yannisg

I got completely exhausted on a recent 200klm brevet, and had to stop at 120 klm. I just could not ride continiously for any length of time even though there was not too much climbing left.
In the past I have misjudged by pace in the beginning of the ride, and suffered on the first major climb. I had to stop a few times even riding on a low gear. Even on the flats after the climb I wasn't able to ride at my normal pace. However, after resting and fueling I was able to ride at my normal pace.
On this recent 200klm brevet the first climb went well at a reasonable pace. On the 2nd climb I had to stop a few times even in a low gear I just could not ride.
There was a control point at the end of the downhill of this climb.
I rested and re-fueled.
The same thing happend on the next two climbs. I never recovered.
After these 4 climbs there was a flat section of about 20 klm. Even on this section I could not keep riding, and had to make a couple of stops.
During the ride I was consumming water and sports drink and had re-fuel at the control point.
During the last uphills and flat section my pulse was steady at 130bpm no matter the effort even though on the downhills it would drop to a normal level.
The temperature had risen during this day to about 35 Deg C and humid, but normally I am not bothered to much by the heat.
Maybe this situation is the body conserving itself, and not running itself into the ground.
This brevet had only 2000m climbing, and I should not have had a problem.
Has anyone experienced a similar situation. Any views appreciated.

PeteHski

If you were well hydrated and fuelled then maybe you are just lacking endurance fitness. How have you been training for this event?

shelbyfv

I'm familiar with this situation, unfortunately. In my case, I don't think nutrition or hydration were to blame. Once was clearly heat exhaustion, which apparently comes on more readily once you've suffered from it. Another time was just from pushing too hard, ignoring HR. Both times I was done for the day. I could pedal slowly on the flats but any climbing was impossible. I think the technical term is "hard bonk." HR is now the most prominent reading on the wahoo.

base2 

We have all been there. For me, at least, I think it comes down to nutrition and having a solid recent training base. I know potassium is my own personal Achilles Heel. Getting an effective proper amount in my diet (for me) requires effort.

I had been training for a 100 mile ride with 5500 feet elevation gain. I had several consecutive 130-150 mile weeks prior to the event. But come event day, at the urging of my spouse we bailed on account of the weather. For the next 3 weeks my training plan fell apart because of international travel, all the preparations of and lost bikes in...Latvia, apparently. Long story short, a gravel metric century with 5000 feet elevation yesterday had me flat. I couldn't turn the pedals and relied on the tailwind and steady down grade to complete. All the previous efforts and fitness vanished. (I'll get it back, tho )

Fitness base and nutrition. Sad but true. It happens to us all.
Better luck next time.


base2

cyclezen

For me, usually, when that condition would rise in me, it was a host of factors.
After review, I always found that I had some issues the days before the occurrence, which led up to the Somatic collapse. It wasn't always due to a too stringent lead-up to that period.
And it wasn't because of general fitness (assuming that you know yourself well enough to not over-reach on expected efforts).
You said two magic words/conditions which always were a significant challenge - Heat-Hot & Humid. Invariably these were always present when I experienced what you described.
Overall body stress becomes more difficult when body temp management becomes difficult. One sees that as a major element in performance of high level riders.
In my case, this would take me to what you describe; the body would try to maintain a higher heartrate and effort would limp along at some very low level. I believe this is the body mechanism to not totally collapse. It would maintain an effort which would string out the 'stress', until conditions changed enough for it to recover - the end of the effort you were making, rest...
The heart rate monitor was a huge effort in helping to evaluate and recognize when I was approaching that state of stress/collapse.
If this event was unusual for you, then maybe review everything, the days before the event. There's lots of info and discussion on this on the web.|
And now into the real deep cycle of aging, conditions and changes happen some rapidly and often, that I'm bewildered, trying to determine if something is a 'real' health condition or part of my aging process.
Ride On
Yuri

rsbob 

As I have aged, I have found my greatest enemy on the bike to be heat. My body doesn’t regulate itself like when I was young by copious sweating, forehead excepted. I have found myself after a hard workout in the low-to mid 90s, dizzy to the point of having to get off the bike and sit and rehydrate. Heart rate is also elevated over what is normal. And I used to love, and excel, at riding in high temps in my 30s and 40s.

My recommendation is to avoid hard efforts when it is hot, and drink more and before thirst is evident. It’s tough coming to terms to what was once easy now can be a real effort.

WaveyGravey

WoW! This OP is describing extreme heat and a strenuous ride.

big john

If you blow yourself up on the first climb maybe you need to slow down and stay within your comfort zone. Did you have a low enough gear? Were you having trouble with a pace that is normally easier for you?

