First ever Imperial century

Succorso said:

Well, I was determined to do it this summer. Today was
the day.

171Km (106.2m) later - one sore bum, but legs are fine -
I'm really pleased with myself; an ex 40-a-day smoking/16
stone blob 🙂

Well done.

A *proper* century! (None of your metric rubbish)
Congratulations!

I still await mine...

"Succorso" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well, I was determined to do it this summer. Today was
the day.

171Km (106.2m) later - one sore bum, but legs are fine -
I'm really pleased with myself; an ex 40-a-day smoking/16
stone blob 🙂

--
Chris

On Mon, 31 May 2004 20:07:46 +0100, Succorso <[email hidden]>
wrote (more or less):

Quoted message said:

Well, I was determined to do it this summer. Today
was the day.

171Km (106.2m) later - one sore bum, but legs are fine -
I'm really pleased with myself; an ex 40-a-day smoking/16
stone blob 🙂

I know what youy mean - I did a half-metric-century the
other weekend, (I normally do short utility/commute trips,
so this was a biggie for
me) and it was the sharp searing pain thro' my bum-cheeks
that did for me!

--
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links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk)
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Simon Brooke:

Quoted message said:

There's a big difference, isn't there?

I remember when I was doing 60 miles a day quite
regularly, did one 110 mile day and completely ran out
of legs.

Tell me about it!

My Sunday morning rides with the club usually weigh in
around 60-65 miles by the time I factor in getting to the
start and back home afterwards, and I'm getting quite
accustomed to that distance. But I hadn't done a full
century for about 15 years - until two weeks ago. And I had
exactly the same experience. By 65 miles my legs were just
empty shells - I could just about keep my pedals turning
steadily on the flat, but the moment I hit a slight incline,
I would just grind to a halt. By the end it was all I could
do to stay on my bike.

d.

davek said:

Simon Brooke:

Quoted message said:

There's a big difference, isn't there?

I remember when I was doing 60 miles a day quite
regularly, did one 110 mile day and completely ran out
of legs.

Tell me about it!

My Sunday morning rides with the club usually weigh in
around 60-65 miles by the time I factor in getting to the
start and back home afterwards, and I'm getting quite
accustomed to that distance. But I hadn't done a full
century for about 15 years - until two weeks ago. And I
had exactly the same experience. By 65 miles my legs were
just empty shells - I could just about keep my pedals
turning steadily on the flat, but the moment I hit a
slight incline, I would just grind to a halt. By the end
it was all I could do to stay on my bike.

d.

Gosh, this is exactly what I had on sunday. Other than
cycling more often, what's the solution?

I don't cycle all that frequently, but when I do, I've
managed between 30-50 miles over not all that challenging
(for most people) terrain, though with some degree of
running out of legs at some point in it.

I find short trips are more hassle than they're worth
(lugging bike up and down stairs/in and out house) and too
short to be of much use really, so am most interested in
what I can do to prevent the empty legs on a 30-50 mile
ride, and hoping that doing those will eventually mean I can
do them and not get empty legs...

--

Velvet

Velvet <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

Gosh, this is exactly what I had on sunday. Other than
cycling more often, what's the solution?

EAT! Before the ride (and the days before it) During the
ride, regularly After the ride, cos glycogen synthetase
levels are highest immediately after exercise. EAT!

Don't expect to lose any weight this way...

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden] Edgware.

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

Velvet <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

Gosh, this is exactly what I had on sunday. Other than
cycling more often, what's the solution?

EAT! Before the ride (and the days before it) During the
ride, regularly After the ride, cos glycogen synthetase
levels are highest immediately after exercise. EAT!

Don't expect to lose any weight this way...

I'm tired of heaving my not inconsiderable bulk up the hills
though... and I find it impossible when riding in a group to
stop and eat, cos they're all accomplished one-hand-riders,
and I'm a must-have-two-at-all-times-er.

Is it really a question of eating rather than cycling more?

--

Velvet

Velvet <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm tired of heaving my not inconsiderable bulk up the
hills though... and I find it impossible when riding in a
group to stop and eat, cos they're all accomplished one-hand-
riders, and I'm a must-have-two-at-all-times-er.

