Best way to extend range?

Membrane

I'd like to build my fitness to a level where I can do rides comparable in distance and difficulty to the Wicklow 200.

Up until recently I only did short rides, Dublin City center'ish, from Howth harbour to the cemetary on the south side and back a few times, then back to Dublin, 62Km in total. Or Rathfarnham, Slievenabawnoge, left at Famine Cross, left at Kippure Bridge, up to Sally Gap, Djouce Mountain, left at the first crossing to Enniskerry, Kilternan, Stepaside, Dundrum, city center, approx 65Km IIRC.

A few weeks ago I did Dublin, Glencree, Sally Gap, Laragh, Wicklow Gap, east around Blessington lakes, Kilbride, Slievenabawnoge, Rathfarnham, city center, 115Km in total. I was pretty tired, but I didn't go bust.

About a week ago I took the N81, Hollywood Glen, Donard, Glen of Imaal, Slieve Maan, straight on at Drumgoff Bridge, Laragh, Sally Gap, City center, 145Km in total. From Laragh onwards I struggled and limped back home.

Is doing longer rides necessary to extend my range, or will I be able to build fitness to do these longer rides by doing the short rides? The long rides effectively eat up an entire day, and if I go bust at some stage it can be a long struggle to get back home.

uberwolf

eh, wow. I've not much time here, but an awful lot of things occur to me to say.

Do you need to run a marathon to race a marathon? No. But you should get close to it.

Don't massively overextend yourself. Week on week you shouldn't increase your time/distance by more than 10%. At least every 4th week you should step back 20% for that week.

Over a couple of months, you'll build up some good stamina.

A vital point on these longer rides is nutrition. Vital.

You need to be drinking an isotonic drink, and if possible eating something like a nutri-grain (or more sophisticated sports bar) every hour, a nibble of it every 15 minutes.
It may take a while for your stomach to adapt to this intake, so bear with it - but don't make yourself sick.

That'll do for a start. Make sure your bike is set up to fit your measurements

Bunnyhopper

I find interval work helps with stamina. So maybe do two minutes easy then sprint gut-busting-flat-out for thirty seconds, keep doing that for ten or twenty minutes or whatever. Then try doing 1:30 easy and 0:30 hard, etc., shifting the work/rest ratio and the durations (or distances, if you have a computer) to suit yourself. After that, the next time I go out I'll find it a bit easier to maintain a decent steady pace. Mind you, you're already going a hell of a lot further than me

vigos

I found this free e-book you get when you sign up to this newsletter quite useful http://www.roadbikerider.com/newsletter.htm

has some good training tips

Mucco

I did the Wicklow 200 this year. My training was 25km a day commuting to work (often a bit more if I went out in the evening). Then, about two months before, I started doing hills on the way home from work (up the sally gap then back) 3 times a week or so. The base I had from commuting made it quite easy, so I don't think long rides are necessary. As uberwolf said, nutrition, and especially hydration are crucially important. I'm not into spurious sports drinks, so water, biscuits and fruit do me.

M

Membrane

Mucco wrote:

I did the Wicklow 200 this year. My training was 25km a day commuting to work (often a bit more if I went out in the evening). Then, about two months before, I started doing hills on the way home from work (up the sally gap then back) 3 times a week or so. The base I had from commuting made it quite easy, so I don't think long rides are necessary. As uberwolf said, nutrition, and especially hydration are crucially important. I'm not into spurious sports drinks, so water, biscuits and fruit do me.

M

Good to hear that water can suffice, did you use water for the Wicklow 200 as well?

I'm not used to energy food, so I pack sandwiches when I go out for longer rides. Up until now I used water with a dash of orange juice for drinking, but on the last long ride I could feel the acid and sugar from the stuff attack the enamel on my teeth, so I pledged to take pure water from now on.

On that last long ride when I went bust I had eaten my sandwiches well in advance, so the slow releasing energy from them should have been available by the time I went bust. Drinking at that stage didn't help to get me going again, so I'm assuming that going bust wasn't due to a lack of resources. (I made sure to drink regularly up until then)

Strangly enough once I had put the moutains behind me and I was back in the city I wasn't doing to badly again, but that was probably due to the general downhill nature of the terrain when returning to Dublin from Wicklow.