So you entered your first sportive or long charity ride?

Spring is just around the corner, we've had a few sunny days, the temperature is warming up and quite naturally it now feels OK to start planning and dreaming about, what we want to achieve this season.

For some it will be completing more sportives than last year, it might be achieving better times over a certain distance or on events that have been completed previously or it might be entering and finishing one of the major sportive events such as l'etape. 

 
This year I suspect their will also be a significant number of people who will be planning to enter their first sportive or long charity ride. Interest in participating in these events is already high at the moment, with events selling out within days/weeks of entry opening. Events such as Ride London 100 will be introducing a significant number of people to the delights of riding a 100 miles on a bike for the first time, some of whom may not have ridden a bike for many, many years.

So how do you prepare for your first sportive or other long distance ride of perhaps 100 kilometers or 100 miles duration? 

There are many training plans and guides written by far cleverer and experienced individuals than me, that can easily be found on the internet which provide varying levels of detail as to how an individual could train for one of these events, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel by detailing my own training plan or by putting another generic plan out there in Google land. What I can is perhaps share some of the things I have learnt in my very short sportive career in the hope that other sportive newbies can avoid some of the mistakes I made or simply prepare a little more effectively for their first event.

Credit for some of the things that I have learnt and more effective practices I have subsequently adopted must go to Simon Vincent at Total Cycling Performance who set me off on the path to training enlightenment with the 16 week training plan that he designed for me in 2012.      

Chances are that for a new sportive rider their first event is likely to involve  riding a century, whether this is a 100 kilometers or a 100 miles, in one day. Riding 100 miles in a day may sound extreme, however what I now know is that almost any leisure cyclist is capable of completing either of these distances if they prepare for the event in a structured manner.

Preparation for that first century can probably be broken down into the following categories;

• Bike and equipment
• Training
• Nutrition
• Attitude

Over the coming weeks I will share in more detail some of the Pixies experiences and thoughts on each of these subjects, however lets have a little introductory look at each one.

Equipment
Making the right choices with equipment will increase your comfort on the bike and being comfortable will mean that you are not wasting energy trying to make yourself comfortable and you will not be distracted from the task in hand.

A badly fitting bike was one of the biggest contributors to the pain and suffering I endured in my first weeks of trying to embark on rides of more than 20 miles. If you experience pain in the knees, hips or back and you aren’t sure what a correctly fitting bike should feel like get a proper bike fit from a professional - Google "bike fit" and the name of your county or nearest major town/city and you will find the names of some people to contact or ask for recommendations from other cyclists. If your bike is new and the shop you bought it from adjusted the seat, sat you on it and asked you how it feels, chances are it isn't going to be set up properly - just because it feels right to you, doesn't mean it is actually set up right for efficient and pain free riding over long distances.  

 
Training
Many of the training plans and guides that can be found on the internet will say that the majority of training for a first century ride should focus on endurance training or "base miles". Building up base miles is something that I include in my own training, however as a new sportive rider I found that I didn't have the basic or core strength in my muscles to be able to cover distances in excess of 35-40 miles without being physically to tired to regularly increase the distance covered. Additionally my average speed remained stuck at around 10-12mph. The other problem I found with trying to simply ride further each week was that I didn't have the time available for 3 or 4 long rides per week. If I had relied on the "building up mileage" method of training for my first event I think it would have taken me so long to get to a point where I was capable of completing a 100 kilometers that I would have given up trying long before I actually completed a sportive.

  

The answer for me came with the integration of interval training and strength training into my regular training plan (and not forgetting that to have a "regular training plan" I needed to have a properly thought out and documented plan of what I was going to do and when I was going to do it - Obvious but easily overlooked) Why include strength training? Riding a bike at a reasonable pace over any significant distance requires muscular strength in the lower body and the core of the body and in my case I didn't have the required level of strength due to many years of inactivity. Developing muscular strength by visiting the gym has undoubtedly helped me develop more power on the bike, which means that i can go faster for longer and find climbing hills much easier. 

    

How long should you allow to prepare for that first sportive or long charity ride? The general consensus seems to be that you need to train in a structured way for at least 12 weeks before the ride, personally if the time is available I would look at a 16 week training window, this should provide you with ample time to prepare for that first century. 