Quoted message said:

Is it really a question of eating rather than
cycling more?

It was for me. You may be different.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden] Edgware.

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

Velvet <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

I'm tired of heaving my not inconsiderable bulk up the
hills though... and I find it impossible when riding in a
group to stop and eat, cos they're all accomplished one-hand-
riders, and I'm a must-have-two-at-all-times-er.

Quoted message said:

Is it really a question of eating rather than
cycling more?

It was for me. You may be different.

Well, I'd noticed that food had done the trick before, but
for very brief periods of time, and I'm not sure if it was
eating, or just stopping for a couple of mins to scarf down
something, that made the difference - whatever it was wore
off after another few miles.

I'd sort of assumed it was more a fitness thing though, I'm
not all that fit (though I manage to do rides that long and
think nothing of up to 10 miles as long, but any hills
really do take it out of me).

Ah well, now the weather is better (and I have a way of
getting the bike to a nicer part of hte country to cycle
round) I'm hoping to get in more of the 30-50 mile rides
(every couple of weeks as long as rain doesn't put paid to
it, can't cycle in rain my pedals turn to ice rinks). I'm
going to try and remember to put fruit juice/water in my
bottle next time out and see if that makes a difference too.

Thoroughly enoying it, but just a bit frustrated with the
body failing to keep up with my enthusiasm when I go on a
longer ride. I know hills are going to stay hard work till I
get lighter, but it'd be nice to find them being hard work
instead of just about impossible once I've got 20 miles
under the wheels :-)

Just to keep it on track, one day I'd like to manage an
imperial century too. I never thought I'd swim a mile, let
alone two, and I did that (though it was easier than cycling
50 miles LOL!)

--

Velvet

Velvet said:

Well, I'd noticed that food had done the trick before, but
for very brief periods of time, and I'm not sure if it was
eating, or just stopping for a couple of mins to scarf
down something, that made the difference - whatever it was
wore off after another few miles.

I'd sort of assumed it was more a fitness thing though,
I'm not all that fit (though I manage to do rides that
long and think nothing of up to 10 miles as long, but any
hills really do take it out of me).

Ah well, now the weather is better (and I have a way of
getting the bike to a nicer part of hte country to cycle
round) I'm hoping to get in more of the 30-50 mile rides
(every couple of weeks as long as rain doesn't put paid
to it, can't cycle in rain my pedals turn to ice rinks).
I'm going to try and remember to put fruit juice/water in
my bottle next time out and see if that makes a
difference too.

The answer is probably "both"; eat properly and cycle more.

Yesterday, I stopped to eat four times during the ride; only
light stuff
- from sandwiches at lunch when I was feeling good - to more
cakey stuff later on when I was beginning to fade. That,
and drink. Food is no good without water - I got through 5
ltrs yesterday!

--
Chris

Velvet <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

Well, I'd noticed that food had done the trick before, but
for very brief periods of time, and I'm not sure if it was
eating, or just stopping for a couple of mins to scarf
down something, that made the difference - whatever it was
wore off after another few miles.

Some foods cause the blood sugar to fluctuate wildly. One
problem is that you might not eat enough to keep the
glycogen levels high for long enough.

Quoted message said:

I'd sort of assumed it was more a fitness thing though,
I'm not all that fit (though I manage to do rides that
long and think nothing of up to 10 miles as long, but any
hills really do take it out of me).

You might want to try a l-o-n-g ride by yourself, eating
after every 60-90 minutes exertion just to see how far and
fast you can go, without worrying about other people.
Start out at about 8am and choose a route that takes you
near to railway stations so you can wimp out & return
home, if needed.

Quoted message said:

Ah well, now the weather is better (and I have a way of
getting the bike to a nicer part of hte country to cycle
round) I'm hoping to get in more of the 30-50 mile rides
(every couple of weeks as long as rain doesn't put paid
to it, can't cycle in rain my pedals turn to ice rinks).
I'm going to try and remember to put fruit juice/water in
my bottle next time out and see if that makes a
difference too.

