Josh and mike just live fast and keep plugging away
So true, I'm sure Mike can ride fast over a day ride too but pace vs efficient confidence all hit home with me while racing closely with Alex Harris - I was faster than him up a hill or over shorter distances (or so I thought - a wiser roadie lets you go if he knows you'll fall back and Alex is an experienced racer), but he kept an efficient and no-faff manner. I had to use my pace or energy to make back any time lost and that brought me back to his preferred pace eventually, then it got more interesting for us both. Tougher for me by that point I expect.
Steadier riding also means you can ride longer and I suspect an extra hour or so a day is worth more than upping the tempo past a certain point, over a 15 hour saddle-time day, 1.5 hrs is 10% more .. but 10% more HR or power effort feels like a significant differance over a long ride, to me.
That's how IanFitz's HTR looked to me as a spectator - no initial rush to the front yet on average his pace x time was high for a great finish.
Thanks all. This is all very new to me, so I'm learning a lot.
For me, fitness is easy to work on, but specifics like this are nigh on impossible to get without talking to people with experience. :)
Race related, how do the caffeine addicts here cope when riding? I have caffeine tablets in my water, but it doesn't seem to provide enough, even being topped up by the occasional shot block on the way. On the BB200 I had chocolate covered coffee beans, which worked nicely, but they're not exactly light, and not exactly easy to get hold of (so I wouldn't want to rely on them on a multi day event).
Last edited by Richard G on Thu Jun 02, 2016 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Richard G wrote:Race related, how do the caffeine addicts here cope when riding? I have caffeine tablets in my water, but it doesn't seem to provide enough, even being topped up by the occasional shot block on the way. On the BB200 I had chocolate covered coffee beans, which worked nicely, but they're not exactly light, and not exactly easy to get hold of (so I wouldn't want to rely on them on a multi day event).
Reduce any un-necessary dependancies (e.g. stuff that isn't food, sleep, fresh air and water) in your day-to-day life. Less to worry about on the trail.
Richard G - after a day or two, when the headaches go away, I don't miss caffeine - if anything, I use it less when racing multi day things - occasional can of coke is about it. I find it makes me a bit too regular if I take on too much on multi day things.
24 hour races...all bets are off, I tend to take on as much as I can, not so I don't slow down, but so as to increase focus. The whole caffeine increasing fat metabolism "research" done in the USSR in the 70s has been pretty much debunked by this stage. It's main use is as a stimulant, and mainly as a focusing ergogenic aid.
FYI - normal caffeine intake for me - 2/3 cups of coffee a day (double espresso with water) - maybe a cup of tea at 5:30pm. Nothing after 6pm.
From the literature - low coffee intake considered < 5mugs per day of filter, med 5<10, high 10+ - based on research from long duration armed forces studies.....which IMHO skews the data as they tend to have different ideas on what "normal" counts as :)
I have the mg dose breakdown data somewhere, but don't remember where.
Race related, how do the caffeine addicts here cope when riding?
Proplus .. or redbull if you can stomach it, I hate the stuff though. Messes me up too much. Burns you up at both ends and I mean mentally/physically not vindaloo-style ..
Edit to add, a morning proper coffee outdoors is one big plus for touring over racing. For racing I found same as Greg, missed it less after a few days, either that or you're so tired it has little effect. I ate 5 proplus one mid-morning, all that I had left, and still felt my head dropping off as I rode an hour or two later. Didn't care abut running out after that : ) Some racers dfo seem to use a fair bit of redbull-type stuff but it's no unfair advantage if doesn't actually create energy. Payback is due etc.
Last edited by jameso on Thu Jun 02, 2016 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Then it'll hold you back... you'll use resources (time, money, stress etc.) trying to satisfy an unnecessary requirement. I know I'd rather (and do) enjoy coffee, than require it to function.
You're also missing out on the near-superhuman riding powers instilled by a waterbottle full of flat cherry coke...
Unfortunately my coffee intake is more like 10+ cups a day... and yeah, not really sure why I didn't think of pro-plus. It's certainly light enough to carry with no worries.
...and yeah, I'm quite aware it would hold me back. But then so will not being able to train 40 hours a week and have a sports massage every other day. We all have our weaknesses.
Basically I consider what I need not what I'd like. Does the body really care if the food is hot or cold? Sure some foods are inedible or unsafe if not cooked but a lot of the time our convenience foods have already been cooked and we are just reheating them. There is the psychological effect of a nice hot cuppa or whatever.
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry
ps you also know it doesnt take that long to get over caffienne withdrawl.
it also doesnt take long to see effects of carb reduction in the lead up to long low intensity events such as ultrarunning/long distance biking such as discussed.
how ever the fat high diet required to stimulate the transfer of fat across the membrane is hard work to sustain and is a whole training regime in its self.
I did low carb with intermittent fasting for about 6 months and it ruined my ability to power up hills. It's fine at moderate heart rates, but really, really not good when you're up at VO2 max.
While we're on a science / training / stimulant tack, I'd like to point out that yesterday I discovered that nettle stings are far more effective in keeping you awake and alert than caffeine.
After retiring to my pit around 10.45 pm, I lay there until 1.15 am before finally getting up. I sat up for the remainder of the night writing and this morning resumed my day as normal - no ill effects whatsoever ... apart from the stings themselves
Go in to <insert your least favourite socio-economic group here> mode and just leave everything for someone else to clear up?
I think Greg's covered it really: get a system; learn it and its short-comings; be consistent but also adaptable. Just because someone else does X doesn't mean it will work for you, might be worth trying on training rides because you should never stop learning, maybe even adapt it to suit you.
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry
I actually had a thought on that. On many normal rides now I'm carrying bikepacking gear to slow me down / get used to riding with it. I wonder if I should have a go at setting it up / taking it down at the half way point in the ride whilst my riding partner eats his lunch or something.
a friend of mine who was pretty handy on a bike always told me.
"ride a heavy bike race a light bike"
also id just like to make it clear that a low carb diet is not a high fat diet. A massivly different way in how fuel is processed on a high fat diet as oppose to a high protein diet.
the result is that your body adapts to go longer at lower intensity (and thats proper peer reviewed paper back science not anecdote)
