Biting off more (distance) than you can chew

monkeypants

Planning to go Swords to Monaghan on Saturday morning and make the return journey on Sunday morning. This will be the first time that I've attempted two journeys of that length back-to-back. I'm sure that I can get as far as Monaghan, but for the return leg I'm less certain...

1. What's the furthest that you have gone in one day?
2. What's the furthest that you have gone in consecutive days (two or more)?
3. Did you ever attempt a particular distance and realise later that you'd pushed it too far?

Inquitus

monkeypants wrote: »

Planning to go Swords to Monaghan on Saturday morning and make the return journey on Sunday morning. This will be the first time that I've attempted two journeys of that length back-to-back. I'm sure that I can get as far as Monaghan, but for the return leg I'm less certain...

1. What's the furthest that you have gone in one day?
2. What's the furthest that you have gone in consecutive days (two or more)?
3. Did you ever attempt a particular distance and realise later that you'd pushed it too far?

1) 220km Swords -> DCU -> Belfast -> Train to connolly -> Swords
2) followed by the 100km version of the Swords CC Tour the next day.
3) The WW200 last year certainly didn't feel like such a shít hot idea on the day lol! In fairness I have never taken on a cycle I didn't think I could complete.

smacl

1) 200k with hills (WW200 last year)
2) 260k (160k day 1, 100k day 2)
3) Yes, but by running out of daylight rather than steam, and not having good enough lights for rural l-roads.

If you're taking a comfortable pace, have a comfy saddle, and don't hit major climbs and/or gales, I wouldn't find cycling all day too difficult. Picking a route that takes you through small villages where you can get a snack / take a break is nice. Personally, I'd rather a longer journey on smaller roads than saving a few KM on bigger roads even if they are better paved. Big roads with lots of traffic can be monotonous to the point of being quite draining.

Tonyandthewhale

monkeypants wrote: »

1. What's the furthest that you have gone in one day?
2. What's the furthest that you have gone in consecutive days (two or more)?
3. Did you ever attempt a particular distance and realise later that you'd pushed it too far?

1. 428km, Carraigaline to Dublin via Longford (although technically it was slightly more than 24 hours door to door).
2. Not sure, have done 200km + back to back a few times while touring. If you're sure you can do it one day you can almost definitely make it back the next day if my experience is anything to go by.
3. Only due to illness or having been awake for a few days straight, once you're feeling ok you can pretty much stay in the saddle as long as you can stay awake I find. Only had to through in the towel due to fatigue once though (mechanicals did a few times in the early days though).

07Lapierre

On your own or in. Group?

Redmond101

550-600ish km in 6 days doing the Santiago de Compesrella route across northern Spain

a148pro

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

3. Only due to illness or having been awake for a few days straight

Wtf?

Ram or something equivalent?

G rock

you're not tempted to hang around for the carrickmacross 100k sportive on sunday before heading home to swords?:)

how long is the daily distance? route? in answer to your questions above i really surprised myself earlier this month:

1. 258km
2. 258km followed next day by 115km
3. it's surprising how long you can keep cycling as long as you're comfortable on the bike and you eat enough.

honestly, it won't be a problem to you. keep eating on the bike, and minimise any stops to as short as possible...i found that the longer i stopped the longer it took to get back into a rhythm.

enjoy the weekend's trip, and the drumlins!

Tonyandthewhale

a148pro wrote: »

Wtf?

Ram or something equivalent?

Yeah, if raam was all about getting home to Galway after a weekend on the tear in Limerick rather than riding across America in one go.

Hmmzis

When I was still doing cross-country running the coach quite often used to tell us young lads - "It's not the distance that kills you, it's the speed that does it".

Just learn to pace yourself and you can keep going almost indefinitely.

a148pro

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

Yeah, if raam was all about getting home to Galway after a weekend on the tear in Limerick rather than riding across America in one go.

lol surviving a weekend on the tear in Limerick a much more difficult proposition

Rofo

1. What's the furthest that you have gone in one day? 170km with 1,750m climbing
2. What's the furthest that you have gone in consecutive days (two or more)? Haven't attempted two days in a row
3. Did you ever attempt a particular distance and realise later that you'd pushed it too far? On the 170km I realised I had either gone out too fast, or not been spinning easy enough gears when I was struck with excruciating ITB knee pain 30km from home. Limping home on the bike was not fun. Make sure you pace yourself!

seamus

Wicklow 200 is the furthest I've done in a single day. Not a lot of interest in going much further tbh unless it's a well-organised trip across the country to go drinking or something.

Don't know if I've ever done two days in a row. If I have, it's been 2 x 100km spins, at most. At this stage, I would be well capable of 300km over two days, maybe even more.

I've never found myself on any spin thinking, "Oh ****, I can't go any further". On a climb, yes, but then you're back in the groove again once it levels out. Again, on the wicklow 200 after about 160km, I hit a wall of sorts. I basically was incapable of putting out any power above a certain threshold, probably somewhere around 150w. That's me plucking figures from the sky, but it's a bizarre feeling where you're cruising along the flat feeling strong, then the road rises and your legs just go, "Nope", and you have to drop your gears and speed and crawl up the smallest hills.