Some things that are worth considering when training for that first sportive include; 

• Aim to increase mileage on your long ride by around 10% each week
• Aim to hit at least 70% of the target distance of your chosen event no later than two weeks before the event
• Be aware of any minimum speed requirement for your chosen event and train with a view to achieving that average speed during training
• Think about cadence (pedal revolutions per minute), what cadence suits your style and physique best? 70-90 revolutions per minute seems to suit most newcomers to sportives
• Plan to reduce your training mileage in the week before the event and consider limiting riding to one or two short easy rides

How much time should you devote to training each week? How long is a piece of string? With the right training plan it is entirely possible to train for that first century devoting as little as 8-10 hours per week to training. Currently I would say that I average around 10-12 hours of  focused training per week.  

What does my training plan currently look like? At a very high level it contains the following;

• Four sessions of specific core strength exercises e.g. press ups, planks etc 
• Two sessions per week in the gym concentrating on building my upper body, abdominal, lower back and leg strength
• Two sessions per week which focus on completing speed and power interval training either on the bike or on the Wattbike
• One or two sessions on the bike or Wattbike of 1-2 hours duration which concentrate on maintaining a specific % of maximum heart rate 
• Two rides at the weekend, one of around 2-3 hours duration at a relaxed pace and another which is of longer duration and focuses on completing a set distance whilst maintaining a specific % of maximum heart rate (it is this ride that I currently use to gradually increase my mileage each week)
• One recovery day per week with no exercise or an easy spin on the wattbike   

The content of each persons training plan should be specific to them and based on a proper assessment of their current abilities and physical performance and I would say that enlisting the help of a professional cycling specific trainer has lifted my performance on the bike far beyond where I thought I would be at this point in time. I guess if the thought of engaging a coach seems like a step to far or maybe funds won't allow it, a training plan based on the structure I follow will probably provide better results than simply going out for a ride 2-3 times a week hoping that each week fitness will improve.

One last thought on training, it is important to understand the distinction between a training ride and a leisure ride and don't let a training ride inadvertently become a leisure ride. A training ride has a purpose and objectives that need to be achieved e.g. cover 75 miles in 4 hours and 30 minutes with one rest stop of 5 minutes. A leisure ride is simply a ride with no fixed objective or target, a ride undertaken simply for the pleasure of riding and with no real focus on fitness improvement. Allowing training rides to become leisure rides is a sure fire way to make any training plan ineffective and probably why the building up base miles method of training does not work for most newcomers to the sport.  

Nutrition
As the day of the first sportive approaches, what you put in our body becomes of critical importance for a successful sportive. In the days prior to the sportive you should start hydrating. Drink plenty of water and consider cutting back on caffeine and alcohol. 

In the days leading up to the sportive you should consider adding additional carbohydrates to your diet to ensure that your reserves of energy are completely topped up. There is a limit to how much carbohydrate the body will store as an energy reserve before it simply turns it into fat, but we'll save the details of that topic for another blog post. 

On the day of the sportive, eat a light breakfast of low GI high-carbohydrate foods and drink lots of water. If your sportive means that you need to travel to the event by car for a few hours before the event, consider taking your breakfast with you to eat when you arrive at the event HQ (When I find myself in this situation I always take an instant porridge and a flask of hot water, which I eat 2 hours before the scheduled start time and I also take a banana, honey and peanut butter sandwich which I eat about 30-40 minutes before the start time).   

On the ride keep sipping your drink and try to avoid becoming thirsty. Water or a sports drink are the options here.Water is easy to obtain and top up during the event at feed stations if you run out, sports drinks can provide a source of electrolytes and easily absorbed carbohydrates and can be used to replace energy/carbohydrate whilst riding.

Don't under estimate the importance of consuming some solid foods, eat easily digestible, high carbohydrate food including energy bars, bagels, fruit or sweets. Personally I have found that jelly babies and flap jacks work well for me and they are now my food of choice for rides over 50 miles. 

Whilst it is important to eat while you are riding, try not to over indulge as it is possible to have to much of a good thing and ruin that first sportive by having an upset stomach, being sick or simply being bloated and lethargic. Use your training rides to fine tune your feeding strategy and once you know what works for you, avoid disrupting your routine on the event.  

One last thought on nutrition, try to avoid consuming food and drink that you haven't tried during training, to avoid an upset stomach or cramping.  

Attitude
Attitude is everything. There will be days when you are training and it seems like nothing is going right, its a fact that this will happen, accept it and move on. There will also be days when everything clicks into place and progress will come easily (these days are the payback for the tough days) understand when these days are occurring and delight in your new found cycling prowess.

