Training for a long ride

just us said:

Well I have 5 weeks to go before my big trip and I hoping that I am putting
in enough kms to be able to sit back and enjoy my little epic at the end of
April.
Do you think an average of 50kms a day over the next 5 weeks will set me up
for an enjoyable ride for a 1400kms ride over 17 days?
A live in the hills of the Atherton Tablelands and believe me I am doing
some awesome hillclimbs now 🙂 and actually doing them with ease. How do
people work up for a long ride with panniers front and rear (rear will be
4kgs each and front will be 1.5kgs each hopefully!). So the panniers should
not weigh more than 11 or 12 kgs all up. We will be carrying water though -
Any suggestions on what preliminary training I should be doing?
Thanks Kathy

the middle aged still learning this cycling business wannabe :P

you'll manage admirably, but to add to the training and make the extra load not become an unwelcome nightmare,

• train with your panniers and full water load, and also (for fun)
  
• change a tube every day, just deflate one and remove it and put it back and pump it up,
  
• take off a wheel and untrue one and true it again,
  

its more than riding the distance that makes it pleasant, its also being able to deal with the rudimentary things that happen and keeping them rudimentary rather than shattering...

if you are able to handle

• all the mechanicals, like
  
• replacing a bottom bracket,
  
• a chain ring,
  
• a cassette,
  
• a bent derailleur and
  
• a busted seat rail, etc,...
  

then nothing will surprise you and the trip will be better than you ever imagined...

oh, and one day for training,

• don't ride the bike, push it...for 10 klms
  

and see how it feels, what you have to do to get through and how to deal with the mental and physical demands that will make on you...

still want to do the ride?...of course you do! and you will never forget it...they can be life changing.... !

just us said:

Well I have 5 weeks to go before my big trip and I hoping that I am putting
in enough kms to be able to sit back and enjoy my little epic at the end of
April.
Do you think an average of 50kms a day over the next 5 weeks will set me up
for an enjoyable ride for a 1400kms ride over 17 days?
A live in the hills of the Atherton Tablelands and believe me I am doing
some awesome hillclimbs now 🙂 and actually doing them with ease. How do
people work up for a long ride with panniers front and rear (rear will be
4kgs each and front will be 1.5kgs each hopefully!). So the panniers should
not weigh more than 11 or 12 kgs all up. We will be carrying water though -
Any suggestions on what preliminary training I should be doing?
Thanks Kathy

the middle aged still learning this cycling business wannabe :P

We rode through The Atherton Tablelands last year on the Queensland bike ride and if you aren't having trouble doing those hills you'll be fine.
Perhaps try doing intervals up one of them on the way home once a week would be good but if your only doing 1400kms don't worry about making it.
We trained a bit with a few kilos in each of the panniers to get used to carrying them them again.
Just make sure your bike has been serviced a couple of weeks before you go, not at the last minute in case something is wrong. We are up to nearly 9,000kms on our tandem with no problems. Tyres every 2-3,000 kms and we are on to our third chain and second cassette.
A good tool kit and some spares and you'll be fine.
Pack light and
Enjoy yourselves

Cheers

Geoff

just us said:

Well I have 5 weeks to go before my big trip and I hoping that
I am putting in enough kms to be able to sit back and enjoy my
little epic at the end of April.
Do you think an average of 50kms a day over the next 5 weeks
will set me up for an enjoyable ride for a 1400kms ride over
17 days? A live in the hills of the Atherton Tablelands and
believe me I am doing some awesome hillclimbs now 🙂 and
actually doing them with ease. How do people work up for a
long ride with panniers front and rear (rear will be 4kgs each
and front will be 1.5kgs each hopefully!). So the panniers
should not weigh more than 11 or 12 kgs all up. We will be
carrying water though - Any suggestions on what preliminary
training I should be doing? Thanks Kathy

the middle aged still learning this cycling business wannabe
:P

I reckon you qualify as a touring expert in your own right by
now Kathy 🙂

I'd just make sure I was up to a 100km ride with load on hills
first - toughen up the bum and the leg muscles! If possible do
such a long ride 2 or 3 days before you set off as well (not
the day before).

