Advice for long ride

Hello,

I have registered to ride the Paris2london24 in 2013 and intend to do it on a single speed!
I would appreciate advice or information from anyone on here who has completed 200 miles up in under 24 hours ! For instance what they wish they had or had not done if you see what I mean!
I am 46 and ride regularly on a 48x16 ratio. York is flat but surrounding area to north is hilly so I am relatively fit but now beginning to wonder if I have bitten off more than I can chew!
Thanks in advance for replies

what is a long ride for you? start building on your long ride distance by 10% max each week - so set aside a day a week for a long ride

try to do some recovery exercise like yoga or stretching to compensate

if you get any pains in your training rides consider getting a bike fit done, if not just keep on incrementaly increasing your distances

try various different foodstuffs to work out the correct eating regime for yourself

it may sound like a huge challenge but should actually be quite doable.

good luck and really enjoy yourself

Cheers for that!

I am doing the london2paris24. Approx 285 miles! I do yoga already but it's the gearing I am not sure about! The route elevation is released next year but I am wondering also if anyone has ridden to Paris and what the crack is with hills etc! I have read the odd report from riders who have said there is the odd hill but a hill to one rider is not a hill to another if you see what I mean.

I did 207 earlier this year with one tube and no puncture repair kit. Top tip: don't do that. I had about 7 punctures.

Don't keep riding if you're falling asleep on the bike or you may wake up to find yourself in the oncoming lane.

Eat a Lot.

Get use to carrying loads of food.
Homemade flapjacks work I treat.
Get your cadence sorted, spin to win
Carry two bottles on your bike
If you intend to go via newhaven-dieppe
get down here and practice the hills in the UK.
46x18 would be my preferred GI but you need to find what works for you
Expect all weathers for the trip, so train in all weathers
Get some varied rides in locally
Join us for a geared ride in the yorkshire dales in spring
Find ride partners, it'll help a lot
Riding big distances is a mental and physical challenge
Good luck it'll be great

Thank you for the wise words. I love riding in all weather and particularly like rain! I know that us rediculous but that's me !
Almac68, where are you as I love getting into the dales. Unfortunately I have no geared bike at the mo as my trusty ribble frame is knackered and I am yet to replace it! I am leaning towards a steel replacement but not decided yet

Start slow.

What is the longest ride you have done?

Did London to Paris in 24 hours last year top tips:

Lights -you will need proper ones I would recommend exposure and be prepared to spend on them. I didn't but should have.
Food - eat lots of it. Boulangeries in France start working very early so worth seeing if you can get an early morning croissant even if it seems closed.
Route - if you go newhaven dieppe, there is one road which takes you 90pc of the way

The French side is pretty flat so if you cando your route on the uk side you'll be fine single speed.

Oh and take lots of inner tubes. Expect the unexpected.

I did the Amsterdam 300 a few months back - 360 miles from London to Amsterdam in 48hours - PM me some questions if you like.

^this ride wont be going from Dieppe - as that makes the trip about sub 200 miles

what I do and advice others - put shorter stem and handlebars up not to have strain on uper body.

Start slow.

Nope, even slower than that. Slower, SLOWER!

48:18 will get you up anything South of London, it works for me and I'm older than God... If it is Dieppe there is a longish hill out and that's the worst of the French side. You can't possibly eat too much, real food is best with a few gels or bars in reserve. SLOWER!

A mate at work was talking about doing this 24 hour ride to Paris too.

It was late last night so I couldnt really be bothered to write anything.

2 guys did the Amsterdam 300 on single speeds and they were in the lead group the whole time, at the end of which it was composed of 5 guys (one pro, one ex-commonwealth rower and a serious Aussie) and these two were also in that group.

I did the ride with very little training, on a reasonable geared bike and I was fine - the L>P 24 is tougher for sure (I had in my head 250miles...) If you're going from Dover, then dover hill is a bugger but other than that it's pretty much flat as fuq.

Getting some sleep on the ferry is a good idea. In the feb edition of Cyclist theres a good article on long ride nutrition.

Have a couple of early nights before hand, eat loads of pasta, stay off beer for a few days, then assuming you're relatively fit just make sure you're on top of nutrition and hydration. On longer rides I force myself to eat one "stick" of a Nature Valley cereal bar and a good swig of liquid every 10miles whether I think I need it or not. I know this works for me - you could well be different so just suss that out on practice rides. Agree with the 48:18 gearing above - that gets me over anything in Surrey and don't find myself spinning out too often. Oh, and get a good freewheel - recently converted to White from Shimano and it's like riding a different bike. Good luck :-)

All pretty much said but I'll second the 46 x 18 68" gear for long distance stuff, good from 4mph-40mph

When the route is published.....either drive it , going slowly up the hills and memorizing bits, writing info on a map........or with a back up vehicle take 2 days to ride it.....if you do this 3 months in advance of your ride you know what to train for....you can find out what shops are open en route, where to get water etc........if rally teams and tdF teams do it ....makes life easy .........have a top ride....good luck...

