Cycling UK Forum

auk929 wrote:Have a good Breakfast!

That's what I intend to do later next week.

Now I've finished my JOGLE I'm as fit as fit could be, and I will try not to lose this fitness.

To this end, I will really try to do a LONG ride two or three times a month. On Wednesday - if the weather's ok - I'll be doing a 100 mile ride: Out over Dartmoor, up through Exeter, out to Bickleigh, and back through Crediton and Okehampton to home via Tavistock.



A good breakfast at about 7ish, some cereal bars or nuts and raisins to keep me going during the ride, but an All Day Breakfast in Crediton in the early afternoon will top me up!

Oh, and a beer or three in the Rising Sun when I get back.

I'm looking forward to Wednesday.

Slightly different animal but yesterday's 100 mile TT;
Porridge and pint mug of tea, breakfast.
Another pint mug of tea whilst stocking up car.
500ml energy drink supped whilst driving to event.
Large Costa tea at motorway services, with bowl of 2 wheetabix 21/2 hours before event then rest of above energy drink
1 gel prior to start.
4 energy gels during event.
2 x 500ml energy drink bottles
3rd 500ml energy drink handed up with about 20 miles to go but only about half supped (was on a charge with a very strong tailwind and intent on getting finished as close to / or inside 5 hours, as possible). So just treated last 12 miles (from the turn used on the 25 version of the course) as just that the second half of a 25 mile tt, tried to forget the pain of the previous 88miles lol

5 hours!!!

I'll be looking at 8 hours.
(Maybe your TT was on the flat! )

Fairly flat, but a long uphill drag into a fairly strong headwind, tailwind was on the downhill!
No stopping of course!

I won't even begin to list what the top boys and girls did!!

Mick F wrote:I'll be looking at 8 hours.

Diet, progress and timing, total ascent, and a full report to follow. Wednesday looks good.

Doubt it'll be near 5 hours, even with a downhill and tail wind!

I've just posted this link on another thread then rememberd this one

http://www.bottombracket.co.uk/cycling-nutrition.html

Malc

I did my 100 mile ride.

I took on a huge task by starting off over Dartmoor, up through Exeter and climbed Bickleigh Hill and the hills over Cadbury, then down via Crediton to Okehampton. Home via the edge of Dartmoor and Tavistock.

102 miles, 11,000ft of total ascent, 7,000calories, all done from 0800 to 1830. "Active" time, actually cycling was 8hrs 38mins.

I ate bacon and egg for breakfast, sausage and mash washed down with a pint of beer in a pub in Exeter for lunch, snacked a couple of times on cereal bars - Sirius ones from Lidl - and a beer at home followed by roast chicken and veg, and a glass or two of red wine for afters.

I got through three 750ml bottles of water.

I was tired.
I was in bed fast asleep by 9pm.

Wide awake at 5am, and ready for breakfast!

Sounds like a good ride, and actually not *that* much scoff! Mick - is there good XC singletrack across Dartmoor? I'm based in Scotland but thinking of a visit to the SW this autumn. Cheers

I don't know about a single track, as I don't do that sort of thing. You'd have to look at detailed maps, I suppose.

There are a huge amount of tracks an paths on the moor as most of the land is Common Land with open access, so maybe there is one right across.

Road-wise, Dartmoor is a big crossroads. Two roads up from the west - Tavistock and Yelverton - and two roads up from the east - Bovey Tracey/Ashburton and Moretonhampstead. All four roads meet near Princetown.

Well done Mick, sounds like a good day out.

thekelticfringe wrote:Sounds like a good ride, and actually not *that* much scoff! Mick - is there good XC singletrack across Dartmoor? I'm based in Scotland but thinking of a visit to the SW this autumn. Cheers

Paths shown as bridleways only I'm afraid.
Unlike Scotland there is no right of access for bikes otherwise.
Normally it's trespass and you just get turfed off (unless they try to prosecute for damage), but there are specific bylawsfor Dartmoor so you can get done even with no damage.

JohnW wrote: [snipped] Plenty of water, and they do the work of a performance enhancing drug. [snipped]

Haha. I did a ride earlier in the year with a great local CTC rider who lives in my village (The legend that is Paul), which ended up being alot longer than we thought it was going to be - but a great ride and really enjoyable.

The weather was shocking (it was February so drizzling) and I'd set off empty but we stopped in Easingwold for a full cooked breakfast with toast. Yum. My water bottles weren't filled with my usual powerbar mixture, but just with berry squash. Around halfway into the ride I thought I was going to bonk. I think we were at Ampleforth Abbey and probably no more than 40-50 miles but I just hit the wall going up hills. We stopped for some lunch at Ampleforth School (I was physically shaking at this point) and I consumed 1 Powerbar Vanilla Gel, 4 cans of Fanta Z, 1 bowl of very nice soup and a slice of cake.

The second half of the ride we rode the direct route back, which probably was a mistake as it was also the way with the most altitude change - it took us over terrington bank going towards Sherriff Hutton. I remember thinking coming down the hill 'I'd hate to ride this the other way' (which we did as part of the Great Yorkshire Bike Ride). But I felt like I had taken something illegal. I was powering up hills and the near bonk at Ampleforth was forgotten.

In fact, I seem to remember it broke Paul and he was off work for a couple of days. (Of course, that may not have been directly related!)

But to answer the question, I use Bananas, some Gels in case you reallly desperately need them, Granola Bars and I have powerbar berry drink in my two 750ml bottles. Plus stopping en route for a nice cup of tea and cream cake usually helps too

Mick F wrote:I did my 100 mile ride. (snipped)

Cor. Sounds like a great ride, Mick. I bet some of the views were spectacular.

mark_w wrote:Cor. Sounds like a great ride, Mick. I bet some of the views were spectacular.

Yes, they are.

Trouble is:
1. My camera was stuffed inside my (too small) seat-pack and I couldn't be bothered to stop and fish it out.
2. The best views on Dartmoor are from the tops of the hills. This has two problems:
a. Going up, you don't want to stop because you'll never get going again!
b. At the top, you can see a wonderful downhill and can't wait to cool off in the wind as you fly down!

Actually, I should have taken some photographs of the lovely bright sunny weather on the tors. The views over to the west as you climb from Tavistock are fantastic, and the views over to Teignmouth and Torbay on the east side are fantastic too.

Dartmoor is to be recommended to all cyclists. Please don't do it on an E2E as it's too tiring. Take a weekend off and do it properly, but make sure you select good weather as it can change very quickly up there for the exposed cyclist or walker. Ok in a car, but there's no shelter when the rain, wind and sleet come in sideways and the visibility goes down to nothing.

A more full report of my ride is on http://cycleseven.org/sausage-and-mash

andrew_s wrote:

thekelticfringe wrote:Sounds like a good ride, and actually not *that* much scoff! Mick - is there good XC singletrack across Dartmoor? I'm based in Scotland but thinking of a visit to the SW this autumn. Cheers

Paths shown as bridleways only I'm afraid.
Unlike Scotland there is no right of access for bikes otherwise.
Normally it's trespass and you just get turfed off (unless they try to prosecute for damage), but there are specific bylawsfor Dartmoor so you can get done even with no damage.

I have cycled on Dartmoor using routes my friend took us on, up from Plympton to Princetown via Burrator. The second part is quite hard going due to the nature of the crushed granite surface, but worth it. I am sure the routes were legitimate and we did meet a few other riders.