Equipment-wise, you mentioned in another thread that you carry
spare spokes. Make sure you've also got the right tool to
remove your freewheel/cassette. You shouldn't need to carry a
huge spanner to drive it - any servo/farmhouse will have a
shifter. Don't forget a couple of screwdrivers and allen keys
that will fit the things which might come loose or need
adjustment - they're small and light. Also, tools to
reassemble any cooking stove or similiar - they can disassemble
themselves quickly on bad roads.

John

just us said:

Well I have 5 weeks to go before my big trip and I hoping that I am putting
in enough kms to be able to sit back and enjoy my little epic at the end of
April.
Do you think an average of 50kms a day over the next 5 weeks will set me up
for an enjoyable ride for a 1400kms ride over 17 days?
A live in the hills of the Atherton Tablelands and believe me I am doing
some awesome hillclimbs now 🙂 and actually doing them with ease. How do
people work up for a long ride with panniers front and rear (rear will be
4kgs each and front will be 1.5kgs each hopefully!). So the panniers should
not weigh more than 11 or 12 kgs all up. We will be carrying water though -
Any suggestions on what preliminary training I should be doing?
Thanks Kathy

the middle aged still learning this cycling business wannabe :P

I recommend you obtain a copy of The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty.
Read it and do nothing else out of the ordinary for the next five weeks.

P

Laughing at the suggestion of "pushing uphills". Have done a bit of that in
the past and thought that I was over it! LOL.
I have a decent little tool kit now and yep have changed tyres more times
than I care to remember, have taken things off and put them back on, have
adjusted this and that but I am really worried about that wheel truing
business. I am going to Cairns to day and will ask LBS for some pointers or
a book or something.
Actually I am going to Cairns to pick up a Trekking Bar like this one -
http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=2109 which should be interesting
Kathy.

just us said:

I am really worried about that wheel truing business.

OK, for what it's worth I'll have a go at typing "John's guide
to on-the-road wheel truing".

Firstly, deflate the tyre so you don't damage the rim tape.
Then use the brake blocks as your measure of what's true.

As per my comment in your earlier thread, you can usually
replace a single spoke and get the wheel quite true by
adjusting just that single spoke. The same goes for replacing
2 spokes if they're not close together at the rim. Just adjust
those. The rest of this assumes you need to approach truing a
bit more seriously.

If you're replacing quite a few spokes at once, first get them
roughly to the tension of their neighbours.

Always tighten spokes to true them, don't loosen any if you can
avoid it. There are 2 reasons for this. Spokes usually loosen
over time, so they probably could all do with a bit of a
tighten anyway. Secondly, by just tightening, you keep the
whole situation much more under control.

Spin the wheel to find the places where the rim needs to be
pulled back towards centre. Then (one area at a time) adjust
the spokes on the side where tightening will achieve this. So
with the rim moving too far to the left in a particular spot,
tighten the spokes in that area which go to the right of the
hub. Tighten each spoke by a half turn (180º). If any of them
seem excessively loose, then do those by a full 360º turn
instead.

Spin, reassess, and continue as necessary.

Quoted message said:

Actually I am going to Cairns to pick up a Trekking Bar like
this one -
http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=2109 which should
be interesting Kathy.

Now that looks like it will be comfortable - plenty of choice of
riding position.

John

I said:

Tighten each spoke by a half turn (180º).

To clarify, there's no need to tighten spokes right arund the
wheel - far from it. Just work gently on the ones which will
work to pull the wheel into line.

John

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

Quoted message said:

just us said:

I am really worried about that wheel truing business.

OK, for what it's worth I'll have a go at typing "John's guide
to on-the-road wheel truing".

Firstly, deflate the tyre so you don't damage the rim tape.
Then use the brake blocks as your measure of what's true.

As per my comment in your earlier thread, you can usually
replace a single spoke and get the wheel quite true by
adjusting just that single spoke. The same goes for replacing
2 spokes if they're not close together at the rim. Just adjust
those. The rest of this assumes you need to approach truing a
bit more seriously.

If you're replacing quite a few spokes at once, first get them
roughly to the tension of their neighbours.

Always tighten spokes to true them, don't loosen any if you can
avoid it. There are 2 reasons for this. Spokes usually loosen
over time, so they probably could all do with a bit of a
tighten anyway. Secondly, by just tightening, you keep the
whole situation much more under control.

Spin the wheel to find the places where the rim needs to be
pulled back towards centre. Then (one area at a time) adjust
the spokes on the side where tightening will achieve this. So
with the rim moving too far to the left in a particular spot,
tighten the spokes in that area which go to the right of the
hub. Tighten each spoke by a half turn (180º). If any of them
seem excessively loose, then do those by a full 360º turn
instead.

