Ultracycling

Last race of the year? https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/336032/

BikingMan Corsica on now; but there is a curfew in Corsica between 9pm-6am. So really its just a 3-4 day training camp.....

Bored at work - shall we create a list of known events for 2021 (esp those that were due to run in ‘20 and were delayed)
For instance “Classics story” is 5th April - looks great but hardly any press about it

By "we" you mean "I", right?

Is there any point? The ones that were pushed back may or may not run depending on local rules and people might not be able to get to them anyway.

Maybe not - just looking for some inspiration amongst all the gloom!

I would quite like to see your list. Might lift the spirits a bit!

Ride your bike somewhere new. Even during lockdown I found really interesting stuff near home that I'd never seen before. It's very easy to ignore what's in your own back yard. Try and see it with fresh eyes and maybe a challenge will come out of it that will focus some energy. #nonotanotherfuckingeveresting

Here's one I prepared earlier...
https://bikepacking.com/events/

Love your work....

;-)

I'm just getting deeper into planning my summer trip. It's gone from Torino-Nice (solo, not the event) to realising it's an arse-ache to get to Turin from here so maybe I ride to Turin from Lyon, Geneva or Zurich. Fully expecting it to not be possible but looking at maps etc is a nice way to distract from cancelled trips (was supposed to be riding Northern France next week)

I've entered Gravel Tro Breizh, a gravel/offroad audax in Brittany. 1200km with 16k elevation. Went there on holiday this summer and it's a beautiful region, pretty close to home. There are 2 waves of 99 riders, starting on May 1st and 2nd. https://erminig.cc/epreuves/la-gravel-tro-breizh/

It's got trackers and there is a final results table but they don't want it to be called a race as it is not allowed in France for the moment. https://sw3.solustop.com/courses/suivi-gtb2020-classement?fbclid=IwAR2MR6SZ9TQq476M22kAKJ0--WZGmy1Pb3TGRAe1lgDSRGqXomMYPXKlAFk

Thanks for that one; looks cool
I agree on Brittany; we had an extended family holiday there 3 years ago; amazing beaches etc
I took my bike and had a great time
Def a place to go back to !

Are you doing the Rapha Festive Five Hundred? That gives me an aim this time of year and would probably fit an ultra style ride.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-26/wa-cyclist-craig-wiggins-smashes-munda-biddi-record-albany-perth/12815236

#otherwiggo

How long does it take you guys to ‘recover’ from an ultra
By recover I mean (a) feel like you can (and want) to do a 2-3 hr Z2 ride
And then (b) how long before your top end threshold comes back
And (c) does the above vary based on if you did a 3-4 day ‘sprint’ vs the longer stuff

I will go first
I did Transiberica 6 weeks ago; normal riding was okay after 10 days but anything near threshold is still atrocious - am 40 watts down!
Thats a 2800km route and I am surprised just how long it took to recover
When I have done sprints of c.1000km I have felt decent 2 weeks later
It seems recovery length is compounded by distance - its non linear (for me at least)
If I did TABR I would likely be out of action for months !

Curious if the above is shared by others; or if some people recover much quicker than others?

After 4 weeks I start to feel mostly normal again but it takes a few weeks after that to actually want to train. It would probably take me a few months to get back 40w.

I have heard that if you take blood work from a triathlete after an Ironman their hormones are all over the place for weeks. And that’s 10-14 hrs (albeit at a higher intensity)
So it makes sense
Makes it even more impressive the guys who race 4-5 times a year

This has been discussed before here, probably in this topic.

For me my first TCR took more time to recover than other races since.
Last year it took only a few days to feel pretty normal after a hard two and half day race, but then still a month and a half later at TCR I still felt kind of weak, which might or might not be related to that. I also a had a bit of a food poisoning before the latter. And then a week after TCR my whole body still felt kind of confused, until I got on my bike for the PBP and while I was missing some watts, riding with a fast pace felt great. That's how it's been before too, continuous somewhat fast riding is fine for whatever distance, but max power is missing for a month or even two.

There's a small race going on on the Kokopelli trail now, Kurt Refsnider is chasing Lachlan Morton's record, which he took from Kurt a while ago, and Lael Wilcox and Kait Boyle are racing too.

http://trackleaders.com/kokopelli20f
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHO3FMDFw2L/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHO2cMiggWN/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHPEYWQl9El/

Thanks for your input
I appreciate its no one rule; will depend how deep you raced, how much sleep etc
And yes experience is a big one; you would expect your recovery to be better as you do more of these

Probably the best way to avoid all this US election nonsense !

How long does it take you guys to ‘recover’ from an ultra
By recover I mean (a) feel like you can (and want) to do a 2-3 hr Z2 ride
And then (b) how long before your top end threshold comes back

I don't have enough experience to provide any particular insight, with only a single data point, but after TPBR, which Cycliste and I did in 9 days and 4 hours, we had two days off, then a week's cycling and running in Mallorca, then I had week off, and at the end of the week off set a new PB in a 12hour TT. So I'm going to say 2 weeks.

It seems recovery length is compounded by distance - its non linear (for me at least)

There are far more variables than just distance.

Not quite those ultra distances but I felt great after LEL (1400km) and carried on cycling with loads of enthusiasm, but PBP (1200km) two years later left me feeling fatigued and disinterested for months afterwards.

The main difference was fitness, I did the bare minimum to get to and then around PBP whilst my LEL year was a big year for cycling.

Again interesting to see how Lachlan's speed compares to someone like Kurt.

Congrats Kurt.

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