventually out to the highway. We kept up a really good pace to New Norfolk and about 4.5 km beyond to get our 50 km, then we turned and returned to New Norfolk to have a quite bite to eat.

On the way back, the main feature were all the motorcyclists. We knew they'd be gathering! Every year about this time the Motorcycle Riders Association holds a Toy Run, and a lot of motorcyclists get involved.
Home of the Motorcycle Riders Associations of Tasmania - Motorcycle Riders Associations of Tasmania
So many of these motorcyclists who passed us were carrying large teddy bears or had their bicycles decorated for Christmas, and a few were dressed up as Santa.

Back onto the Cycleway again, and the road traffic congestion at the intersections was even thicker ... almost standstill for the motorists which worked for us because we just slipped through it all.

As we reached the Hobart end of the Cycleway, we had a bit of a chuckle at all the motorists completely stopped. The roads were closed for the Toy Run. It was announced ... I just don't understand why you'd get in your car and drive when one of the main roads, and several smaller roads, have been closed. But we had bicycles, so we were good.

We stopped atop a small hill for a bite to eat and to discuss some strategy. We could hear the motorcyclists congregating and doing their parade, and knew there'd be a whole lot of them ... hundreds, at least. And we knew that the main road, the one we usually use, would be full of them and we'd probably not have a chance up that way.

So we decided to hug the foreshore which involved quite a bit of weaving and dodging of pedestrians, a few other cyclists, and some random traffic. And then we arrived at Salamanca. The Market was just starting to pack up ... and that's where the motorcyclists were gathering and parking.

Off the bicycles and walking again, through it all and up a steep hill, and then we were on the last leg of the journey.

I had been pushing the speed most of the way, and with about 15 km to go, my legs started turning to mush. So that last leg of the journey was a little slower. But we got there!

Very interesting ride ... no time for daydreaming, something happening all day long!

And we were both on our titaniums ... zippy, quick bicycles.


Weather
Temp: 18C (although Rowan's on-bike temperature gauge indicated 21C at one point)
Conditions: partly cloudy. The sun came out enough that we got a touch of a sunburn!
Wind: mostly ESE and kind of SE 15 km/h gusting to about 22 km/h


Stats
Distance: 100.1 km
Moving Time: 4:58:11
Elapsed Time: 5:33:33
Elevation: 953 metres
Moving Speed: 20.2 km/h

Thursday 26 January -- Australia Day

My husband and I made a somewhat spur of the moment decision to cycle a century this month (a 100 mile ride ... on the edge of being "ultradistance"). This was made a bit more difficult by the fact that my husband is in his busy season at work ... he has been working long days and lots of days. So at the last minute, we decided to squeeze a century into Australia Day.

Today reached 23C, and was partly cloudy. That part was nice. It was also very windy. Roughly 30 km/h gusting to 60 km/h most of the day.

Our route had us riding into the wind for the first 54 km. We were planning to go further, but by the 54 km point we had enough. We also wanted to turn around and take advantage of the tailwind while there was still a tailwind. Winds here have this habit of changing direction mid-afternoon.

It was such a relief to have a strong tail wind all the way back into Hobart.

Because we had changed the route, our new plan was to cycle back out the cycleway to the end, into the wind. Fortunately the cycleway is somewhat sheltered so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Then a quick dash back into Hobart. And finally a short run out the cycleway to make up the distance ... and at long last, back to the start point.

That's our first century since our 600 km attempt in October. Not the nicest century, but it felt good to be out there cycling all day long again.


Distance: 161.9km
Elevation: 1,096m
Moving Time: 8:40:35
Elapsed Time: 9:42:08
Avg Speed: 18.7km/h
Max Speed: 50.8km/h