Spin, reassess, and continue as necessary.

John

180º is a lot if your close to being true only a few º are needed.

I have built / repaired more wheels than I can count and can get them within
a sheet of paper in run out.

I tighten the ones on the side it needs to go towards a few º and loosen the
ones on the other side a few º, that way your not pulling more tension on
one part of the wheel and causing it to have run out in the vertical plane.

Have a read of Sheldon's guide for wheel truing.

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html#tensioning

John Henderson said:

I said:

Tighten each spoke by a half turn (180º).

To clarify, there's no need to tighten spokes right arund the
wheel - far from it. Just work gently on the ones which will
work to pull the wheel into line.

John

A fibre fix spoke is a good cheats way out. This is a string spoke
(actually made out of kevlar) that comes with instructions and fits
any size wheel. You don't need to mess around taking clusters off if
the broken spoke is on the drive side. The are available from, amoung
other places, St Kilda cycles http://www.stkildacycles.com.au/products_accessories.htm
They are cheaper from various overseas on line bike shops.

Peter Damm

Peter Damm

Boostland said:

180 is a lot if your close to being true only a few are
needed.

I'm not sure I follow you. Adjusting a couple of spokes by half
a turn each is a lot?

Quoted message said:

I have built / repaired more wheels than I can count and can
get them within a sheet of paper in run out.

I tighten the ones on the side it needs to go towards a few
and loosen the ones on the other side a few , that way your
not pulling more tension on one part of the wheel and causing
it to have run out in the vertical plane.

You're right about the /possibility/ of inducing a bit of
run-out, of course. I used to do it your way, but since
changing I've never found run-out to be significant. It's
something that could be looked at later if you wanted, and not
something to cause you to head home early - you'd never even
notice it on the road. Just tightening makes for a simple and
effective running repair.

Quoted message said:

Have a read of Sheldon's guide for wheel truing.

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html#tensioning

John

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

John Henderson said:

I said:

Tighten each spoke by a half turn (180º).

To clarify, there's no need to tighten spokes right arund the
wheel - far from it. Just work gently on the ones which will
work to pull the wheel into line.

John

A fibre fix spoke is a good cheats way out. This is a string spoke
(actually made out of kevlar) that comes with instructions and fits
any size wheel. You don't need to mess around taking clusters off if
the broken spoke is on the drive side. The are available from, amoung
other places, St Kilda cycles
http://www.stkildacycles.com.au/products_accessories.htm
They are cheaper from various overseas on line bike shops.

Peter Damm

Peter Damm

That is the coolest thing I have seen in ages!

What a great idea!

Cheers Dre

John Henderson said:

Boostland said:

180 is a lot if your close to being true only a few are
needed.

I'm not sure I follow you. Adjusting a couple of spokes by half
a turn each is a lot?

Yes, it is. Generally, 1/8-1/4 at a time, IME, when fine-tuning a
wheel. Bulk (1/2 - 1) is only for bringing up tension in the first
instance.

Sheesh no wonder my wheel was totally warped! I was tightening all the
spokes - I mean really tightening them! Oh well live and learn. Thanks
guys, tomorrow I am picking up an old wheel that has been sitting in a shed
for years and I am going to play with it. Let you know what happens! Thanks
Kathy
"Bleve" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

John Henderson said:

Boostland said:

180 is a lot if your close to being true only a few are
needed.

I'm not sure I follow you. Adjusting a couple of spokes by half
a turn each is a lot?

Yes, it is. Generally, 1/8-1/4 at a time, IME, when fine-tuning a
wheel. Bulk (1/2 - 1) is only for bringing up tension in the first
instance.

Bleve said:

Yes, it is. Generally, 1/8-1/4 at a time, IME, when
fine-tuning a wheel. Bulk (1/2 - 1) is only for bringing up
tension in the first instance.

On further thought, I agree. In fact, I do use 1/4 turn
increments when the wheel's getting close to true. On the
simple rough-and-ready method I suggested, 1/4 turns _are_ more
appropriate when getting close to true because alternatively
tightening right and right in the same spot to reduce lateral
(side-to-side) run-out _will_ result in more radial
(out-of-round) run-out.

