Part 2: The Training
Part 3: The Recap
When you hear somebody say that they are going out for a bike ride I'm sure that several assumptions could be made. Maybe, they mean that they are going to ride around the neighborhood a few times, it could mean that they are keeping track of mileage and will be doing 5 miles....possibly 25 miles. This could be a serious rider who is going out for more like 50 miles. There is even the chance that they are hard core and are going to ride what is referred to as a "century ride"...or 100 miles. Craziness you say....ONE HUNDRED MILES?!?!?!?!?!?! Nah.....that's not crazy at all. I've ridden several century rides in the last couple of years and while very long, they are far from being a crazy distance.
Enter the "ultra-endurance" ride for those who just can't seem to get enough saddle sores, sore muscles, exhaustion, and of course, bugs flying down your throat. I'm talking about rides in excess of 100 miles. They are typically categorized as 200K, 300K, 400K, and in the case of this story, a double century. Yes, that's a double ENGLISH century, a full 200 miles in one day!! That's mind boggling to consider, so lets help illustrate just what we are talking about. My best time for a century ride was about 5.5 hours at 18mph. Lets just double that time and make it 11 hours in the saddle. An average work day is only 8 hours. Figure in several breaks, and you will have easily 13-14 hours invested in a single bike ride. In that time, your body will consume roughly 7000 calories, or more depending on your body. Even on the longest day of summer, this bike ride will likely start and finish in the dark.
Well, on June 8, 2013, I will be going on a bike ride with about 150 other cyclists that starts before sunrise and leaves Greensboro, NC, and concludes in Wilmington, NC, later that evening. The total mileage for the ride is reported at 218 miles clip in to clip out. This is the second annual Double Down 2 the Beach put on by the Burlington Velo Club. Last year's route finished in Myrtle Beach with comparable mileage. I for one am happy that they have changed the destination because I would rather never see Myrtle Beach again....just not a fan. Now anyone familiar with the state of NC will already realize that as you get out to the coast the terrain turns boringly flat. Actually, there is a slight decline as you go further East. Honestly, this is part of what drew me to this ride. After the first century is over, its all downhill....just not enough to coast. The second half will be an endless barrage of pedalling with no rest...but no climbs either.
As with other epic rides, there is a special jersey for this one. Even though I have purchased it, I want to be sure and earn the right to wear it. The only way to do that is to ride the ride, and complete it. All it takes is 218 miles in one day on a Specialized Tarmac....simple, huh? Not really all that simple. While I have ridden several centuries, two already this year, there is more to this kind of ride than just saying I'm going to ride a little longer than normal today. There is a fair amount of conditioning involved to get your body ready for the demands of that kind of ride. There is also the mental part, which I think will be the biggest hurdle to get over. The best way to do this is to get out and ride, and push yourself to go farther, and figure out what needs to change to make that happen.
Last year I wrote about my first self sustained century ride, and some things that I had learned from it. Since that first attempt, I have gotten faster, but still prefer to go at these rides solo. To date, I have only done one group century ride, and that was for the Bike MS Tour to Tanglewood last year. I did learn the benefits of riding in a paceline or with other riders when it comes to saving energy. I had read about it, but haven't really had the chance to put it to work on a long ride before. At the end of that century ride, I still felt rather energized, and imagined I could go further. That was the seed for my want to do Double Down this year. I figured that if I worked on my energy management I could make the distance with very little problem short of a sore butt.
So, what are my training plans? Well, I have actually done training for this ride in three stages. Partially due to weather, partially for other events, and partially because it makes sense to do it this way. Training began on January 1st when I set out on a 50 mile ride in the cold rain just cause riding on the first day of the year regardless of weather is what a cyclist does....and if a cyclist rode off a bridge, would I follow? Possibly, but my sanity is not up for debate right now, maybe later. In addition to being able to say I did it, I also set myself up for the right attitude for the year ahead. After several cold rides, my body was saying enough and I could barely walk with the pain in my joints. So, I took my training inside and found that my indoor trainer was actually a great training aid. I learned how to do intervals, and would have about an hour workout almost every day of the week. What I found was that my power was increasing, my heart rate was slowing under load, and I actually increased my max heart rate. I would do short intervals, long ones, and lots of pedal drills. Despite the cold weather outside, I was clocking about 100 miles a week in the winter!!!!
When the weather started to warm, I went outside much more often to ride. What I found was my average speeds were still up in the range of where I was at the end of last season, and were actually creeping up gradually. Even though my trainer sessions were about an hour in duration, I found that I could go much further before tiring on the road. I even made 50 miles without unclipping once....that was a first for me, and I attribute it to all the time on the trainer. This concluded the first phase of my training.
