contango 

You might have fallen short of your goal but you needn't regard it as an outright fail. 70km is a respectable distance to ride on a mountain bike, especially if it's a new personal best. Pick yourself up, keep training, and try again. Next time around if you feel particularly tired sometimes it can help to just take a few minutes break, get some calories down you and then press on. I remember a ride I did with some friends where I was really struggling with hills right from the beginning and honestly didn't think I'd have the legs for the big hill of the day. We were taking turns driving the support car and my turn came right before the big hill, so after parking I ate a bunch of peanuts and jelly beans and then got up the hill faster than my riding buddies could manage.

My wife attempted a 100k last year, got to about 80k and had to bail because her knees were causing her a lot of pain. She was gutted at having to quit the ride but a few months later we did another one and she completed it with plenty left in the tank. Even though she didn't make her 100k the first time the 80k she did was a new personal best by a fair margin, and the conditions were so bad it was quite an achievement for her to get that far in the first place.

That's your problem, if you'd kept your speed up you could have freewheeled for the last 30k

cdonges

I do have reasonably smooth tires on my mountain bike, not the regular nobblies.

goldfinch

You can get fairly narrow tires on most mountain bikes. I put 1.5 inch tires on my spouse's mountain bike and it made a huge difference.

Pamestique 

No such thing as failure... always consider it a learning experience and training for the next time.

ZManT

No failure
much win

Telly

Congrats man, you certainly didn't fail in my book!

AWB

Congrats on your ride!

70km is certainly a great ride, and you finished it on a MTB, I wish I could do that on my road bike!

You even had your own support vehicle, how cool is that!

cdonges

My wife and daughter dropped me off at the start point and then dropped some bags with food/water at agreed spots by the side of the road and waited for me at the end. How awesome are they?

mdphoto

There is no way that your ride could even be considered a failure. First off you got on the bike to attempt a significant ride and you rode it to a point of setting a new goal for yourself. So many say "I'm going to...." and never do but you got out there and did it. As many have already mentioned you far exceeded what many of us could do on your mountain bike so Congrats on this accomplishment.

Wooden Tiger

+1 on the hybrid tires! Just putting hybrid tires on your bike will make WORLDS of difference! I HIGHLY recommend Continental "Town & Country" tires if you have a 26er and most DEFINITELY recommend Continental "Tour RIDEs" if you have a 29er. I have nothing but EXCELLENT things to say about both of these tires! I've owned both and I've used both. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that with my Continental "Tour RIDES" my MTB is just as fast as my road bike on the pavement. They are not only fast on the road but they are very puncture resistant, which is a plus.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this much; by going with a good hybrid tire for your MTB, it will have you could easily second-guess ever needing a road bike. By upgrading to these tires on my MTB, I will honestly say that the performance of the MTB on street kind of renders my roadie useless. Simply put, I'm faster on the MTB with hybrids than I am on the roadie.

I couldn't agree more! Amazing how a few good swigs of water really give a boost; nitrous oxide for the soul!

eja_ bottecchia

Good effort...keep on riding (safely of course).

Push

Awesome man, like others have said its not a failure at all! keep those pedals turning.

WonderMonkey

I'm going to try a metric century here in a few weeks. I know for certain I have not built up to it so I may not make it as well. You can call it "fail" if you want and I'm the same way but what that words means is up to you. If you see it as "I failed but I'm not all depressed about it" then you can use the word "fail". I do as well. If you get down about it then use a different word.

I use the word "fail" here and there in a "I failed for sure but next time I may or may not". It's all in the meaning you attach to it.

skilsaw

Build up to it. You will be there before you know it.

Don't listen to the guys that say you need a road bike.
It is the engine not the bike.
But if you have knobby tires, some smooth tires would make a big difference.

Don't put yourself down.
Practice doing 50 km.
Tank up with water before you go, and drink lots on the ride.
Eat about a powerbar per hour.

Track your progress.

My son is a triathlon coach, and this is what he tells his athletes.

tergal

70kms on a MTB !!! .... and you failed how ?

Where about in Australia are you ? if you don't mind giving out the info

cdonges

I am more a commuter than a long distance rider. Probably should have done more prep than 10km trips to work and one 40km ride. Will give it another try another day.

I live in Toowoomba, Queensland. I wanted to ride into Inglewood, Queensland because of this long story... 17 months ago I told my dad that I was thinking about riding again and he offered me his old hybrid bike. It was an ok bike but the tires were crumbling so I asked if he wanted to give me new tires for Christmas. He did and when I opened them on Christmas day my grandma made a snarky comment that I would never use them. She was kind of right because I had spoke issues with the hybrid so I got a mountain bike with different size wheels but she was kind of wrong because I have done over 2000km since. She lives in Inglewood so I wanted to do the long ride there to show her how wrong she was.

cdonges

I am not too disappointed. I made it the 72km to Inglewood, and that was my first goal. I should have had some lunch and then pushed myself to get out there again, but maybe next time.

tergal

I live down in Logan , i knew those roads where familiar was up in Toowoomba a few weeks ago in the car , passing though to head out to leyburn

Have to get up there to go for a ride with you one day , i ride a MTB and commute to work as well Makes going to work worth it .

WonderMonkey

I have the Continental "Town & Country" tires. I'm happy with them.

cdonges

If you want to go for a ride in Toowoomba, this one is pretty cool, although I have never done it with the official group:

https://www.toowoombarc.qld.gov.au/co...ng-club-ride-1

tergal

5 Bucks says i get lost and end up at crows nest !

cdonges

I am sure your legs will get tired before you make it up there

tergal

True . Once my bike is back at 100% i will have to try and get up there to do that ride, nice and early in the morning ... i am sure my partner will love driving me up there !!! ( no i am not riding from logan to toowoomba )

digibud

well done other than the fact that you clearly need to learn to ride on the correct side of the road

donalson

I will echo a ton of what the other guys have... 70km on a MTB is a BIG deal and a huge job especially with minimal support (although huge props to your family for helping out like hey did)... figure out your weakness and work on fixing it

I did my 100k a few years back on a 29er that I'd modified a bit for road use (this is a pic of me after I finished... if you can't tell I was excited)


riding with some other guys helped me out tremendously, even in the un-aero position on my MTB getting into a pace line was night and day difference... I month later I built up an older trek road bike, it had a fairly upright position to deal with my unflexable self but it was still so much more comfortable and faster to ride. Sadly I never had a chance to get it on any real long rides before I ended up having to sell it.

I'm just now getting back into riding after a few years off and hope to do another 100k this year... and perhaps the ms150 next year but that will def be on a good fitting road bike, not another converted MTB (which is what i'm riding right now)

anyway good job... use it as an encouragement and move forward with that