John

just us said:

Sheesh no wonder my wheel was totally warped! I was tightening all the
spokes - I mean really tightening them!

If they're paired spoke wheels (They're Bonties?) then this is
probably more important than with a conventional spoking pattern. I'd
suggest if you have time and confidence, that you detension a few
spokes on one of your touring wheels and then true it up. This way
you'll not get any funny surprises if you have a failure on the trip.
Bear in mind that rears are different (and trickier) than fronts.

I said:

right and right

when I meant left and right.

John

just us said:

the middle aged still learning this cycling business wannabe :P

I think you're doing a brilliant job. Go girlfriend!! 😄

Lotte

On Mar 15, 2:19 pm, LotteBum <LotteBum.2ng...@no-

mx.forums.cyclingforums.com said:

just us Wrote:> the middle aged still learning this cycling business wannabe :P

I think you're doing a brilliant job. Go girlfriend!! 😄

Lotte

--
LotteBum

A long ride. Everyone is concentrating on the mechanicals and the
training. Sure, you've got that under control.

My first long ride was in 2003, when I rode from Brisbane to Cairns.
Yes, already you can see problems. Maybe a 300km or so first? But
there you go, in at the deep end.

What mistakes did I make?

1. Setting daily targets for myself based on looking at the map, and
estimating how far I thought I could ride in a day. This is fine, but
you find it is hillier than you thought, or there is a massive
headwind.

Lesson 1: Only ride as far as you feel like riding. Then stop. Be
prepared to stop where there aren't lots of facilities. (See water,
below.)

2. I carried way too much stuff, and the wrong stuff. I carried cotton
clothing which stayed wet for days. I even threw out synthetic
clothing and kept the cotton. I carried extra shoes, and ended up
posting them back home.

Lesson 2: Look very critically at the weight. If you are going to be
riding all the time, you only need stuff for riding.

3. I rode on the wrong bicycle. Instead of a dedicated touring bike, I
modified my road bike. I don't think you'll make this mistake. Now
that I have a good touring bike, I reckon it is 30% easier.

4. Food. It's ok to survive for a couple of days on dehydrated food,
and takeaway from shops. After a couple of weeks on this, you are
going to be in trouble. Think carefully about diet. After a while you
will eat less food. Honest! You go into high efficiency mode. But the
quality of the food is absolutely critical. Country roadhouses are not
good for your health :-)

5. Water. How I got dehydrated. I had to stop (headwind), and then
camp. So I used up my water supplies, with only one bottle to get to
the next town. Did not drink enough, as I was aware that supplies were
low. Filled up ok, then took off. Then, on a long stretch with no
shops (120km), I made one of my biggest mistakes. I had a bottle of
water on the back, tied on with an Ocky strap. Stopped for a drink,
where is bottle? Dropped off somewhere in the last 30km. Not good. Bad
dehydration, almost medical. Not good. I had to ring home for medical
advice: I hated doing that.

Nowadays I carry two bidons plus at least 4litres of water, even in
mild weather. This is enough to drink for the day, cook overnight and
ride most of the next day to water. This is ok around Victoria.

6. Mechanicals. I think this is the only bit I got right. Told the
bike shop where I was going, and got them to take the bike apart
completely and look critically at absolutely every part. It cost me
around $400, but it was money well spent. There are not many bike
shops out there. I didn't even have a puncture in weeks of riding.
Excellent.

Have a great ride.

Thanks Andrew - I am hoping that years of serious remote bushwalking has
enabled me to have the right gear. Plan on 2 knicks, 2 riding jerseys (long
sleeve cos of sun) and one only lightweight pair of longs that zip to
shorts, one only lightweight shirt, and a very exy lightweight pullover, one
riding rain jacket (super light weight). Shoes - I ride in Keens, so these
are my day time riding shoes, nighttime wear about shoes etc etc. Have all
the lightweight tent/mattress etc and know that I can go with as little as
10kgs. Water on board will be 3 litres in a "carrybladder" plus 3 x 750mls
on bidons. Really really looking forward to the challenge of getting the
food right. I know that I can go for a 9 day remote hike with 4 1/2kgs of
dried food and not loose weight so it will be interesting to see how day in
day out of riding compares. I plan to carry 4 days of dehydrated food (I dry
my own) and to stop and buy fresh and cook it myself where possible. Not
really into takeaways in a big way. LOL... will let you know at the end of
it!
Kathy