My plans to do a randonneuring "ride series" this year is going well. I've completed the 200k, 300k, and now the 400k. The 600k is the last remaining ride in the series.
In some ways, the 400k is the hardest because most people ride this all the way through without sleep. Whereas, for the upcoming 600k, the plan is to ride 350k followed by rest in a campground and then the final 250k to the end. I've ridden the series with a new but strong randonneur who is doing these long distances for the first time, and is doing a great job. It's nice to have company at night, especially as it gets later and everyone gets sleepier. For the first time on the last 300k, I got super sleepy, even though it wasn't late (~11 PM), so I made it a point to get extra rest and sleep before the 400k, which would likely go until 2 AM and beyond--yes until ~4 AM+. Between the 300k and 400k, I didn't do any longer rides, but continued commuting between my work and home (with an extra hill for training). That meant I got around 19 miles a day, 4-5 days a week, with 1200ft of climbing or so. It was sparse, but enough to finish the ride without feeling drained, since I had enough experience to go well within my limits and not wear myself out--especially early in the ride when the adrenaline is flowing. For the 600k training, it looks like I'll get some extra riding during Easter weekend, so I'm feeling confident about finishing without suffering extensively. Overall, the 400k went well, except for a couple of flats that my riding partner had to fix, but we managed to finish in ~22 hrs. Importantly, I slept in the car for 1.5 hours before driving home (on one ~24 hour rainy slugfest, I decided to drive back right away and fell asleep driving mid turn, but woke up in time to recover--not again!!!). I actually felt pretty good after the nap. By Tuesday, my legs felt really strong and ready for longer riding, so I have to try to maintain some momentum (hopefully not peaking too soon) before the 600k at the beginning of May. --In terms of food, I do try to drink some calories as well as eat real food. My rice/egg/sausage rolls last 300k or so, at which point I added date bars in the past. I'm wanting to experiment with fig bars instead of dates, because I like figs better. The other thing that sounds appetizing to my 300k stomach is brioche with peanut butter and honey. I'm going to try to make a couple of these sandwiches and see how it goes. A drink I've added is my homemade "Skratch labs" endurance drink. It uses maltodextrin powder (glucose polymer/starch that breaks down in the gut) with fructose (fruit sugar, because the body can take in more calories if you mix fructose with the glucose due to different transporters) and citric acid for flavor (orange/lemon/citrus flavor). Per 32 oz bottle: 90g maltodextrin, 30g fructose (15-45g depending on taste), 3 g citric acid (1.5-4.5g depending upon taste). I don't add electrolytes (salt), so you will need to add separately. You could leave out the citric acid and drop in a fizzy electrolyte tablet as an alternative. I try to eat real food, but if my stomach doesn't cooperate, then the drink mix can keep me going. Stopping and eating also is really nice, but not needing to stop as much means more sleep. Yes, this is fun! Toshi in Oakland -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAGB59xw2-3bWrAvUkvjOtZEGmaKgkLXsfiQSn5963of1qK%2BZNQ%40mail.gmail.com.