Preparing yourself to arrive at the start of that first sportive in the best possible condition is actually not very complicated but it will probably require some planning and will require some will power to stick to your training plan.

 A first sportive of either 100 kilometers or 100 miles is well within the grasp of most relative newcomers to cycling if they are prepared to commit to a structured training plan and invest some time in increasing their cycling specific fitness.Time invested in training prior to the event will mean that on the day you will be able to sit back and enjoy the experience of your first sportive (and you will probably be able to have an inward laugh at those people that didn't train very well as you pass them on the first significant hill of the day)

What is that "they" say "fail to plan - plan to fail"

Crikey, this has turned into a long blog post! I hope some of the above is of use or interest to somebody and if you are entering your first sportive this year, enjoy your day, don't worry everybody will be really friendly and hopefully you will make some new friends while you out on the ride.

As always thanks for taking the time to visit my blog and read the ramblings of the Pixie. Hopefully you will be able to find the time to visit the blog again some time in the future.

Dha weles diwettha
 

VP            

Southdowns Challenge - A Sportive virgins perspective

Sunday 16th September 2012, was the day on which the Pixie achieved another milestone on the journey to completing l'etape (A quick overview of what l'etape is can be found here) It was the day on which the Pixie competed in his first competitive cycling event, the "Southdowns Challenge"



The Southdowns Challenge is a type of event known as a cyclo sportive and the following is an extract from Phil Sinclair's guest blog post which was published on here last month provides a description of what a sportive is ;

"The issue of sportives, for some is sensitive. Especially in the UK where older riders do not see them as races. More as touring rides, (randonées) as they are unlicensed and not normally on closed roads. There also exists Audax rides for which the challenge is long or ultra-long distances. Recently there has been a huge upsurge in the popularity of sportives.

Sportives are very definitely races, with a timed start and a timed finish. With winners in different categories and non financial prizes. Depending on the country, and laws you may need a licence (or day licence bought at registration), a medical certificate and third party and personal insurance. Normally sportives offer up to three routes of different lengths and difficulties."

 

The rest of Phils guest blog post on Sportives, l'etape and generally preparing for an endurance cycling event can be found here

 

The Southdowns Challenge offered two different courses of 50 miles and 80 miles and as this was to be the Pixies first competitive cycling event I felt that it would be prudent to choose the lesser distance as my chosen race distance.

 

Prior to arriving at the start of the event I had exchanged e mails with the organisers who reassured me that, "yes the route would be well sign posted, no, I would not need a sat nav to get around the course, and it would actually be difficult to get lost" this was obviously the answer I was looking for and it certainly played a major part in me not withdrawing my entry for the event (at this point I had run out of reasons to not compete and accepted my fate of probably being the only Sportive "newbie" competing in the event)

 

Now that I had run out of excuses, I got down to the serious matter of preparing for the event. I'd read any number of internet articles on competing in Sportives. I've got more than a couple of books on the subject, which were consulted and re-consulted, checklists were written, the bike was checked and checked again. My kit bag was packed, unpacked, packed and packed again while I tried to decide what kit I would need? In the end I think I just took everything cycling related I own (better safe than sorry)

 

On the day of the event I got my route planning for the journey down to the start hopelessly wrong and arrived at the start a full hour before the organisers got there, of course this gave me more time to check everything again, decide what which of my now considerable cycling wardrobe I was going to wear and check the bike again.......

 

"Signing on" for the event was outrageously simple, no complicated forms to fill in, just turn up, confirm my previously allocated race number together with my name and before I knew it I had my very first competitive cycling race number in my hands.

 

 

 

With race number fixed to my handlebars, I lined up with at the start with all of the other competitors and awaited my turn to set off, was I nervous? Oh yes! At one point my resting heart rate was 101 beats per minute which is about double what it normally is.

 

 

 

When my turn to set off came, I started with a group of around twenty other riders, who thankfully all looked like old hands who I figured I could follow for the first mile or so until they "dropped" me and then I would ride at my own pace for the rest of the ride and hope that I didn't finish with to slow a time.

 

About three or four miles in, I found that to my surprise I had passed a couple of other riders and was catching up with another group of riders who had either started in the group before mine or had been at the front of my group at the start. When I caught up with this group, one of the riders very kindly asked me if I wanted to join them for a while and ride part or all of the course with them? As a "sportive newbie" this was an offer I wasn't going to turn down, I mean it would be really difficult to get lost with this bunch who clearly knew the ropes.