But even at that, there was no point where I felt that my legs were not able to keep pushing the pedals, it was just the power that was limited.

monkeyslayer

1. 245km (Wicklow 200 + Rathgar to Greystones out and back before and after, I won't be doing that again!) A non stop spin to Galway comes close to this but there are no hills of any significance in the midlands so it doesn't count.

2. I've done 350km in two spins over a thirty hour period which was tough, but the rest in the middle made it surprisingly manageable.

3. One time I really pushed it too far was the first time I cycled from Bray to the City centre and back when I was 17, I completely bonked out around Stillorgan on the return, needed two mars bars to get me going again! I literally stopped and sat on the road, unable to stand. Still the worst I've ever felt on a bike, due to the bike. I can't believe that was 14 years ago.

ROK ON

220

380 over two days (and less than 680 in 4)

Yes. I was sick on the bike twice. Once from a dodgy egg sandwich that I met a few hours after eating it and had to call for the wife as I simply could not cycle any further. Another time I felt very very ill but just continued on.

Unless you are very sick, then usually your mind will give up before the body. Your mind is your enemy while cycling. Try to turn it off, then once your body is fed and watered you can cycle at a reasonable pace for a long time.

Aka Ishur

1) 200km
2) 1600ish km over 10 days. (Rome, Italy to Lyon, France following the coast)
3) On the trip above I felt at times sick lonely exhausted and I cursed everyone who knew me for letting me do it. Made for a great life experience tho.

cdaly_

Did 360k of a 400k Easter Fleche last month. That was pretty much non-stop over 24 hours.
Longest consecutive days was 6 x 50k stages around Ireland with 2-4 hours between stages. Getting back on the bike for a new stage was tough, hardest was getting on the bike at 2 am in Birr for a 2-hour stage...

ccull123

Aka Ishur wrote: »

1) 200km
2) 1600ish km over 10 days. (Rome, Italy to Lyon, France following the coast)
3) On the trip above I felt at times sick lonely exhausted and I cursed everyone who knew me for letting me do it. Made for a great life experience tho.

your 1600km trip sounds unreal..... when did you do it??? was it expensive to do?

Aka Ishur

ccull123 wrote: »

your 1600km trip sounds unreal..... when did you do it??? was it expensive to do?

Did it autumn 2010. It was pretty special. Didnt cost much though, just whatever food i wanted. 100eur or so to add the bike to the flights. (I did ORK->LHR->ROM) So it was me, my Boardman, 2 shorts, 3 tops, rain jacket, fleece, light walking shoes, one man tent, and a sleeping bag.

Slept in fields, behind petrol stations in the middle of nowhere, even beside a rubbish dump once (which was by far the warmest of the locations.) Only thing I can recommend is good maps. I had 1:100000 for one part and ended up hopelessy lost in the hills of Tuscany!

gmoorewest

monkeypants wrote: »

Planning to go Swords to Monaghan on Saturday morning and make the return journey on Sunday morning. This will be the first time that I've attempted two journeys of that length back-to-back. I'm sure that I can get as far as Monaghan, but for the return leg I'm less certain...

1. What's the furthest that you have gone in one day?
2. What's the furthest that you have gone in consecutive days (two or more)?
3. Did you ever attempt a particular distance and realise later that you'd pushed it too far?

Did 240km in a day on a trip where we did approx 850km in five days. Last day was from Galway to Black Valley hostel in Kerry. Last 50km where in the dark with a car behind us. Going up Gap of Dungloe every time we went over a ridge in the road we were cycling into darkness till the car came over. Very weird experience when your cream crackered.

Fatscally

1. 180km Athenry - Dublin (because the train was delayed to Galway)
2. 120km + 140km Dublin - Kilkenny - Cork
3. No. I only forgot my sunblock on the cloudy windy tour to cork and got off the bike like a candy cane.

The trip to cork sucked badly because it was a hard wind in the face the whole way. From that I learned to watch the weather to see what way the wind is coming in, usually it's from the West. So then I'd take the train to say Galway and cycle home in relative comfort. Clocked up some serious mileage doing that.

Captain Havoc

monkeypants wrote: »

1. What's the furthest that you have gone in one day?
2. What's the furthest that you have gone in consecutive days (two or more)?
3. Did you ever attempt a particular distance and realise later that you'd pushed it too far?

1. 258km
2. 1,800km in 11 days
3. No but I've pushed it beyond the limit a few times alright, I think the worst day I've been out was on the Tour de Kilkenny a few years ago, I wasn't long cycling and I got saddle sore half way through and completely spent every ounce of energy I had. There can be times touring when you feel pressure to hit home before dark, last year when I did the 258km it was 35km more than planed due to multiple punctures, I got in after dark. Another day we had to abandon due to a storm completing 70km out of 160km so the next day we tried to do 240km but had to stop after 200km because it was dark. We still finished the tour on time though as the following day I did 130km instead 90km.

monkeypants

Thanks everyone. Assuming this weekend works out, I was thinking of cycling Swords to Galway at the beginning of June as well and I now feel a lot better about it.