Getting started with long distance rides...

Should be lovely

you are asking appropriate questions so just be sensible and you should be fine

Sounds to me like you just need to come out and ride.

Have a look here.

How difficult was it to get an MRI? Did you go through your GP?

yes, through GP, was not offered on my few 2 visits though and so you might need to ask for it if you feel it might be something they are missing that needs looking at properly.

you may have a nice new custom bike but don't forget your cleat/shoe interface. I did and paid the price with a knee problem that took 6months to sort out. now use footbeds and shims and had my cleats adjusted at a bikefit.

Thanks MrSmyth, for pointing that out.
My knees were fine until the ride in Oz on a bike that didn't have cleats and didn't fit me.
Seems to be OK on my Fillmore now, even though I can still feel the aftermath.

Where did you do the bike fit?

cycleworks in leatherhead. a chap called Nick who works there does fitting using the specialized BG system (using BG footbeds/shims).

Cyclefit can do footbeds and cleats

bike whisperer can sort out cleats and suggest if footbeds are require

bkjhbuh

I think almost every long term bike rider has back and/or knee problems at some time, but most of us get better in time.

I notice in this case the knee problem started after riding a mountain bike. I know some people can ride these without problems, but I've found they always hurt my right knee, which I guess is caused by the longer BB spindle needed for the triple chainset. On my own bikes I always use the shortest spindle possible since I find this more comfortable. The distance between the pedals used to be referred to as the tread or 'Q' distance and was regarded as critically important - something the modern bike trade seems generally to have forgotten about.

Another common cause of knee problems is bent cranks or pedal spindles. Don't forget that your mind quickly adapts to the 'wavy ' feeling of a newly bent pedal. When you get on another machine which has good cranks/pedals that will feel wrong at first. Graham Webb - amateur world road champion, 1967, (English!) attributed the ruination of his pro career to this problem.

Anyway, good luck with this season's long rides!

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=44876

clubman, that's a very interesting theory. It is on the right side, yes.
But it also was a borrowed and ill fitting bike, as I don't live in Oz, but was desperate to ride something ... anyway, lesson learned.

I'd appreciate some tips from people on how to get started sensibly, without overdoing it.
Do people here do long rides alone or in a group?
Maybe someone has started long distance riding lately, and could tell me how exactly that went along?
Also if anyone knows clubs and organized rides in and around SE15 area that I'd definitely should look at, that'd be greatly appreciated.

I generally ride alone. Here in Swindon I find it difficult to find people who are interested in heading out on nice long rides that aren't done at road club pace and don't take time to sample the delights if good little cafe stops and pubs along the way. It's something that I miss from when I was a filthy leper Londoner. Luckily I'm quite happy with my own company.

When I was degenerate scum a Londoner I generally hung out with Southwark Cyclists who run a range of quite casual and informal rides of varying lengths. Best thing to do is turn up to one of the afterworker rides on a Thursday and have a chat with Barry Mason about what rides are coming up.

Other than that, the forum rides should be good and some of the other LCC borough groups will run good rides of a similar format.

Where are you in London?

If you are in East London , then Lea Valley CC are now running Saturday morning and Sunday Club rides from Walthamstow and Woodford . I d start on the saturday version; PM me if you are interested.

Are you in the CTC? There was a good article on bike fitting in this month's magazine. You also might be interested in the Friday Night Rides to the coast. The first of this years leaves Hyde Park Corner @ midnight on the 28th....

CTC central london have rides every weekend. And the riders aren't all over 70 years old. Worth joining CTC just for the insurance alone

Hello,

one of my goals after the set back of last year, where my back snapped out on me, is to get into long distance cycling this year.
New bike is ready for me to be collected, and now I just need to get myself started.

I'd appreciate some tips from people on how to get started sensibly, without overdoing it.
Do people here do long rides alone or in a group?
Maybe someone has started long distance riding lately, and could tell me how exactly that went along?
Also if anyone knows clubs and organized rides in and around SE15 area that I'd definitely should look at, that'd be greatly appreciated.

Not long after I got my single speed I found myself wanting to ride further and further so one day I decided to go to Box Hill and back (approx 45 miles).

I'd not really cycled very far at all for about 15 years, I got on the bike, packed a few energy bars and went for it. Stopped at the cafe for a flapjack and a cuppa and rode home. Left me tired but felt good.

After that I wanted to go further and over more hills so got a geared bike and rode to Brighton. Was planning to ride back but left too late and didn't fancy navving in the dark (was before I had the Garmin)

My advice is get on your bike and ride.

I'm pretty near to you (SE27) if you fancy heading out sometime.

Long Distance is just about getting miles in the legs, most importantly, keeping eating and drinking.

The first thing to do is to put miles in to help your general fitness and train your fat metabolism. This makes your body able to provide a greater percentage of energy from fat rather than carbohydrates/sugars.

The human body's fat burning is a continuum. At low intensity exercise the body can meet almost all of its energy requirements from burning its fat stores. The faster you go the less able the body is to meet this need burning fat alone and so the more your body uses up blood sugars (glycogen). You'll always be burning some fat and some glycogen; fat burns in a carbohydrate fire. Your glycogen stores can provide about 2000kcal of energy, this is enough for 4 to 5 hours of steady cycling. (Not 4 to 5 hours of Tour de France pace cycling.)

