Eking more?

On entry to the Transcontinental Race all 2015 registrants were asked how many kilometres per day they were expecting to ride during the race?

Results are shown in the table below…

A tricky question?

In general if riders can get anywhere near the 300-350 km mark per day then I think you can deem that as a pretty good ride.  That’s a finish of around 13-14 days subject to 4,000 kms being the roundabout distance travelled.  I’m still working on the route so the total distance remains an unknown as yet, but if you can achieve that then I expect you’ll have the pleasure of attending the finishers party which is the ultimate aim for all.  However, based on the table alone it looks like two thirds of the field won’t make it in time if the table is a true reflection of ability.

I found it a tricky question to answer actually, there are quite a few variables, indicating my ignorance ‘how long is a piece of string’ came to mind’.  I’ve yet to do a 350 km ride in a single day let alone fourteen days consecutively.  In the past I’ve ridden 200 km back to back over the course of a week which is somewhat short of being remotely competitive in this race.  So I opted to join the conservative 280-320 km group which is where the bulk of the entries appear to have perched themselves.  For me anything short of 300 km per day will eat into my holiday budget which means between now and July I have much riding to do if I’m to stay within what I’ve set aside.

Training seems to be going OK so far – considering its winter!

At the end of the last 300 km ride I did,  surprisingly I felt pretty good, I’d had a bit of a rest, eaten pretty well so I reckon I could have eked out another 50 km or more at a push.  I followed it up the following morning with a regular club ride albeit admittedly the legs were a little tired, but whose legs wouldn’t be!  Again surprisingly I didn’t have a problem keeping up over the 75 mile or so ride.  Now I know its early days, but, and I’m putting my neck on the block here as I need to remain positive, where I am now, just maybe with the right uninterrupted training over the next five or so months (subject to not much snow early on), eating and drinking right during the race, riding at the right pace and not getting carried away, staying in one piece by not falling asleep on the bike, just maybe 300 km plus rides back to back is doable.

Then its becomes a mental challenge?

After two or three days I can only guess it becomes more of a mental challenge while the body fights to acclimatise to the load and ultimately builds strength.  It becomes a battle of brain over body when the brain starts to cower in the face of stress and the body feels the need to follow suit.  Its then all about finding ways of fooling the mind into allowing the body to work that little bit harder, eking it out…its that ‘mind over matter’ thing.  How each individual handles these lows determines how long you can keep it going for!  Now that needs a little thought.

The big question for the moment though is…what date do I book my flight home for?

Paul