I rather like chocolate milk towards the end of a long ride.

Quoted message said:

Thoroughly enoying it, but just a bit frustrated with the
body failing to keep up with my enthusiasm when I go on a
longer ride. I know hills are going to stay hard work till
I get lighter, but it'd be nice to find them being hard
work instead of just about impossible once I've got 20
miles under the wheels :-)

Quoted message said:

Just to keep it on track, one day I'd like to manage an
imperial century too. I never thought I'd swim a mile, let
alone two, and I did that (though it was easier than
cycling 50 miles LOL!)

I thought I might just do a century. I then thought I'd
never manage Audax. My first Audax was a 300km flat ride. I
completed an Audax Super Randonneur Series within a year of
joining Audax UK. I then managed (*just*) to complete the
1000km Great Eastern Audax.

What worked for me was making sure that: I ate enough in
both quality & quantity I drank enough I didn't get too hot
or cold I attended to every discomfort before it became a
major pain.

I was never an athlete. If I could, so can anyone.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden] Edgware.

Velvet <[email hidden]> wrote:

: Gosh, this is exactly what I had on sunday. Other than
: cycling more often, what's the solution?

Take note of Helen's advice on eating. It's very easy to not
eat enough when riding. If you want to lose weight as well,
it's more tricky, but a good rule of thumb might be eat lots
the night before a ride, eat frequently on the ride and a
good meal as soon as you get back. Then worry about calories
etc the rest of the time.

As for the empty legs thing, another tip is that if you only
have time for a 30 mile ride do it non-stop. Then a 50 mile
ride with a tea stop at half way will be much easier.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune clune.orgclune.orgOpen ↗ "Technolibertarians make a
philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

Velvet said:

Gosh, this is exactly what I had on sunday. Other than
cycling more often, what's the solution?

I don't cycle all that frequently, but when I do, I've
managed between 30-50 miles over not all that challenging
(for most people) terrain, though with some degree of
running out of legs at some point in it.

I find short trips are more hassle than they're worth
(lugging bike up and down stairs/in and out house) and too
short to be of much use really, so am most interested in
what I can do to prevent the empty legs on a 30-50 mile
ride, and hoping that doing those will eventually mean I
can do them and not get empty legs...

You may not be bonking (running low on energy), you may be
running be running out of aerobic capacity. You may be doing
both, although at different times.

I ran a hill race yesterday, basically 9 minutes up a hill
and 9 minutes down. When I got to the top I was knackered,
my legs felt heavy, I was breathing extremely heavily and
feeling bad. I was at the absolute limit of my aerobic
capacity. I wanted to stop. This had nothing to do with lack
of glycogen because I hadn't been running for long enough.
To stop it happening I need to train to increase my aerobic
capacity (or my ability to run close to it despite the
discomfort). So, if your breathing gets heavy on hills and
your legs get tired then it's your aerobic system that
limiting you.

On the other hand, marathon runners generally hit the wall
at about 18 miles, after they've been running for quite some
time. They feel bad, their legs feel tired, they often want
to stop. What's happening is that they're running out of
glycogen. It's not an aerobic capacity problem because
they're running well within their capabilities. To stop this
happening they need to train to increase their endurance
(teach their bodies to access energy from body fat) and
learn to take food onboard whilst running.

So, I suspect that you're 'running out of legs' at different
times for different reasons. The solution, in the short to
medium term, is relatively easy - spend more time on your
bike, gradually increasing speed and the distance of your
long rides, while making sure that you consume enough food
and drink during your rides. You currently almost certainly
don't need to eat extra in the days before a long ride but a
good breakfast of something like muesli, porridge and
bananas should be useful on the day of the ride.

Regular riding will increase your speed, endurance and
strength and, provided you don't pig yourself on high
calorie food, reduce your weight.

