Transcontinental Race No. 6 - TCR6 - #TCRN06 - 2018

#fast

All the savings you make when you don't shit. Guess what?

When you need to shit... and you can't shit... bye bye time + bye bye anus.

Rimas shared with me some gory details of how his race plans went down the toilet last year, when nothing else did. Sounded nasty.

#genetics

I've ridden with him before and he's fast so I did wonder why he appeared a fair way down the finish list. I'll make a note not to ask for specifics. :)

97 days till the start!

I went and spoke with a pharmacist before LEL about Volterol Vs ibuprofen which is what I would normally use for pain on long rides.

They told me if I hadn't had any adverse effects previously, then as long as I wasn't boshing them for weeks on end it would be fine.

It's also worth noting, Volterol is no longer available over the counter and is prescription only.

More importantly...

https://days.to/until/deadpool-2

TABR is weeks on end... :)

Like I said, I can't remember enough of the specifics but I made the decision last year not to touch Ibuprofen again.

you rode all the way across western europe as a training ride!

Before my first TCR? That was mainly to build confidence, as my longest ride ever was 12h, 200miles. And in honest it left my knackered, way too much too close.

yeah, cool trip.
it's interesting seeing how different people do it

Yeah was really good. I was also using to to make up for the fact I barley rode my bike until April (working full time 50-60h weeks).

These days I am pretty busy until end of May with university, or for sure I'd be out training, but not mad distance, but hard 20-30h weeks. Quality over quantity.

Good. Beer all the way.

I didn't really do much short fast rides last year, but I was out riding most of the weekends. Long slow rides with bikepacking gear, riding all day, sleeping in the woods. And brevets. And things like that. I didn't really need to do those for training, as long rides were already familiar to me. Might not have been the most effective training but it didn't destroy me either, I ended up being reasonably fast in TCR. I suppose this kind of riding may have helped me endure these events better than some, so I was able to ride faster towards the finish than some/most others. And that kind of riding is what I like to do.

A week ago I organised and raced a 300km gravel adventure. Before that I did a weekend trip riding from Tallinn to Riga and back with friends.

I would like to Tour the USA and visit their immense number of breweries.

Worth of all your time, re training.

https://jv-cycling.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/training-for-ultra-cycling-events.html

Good article

Different strokes for different folks though, innit...

I was the 3rd fastest ever CTT 24hr racer having built up to ~18hrs of riding the weekend before the race. CTL = eleventybillion

For sure. But people should read it and think about training. Rather than just thinking they need to me smashing long miles at low pace, only.

Definitely. To counter my own statement, I've been soundly beaten by @wheels_of_fire who I think wasn't riding longer than 6hrs? Obviously, like you, he's cheating with his choice of parents. :P

Yeah. I remember reading it first time around and it just clicked for me. Coming from road racing background I knew training the same (ish) made sense.

To jump in on the Ibuprofen chat. Someone that did the Tour Divide had knee problems started boshing Ibuprofen for the pain and ended up having to go to hospital because of the toxic build up that was causing heavy swelling :

Definitely there are different approaches that can work. This year is an experiment for me. I've done high mileages in the past and very little speed work. But, with a new baby, I can't just book myself out for the weekend and go off and ride, so I'm doing much less time and higher intensity.

There is a tendency for the Facebook/Strava set to get competitive in terms of number of miles ridden without a load of thought behind it. And a lot of people who do crazy mileages burn themselves out and disappear after a few years.

How do the overall loads compare? Between you’re two types. Either tss or kIlo Joules.

It was a 2xDivide racer that mentioned to me fluid retention issue being caused by Ibuprofen.