atwl77

Anyone following the AMR2020? Sofiane Sehili just won by going nearly 4 days with only 2h 15m of sleep. That's just nuts!
https://dotwatcher.cc/race/atlas-mou...e-wins-amr2020

How long have you gotten without sleep during a ride? I don't think I've even done 24h before the urge for a short power nap strikes.

unterhausen

I got 6 hours on a 1200k. 90 minutes the first and last night. I was dragging a bit on the last day, but didn't get sleepy

rhm

I've gone maybe 27 hours on the bike without napping, and that with an evening start after a day of travel and restless sleep the night before. But I won't say I didn't have an urge to nap.

unterhausen

I did pretty good this year at PBP by sleeping ahead of time. I wasn't sleepy the first night and I got 90 minutes at Loudeac. But after Carhaix, I wasn't great, had to stop and take a nap on the way up the backside of le Roc'h near Huelgoat. Fortunately, there was a bench, and I don't think I was there very long. That actually kept me pretty awake until Loudeac, but when I left there, things started falling apart. My knee was a mess and I couldn't ride up hills. So I took a couple of naps. I wish I had realized earlier how effective the knee massages were, I would have gotten one everywhere I could starting at Carhaix on the retour.

atwl77

It's funny though, that the sleepiness only happens while on the bike. If I get off and do other things, I don't feel the effects of it. Searching for more information about the phenomenon didn't come up with much though... closest I found was something called "Sopite syndrome".

But yeah, getting tons of sleep ahead of time makes a huge amount of difference. Still can't imagine sleeping only 2:15 on a 4-day race though.

unterhausen

That's not much sleep over 4 days, it's true.

I don't think it's too surprising that you don't feel sleepy off the bike. I have been really sleepy, gotten somewhere and ate without being sleepy, and then gotten back on the bike and sleepy again. Not quite as bad, usually.

I think the best I ever felt on the second day of a 600k was when I only had less than an hour to sleep. I slept 20 minutes, woke up, looked at the time, went back to sleep for another 20 minutes and felt great the whole day. Not sure I could have done that again though. Some people find they only need 5 or 10 minute naps. 20 minutes is known to be very effective. Nowadays I'm happy if I get 90 minutes sleep. I would prefer more, but 90 works. It's unfortunate it's nearly impossible to take a short nap in public in the U.S. without someone waking you. I really needed a few minutes on the 1000k I rode in June, and I couldn't find anyplace that busybodies couldn't see. There was one night where I slept behind an ice machine, that was nice. But that town was dead at that time.

clasher

I think the 460km I did in 26 hours at pbp was the longest I went without sleep on a ride. Slept 3 hours in Loudéac and then went to Brest and came back to do the same thing again. Took another hour in Mortagne and I did have a 20 minute snooze on a park bench somewhere between Loudéac and Mortagne.

I did did my first 600 with two one hour naps, one in front of a grocery store and another in a bank machine.

Ive never heard of the atlas mountain race but it looks sweet.

unterhausen

If anyone has amazon prime, I watched "ride to extraordinary" which is about a 600k mountain bike ride, the trans north Georgia. https://bikepacking.com/routes/trans...-georgia-tnga/
Pretty impressive ride, reminded me a lot of randonneuring, except with ridiculous singletrack. I don't recall how much the leaders slept, it wasn't much. There is one section of singletrack that gave me hives just watching them ride through it during the day. Can't imagine riding it at night.

BikeLite

Lots of caffeine pills and no sleep can't be very good for the brain, when the usual sleep patterns are one third of your life.

unterhausen

I know people that go without much sleep quite often. I know one person that I think might have chronic fatigue syndrome, but otherwise no ill effects