--
Michael MacClancy Random putdown - "He loves nature in spite
of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker
www.macclancy.demon.co.uk www.macclancy.co.uk

Michael MacClancy <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

I ran a hill race yesterday, basically 9 minutes up a hill
and 9 minutes down. When I got to the top I was knackered,
my legs felt heavy, I was breathing extremely heavily and
feeling bad. I was at the absolute limit of my aerobic
capacity. I wanted to stop. This had nothing to do with
lack of glycogen because I hadn't been running for long
enough. To stop it happening I need to train to increase
my aerobic capacity (or my ability to run close to it
despite the discomfort). So, if your breathing gets heavy
on hills and your legs get tired then it's your aerobic
system that limiting you.

Yebbut anaerobic metabolism partially consumes *huge*
amounts of glucose/glycogen very fast, doesn't it? Acid
build up in the system is what limits short-term exertion.

If you can adapt to using lactic acid as a short term fuel,
you can eke out your glucose better.

Quoted message said:

Regular riding will increase your speed, endurance and
strength and, provided you don't pig yourself on high
calorie food, reduce your weight.

Nobody wants to pig out but not roughly keeping abreast of
your energy expenditure will give you empty legs sooner.

I tried slimming one season; I was running on near-empty
much of the time and found maintaining 12mph on the flat
*really* hard.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden] Edgware.

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

Yebbut anaerobic metabolism partially consumes *huge*
amounts of glucose/glycogen very fast, doesn't it? [...] I
tried slimming one season; I was running on near-empty much
of the time and found maintaining 12mph on the flat
*really* hard.

To each his own limits, but yes, when losing weight it's
best to do slow long-distance work. Almost as much fat
burning as higher intensity pieces, yet easier to maintain
for 1h+, and much less of a (additional) strain on the
system. Think about it as doing double work (starving and
training) then you have to have lots of recovery rides.

"Helen Deborah Vecht" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Is it really a question of eating rather than
cycling more?

It was for me. You may be different.

This is certainly a well known phenomenon, well enough known
for cyclists to have given it a name, "the bonk". Cyclists
had the name long before the tabloids. Traditionally
cyclists would carry emergency rations, a "bonk bag". I
suppose the running out of blood sugar/glycogen is the same
problem that diabetics have to worry about, hypoglycemia,
when blood sugar is too low.

Wild fluctuations may be a bad thing, but when you have run
out, a quick fix might be what you want. Glucose is
supposedly best for that. That's what Lucozade advertizes as
its benefit, although I'm not sure I would want to drink
anything that colour. Kendal Mint Cake also apparently has a
lot of glucose rather than ordinary sugar.

I've heard tell that cyclists' bonk is different from
marathoners' "hitting the wall", although both are running
out of glycogen. With marathoners, it's apparently the
glcogen stored in the muscles, with cyclists it's all over
the body, with glycogen in the bloodstream going down. That
affects the brain as quickily as anything, so it's almost a
psychological problem, you just feel horrible.

Note that I'm not a doctor, and there are others on this
list, like Helen, who are, so watch for all this to be
corrected.

Jeremy Parker

Jeremy Parker:

Quoted message said:

That's what Lucozade advertizes as its benefit, although
I'm not sure I would want to drink anything that colour.
Kendal Mint Cake also apparently has a lot of glucose
rather than ordinary sugar.

I usually carry bananas and raisins as my bonk rations. As
per recent discussions, mangoes would be good but a bit
messy. Basically, anything with a high Glycaemic Index is
good for a quick energy fix, but when stuffing yourself
before a ride, you want stuff with a low GI (whole fruit
[especially apples and pears], oats, wholemeal bread,
pasta) to give you lots of "slow release" energy. High GI
food can also cause a dramatic surge in your insulin
levels, and that can cause all sorts of problems and
counteract any of the health benefits you may get from
cycling in the first place (higher insulin levels make it
easier for your body to store fat). Highly processed and
refined foods are particularly bad.

Interestingly, potatoes, though considered a "complex"
carbohydrate, have a very high GI, so are not good for carb-
loading prior to a ride.