 

Over the next couple of miles I was introduced to the rest of the group (Doug Lucktaylor, Steve Dickson, Miles Van der Lugt and Craig Pidcock) and what a great bunch of lads I'd found to ride with, friendly and willing to teach the newbie some of the expected form when riding in a group.

 

As somebody who had spent the entire summer riding on my own, I was really surprised at how much less energy is used when riding in a group of riders who all take in turns to ride on the front of the group and also how much concentration is required when the rider in front of you is only six inches in front of your front wheel.

The rest of day was a real learning experience and I learnt so much about riding in a group that I would never have picked up had I gone around on my own, so Doug, Steve, Miles, and Craig thank you for letting me ride with you, answering all of my questions and for being so willing to let a stranger ride with you.

 

Steve competing in a previous Southdown Challenge

 

The course itself was a really good blend of challenging hills, long inclines, fast descents and long flat sections which meant that all of the different riding styles and techniques that I had been practising since June were called into use. I was particularly grateful to the coaching I had received from Simon at Total Cycling Performance in respect of riding within specific heart rate zones and not riding beyond my lactic threshold on hills as without this coaching I'm sure I would have run out of steam on the longer, more challenging hills. I was quite pleased with my progress in respect of being able to get up big hills without running out of steam when I realised that I was actually passing other riders on hills and was able to have conversations with them as well! #chuffedwithmyprogress 

 

 

One of my memories of this event will be Steve proclaiming that "this is the last big hill on the course" as we were climbing Ditcham school climb. The profile image of the entire route taken from my Strava record of the day shows that this was clearly not the case. Somebody once said to me "never trust the locals" that might have been true in respect of Steve's somewhat hopeful statement!

 

The rest of the ride went really quickly and illustrated to me just how much harder it is to ride on your own than it is when you have the company of other cyclists to distract you from focusing on how long you have been in the saddle and how far you have got left to ride. One of the things I learnt about myself on this ride, was that I think I quite like going up hills, and the steeper they are, the better I like it - weird, I know. It might be something to do with overcoming the challenge or knowing I am pushing myself to the limit or something like that. Alternatively, it might be that I am starting to become a cyclist and accepting that to go down a hill you have to go up a hill.    

 

Something that Doug and I were discussing towards the end of the ride was the fact that Tandems punch a really big hole in the air, as they move and if you are following one it really does shield you from any headwind that might be present. So the Pixies advice is this, if you are on a Sportive and find yourself behind a tandem, take the opportunity to rest for a few moments before pulling out into the brick wall of wind that you will run into as you try to pass it. 

 

So how did I do on my first Sportive? Well with the help of the Doug, Steve, Miles and Craig I manged to get around the 50 mile course in a time of 3 hours and 17 minutes which meant I achieved a "silver" standard award.

Was I pleased with this result? Oh yes, just a bit!

 

 

 

I'd gone into this event not knowing what to expect, hopeful that I wouldn't embarrass myself by not finishing or finishing with a really slow time. I had been completely unsure of how a newbie would be received by the seasoned sportive veterans and had been unsure of whether riding in a group would be something I would enjoy? 

 

The organisation on the day meant that I didn't have have anything worry about in respect of the logistics of competing in the event and I would definitely recommend the Southdowns Challenge as a first event for a Sportive newbie or seasoned competitor alike. The other competitors couldn't have been more welcoming or friendly and if you are reading this and thinking about entering your first Sportive, don't worry about whether you will find somebody to talk to or ride with, you will and everybody will be really friendly. What about riding in a group? Well the Pixie, loves it and is now taking every opportunity to ride with other people. If you haven't tried riding in a group, try it, you'll probably love it and won't look back.

I could have written a lot more about this event as it really was a milestone for me in my preparation for next years big European adventure, however I suspect you will have read enough about this event by now, so I'll resist the temptation to write more :)

Once again thanks to the great people I met and rode with on the day (lets do it again sometime) and thanks to the organisers for putting on a very slick and enjoyable event.

I will be riding this event again next year and I will be riding with the intention of achieving a gold standard, so if you fancy joining me, feel free to get in touch.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read the Pixies ramblings and I hope you can find the time to visit my blog again in the future.

Dha weles diwettha

VP