Ultracycling

Makes sense.

Just completed by entry for GBDURO, fingers crossed etc.

How do people train for long multi-day rides on the turbo? Long, low intensity? Shorter, high intensity but more of them? Mix of the two? We're at the peak of crap weather here so today anything other than the valleys were a mix of slush and ice and the valleys were soaked/flooded and covered with debris so it's a bit shit for riding so I'm back to the turbo

Long turbo rides are shit.

Unless your winter lasts so long you can't physically ride outdoors enough leading up to your event I'd be sticking with 1-2 harder sessions a week and fill the rest with whatever easy endurance stuff you can cope with mentally.

It's why I asked really... I just usually do 1-2 hour hard rides in winter outside then just do a load of low-mid effort stuff indoors. It's fine for every day riding fitness but I'm planning a couple of longer trips in early summer that I want to build for.

We're around 0 to -2 degrees here at the moment, will drop to -5 to -10 days in a few weeks for a month or so. The roads are usually clear enough for shorter high intensity rides but longer ones are problematic.

Without knowing how you personally respond to high volume indoor training it's hard to say.
Were you fit enough for long stuff in the past off what you did? If so, why not do the same?

Flip side is, if you don't know, there's one way to find out... after the year then you'll know if you can you do lots of volume on the trainer without going mad and selling all your bikes.

Whatever happens you'll learn something :)

Personally I can't stand long slow turbo - I've done it a few times in the past and it does nothing except make me hate the turbo more (and that mental energy could've been used better elsewhere). Nowadays I want to bang out max 2hrs and I want it to be hard enough that I have to focus on it and such that the time passes and I'm "involved" and I can get off and do something actually fun, like sink piss in front of the TV (or count calories in your feckin' recovery shake, whatever floats your boat).

Reverse periodisation. Hard, horrible type 2 turbo fun when the weather is shite in winter. Long, sunny sausage rolled filled rides in Spring to build in some conditioning for bike position. Throw in a bit of gym and stretching.

Yeah, it also means your longer rides end up closer to your long event. Leave enough time for recovery and you've got your specificity close to your long goal event. I've moved towards this in recent years and make basically the same power even though I'm older and fatter. Then you just buy faster toys to make up the difference ;)

And don't take yourself too seriously or it quickly stops being fn and becomes a chore.

Reverse periodisation. Hard, horrible type 2 turbo fun when the weather is shite in winter. Long, sunny sausage rolled filled rides in Spring to build in some conditioning for bike position. Throw in a bit of gym and stretching.

I think this is definitely the way to do it and is my plan now - having tried most of the alternatives.

I used to just do long rides and not bother with turbo at all. That worked ok but I probably could have been faster if I'd done some harder sessions.

Then - after we had a baby = much less time for long rides, I tried to do much more turbo and far fewer long rides. I actually got fitter that way but lack of long rides meant my conditioning wasn't there which led to issues and a DNF in TCR.

EDIT I actually tried a third method which was basically hardly ride at all and just rock up at the start and rely on experience and long term base fitness. That worked, but it was a bit painful and clearly sub-optimal.

Good luck!

I have to say, based on how things have been playing out, a UK ride looks like the most sensible option.

Hard, horrible type 2 turbo fun when the weather is shite in winter. Long, sunny sausage rolled filled rides in Spring to build in some conditioning for bike position

You had me at sausage rolls... I guess I better do some sort of miserable turbo session once I've finished my work then

Just stuck mine in too! Not sure if I'm being overly ambitious for my first Ultra but I really hope I get in. Picking a UK race is certainly seeming sensible now anyway...
Do you think they'll cap the entrants at a certain number? Already 116 (based on IG posts)

Good luck with your entry.

I guess everyone that has done an 'ultra' is doing there first at some point, so as an organiser you might have in mind to have a percentage of first timers in the field. Hopefully they will look at broader cycling experience as well, not just if you have completed an event beginning with 'trans'.

I think there were 30 riders for the first event in 2019, and less last year due to the self sufficient element. I imagine they will want to be growing the event to some extent but at the same time they won't want to go too big. Somewhere between 40 and 60 riders on the start line seems feasible to me, no idea though really(?)

What do they mean by 'commercial premises' in the handbook?

Good luck to you too. Yes, echo your thoughts on entries, I guess they need to make sure they have enough camping/ sleeping space at the checkpoints too

Didn't make the cut for GBDuro this year, not ideal news (gutted).

Any inspiration for something else to take on instead?

Edit- heads off to browse ridefar.info

Bad luck!
I expect they had a lot of applicants given higher chance of domestic stuff actually happening.

Yup, same here sadly. Not too surprised given my lack of ultraracing experience and the fact that they gave a few entries to GBduro2020 entrants, still gutted though!

I'm still planning to ride the route in early summer though as it looks great

Ah, sorry to hear that.

Think they must have been inundated. Having had to pick people to run the London Marathon for a charity I used to work for I don't envy them having to make the decision.

A couple of us have jumped on the reserve list for Sverige Tempot (northern tip of Sweden to the south, 2100km or so- technically a brevet I think?). DIY option of that or GBDuro still on the cards, dependent on all restrictions.

Still going to go ahead and build a bike for these types of events, probably a Mason Bokeh. Interested to hear what the latest take on dynamo vs battery pack is? Currently leaning towards a dynamo setup.

I’ve got a spot on Sverige Tempot (Length of Sweden) from last year. I think it will be 2200k this year. Will be my first attempt at an ultra-something-something.

Do have a dynamo with lights but need to sort charging. Was set on Igaro, but then they were all recalled? Now clueless.

Any inspiration for something else to take on instead?

Have you found anything? If it was me, Transiberica would be tempting.

what the latest take on dynamo vs battery pack is?

For most rides, either works well.

If you are doing something really remote, like Silk Road MR or Race to the Rock, then you pretty much need a dynamo. If you are going to be able to get to a hotel about every fifth night, batteries work fine.

Dynamo probably gives you better lights, but costs a few Watts.

Alee Denham did a good write-up recently https://www.cyclingabout.com/how-much-do-hub-dynamos-really-slow-you-down/

Discussions ongoing. Sweden was looking most likely, but having realised there is a ferry to Bilbao that might open this up as well. Spain in August though, some serious heat. Guess I have ridden in similar conditions before but drizzly Sweden sounds a bit kinder!

Thanks for the dynamo link.

I had envisaged needing to carry several kilos of batteries but it looks like a 20,000mah battery pack could charge a powerful light 7-8 times. Roughly how many mah worth of batteries would you carry for a TCR?

Dynamo 100% I think if you are trying to go fast you want to minimise the mental load. I don't have a single complaint about a dynamo setup

If you still want to charge with your dynamo, be aware charging things like your phone or GPS directly (rather than using the dynamo to charge a power bank then using the power bank to charge your device) may damage them.

Also, it will likely take all day to charge a 10,000 mah power bank from empty (or that might reflect the speed I ride at!). I have tried taking two 10,000 mah power banks and leaving one charging off the dynamo during the day and using the other to charge phone and Wahoo.