The "fitter" you are the greater the proportion of fat to carbs you'll burn for a particular effort level. So that 2000kcal of glycogen, combined with 2000kcal from your fat reserves could get you round a 100mile ride at a reasonable pace.

Running out of glycogen is what causes the bonk (or hitting the wall). It also means your body is unable to even burn fat effectively enough to keep you going. So even if you go at a steady enough pace to use mainly fat reserves you still need to keep your blood sugar levels topped up.

When I first go back into cycling I couldn't do more than a couple of hours without feeling starving. Now I can do a 10 hour ride without needing to eat. Not fast, only averaging 15mph or so, but that's not entirely shabby. I wouldn't recommend doing a ride this way, I still eat something (500kcal worth) every 2 or 3 hours, and drain a water bottle or two (or three depending on heat) in those few hours.

I do my Audaxing on nothing more than 100km of pan-flat commuting a week as my 'training'. I started off with a 100km ride (London to Cambridge charity ride) which piqued my interest to long distance riding as I heard of people riding back to London. I found Audax and entered a 200. Finishing this in 13h or so left me shattered but the more I've done since then the easier they've become. I now don't think much about doing a 200km ride, and certainly don't bother with any specific training (but then I'd never describe myself as fast at all). I then went on to do 300km, 400km, 600km rides. A 3 day 730km ride up to Edinburgh last March and then the four and a half day London-Edinburgh-London covering 1400km.

Also, at first I couldn't survive without energy drinks (Hi-5, SiS Go, etc). Now I carry the powder for emergency use only, same with Energy Gels. I just have squash in my water bottles or water with Nuun rehydration tablets to ward off dehydration and replace lost salts/electrolytes.

"I couldn't do more than a couple of hours without feeling starving"

everyone is different. dependent on your physiology and if you are ectomorph, endomorph or mesomorph amongst other things.
personally the biggest problem i find with long rides (70 to 100 miles) is the fueling.
I can't do more than 35 miles without taking on more carbs and have to start eating before then if i know the ride is going to be a long one.
on saturday i ate 4 energy bars a pack of shot-blocks an energy gel and pecan danish and still nearly bonked half way through. this was 5-6 hours of steady cycling, no way do i have the glycogen stores to do that distance without extra fuel. but then i don't exactly have a lot of fat to burn.

I haven't had a drink for months

"I couldn't do more than a couple of hours without feeling starving"

everyone is different. dependent on your physiology and if you are ectomorph, endomorph or mesomorph amongst other things.
personally the biggest problem i find with long rides (70 to 100 miles) is the fueling.
I can't do more than 35 miles without taking on more carbs and have to start eating before then if i know the ride is going to be a long one.
on saturday i ate 4 energy bars a pack of shot-blocks an energy gel and pecan danish and still nearly bonked half way through. this was 5-6 hours of steady cycling, no way do i have the glycogen stores to do that distance without extra fuel. but then i don't exactly have a lot of fat to burn.

You should drop the size zero diet, you know we'll love you whatever shape you are.

thanks for your kind words Tim. just what i need when i'm having a 'fat day'

no way do i have the glycogen stores to do that distance without extra fuel.

As I said, that's exactly what used to happen to me. But with some work you can train your fat metabolism to allow you to go further and further and use less of your glycogen stores in doing so. Long slow distance rides. Morning rides on an empty stomach.

I'm not advocating bonking, I'd never suggest doing that on purpose. I never go out on a ride longer than 20km without some form of food with me, just in case.

but then i don't exactly have a lot of fat to burn.

You do. Everyone does. Anything under 10% of body fat in an average person (i.e. not a professional athlete) is unhealthy bordering on dangerous.

Every 1lb of fat is worth 3500kcal.

So even a 10 stone weakling with a relatively low body fat percentage of 10% will be a minimum of 14lbs of fat. 14lbs of fat is 49,000kcal of energy.

Even with 6% reserved as 'essential fats' that still leaves a minimum of 4% giving 5.6lbs of fat == 19600kcal. No way to exhaust that with 'steady cycling' which is about 400-500kcal an hour.

Lower than 10% of body fat (for blokes) and it's unhealthy or you're an endurance/pro athlete anyway.

Personally I'd start off by ditching the energy drinks/gels. Refined sugars are not what your body needs on a long ride. Reliance on them is usually a sign that you've messed up your nutrition intake in the couple of hours preceeding needing them. They're ok in high paced rides like Sportives where the faster pace will deplete glycogen stores earlier but (IMHO) they should be used sparingly in proper long distance rides.

Yeah, Smithy, ya fatty!

i'm not one for taking in high glycemic index foods (on or off the bike) it's just that the ride changed from a stop at 45miles to 75miles and that's what i had left in my pockets so it was going to get eaten whatever it was.

i'm not one for taking in high glycemic index foods (on or off the bike) it's just that the ride changed from a stop at 45miles to 75miles and that's what i had left in my pockets so it was going to get eaten whatever it was.

I'm trying to give general advice. I'm not having ago at what you chose to do on a specific ride. I would have probably done exactly the same in your situation.

MrSmyth has probably got more high quality photos of fatty reserves than fatty reserves themselves.