Depending on when you're doing it, make sure you've got enough warm layers, especially gloves and overshoes. Did it last April and it was was horrendously cold cycling from 3am off the ferry with nowhere warm to stop for 4 hours! And good lights as said above, although French roads put the London ones to shame!

Regarding the "SLOW" comments - they're right. Do lots of distance training, and don't let your heart rate exceed some embarrassingly low threshold (maybe 60% of max heart rate). If that means you're walking up hills, or being overtaken by a granny on a shopper, so be it. In (not much) time, you should find yourself building speed while avoiding the need to exert yourself.

I generally stick to a 65' gear on long distance rides although I ride them fixed rather than single speed freewheel. I've done 200 miles in 18 hours on that on a fairly flat route from Manchester out to Newtown in Wales and back.

There are various areas of riding that you need to plan for if you want to have a good ride.

Food; As DJ has said, try out various stuff. We're pretty unique digestively, which is why different riders will swear by different things. I always try and eat real food than energy bars and gels. As well as avoiding rusty water moments, it plays a pretty important psychological comfort point. Keep it varied as well. If you just stick to carbs and sugars the end of your ride will feel pretty rubbish. Make sure you get a good dose of proteins in there as well. Research high GI foods and find the ones you like. At break points these are the ones to eat first. Don't try and feed by distance or time either but by instinct and opportunity. Carboloading is good but only to a point, anything after 12 hours before event is usually wasted.

Liquids. Hydration is often the making or breaking of a long ride. Sorting out the right hydration is pretty important. A lot of the time I take on plain water, mostly because I find it helps pretty well with the digestion of whatever I've eaten. However, some hydration fluids are going to be very helpful on a ride like this. Again, check out what works for you over the coming months. Remember, decisions made when dehydrated can easily be bad ones. Take it from someone who has learnt that lesson more times than he's prepared to admit to. Also, make sure you're hydrated well as you get to the start line.

Clothing. If it's a continuous ride then almost inevitably you'll be riding through the night. Strange as it may sound but same temperature will feel colder at night than it will during daylight. A range of clothes that fit you well and pack easily will be well worth it. Not sure if you're supported, if not give serious consideration as to how you'll carry this as well as anything else you need.

Psychology. Above a hundred miles and psychology will play a far greater part in a ride than any improvements in fitness and strength. If you don't give your mind something to do then it will start looking for ways to get you to stop doing what you're doing. Get used to keeping yourself occupied, especially on long stretches of road. Make sure you get at least two weeks of good sleep leading up to the event. Also, the ride is not now, nor ever will be 285 miles. This is way too big. It is only ever as far as the end of the next section that you know you can do. Be prepared to decide on what the best thing is for you, even if that means detaching from the back of a big group that's going a bit too fast for you.

I'd strongly recommend trying out some audaxes in the near future. The Mere 200k from Poynton at the end of January would be ideal as a starter. The terrain isn't that testing and if you're relatively fit then you should be able get round comfortably. If so, have a look at the 300k rides (just shy of 200 miles)

It was late last night so I couldnt really be bothered to write anything.

2 guys did the Amsterdam 300 on single speeds and they were in the lead group the whole time, at the end of which it was composed of 5 guys (one pro, one ex-commonwealth rower and a serious Aussie) and these two were also in that group.

I did the ride with very little training, on a reasonable geared bike and I was fine - the L>P 24 is tougher for sure (I had in my head 250miles...) If you're going from Dover, then dover hill is a bugger but other than that it's pretty much flat as fuq.

Getting some sleep on the ferry is a good idea. In the feb edition of Cyclist theres a good article on long ride nutrition.

Are we still doing this too?

Get some long rides in thee legs to iron out any mental/kit/nutritional issues. Once you've bagged a couple of 100 milers you'll have nothing to fear as you should have learned you 'ridealldaypace'.

As others have said eat plenty (filled baguettes are ideal!), pace yourself (if in doubt, slow down a bit) and don't forget to stop for coffee!

Most of all do some training so you can Enjoy it!

(filled baguettes are [strike]ideal![/strike] far too stodgy)

tbh, they used to be my staple, but I now go for something like potato farls, which are more dense, so you need less of them, and a bit nicer tbh.
I go for p/b and cucumber for fillings, as it's energy dense, and the cucumber helps cut through the sticky-ness of the p/b.

Although if you're not doing this, then you might as well give up now:

Are we still doing this too?

I don't think so. We're just doing it in March, not the official one. (and only 210miles)

There's some great bits of advice on here and a few bits of nonsense.

HTFU and you will be ok