Be a friend of BS
Go Big: The Centurian Way
July 19, 2010
Everyone starts somewhere. Many of us have been riding bicycles since the days of our youth. Some never learned as a child, or had a gap and started back up later in life. For most, the desire to ride a bicycle is a simple recreational pursuit with friends and family on the weekends or a means of transportation during the work week. For many riders, 100km (a metric century, for those of us here in the States) is the big accomplishment for the summer. Assuredly, 100km is an epic ride for someone whose average weekend ride might be 50 - 60km; but there are those of us who aim to go further.
The next logical step after the metric century is the imperial century. One hundred miles is a considerable jump to make from 100km; it's a 60% increase in distance, and you'll likely come close to doubling the time you spend on the course, including rests. There are many important considerations when breaking into the (un)"official" category of long-distance cycling, and while many of these are things that all cyclists should concern themselves with, some are of particular concern for us in the Clydesdale (90+ kg men) and Athena (68+ kg women) classification .
Training: This is an idea I won't address too heavily. There are volumes written about training for an imperial century ride, and most of them say the same thing: Increase your mileage gradually, aiming for a 10% - 15% increase in distance on a weekly basis.
Pacing: The most important thing you can remember about a century ride is to ride your own ride. If you can ride 100km, you can ride 100 miles; but you need to be smart about it. It's very easy to get swept up in the excitement at the starting line of your first century ride and take off with a group that is a few kilometers per hour faster than your usual pace. You must resist the urge to speed off from the beginning, because you'll need to keep some energy in reserve for the last 25 - 30km. The goal for your first 100 miler shouldn't just be to finish, but to finish strong. If your final 90 minutes of the ride are spent in pain trying to stave off a bonk, that's not going to be much incentive toward doing another long ride.
Eating: There's no two ways about it; if you’re going to break the 100km barrier, you're going to need to eat. Just getting to 100km you've probably realized that you need to fuel the fire during the ride, but going to 100 miles and beyond is where I've noticed a difference between the Clydesdale/Athena crowd and the thinner riders. A number that sports nutritionists throw around is 225 calories. This is the approximate number of calories that a cyclist can process per hour while exercising. That equates to a Clif Bar and a few sips of Gatorade. That might be enough for a 160 pound cyclist riding at an easy pace, but let me level with you: I am just shy of 2 meters tall (6' 6") and I weigh 105 kilos (230 pounds). It's a simple matter of physics and biology that I require a greater amount of fuel to ride that same 100 miles than my 80 kg (175 pound) ride partner. Bigger riders can process more than just 225 - 250 calories per hour. To be fair, so can many non-Clyde riders who happen to burn insane amounts of energy at high effort levels.
Every rider is going to find a different combination of foods that "work" for them when riding long distances. The key elements to focus on are getting the appropriate amount of calories, and getting a proper balance of nutrients to continue riding at your effort level. The caloric count is going to vary from rider to rider, and from ride to ride. Since we're talking about first attempts at breaking the 100km distance, I'll assume that no one is approaching this as an all-out hammerfest. At my all-day pace, I've discovered through a lengthy trial-and-error process that I need about 350 calories per hour. That amount is enough to sustain me at a 24kph (15mph) pace for 400km in a day as long as I remember to keep shoveling food down my gullet, and that really becomes the trick after 4 or 5 hours. You must remember to keep eating.
What you eat is as important as how much you eat. Some people can survive for days on end using nothing but what I refer to as "laboratory food". Those are things like Hammer Nutrition's HEED, Sustained Energy and Perpetuem, Clif Bars, Power Bars, Accelerade and other gel/bar/drink powder mixes. In the right combinations they're biologically every bit as good as real food, but I find them to be horribly demoralizing. When I'm riding for 8 hours or longer I want real food, not a lab-grade nutrient Slurpee and handful of "athlete kibble". After a long series of successful solo 200km rides since November of last year I started experimenting with my food, without much success. I had previously developed a nowhere-near-scientific ride diet consisting mainly of salami and cheese sandwiches with mustard and lettuce on whole wheat bread, washed down with alternating sips of Accelerade and water with an electrolyte supplement (more on those, shortl). In the name of variety I thought I'd try some of the food combinations I've seen other riders in my long distance club eating; candy bars, Ensure Plus, and potato chips. Much to my distress (both mentally and digestively) this was not the winning combination I had hoped for and on one occasion my legs cramped up, while on another ride I threw up.
My current arsenal of long distance foods consists of a mixture between laboratory food and real food. Most often, laboratory food is a much higher caloric density than real food. This means that when you get further on in a long event you can still get the necessary calories with a lesser risk of upsetting your stomach by dumping a lot of food in there.
Laboratory Food Favourites:
Clif Bar
Cliff Shots
Accel gel
Accelerade mixed 50/50 with IsoPure Zero Carb (measured for 300 calories per water bottle)
Ensure Plus
Real Food Favourites:
Bananas
Clementine oranges
PB&J sandwiches
Salami, cheese, lettuce sandwich on whole wheat
Oatmeal (for breakfast)
Cup o' Soup (during cold rides)
By no means would I call this a complete list of things that I eat during a long ride and I certainly don't recommend limiting yourself to only the items on this list. Look at the odd variety of foods on the lists and start constructing your own lists. Start with lighter real food and gradually work the more calorie dense real food into rotation during shorter (50 - 100km) rides to see how your body will react to eating and digesting on-the-go. Eventually you'll come up with a decent variety of things you can eat, and more than likely a few you'll learn you cannot eat during a ride. The important thing to remember is not to experiment with your food too much during a long ride when you're first starting out riding long distances. Stick with your "safe" foods at first.