The second phase was the part that I was dreading....odd considering how much I hate doing intervals on the trainer! It was time to get out and start conditioning my climbing legs in preparation for the 2013 Assault on the Carolinas. I needed to get comfortable with climbing which has always been a weakness of mine. While we don't have many category 1 climbs around here, I found all the small climbs I could and worked on pacing myself. I knew enough about climbing to know it was far too easy to burn out early, and not have enough steam to finish the climb. Distance wasn't my goal for this stage of training, but intensity was. I punished my legs every chance I got in hopes it would be enough. When the big day finally arrived, I completed the route much easier than I thought I would.
My training plan was paying off, and I now had a little under two months to prepare for my ultra endurance event. After some down time to recover, and to get the bike repaired (killed the bottom bracket finally), I set into my long distance training. Having completed a early season century ride at the end of March, I knew I had some work to do. I had no problems until about 75 miles in, and I started slowing down, and struggling. My averages were off, and I felt horrible, but I had my starting point. I tweaked my diet a little before any longer rides, and started working in more metric century rides to condition my metabolism for distance rides. After the AOTC, I wasn't concerned with climbing any more, and just wanted to get my body working as efficiently as possible.
On May 1st, I decided that it was time to test out my distance legs. After getting very comfortable with 70+ mile rides, I thought that I could try to stretch my distance to a 200K route. This was the first time I have ever tried that kind of distance. The extra 25 miles might not seem like much, but it represents about 25% more mileage than I was used to. This was going to be an exercise in mental control more than body endurance. I knew that I had it in me to ride this distance, but also knew that I needed to slow my roll. I set out very easy, staying in the little ring for the first 10 miles, and choosing an easy gear. My speeds were around 15mph which was slower than I wanted, but the slow start was an investment in my finish later that day. After the first 10 miles clicked by, I bumped into the big ring, and still took it easy. Within the first 20 miles, my average speed was in the mid 18's which I knew was too fast. I backed down again and watched my average speed drop into the area that I don't like to see....but again, this was an investment.
I have to say, slowing myself down had a result that I noticed at the 50 mile mark that surprised me. My legs never even felt stressed until that 50 mile mark, and it was at that point, I felt like I was starting the ride. Talk about a confidence booster! It felt so good, in fact, that I didn't even try to grab onto the wheels of a pair of passing cyclists. I just let them go on down the road and I stayed with my steady pace, which was now in the mid 17's. My plan was to keep my average between 16.5 and 17.5 for the whole 124 miles. The logic here is, to complete the Double Down, they are advising an average moving speed of 16, 14.5 with breaks. I figured this would be a good benchmark for me to gauge how I will perform in June.
After a little over seven hours of ride time, and another hour and a half for breaks, I arrived home with 124 miles on the clock, and an average moving speed of 17.5mph. I was tired, but not nearly as tired as my first training century a month before. I was on the right track. I should also mention that I did this ride solo, and self supported. That means that my average speed is 100% my own work shared with nobody. I consumed only the food and liquids that I could bring with me. This is important to my training because I will not be riding a full 200 miles for training....EVER! I need to make my shorter training rides more difficult so that I can do the longer ride without issue when it counts. For Double Down, I will have other riders and we will all be sharing the work, and then take our turns resting in the pack. There will be rest stops along the way so we can refill water bottles, and eat. I am really hoping that doing a self sustained, solo 200K will be comparable to doing a supported, group 200 miles.
One of the biggest things that I need to concentrate on doing for this ride is watching my pace. The idea isn't to do a 5 hour century, followed by a 7 hour century (due to fatigue). Ideally, you want to maintain the same pace from start to finish, and make it a 6 hour century, followed by another 6 hour century. This was what I have decided to work on more than anything else. Pacing got me through the AOTC with energy to spare, and I will bank on being able to duplicate that with Double Down. In addition to watching my pace, I will also be forcing myself to consume about 200-300 calories an hour of good solid nutrients to fuel my efforts. I will also be taking in a lot of water because I'm sure by early June, I will be sweating much more than I am these days. This is where SAG vehicles, and the rest stops really come in to play. A ride of this distance would be nearly impossible without support.
Between now and June 8th, I will do one more century ride, possibly 150 miles in final preparation for the big day. There will be several more metric century rides, and many shorter rides. I need to continually condition my body for efficiency on the bike, and I need to condition my rump to accept sitting on a rather hard saddle for what is sure to be a very long day. When I complete this ride, I will be able to check off one more thing from my 2013 bucket list. I'll also be able to say I am an ULTRA endurance athlete! Take that every one of my PE teachers throughout school. I might have been the fat kid that couldn't throw a ball or run away from a bully....but I can pedal a bike sun up to sun down and cover 218 miles in that time.
For those of you who still think I am just a little crazy for doing this ride. I have this to say in response....
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