Fastest Century ride?
 

I don't see very much information on this subject on the internet or YouTube. I do fasted rides all the time. 2019 I was able to do 15 Centuries fasting. 2020 I have done 2 Centuries fasting. Yesterday I completed the 2nd one, and did not break my fast until noon today. I did go out today after my fast and did 26 miles climbing 2,907 ft. elevation.

One of the side effects of the Centuries is for me, I have a difficult time falling asleep at night.

Love to hear from those that do fasted rides.

Never done a full century fasting, but I generally ride most distances short of that fasted. With lots of water, though.

Fasted Century ride?
 

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a4b0f09de6.jpg
This was my 1st ever Century ride and it was the 1st of 33 Centuries in 2019.

Fastest Century ride?
 

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a4b0f09de6.jpg
This was my 1st ever Century ride and it was the 1st of 33 Centuries in 2019.

The first of 33 was your fastest?

Yep. Most after that had elevations approaching and exceeding 5k feet of climbing. The 1st was relatively flat.

You should probably eat something.

I do most of my rides in a fasted state. I have only done 20-40 mile rides on gravel however. I intermittent fast every day for about 22 hours and only consume calories for 2 hours every afternoon-evening. I worked up to it however and will eat if I feel like I need to but once I got into the routine and got used to it I have no energy loss before I eat.

For me, it is the previous day that seems to matter. If I'm trying to drop weight, and I ride on, say, Saturday and minimize my food intake, I cannot ride on Sunday without food before and during the ride, or I bonk after about 1.5 hours or so.
I used to ride in the morning before work (4:30 - 6:30 am), and at that time I would ride before breakfast. However, I found I had better performance if I took in some calories during the ride, particularly for harder efforts (intervals).
The body is amazingly adaptable. If it works for you, then fine. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if you found that your cycling improved if you ate before and during long distance rides.

Under no circumstances could I ride a century at a low enough intensity to complete it with what calorie stores I already have. Realistically, anything beyond 50 miles gets iffy.

I also don't think the "invisible achievement" of a hundred miles without food is worth the bonk risk. My "easiest" solo century to date required 3,573kJ.

Lastly, just throwing out there that insomnia/difficulty sleeping is an indicator of overreaching/overtraining.

I can do 35-40 miles on an empty stomach, but when I run dry, it Really sucks ... I question the weight-loss benefits because I am pretty certainly not exercising the next day.

I would imagine, as @noimagination suggests, that a rider who could do a fasting century could ride it better with a little food ... but that leads one to the discussion of the meaning of "better." if the goal is to go far on nothing, you are achieving the goal.

For the better part of 20 years, I've been eating just one big meal a day, in the evening. (No good reason - it just sort of happened.) So, technically, most of my rides are fasted, as I have slept overnight and not had any food the day of the ride.

Shorter intense rides, like 30 miles, are fine - even if I go out 18-20 hours after my last meal. I've done a few metrics (100K) without calories. For anything much longer, or especially rides in the heat, I do notice some losses in performance if I am not consuming calories during the ride.

Since I've effectively screwed up my metabolism, I handle longer rides by eating a lot the day before and replacing calories through sources that are easier to digest - primarily liquids. I've done centuries without solid food, but not without calories!

Sounds miserable to me, and I agree that the difficulty sleeping may be from overtraining. On the encouraging side, I bet you would be a natural at randonneuring, especially the longer rides! You should sign up for a 200k brevet and see how you like it. :thumb:

It doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

I do 16/8 intermittent fasting 5 days a week, but where is the advantage to doing a 100 mile ride fasted ? Or I guess what's the point in it?

I do dozens of solo centuries a year. I did one where my only caloric intake was a cup of coffee and a little milk. I didn't like it and saw no reason to repeat the experience.

Do whatever works for you, but I'd rather have the energy to have a good ride. I can always tell if I didn't eat enough the day prior. That being said, I see a lot of cyclists (and runners) eating way more than they need to on a ride/run. I can do a hard/fast century on a good breakfast (usually 300cal of oatmeal) and around 800cal during the ride, that's providing I wasn't already depleted from the day prior.

And start fewer threads.

Just curious. How old are you?

48.

Do you find that you have plen6of energy?

Everyone has their own metabolism, and it pays obvious dividends to eat (or not) according it's demands. I'm in the process of getting back into shape and shedding significant weight after a long hiatus from riding. Whay seems to work best for me is an easy ride for maybe 10 miles before breakfast followed by a solid breakfast followed be a longer more intense ride in the early afternoon. I generally skip "lunch" and have an early and a light, veggie sourced dinner. I follow that regime 4 days a week and only eat sparingly on days "off". Since last August, I've dropped 30+ lbs. and gotten my calculated FTP up from ~140 to ~200. So it seems to be working. I make no claims that this is the "best" way to go, and it's certainly not the only way. But for me, it avoids the dreaded bonk (I hate that feeling) and provides the results I'm looking for.

I will typically do 60-90min on a mug of black coffee. 2 hours is my record. A century seems way beyond anything I would consider.

On these fasted rides I can average 18.5 to 20 mph climbing over 5,600 ft elevation, burning over 6,000 cals. Some might think you are cycling without energy, but you are using ketones from your own fat stores for calories. Granted, if you have low fat on you this can be dangerous, but I have plenty of fat to burn.

100 to 110 miles is good for me.