Friday evening 8pm start, riding through the night until 9:45pm-ish the following evening (25hrs 44 minutes including rest stops, "nature breaks", mechanical issues, punctures etc with 22:33 on the bike). Interesting out and back route starting in Davis, CA at about 80ft above sea level to the dam at Antelope Lake about 100 miles northwest of Oroville, CA at just over 5,000ft...
Sure the numbers (TSS and KJ) might be impressive, they are just that, numbers. Personally, I'll remember the mist coming off the mountain rivers as the sun was coming up rather than the TSS and the subsequent hand/arm pain I've been dealing the last few days rather than the KJ total. Training wise it probably won't do a thing to make me a faster ride - but it was quite an experience and much fun, if your idea of fun is riding a 35lb bike up a 8 mile hill at 1am///
If you can ride for a few hours then with a slight reduction in effort (aka wise pacing) and a good feeding plan you're limited more mentally than physically. Other than a few long rides this year that were part of this Brevet series (200, 300 and 400km) my longest ride was 2.5 hours. The 600km was the final ride in the series and the last of the qualification rides should I wish to ride the longer 1000km and 1200km rides.
I've noticed a few threads that you've started and I seem to get a common element of lack of energy and what to do for training so, with that being said...
My basic rule of training: Always have a purpose for a ride and somewhere there must be an element of "fun."
A specific ride might not be fun but the end goal must be. For me that might be going out on a 100F day and doing hill repeats on a darned steep hill (not fun) with the end goal of doing a hill climb or big ride like the Death Ride (fun). Back when I raced getting 2 hours in during an English winter at almost best 50 mile TT effort wasn't fun but the effects it had on racing later in the year were. If you lose the element of fun it becomes drab. If it becomes drab you don't go out and ride - or you start looking for "tricks" to improve rather than well planned training.
There's two ways to go about finishing a ride of about 60 miles. Get some 2 to 3 hour rides in - most likely at the weekend and do some faster, shorter rides in during the week. You don't need to turn rides into a TT all the time during training. During the longer rides you can take a route that you enjoy and ride it at L2/L3, which will allow you to still take in the sights, sounds and smells and if there's a point of interest (as I like to call them) such as a small hill that takes a couple of minutes or a nice stretch of very well surfaced flat road then use it for a "fun" hard effort if you feel like it. Same deal with the shorter midweek efforts - go out and ride at L2/L3 to warm up and if you have a few sections of road that will give you say 15 to 25 minutes honest effort (high L3/low L4) then use those. If you know the section of road gives you enough time at the required effort, you don't need to stick to a specific 20 minutes exactly - especially if the thought of getting to "point x" gives you a bigger carrot to chase... rather than chasing time to the finish. In the grand scheme of things, doing a motivated and fun 17 minutes will likely be better than a down trodden 20 minutes precisely. To go faster you either need to increase power or reduce aero drag and/or weight depending on the terrain you're riding in. Sorting out both power and aero is prefferable and becoming comfortable whilst riding in the drops is (a) more aero and (b) gives you an extra hand position.
Unless you're blessed with way above average natural talent, there's no escaping the fact that you need a good solid base of fitness to work from. I would start with the longer rides and ease into them. L2 - don't worry if you wander off into L1 or L3 from time to time. Find the point where you bonk - ie feel weak, grumpy etc or just become overly fatigued despite feeding well before and during the ride. Use this as a baseline ride and knock off a small amount of the time - say 10%. Go out, ride, have fun and enjoy it and every few weeks try that baseline ride. If it becomes easy then increase the duration. After a few weeks of L2 and L3 start incorporating more "sweet spot" work. Go out and ride as often as you can but there's certainly no need to smash your head in during every ride and turn yourself into a slave for the numbers. If you become comfortable riding a few hours at L2 within a few weeks then progress to shorter rides midweek and carry on with more of the same at the weekends, otherwise keep banging out the L2 with some L3 until you're good for a few hours and have a good base of fitness to work from. Not only does this allow you to work harder when you do get to the L4 work - but it'll likely mean that the gains from L4 and L5 don't go straight down the toilet when you stop training at that intensity.
As the rides progress in distance then increase the amount of food you eat. Aim for about 200 to 250Kcal per hour total - inc drinks and solid food or gels. Try a little more from time to time - note how you react to different foods or drinks on the bike. From the sounds of things you don't need to lose weight so err on the pre ride meal, heck most of the meals, being a little larger than what you're eating now. To me it sounds like your diet "may 'be a bit shy on total calories. I say "may' with a pinch of salt (iodine enritched). Eating and drinking on a bike under effort isn't a completely natural thing - it's something that you have to get used to and train your body to do well under effort so doing it on L2 rides is the place to start.
As for foods - mix it up and don't be afraid to try something different. Bananas are a common favorite for a reason - easy to eat and biodegradable packaging
I dig pb&j sammiches and oddball stuff like roast beef or ham in a small tortilla - with a bit of tomato (without the middle part because it gets to soggy) and Luna bars (soft, moist and very tasty.) Sure Luna bars are quote "designed for women" but why should they have the best tasting and easiest to chew bar on the planet? The Lemonzest and Chocolate Peppermint.../img/vbsmilies/smilies/drool.gif Don't forget that you'll likely get some calories from drinks too. Experiment with different brands - the one that you should use is the one that makes you want to drink it and doesn't give you an upset stomach when riding hard.
