patrickgm60

I've "volunteered" to ride a 24-hour (1pm to 1pm) ride for charity, next weekend. Sponsors are mostly pledging per mile, so I'd like to cover lots of ground. Have never ridden more than 7.5 hours in one day (at aggressive pace, however), so need to manage my limited resources.

What pace, gearing, and hours of riding would you recommend? Any other tips? Route is fairly flat, temperature range will be over 50 degrees.

Thanks.

DXchulo

Off-bike time is huge. You can gain or lose a lot of miles depending on how much time you spend off the bike. Of course, minimizing off-bike time is way easier said than done. You may want to take strategic breaks, which is fine. However, sometimes you can unintentionally waste a lot of time when you're just wanting to fill up a water bottle, reapply sunscreen, etc. Try to keep an eye on that.


For pace, just ride a little bit slower than you feel like you should. It's easy to run out of gas if you go too hard early.

pdlamb

50 degree temperature swing? Yikes!

Drink lots from mid-morning until late evening. Think about taking a half hour to hour and a half nap around 2-3 in the afternoon, when the heat is highest, either in air conditioning or at least in the shade. Better that than to overheat and take twice that long to recover.

OneIsAllYouNeed

Pace: "endurance pace". Faster than "digestive pace" unless you just ate too much. Don't worry about keeping up with other people.

Gearing: whatever you normally use should be fine. For most people, cadence and speed both drop with distance, so you really don't need to make any changes.

Hours: As many as possible. Shoot for 23-23.5. Minimize your stops and minimize the time of those stops. Carry as much food and water as you can. I'd start a 24 hour race with 5 24oz bottles on the bike -- and another 5 in a cooler near the 6 hour mark. Put your food for the next 6 hours in a musette bag so you can grab it all quickly. Keep your lights mounted to your bike from the start until dawn -- or the whole time. Going slowly on the bike while you futz with bottles, clothes, lights, or GPS is still much faster than doing the same while stopped. Be safe, though. Take nature breaks near the road.

Other tips: Chamois cream. Favorite shorts. Lightweight helmet. Salt tablets. Coffee. Reflective tape on your crankarms. Freshly charged batteries in everything (computer, phone, lights, shifters, power meter, boombox, etc) at the start. Keep a floor pump, spare CO2, and spare tubes in your car. Bring more clothing layers (jacket, insulated jersey, tights, hat, gloves, wool socks, booties) for the night than you think you'll need -- you won't be producing as much excess heat as you do during harder rides. More coffee.

unterhausen

bring an extra set of shorts

dual650c

I've done 2-24hour events, 1 self-supported the other sharing support with 3 other riders (their girlfriends/wives/kids).

Get some good sleep the night before the event. Many marathon runners swear by a big carbo-loaded supper the night before.

24hours self-supported is different than 24hours supported.

Either way -->> sunscreen, sunglasses, extra water bottles and gloves (half-fingered are fine) are musts.

If you have "dedicated support"/a friend, you're way ahead of the game in my opinion. But, support can be as simple as some other rider's support person watching your ice chest for you rather than having it in a car parked a bit away from the route/street/start area. Having someone else check over your bike so it's ready for the next lap (refill water bottles, check tire pressure, etc.) while you go off to answer nature's call is also great (unsupported this just takes twice the time). One other absolute benefit of "support people" is that they can "check you out" when they see you and help you assess your situation/encourage you through rough spots.

But self-supported 24hour rides can be made easier on you with a bit of forethought. Park as close as feasible/possible to the start/checkpoint area if you're going to support yourself out of the car. Ice chest should be covered/in the shade in the car if possible - leave your windows cracked if there's little possibility of rain (consider using a reflective space blanket - yeah, they work, ask me how I know). Pre-fill your extra water bottles so all you need to do is grab them to swap them out. Pre-package on-bike foodstuff grab bag(s) the same way - stop, get rid of the empties/trash, grab the replacements and off you go. No reason to stand around making a sandwich when they could have been pre-made. Leave heavy backup/specialty tools in the car; carry only what you need for emergencies (toolwise) on each loop (think flats and maybe a masterlink, something along that idea). Have spare sunglasses in the car.

The key is remembering that you aren't out there trying to kill yourself. You're there to raise money while having fun.

Enjoy. Good luck.

patrickgm60

Thanks for all the tips; very helpful.

The ride is SAG-supported, with food, water, lay-down area every 38 miles (the route is a loop), so that will simplify things. No way I'll roll for 23 of the 24 hours, but some good strategy ideas, nonetheless.

bgraham111

Don't burn out early. I watch my heart rate and try to prevent going over some level. (I think I have my GPS set to sound an alarm over 150 bpm). I go over it sometimes, but hearing the alarm reminds me to slow it down. It doesn't help me much on a 200 or 300km, but it keeps fresher on the 400 and up rides.

Keep eating and drinking. Sleep if you need it.

Bring extra clothes. Bring wipes. Bring extra butt cream.

Look at the advice for the 400k rides. That's a 27 hour time limit. (Most finish less than that of course, but the advice holds I think.)

unterhausen

lantiseptic for saddle sores. Saddle cream will burn.

recognize that you will slow down at night. Figure 10 miles an hour for the last lap, in case you are on the fence for starting it.

OneIsAllYouNeed

How'd it go?

LorenzoGraham

Hello there! Sorry for replying late, I have no idea about it, but you were doing a really great job. It was very much appreciable to volunteer for charity events. I have also participated in many mission humanitaire volunteering programs for helping the community.