If it's going to be hot I find that drinking a lot of water early on helps me later. It may seem obvious but on a hot day I will drink way before I get thirsty. If it's hot and I'm climbing I can't drink enough to keep up and once I get behind my hydration I can't catch back up.

Another thing is acclimation to the heat. Here, 35 Celsius is just barely what we consider hot. We ride over 40 sometimes, (110+f) This takes acclimation.
It's been cool for months and if I found myself on a hot climbing ride tomorrow I would struggle. Late in July after gradually working up to it, not so tough.

cb400bill

I too have had similar experiences. In my case, fitness, temperature, or nutrition were not the issue. For me, it traced back to the post cancer treatment meds that I was prescribed. I couldn't go much passed 25 miles before I was exhausted.

Two quick stories. Last summer, I was doing a flattish 32-mile group ride and got so fatigued that I had to stop 3 or 4 times to rest in the last ten miles. A couple months later I started to do a rolling terrain metric century club ride and called my wife to pick me up at the mile 32 sag stop. I was toast.

I consulted with my doctor, and he changed one med, and it was soon time to stop taking another. After waiting a couple months for that time release med to exit my system, I am close to being back to normal.

I do hope that you can figure out your situation.

yannisg

Thanks for responding.
I have done a few 100klm rides this year, and a few rides with harder climbs than those on the brevet so I don't think it was a lack of riding.
I paced myself on the 1st moderate climb, but maybe I needed to go slower.
I have a low gear 34X34 that didn't save me. I just had to get of the bike and rest multiple times. I went up the same climb last year with 34X28 without stopping.
I usually do not get affected by the heat judging by other riders. However, these couple of days the temperature increased suddenly with atmospheric dust so maybe I hadn't adapted enough.
I thought I was well hydrated, and there were spring water fountains along the way so I did replenish the water bottles.
One thing that concerns me is that my heart rate would be constant at 130bpm on the uphills no matter the effort. I think the Garmin was picking up the premature beats. Maybe it was a lack of blood supply to the muscles for some reason.
Did the same, more or less, brevet last year and breezed through it.

Iride01 

130 BPM pushing up a hill. I can't even ride a level surface with that low a HR. But not knowing the specifics about you I don't know if that's good or bad. Though I tend to think something was going on that isn't on the good side.

Probably just wore out and not ready for the ride. If you don't already have a good cardiologist or other heart doctor, I highly recommend getting one. I've been seeing one regularly since 2020. They tell me my heart is in great shape. It's comforting to know that they say I can run my heart as fast as I wish. Where as my GP and other doctors hem-hawed about that and made it sound like I shouldn't though actually they were really reluctant to give any answer.

Were you riding with a group? You probably got caught up in the faster pace with less effort and didn't realize you were out pacing yourself. I've done that several times and got spit out the back and had to finish the last 5 miles on my own.

If you were solo most of the time, then you also probably pushed too hard at the start. Better to start slow and finish fast. Or just finish. But sometimes difficult to start slow when everyone else is passing you.

If you aren't riding in groups for these long events, you ought to try to find one that is your speed. You'll save a lot of energy in a group that is the correct speed for your current conditioning. And you'll finsh 30 to 90 minutes quicker time depending on the length of your ride.

terrymorse 

OP's description is just like me on my first hot ride of the season.

It takes a couple weeks to get used to the heat.

yannisg

I have a cardiologist who is an athlete. His recommendation is at yr age avoid long high intensity. Of course, when I climb a hill I try to keep the HR below 135, but on the steep sections it can reach occasionally up to 155-160 for short periods.
Maybe I pushed a little harder than I should have in the beginning.
Also there was a sudden increase in temperature.
Garmin showed average temp 36 deg with max 48 deg

Tomm Willians

I just have started a return to my normal cycling strength after a period of I don’t know what was going on. For about a month it seemed that I had lost all my power and endurance though I didn’t feel obviously ill.
I was experiencing some of the weakest rides I can recall and it just went on and on….
I just kept riding and training the best I could and then it just ended. Covid? I really don’t know but yes, sometimes a ride (or rides) can just suck.

Trakhak

That'll do it!

In winter in areas where temps get below freezing, or far below freezing, we can and do bundle up to stay warm. Or we avoid being outside for extended periods.

In hot weather, once you've reached the minimum allowable in clothing and the temp is still climbing, best to avoid exertion and seek air-conditioned comfort. But for endurance athletes, including many of us here, it's too easy to assume that all we need to do to ride for hours in intense heat is to drink more water. Even below 30 degrees C, or temps in the 90's F, we're flirting with danger.

