5 hour ride

Its 12.11 as I clip in for my 5 hour ride. I wonder how this will end. Check back in about 7 hours for an update. Current mood; anxiously excited mixed with a little trepidation.

*Update*
I may have gone a little over 5 hours, but I really wanted to make 180km. I ended up doing 185kms, and by the end I was exhausted. That much time in the saddle, I don’t think my bum will ever get use to it. I don’t know if it’s that I don’t have the muscle development or....I don’t know.

I had a big lunch before the ride, so I didn’t take too much food with me as I didn’t think I would need it. I took two muesli bars (Cadell Evans Mountain Mix, Winners Bars) I love them, and a Gel shot. I wasn’t really going to push the ride out too hard so that would be enough, maybe I would start to eat at around the 3 hour mark.

Hours 0 - 2 seemed to flow by fairly quickly. Kept it in big ring most of the time only popping down to the small chain ring to work some cadence and flush any soreness out of my legs quickly.

At around the two hour mark I had my first muesli bar. I had started to feel a little hungry and my energy levels were dropping a little. It seemed to be all going fairly well but at 2:45hours I realised (at the rate I was going) I was only halfway through the ride.

I jumped off to refill my water bottles and walk around a little. BIG mistake. When I got back on my legs were stiff and sore. And mentally I didn’t want to go, its easy to keep the rhythm going when your on the bike, but stopping, I think if you can avoid it, its a good idea to do so.

100km down I was excited about the distance and got a little bit more energetic knowing only 80km to go before I could stop. I don’t know if it feels different in the actual race, but 180km...I can’t imagine running a marathon after it; I guess I have a lot of training to go.

Hours 3.5-4.5 also seemed to go pretty quickly, although my legs were starting to ache, and I found my knee was playing up a little like it had yesterday. I found if I slightly twisted my foot in the cleat it seemed to alleviate the pressure on it, and I could continue with no pain. Still it was something I was very conscious of so I would injury it by pushing too hard.

I started to feel very hungry again and had my muesli bar and gel shot in quick succession. I think I may have underestimated my energy requirements somewhat. Not by enough to but me in any sort of trouble, but enough for me to go hungry for the final stages of the ride.

The final hour was ridiculous. Nothing like my first ride I spoke out in Brisbane to Gold Coast and back: 193km road ride, but still it seemed to drag on and on. I guess that would happen at the latter stages on any long activity, running, swimming or riding, I just have to get use to it.

This time was different to my last however. I knew the Shepparton race I lost a lot of my pace in the dying stages of the bike leg. So I made sure over the last 45mins of the ride to push it out as hard as I could. I knew I could complete the ride, so I was determined to finish it with the sorest legs possible. Surely enough when I jumped off I was very wobbly, however very satisfied.

Over the past two days I have ridden 300km, and my legs are relatively fresh. This ride was one of many to come. I plan on doing one to two long rides a week, hopefully pushing one of them up to around 200km+. I figure if I can average 150km a day, doing a long ride and using the "buffer" to decrease the ride the next day for recovery, I will be able to do 1050km a week. Probably looking at around 35hours in the saddle a week. Do you think my bum will get use to it very quickly? I should hope so.

Tomorrow 100+ Km’s, running and leg work in the gym. Might throw a swim in as well, not too sure! Will keep you posted!