Hydration and Supplementation: If you fall into the Clydesdale/Athena weight class, there's a high likelihood that like me, you are (to be polite about it) "better insulated" than the average competitive cyclist. This means you're going to sweat more once you start exercising; we've got more mass to keep cool and a greater surface area with which to accomplish that cooling. This means we also need to keep a close eye on our hydration and electrolyte levels. Falling behind on either of these is a sure-fire path to cramping.
The guideline for any athlete is to drink before you're thirsty. If you wait until you feel parched, then you've waited too long and you will not be able to fully recover without taking a significant break to rehydrate. Some people watch their computer and drink a few sips at specified distance intervals, others do the same with the clock. An indicator of proper hydration level is frequency of urination. If you need to stop every hour to 90 minutes for a pit stop, then you're keeping up with your hydration. If you're riding for 90 minutes or more without feeling the need, then you've fallen behind and should take a hydration break. During your break you should sip at your water bottle until you do finally need to use the bathroom before continuing. Drinking slowly and steadily during a ride or a break assures that you are absorbing the water, as opposed to chugging a liter bottle at all once. Just as your body can only process a certain number of calories per hour, you can't expect it to handle a massive deluge of water any better.
Along with replenishing the water you lose while sweating, it is important to replace the salt, too. Your muscles need those salts to function properly, and without them you will cramp up. One source of salt is your food. Whether it is laboratory or real food, you'll probably be getting some sodium and potassium replacement. Most of the something-ade drinks are good for sodium and potassium replacement (Accelerade, PowerAde, and Gatorade) but many people find the sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup to upset their stomach past the 4 - 5 hour mark. Bananas and potato chips will help keep electrolyte levels up, but aren't the most appetizing things during a long ride, especially if it is very hot outside. My two favorite quick replenishments for electrolytes are Hammer Nutrition's Endurolyte capsules, and NUUN electrolyte tablets. These contain an easily metered dosage of all the essential salts you lose while riding (including magnesium, which is commonly overlooked) without all the excess sugar that causes you to bloat up and feel queasy. Hammer Endurolytes are similar to a vitamin gel capsule, and they wash back easily with a sip off your water bottle. Between 1 and 3 per hour is the suggested dose, but I've taken as many as 5 at a time during very hot rides while staving off leg cramps on a hilly course. NUUN tablets look similar to Alka-Seltzer; you drop 1 or 2 in your water bottle and they fizz up for a couple minutes, mixing electrolytes and your choice from an array of flavors with your water. They don't leave your water carbonated, and they don't contain any sugar so you don't get that sticky bottle feeling like you do from a grocery store sports drink.
Equipment: Comfort is essential for long distance riding. Proper bike fit is necessary if you plan on breaking the 100km and eventually the 100 mile barrier. There are many guides on the internet to proper bicycle fitting techniques. As a starting point these are usually good enough to get you from 100km to 100 miles, however only you as the rider know what is actually comfortable. All the theory and measurements in the world don't mean squat if you sit on a "properly fitted" bicycle and it feels terrible. Don't believe anyone who tells you the discomfort is something you will get used to... A bicycle is not meant to be uncomfortable. If you get very serious about long distance riding I believe it is a wise investment to seek out a local shop to have a professional fitting done by a trained expert. Not only will they work to optimize your efficiency on the bike, they will make sure that you are comfortably and ergonomically positioned for the type of riding you will be doing. Remember, what might be a mild discomfort after 2 hours on the bike could become an extreme pain after 6 hours, and might cause lasting damage after pushing on through 8 hours of riding. I recall a riding partner requiring physical therapy after changing saddles and listening to some poor advice about needing to "ride through the pain of the break-in period". The change in his riding position gave him a pinched nerve in his shoulder and back which took him off the bike entirely for three months of rehabilitation.
While there's a lot of cycling clothing out there that isn't exactly the pinnacle of fashion, it has its benefits when it comes to long distance riding. Especially for us bigger riders! The best advice I ever received was to switch from regular cycling shorts to bib shorts. What a world of difference! No more was I having problems with the back of my shorts riding low, or the waistline of my shorts bunching up when I rode down in the drops. If words like "svelte" or "ripped" don't describe your physique; if you're the one everyone lines up behind when there's a headwind; then bib shorts just might be the best option for you. If you're self-conscious about wearing spandex, throw a pair of lightweight cargo shorts or basketball shorts over top and you're ready to go. With long distance rides, you might also consider an anti-chafing measure to go with your padded cycling shorts. There are many companies making cycling-specific cremes like Chamois Butt'r or Assos Chamois Creme, but there are many other less expensive options which work just as well. Udder Butter hand creme is available at most pharmacies (or Farm & Fleet stores) and accomplishes the same purpose as expensive chamois cremes for half the price. The key is to make sure that you're protecting your skin where you'll be sweating and making contact with the saddle. It's up to the individual to decide which company's formulation s/he likes best, and as with saddle fit, it's a decision no one else can make for you.
The final word on long distance riding is to just have fun with it. Whether it's a regional bicycle club's organized century ride, a route you and some friends mapped out, or you join your local randonneuring or touring club, it's more about the journey than the destination. Stop and enjoy the scenery, take pictures, make a whole day of the affair and check out places you may have only driven through before.
Photos and text by: Jason
**About the author: Jason Dul is a member of the Seattle International Randonneurs in Washington, USA. He is currently working on his R-12 award (12 consecutive months of 200km or longer rides) and will chronicle his Super Randonneur series between late July and September. The S-R series is composed of 200, 300, 400 and 600km timed rides.