Back in the 1990's, one of the Race Across America competitors had worked out a scheme for the hottest days whereby his brother would ride up from the follow van every 15 minutes with two bottles of water: one for him to drink, the other to pour over him.

The racer got through the heat fine. The brother ended up in the hospital with heat exhaustion.

Wildwood 

View: Congrats on your effort - and sharing - guessing you might be on the younger side of this 50+ grouping.
Your problem could be simple or complex. Like @Trakhak said = those temps likely cooked the system.
Don't the brevet lengths just go up from 200km?

Maybe by the time you qualify for the 65+ thread you will have conquered this brevet quandary. One way or another.


Aside:
1. Your country gets Hot. very Hot.
2. my most memorable time in Greece was a beautiful little beach below the cliffs at Paleokastritsa, Corfu. Not Athens or the ancient monuments of early civilization. Best to create one's own history ....
Kinda looked something like this from the road, before descending on my rented moped, sweating all the way. The beach would be just out of the pic ..... haha, but you (all) get the idea.

50PlusCycling

Refueling during a ride doesn’t help much if you haven’t properly fueled up before the ride. It takes time to metabolize food, and what you eat the day before the ride has a greater influence than what you eat during the ride. I notice an improvement in my riding strength and endurance if I eat a lot of carbs, starch, and fat the day before. I spread out my eating to more evenly distribute food in my digestive tract, making it easier for my body to extract. I did this in the days when I rode competitively. I picked this up from a horse trainer who used to run horses on the race track. He and other trainers fed their horses 5 times per day instead of the usual twice per day, and this helped them run faster and farther. It works, and the effect is noticeable.

Wildwood 

Me too! I go more, not necessarily faster. Trust your horse trainer.

bikemig 

+1 on this. I grew up and did a lot of long hard efforts in southern Louisiana where hot and humid is the norm. Now I dial it back when it gets too hot and sticky because I don’t handle the heat as well as I used to.

Carbonfiberboy 

Good preparation for a 200 is riding a total of 200k/week for a few weeks before the brevet, then an easy week before it. I'm comfortable doing long rides if I've ridden 160k/week for a few months, not less. When I was riding brevets, I rode a competitive 100k ride every weekend for months.

I ride by heart rate and watch it closely. I know what my heart rate should be for any terrain. Any variation from my normal is a cause for concern. If my heart rate is lower than it should be for the effort, I need to fuel. It it's higher than it should be for the effort, I'm dehydrated. When I get dehydrated in hot weather, I sit in the shade and drink water until my heart becomes more normal again, sometimes that takes 2 liters. I consume about 60g/hour of carbohydrate. On a short brevet like a 200, I only consume carbohydrate and only maltodextrin mixed with a little flavored whey protein. On a long hot ride, I carry two liters of water in a Camelbak and a liter bottle with my maltodextrin and whey and drink a little from it every 15' or so then a few swallows from the Camelbak.

Iride01 

I don't know why some say that. Seems to show that they aren't thinking about it carefully. AFAIK, nobody can stay at their max hr or even Zone 5 for very long without tiring and having to slow back to a much slower HR below their LTHR. Or is he really thinking you shouldn't even be in Zone 3 very long?

I didn't mention it in my other reply, but a temperature increase over what you are currently use to will sap your energy faster. And maybe even have you cramping up a bit in the legs no matter how well you hydrate and/or balance your electrolyte intake. As the summer days heat up, It takes me about 3 rides at a particular temperature to really get use to being able to do a maximum effort ride without feeling like my legs are about to cramp up.

RB1-luvr

I would like to know more about this if someone could point me in the direction of where to read about it.

shelbyfv

Apologies. Just a quick Google shows this is incorrect. I'll delete my post.

bblair

This right here.

yannisg

View: Congrats on your effort - and sharing - guessing you might be on the younger side of this 50+ grouping.
Your problem could be simple or complex. Like @Trakhak said = those temps likely cooked the system.
Don't the brevet lengths just go up from 200km?

Maybe by the time you qualify for the 65+ thread you will have conquered this brevet quandary. One way or another.


Aside:
1. Your country gets Hot. very Hot.
2. my most memorable time in Greece was a beautiful little beach below the cliffs at Paleokastritsa, Corfu. Not Athens or the ancient monuments of early civilization. Best to create one's own history ....
Kinda looked something like this from the road, before descending on my rented moped, sweating all the way. The beach would be just out of the pic ..... haha, but you (all) get the idea.
I was a Paleokastritsa in the late '80. glad you enjoyed your stay.
Then I did a few explorative rides in northern Kerkira, and enjoyed them