Furthest Fixed in 24hrs?

Hi all,

I'm spitballing about doing a ride for charity this summer, something like Plymouth (where I live) to Paddington, which is about 250 miles, in under 24hrs riding fixed gear. It sounds doable but having only done 65km max fixed before am I massively underestimating how hard it would be?

I've done a century before (with 3000m of climbing) without too much bother, but that was on a road bike with a compact.

Any thoughts welcomed!

Stroller.

Plenty of people do those distances and further on fixed so there's nothing wrong with the idea. But you're really asking whether you can do it, and no-one else is going to be able to tell you that!

think @veganjoseph did a fixed 24hr last year. 555km / 342 ish miles..

@Fixedwheelnut did ~344 miles at the Mersey Road 24hr so 250miles (with a less favourable course and less organised supply stops) is definitely possible.

I think I saw @veganjoseph's bike check on YouTube, didn't realise he was a member on LFGSS!

That's good going! Yeah, I'd be going self-supported. I guess I don't really know how much harder it's going to be riding fixed when fatigue really sets in. I ride a fair amount but I haven't really done anything so far as this to really know how bad it is when you're really tired.

Common / good advice for longer rides is to build up slowly.
100 miles , 125 miles, 150 miles etc..

Doing it all in one go with no training would be ard

Dennis White (Swindon Wheelers) got comp. record for 24 hours with 484.75 miles in 1958. This was done on fixed, and I believe his gear was about 78". There is a report of his ride somewhere in Coureur (aka'Sporting Cyclist') which I've seen, but don't have it to hand at this moment.

This record stood until 1964 when E. Matthews (Altringham RC) recorded 490.03, but I have a feeling this was done on gears.

So I think White's record is probably the best ever (well, up to now) on fixed. Given modern kit, perhaps someone from the forum could improve this figure.

Farthest

..
Good luck with the ride. Agree with building up the distance.

Thierry Saint Léger rode more than 600kms in 24H chrono fixed this year.

I did 334 on 72" fixed unassisted, my club mate Rob Bullyment narrowly missed out on our club record last year at the Mersey Roads by 2 miles :)

He did 461.3 miles on 86" fixed achieving 9th overall he only spent 20 minutes off the bike, phenomenal ride and one of the furthest known on fixed. :)

Good advice I did loads of Audax rides on fixed but in 2007 my only TT prep for the 24 hour was two ten mile TT's :) I suffered like a dog. :)

Hi Steve
Here is my 24hr TT report with pic attatched, if you use the pic please credit it to http://www.kimroyphotography.co.uk/
I joined the Catford CC last year with the mind of doing a few time trials eventually with the Mersey roads in mind.
My year didn't start well as a chest infection kept me off the bike for a month and it was a slow recovery, couple that with work commitments and difficulty getting baby sitters to allow weekend rides even my Audax speeds were dropping.
Once my SR was done and dusted I concentrated on getting faster and used my Dads old 1969 Lambert Proffessional that is set up with an 81" gear [rather than my usual 68" gear] for commuting and the evening pub runs.
I also fitted some Tri-bars that were lurking in the shed but struggled getting used to them especially being able to spin a gear down hill on them, it wasn't until I had looked at my Tour prologue pics that I realised I had them set way to low, so I flipped the stem to raise the whole bar combo to a more comfortable position.
On top of that the Thursday night my bars had been creaking and I discovered they were cracked so I had to swap them over with another pair and re tape them all, as my knees had been complaining about the 81" gear I opted to swap it for a 72" medium gear, well 71.65" gear on the tyres I use.
On Friday I joined up with my friend Mike Friday another Catford CC rider at Euston and we got the train up to Chester and stayed at the Wrexham Travel lodge so that we only had a short eight mile ride to the start on Saturday.
Race day
We met some familiar faces at the start as quite a few Audax riders now ride this event, and some new ones too, Keith an old Catford member now living in Wales had come up to support us and I must say his shouts of encouragement on the way round did loads for the moral.
Mike set off 5 minutes ahead of me he was riding a larger gear low eighties he also had the advantage of three previous rides.
Once on the road I set about my plan, not much of a plan really except to ride as fast as I could for as long as I could, probably too fast at first as a series of personal bests ticked by, the first fifty miles at evens and the first 100 in 5h 29m .
However riding in a low TT position for that long was taking it's toll and I felt like I was breaking my Brooks in all over again, coupled with the muscles in my thighs and backside burning, to ease up some of the small hills on the circuit I had powered up were now ridden out of the saddle and my average speed was slowly dropping but I was still on for my target of 300miles so just kept plugging away.
I really suffered in the night and stopped at a couple of feed controls for food water and a quick five minute power nap but at 4am I knew I needed a bit more.
At the Prees Island control I took advantage of Lynnes Cafe and a full english breakfast a chat with our supporter Keith and his Welsh Twelve Hour TT ride followed by a half hour kip, I felt much better afterwards, still in pain but at least I was not wobbling all over the road, unfortuneatley my average speed didn't look any better.
By about 10.30am they started moving us up to the finishing circuit and I had just passed my 300 mile target and felt, well bloody awful really every bump and ridge in the tarmac was like a kick from a mule and it felt like more and more people were overtaking me, all be it with encouragement of "dig in, keep it going".
The finishing circuit of just over thirteen miles was horrible, a painfully bumpy road surface and a mix of long drags and a few little steep hills thrown in.
Just past the HQ/ Start was the worst drag and hill of the circuit and I had mentally worked out that even with my ever slowing average speed I would have to ride it again, well I have to confess I could not face that again so I spotted a pub on the circuit in Aldford and nipped in for a pint and a packet of crisps and ten minutes on a seat that wasn't Brooks shaped, much to the amusement of two old Anfield CC members sharing the bar who quipped "thats what I like mad enough to ride a twenty four and still want a beer on the way round"
Back out on the bike I finished my 24 hours just before the HQ and could roll the last miles to finish and stuff my face with bacon butties.
My trip computer said 344 miles but the provisional result is at 334 until they fully calculate the course as it had to be changed due to flooding, every body seemed to be ten to fifteen miles down on their computer displays.
Apart from the pain I really enjoyed it the organisation was first rate and the help and encouragement from all at the roadside was a great moral booster and probably worth a good few miles at the end.*<

http://www.fixedwheel.co.uk/fixedwheel%20stories.htm

When I responded earlier I had failed to notice that the question here is not so much about riding for 24 hours, but about riding from Plymouth to London.

This is a different question because the wind direction would be critical. Since the prevailing wind is South West, you could well be lucky. However, if you had to commit to a particular day and hit a North Easterly, you would have a very hard time.

A friend and former West Twickenham RC clubmate actually did this ride (well, to his parents' house in Hounslow) in 1978 - on fixed. He was not riding for charity - he just had no money for the fare.
Being an experienced bloke, he waited for a howling SW wind and did the journey in under 13 hours. I should add that my friend was a natural athlete who had recently won an open 25, but even so he did admit to being 'a bit tired' by the time he knocked on the parental front door.

Good shout on the wind - I hadn't really thought of that. I'm certainly not committing to anything just yet, but certainly interesting to hear takes if long distance riding, especially being fixed.