9/29/14 10:37 AM

Interesting experience this weekend. I had charity rides of 60 miles Saturday and 100 Sunday. Not a big deal, lots of people to multiday rides with more miles. But I always space out events, and make sure I get there rested and with decent legs. So this was a bit of an experiment.

The Saturday 60 miler went well (though I had a flat unrelated to the problem I posted about recently).

Sunday I felt fine when I got up (very early), felt fine in the staging area waiting to start. After about 5 miles, I knew I didn't have it - some pain in my back (I could ride with it but not awfully comfortable), tired overall and no legs whatsoever. Usually I like hills and feel like I have some punch going up them, yesterday it was just a survival slog. I've done this ride 5 times before and usually I stop at rest areas twice, yesterday 5 times. I felt a little better in the last couple hours as I usually do in centuries, but still didn't feel very good. I wanted to finish and did, but man subjectively it was the hardest century I have done.

So I guess my powers of recovery are limited! Today I feel fine for some reason.

9/29/14 10:40 AM

"Today I feel fine for some reason"


Did you ride yet, wondering how an easy ride would feel. How was your pre ride diet. Maybe not enough calories from other than carbs??

9/29/14 6:25 PM

I have some experience with multiday charity rides doing the same 250+ mile event for 5 years running. I have found that metering the effort is key. I watch my HR the entire time to ensure I don't blow the motor. I never do as well as I should on the first day because I let my ego get the best of me. 250 watts for 3+ hours can crush even the big dogs.

Gels work best for me when doing these events. The calories are easy to get down while putting out the watts. Drink way more than you think you need and continue when you get off the bike.

9/29/14 8:06 PM

Perhaps this was just a "one off"?

Generally, I do better with less effort on the second day. So, I can do a century on Sat and a metric on Sunday but not vice versa. It's just harder on the second day so I can't do the harder effort on the second day. By 3rd day, I don't have ANY legs left.

9/30/14 3:54 AM

Yes it was a bit of a one-off in the sense that the events are not usually on the same weekend, plus I probably don't do the volume of miles necessary to ride a back to back sequence like this well.

Also I think I probably got a bit dehydrated Saturday, didn't really rehydrate, and probably made it worse by having a few beers in the hot sun. It was low '80s each day, unusual for the end of September. So in the future I'll heed Erik's advice and pay more attention to hydration. I should know that anyway, of course.

But both events were very successful, which is the important thing.

Sparky, I think my diet was fine with the exception of the hydration, and no ride yesterday (or today probably, no more events this year).

9/30/14 6:43 AM

If you're going at racing speed, then yes, I can see being burnt the second day.

But I've done a number of week-long rides (AIDSRide, GRABAWWAR or whatever-that-thing-is-called) that are centuries or metrics each day, and my experience has been that I just keep feeling stronger as the week progresses.

The big difference is that I'm pretty slow compared to most folks here :-).

The other thing is that I probably overhydrate a bit, if anything--I try to have empty bottles to fill at each rest stop.

9/30/14 2:51 PM

The older you get, the longer it takes to recover. I no longer race three or four stage weekend tours over two days, because I find that by the time I get to the last stage, I'm smashed. In my younger days - say up to the age of 50 or so - I could cope with two hard days in a row ok.

Last edited by Nick Payne on 9/30/14 4:44 PM; edited 1 time in total

9/30/14 3:14 PM

"say up to the age of 50 or so - I could cope with two hard days in a row"

And then party like it was 1999 too!

9/30/14 4:48 PM

I was never able to do 2 long days back to back. If I did a century on Sunday, I would crash on Wednesday- lay around and sleep all day, unable to do anything.

I think I have the worst recovery of any human.

9/30/14 5:38 PM

I guess my song now is "When I'm 64."

Actually what passes for partying at that age probably contributed to my sorry demise on Sunday. The Saturday ride was part of a festival, so after the ride I'm out in the heat with friends, eating lunch and sampling a few complimentary Allagash White drafts. Later dinner with friends and a couple more drinks. Not enough to get buzzed, and no hangover, but likely didn't help my hydration.

And I really should know better. About 40 years ago I did a XC ski race, then sat around drinking pitchers of beer with friends, resulting in a hangover that lasted 3 days...