Fruit juice is good to have in your drink bottle, but it
needs to be diluted to at least 50:50 with water so that you
can absorb the energy more easily (ie you want an isotonic
or hypotonic solution, where the energy levels are in
balance with your body fluids). Hypertonic solutions, such
as neat orange juice or over-strength energy drink, are
difficult to absorb and in fact are just likely to make you
wee more, leaving you dehydrated.

Quoted message said:

Note that I'm not a doctor, and there are others on this
list, like Helen, who are, so watch for all this to be
corrected.

Likewise - I *think* I'm reasonably well informed on this
subject, but I don't claim to be a reliable authority. I'll
be happy for anyone to correct any of the above.

d.

"davek" <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

I usually carry bananas and raisins as my bonk rations.

Bananas have seldom survived my panniers, so I hesitate to
recommend them. They're good if someone else supplies them
though. One banana contains about 20g sugar, which (by
itself) is possibly not enough for more than 20 minutes'
cycling. A teacake would provide more carbohydrate and this
may be released more slowly.

Quoted message said:

As per recent discussions, mangoes would be good but a
bit messy.

A BIT? I can't eat them tidily in my own kitchen! At least I
have running water there. Wasps etc are attracted to syrupy
things; I would not welcome their company on a ride after
eating a mango!

Quoted message said:

Basically, anything with a high Glycaemic Index is good
for a quick energy fix, but when stuffing yourself before
a ride, you want stuff with a low GI (whole fruit
[especially apples and pears], oats, wholemeal bread,
pasta) to give you lots of "slow release" energy.

A nice bowl of muesli is what I'd usually recommend. Riding
without breakfast might be OK for those who are accustomed
to it. I was always USELESS on no breakfast.

Quoted message said:

High GI food can also cause a dramatic surge in your
insulin levels, and that can cause all sorts of problems
and counteract any of the health benefits you may get from
cycling in the first place (higher insulin levels make it
easier for your body to store fat). Highly processed and
refined foods are particularly bad.

This is particularly true if your body is not crying out for
carbohydrates, as it would be if your average cycling
mileage was

Quoted message said:

200m/week.

Quoted message said:

Interestingly, potatoes, though considered a "complex"
carbohydrate, have a very high GI, so are not good for carb-
loading prior to a ride.

Who wants spuds for breakfast anyway?

Quoted message said:

Fruit juice is good to have in your drink bottle, but it
needs to be diluted to at least 50:50 with water so that
you can absorb the energy more easily (ie you want an
isotonic or hypotonic solution, where the energy levels
are in balance with your body fluids).

The issue is that the solutes are in balance with the body,
to facilitate absorption of both the water and the
nutrients.

Quoted message said:

Hypertonic solutions, such as neat orange juice or over-
strength energy drink, are difficult to absorb and in fact
are just likely to make you wee more, leaving you
dehydrated.

They are difficult to absorb because the body has to dilute
them down to isotonic prior to absorption, temporarily
removing water from circulation, leaving it relatively
dehydrated, which is the last thing you want. AFAIK they
won't make you wee more (even caffeiene is not diuretic
when you're dehydrated). They leave me, at least gasping
for WATER.

My favourite hypotonic drinks were diet fruit squash (cheap,
more appetising than plain water, does not attract wasps,
does not leave bike sticky) and water (use sparingly for
washing & cooling as well as drinking)

Vélocio's golden rules usually worked a treat for me. Eat
before you are hungry Drink before you are thirsty Whilst on
the road, avoid alcohol, meat and tobacco I've forgotten the
rest but there was something about not burning yourself out
early in a ride when you are fresh...

Helen Deborah Vecht <[email hidden]> wrote:
: "davek" <[email hidden]>typed

:> I usually carry bananas and raisins as my bonk rations.

: Bananas have seldom survived my panniers, so I hesitate to
: recommend them.

I've never understood this whole bananas and panniers
problem. Bananas go in your back jersey pockets. Job done.

It's easy enough to get four bananas, four geo-bars, a
waterproof and a spare tube in my back pockets and I don't
think the jersey is unusual. Sorts me for the day.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune clune.orgclune.orgOpen ↗ "Technolibertarians make a
philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook