antokelly

folks just asked this question in the touring section where i usually hang out.
anyway i'm doing a epic charity ride around Ireland next weekend 36 hours straight , what i want to know not having done anything like this before how do i stay focused and awake.
i'm an experience cyclist btw.

Homeyba

Most people can stay awake for that period of time without too great of a difficulty. If they do get sleepy, they will usually do so right around sunrise. That seems to be the most difficult time for most people. Don't keep riding if you are falling asleep. Get off the bike and close your eyes for 15 minutes or so. You don't need to sleep, just close your eyes. That will help a lot. Make sure you are well rested before your ride and you should be fine.

Machka 

1. Get LOTS of sleep in the week leading up to the ride. If you normally sleep 8 hours a night ... go for 9 or 10.
2. Get even more sleep the night before the event. Try for 10-12 hours ... or even more!
3. Take 15 minute naps if you feel really tired.


Incidentally, this brings up a point I've become more aware of lately. This year my long rides are centuries (so far). This year, I've also been quite stressed at work, and generally busy, and have not been getting as much sleep as I used to get leading up to long rides. And I've been struggling on centuries ... I'm slow and by about halfway through, I'm ready for a nap.

Last weekend I rode a century and I had all sorts of energy, and certainly did not feel like I was dropping off halfway through the ride. One of the significant differences was that we're on holiday and I have been getting 9-ish hours of sleep most nights (instead of 6-7 hours). I'm obviously going to have to experiment more, but I think getting extra sleep is having a positive influence.

antokelly

thanks folks i can sleep pretty good when i.m home but get tired always around 3 in the afternoon .
this ride i'm doing will mean i will be up at 4 in the morning and wont see sleep until 36/40 hours later.
lets hope i can last that long.
thanks.

StephenH

I never thought I'd get sleepy riding a bike, but I've had it happen several times.

One thing that messes me up is my normal routine involves not a lot of sleep and drinking coffee all day. But when I'm out riding, I get less caffeine than I do sitting in the office, so that works against me.

Even if you're reasonably rested, riding a bike when it's easy and comfortable and warmish can have a hypnotizing effect on you.

The worst experience I had with that was on the afternoon of the first day of a 600k. We had been battling the wind all day and were headed back the other way, so it was hot, wind was at my back. I was riding out in front of the group a bit. I was watching for my turnoff, which was a rural highway in very small town. Well, I came to that turnoff, passed it and two or three houses, passed the turnoff going the opposite direction a quarter mile down the road, and was not aware that I had passed anything. After another mile or two, I knew from my odometer that I must have missed something and went back. But there was just a 5-minute span there that was missing. I found out the group behind me had hollered and blown their dog whistles and I was just oblivious to it all. I read a few days ago about the man killed at PBP and just wondered if something like that had happened to him.

Oh, and may I suggest No-Doz (in the US), which is caffeine pills.

Rowan

I've posted on your parallel thread in Touring.

radshark

36 hours straight .. that's a heck of a ride!

I would try napping for about 30 minutes or so if possible. It is amazing what a short alpha nap will do for your focus.

Machka 

4. Eat regularly, even at night. (I think Rowan mentions something about this in the thread in the Touring forum). It can be challenging to eat at night if you aren't practiced at doing so for a couple reasons, 1) it's dark and it can be more difficult getting food out of pockets, bags, etc. I recommend a Bento bag for this ... and 2) we don't normally eat at night, so it may not feel natural to keep eating a bite or two of your choice of cookies, energy bars etc. all through the night.

antokelly

thanks again folks all advice greatly appreciated.

StephenH

"and 2) we don't normally eat at night..."

That's one of the major challenges for me to lose weight, is I DO keep snarfing food as long as I'm conscious! I never realized it was a riding technique!

Machka 

It was a mistake I made in my early years of randonneuring ... night would fall, and I would stop eating and would think in terms of breakfast when the sun came up. Well ... 10 pm to 6 am or so is a long time to ride without eating anything.

Sekhem

The first time you attempt to ride through a sleep cycle will be the most difficult. Like everything else, practice before the actual event helps. That practice might be ride a 400k, sleep for 90 minutes or less and then get back on the bike. You'll feel like crap but as you warm up you'll start to feel better. The next time you attempt the same thing it will feel less like a shock to the system. I work a lot of all-niters at my job and I know that experience helped me adapt to riding thru the nite.

Also have a contingency if you get drowsy on the bike and need to take a 20 minute power nap to 'reset' your brain. See what that feels like too before the actual event. If you think you are going to need something like an emergency blanket to take a power nap, experiment with that before the event. Dealing with a flapping blanket (under windy conditions), or needing a blanket between you and the ground to avoid hypothermia should be worked out ahead of time.

Don't assume that caffeine will be enough to keep you awake. It might give you a temporary boost but it is not a solution (and it might make you sick to your stomach in high doses). Making sure that you're consuming some protein throughout the ride may help delay drowsyness (yawning with physical exertion can be indication that tryptophane levels are rising because serum protein levels are dropping).

Your success in dealing with riding fatigue will in part reflect your experience, but also your fitness and the external conditions on the course. It's true that many folks may be able to ride through a sleep cycle (24-30 hrs) and be OK but you might be the exception and it might be difficult or dangerous for you (in other words, don't trust dogma).

Remember it's stupid to try to 'tough it out'. Understand your limits and err on caution. On the PBP last week a guy fell asleep on his bike, rode into oncomming traffic and was killed. Other people crashed off their bikes and were asleep in the middle of the road, barely missed being killed by speeding traffic (the physical impact of hitting the road didn't wake them up!). The dangers extend beyond simply being drowsy. Long distance riders often experience hallucinations and lapses in rational thinking due to lack of sleep. This can be extremely dangerous when conditions like hypothermia are a risk. The most useful thing to do if you are not extremely confident in your ability to handle sleep depravation is to ride with other people at nite. I would plan on it.
Good luck.

Richard Cranium

Will power. You either have it or you don't.

I guess the fact that you are trying this event means you understand what and why it is important. You have to keep telling yourself these things and realize that feeling of discouragement, fatigue or pain will pass.

Having ridden over 500 miles non-stop seven times - I think I can speak with some authority. You really do - just have to want it. And then will it.

That is all.

unterhausen

I have found that I will occasionally get sleepy enough that I have to work to keep my eyes open, but I can still ride just fine. I find this very annoying and somewhat disheartening. I haven't quite figured out how to get this to go away. However, if it gets to the point where I'm having trouble at all riding a straight line, I stop.

benjaminwest

Bring some 5 Hour Energy. Don't bonk. It's not that hard. Have fun with the night.

thebulls

I agree with much of what Sekhem said, particularly Don't Tough it Out. If you feel snoozy, pull of and sleep 15 minutes.

But one thing I almost certainly don't agree with: I know of only one person who was killed on this year's PBP, and that is Thai Pham, a member of DC Randonneurs. Based on eyewitness reports from some British riders who were about 30 to 45 seconds behind Thai, he was passing two Australian riders then suddenly "flipped" into the other lane of the road (where he was hit and killed by a truck). That does not seem to me consistent with falling asleep but more likely with something like a blowout or pothole. I do not have any more detail than this. But I do not think that anyone can say with certainty that Thai fell asleep, except perhaps for those two Australians. If you, Sekhem, or anyone else has eyewitness reports of the accident, please contact me offline, as Thai's family has asked that we forward any details as to what happened.

I found out about Thai's death in Tinteniac on the way back, and had many hours to contemplate the frailty of human life, the dangers (and joys) of our sport, and how precious our few hours together really are.

Nick Bull
President, DC Randonneurs

unterhausen

Nick, so sorry you lost one of your riders. I agree the fatal accident doesn't sound like a sleep related issue.

thebulls

As I understand it, it happened less than 24 hours into the event, during the daytime, before it really started raining. Not impossible to be sleep related, but pretty early for it to be so, I would think. Thai had ridden a 600Km, of course, and had ridden the DCR night-start 400Km, which was deliberately structured to give riders some training in dealing with sleep deprivation and a night start (Friday night at 8pm). Thai seemed to do fine, coming in with a couple of hours to spare. All very sad.

Different things work for different people, but I find that if I am starting to feel like my head is full of cotton and I'm struggling to stay awake then a fifteen minute nap is often good to keep me sharp for a couple more hours at night, and possibly all day in the daytime. Singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" can help, as the backwards counting helps to activate different brain centers. Wintergreens seem to help. But ultimately I think I make better time taking a short nap and then riding hard, rather than slogging away but barely conscious.

hopperja

That is absolutely amazing! I rode ~10 hrs today and I feel exhausted! I can't imagine 500 miles.

Homeyba

Nick, Please pass on my condolences to Thai's family. Very sad indeed...

Richard Cranium

I guess we don't get no stinking "epic" ride report?

Hello - you out there? You alive?