retnav94

I started cycling again about six weeks ago and now do about 10-16 miles a day on a somewhat hilly bike path. (ride a MTB) I am going to ride about 65 miles on Saturday, which will be the longest I have attempted. The path we are taking I am told is flat, little to no hills. I am wondering what most folks do prior to a longer ride, rest the day prior or do the normal daily miles? I realize everyone is different, but I would like some input. I normally have little or no recovery time from the short rides.

The Weak Link

Well, I myself would rest up the day before.

Hermes

With such little base (saddle time over months), I am not sure if it makes any difference. For bigger events, I do a "leg opener" the day before. Even though rest is good, your body starts to adapt to rest. When I hit it with an event which usually means more stress, I do not want my legs to come off of a rest day. If it were me, I would do a short ride the day before and do a couple of efforts.

RonH

Drink plenty of water and load up on carbs (pasta) the day before. Drink lots during and after the ride. Take food or gels on the ride. Food is important.

badamsjr

Find a pace that works for YOU and stick to it. If you have not done many miles, 65 is biting off a big chunk, but if you ride it at your own pace, should be ddable. Good luck!

leob1

Yes, take a day off to go riding. A bad day of riding is still better than a good day at work.

stapfam

Have fun and get the chamois creem ready.

Pat

Unless you beat yourself up on your daily ride, just do it. You might want to be a bit less intense. The time to take the day off is the AFTER the event.

The Weak Link

I must be pretty adaptable.

I didn't think about it much the first time I read the OP, but I agree that it is quite a jump from 18 miles to 65. A lot of people get away with it, but I never made a jump in mileage so drastic. I hope the course is flat and the weather temperate. I have learned to respect the distance.

retnav94

Thanks for the advice as usual. The advantage of doing the course we are doing is it is flat and I think if I get to a point where I feel 65 is not going to be doable, we turn and head back. I am not going into this thinking I have to complete it, however, I am very competitive and usually finish what I start. I ride hard on the 16 mile days and tomorrow we are just going to take our time. I worry only for my hind end. I am really looking forward to it. Will check in on Sunday, Thanks again folks.

10 Wheels

Stand up when your butt tells you to.

retnav94

Ended up taking the day off and making sure the bike was tuned and ready to go. We did not do the entire 65 miles due to construction on a part of the course that was not anticipated. We did, however, mange 54 miles and I am still pumped about it. Longest ride in my brief six week of riding again and it did not kick my butt. I was tired when we finished, and the sprint up the last hill about five miles to go was not bright, but my riding partner is 35 and I was not going to let him beat me up the hill. We were on Mountain bikes and I locked out the front shock, the bike rode great, We did not kill it as we wanted to just do the miles. I think we stopped twice for water refills, we each drank 140oz + and did not need a bathroom break until we got home. Not too sure if that is normal but I guess we were sweating a lot. Anyway we averaged about a 13 mile pace and finished with 4hrs 15 min riding time. Looking forward to the next one.

xizangstan

I salute your ability to do that. If you've been on the bike only 6 weeks and can jump up to 50+ miles from 15 to 20 per day - on a mountain bike no less - you must really be in great shape!

I ride a nice titanium mountain bike, but just switched tires from the 2.4 inch wide knobbies to 1.75 inch wide Marathon Plus road tires. Man, what a difference! I didn't realize how much I was killing myself riding 48+ miles on the mountain bike with knobbie tires, until I went out on the new road tires. There's no way I would try riding over 40 miles on a mountain bike again with knobbies.

Point being, if you're riding the mountain bike and still have knobbie tires on, you're a far better man than I. And if so, you might try road tires and see how much farther you can go for the same amount of work.

badamsjr

+1 on the road tires. I have a set of 26x1.4 Kenda Kwest 100psi tires on my mountain bike that were not very expensive, but have made road riding MUCH more enjoyable. I use Schwalbe Marathon 26x1.5's on my touring bike, and they are good too, but a bit more expensive.

Great job on the miles too!

retnav94

I had originally looked into getting a different tire for the bike but decided to just wear down the ones that came with it. They are WTB nano 2.1. Many folks feel they are a good dual purpose tire with enough nob on them for the single tracks but not too much for pavement. They definitely don't roll as well as the ones on the hybrid but I think I may be use to the ride by now. If we continue to ride mainly on pavement I am going to go to some slicks and just switch them if I decide to hit the trails. I am also a, questioning the accuracy of my garmin 305. It shows the milage at about 54 miles, but google maps shows the same route at 60.
I also joined Club Tombay yesterday. Only busy intersection of the route, slowed to a stop, thought my right foot was unclipped, umm nope, fell straight on the right side. No big deal, was embarrassed for about 2 secs then chuckled like a kid. Of course I am sure I will not hear about that at work tomorrow.

Jiffyjam

Do take every 3rd or 4th day off and walk a few miles to work different muscles. You can be over working your knees and never know it, they start to hurt a day or so AFTER the ride and it takes 2-3 weeks or more for the soreness to leave. Patellofemoral syndrome they call it, its painful and all but keeps you from climbing and going down stairs. Just my two cents as I am just getting over a case myself, never felt any pain until after about 600 miles of 20 mile rides 3 x a week. Ride safe.

trackhub

Some folks take a day off (vacation day) to go fishing. Some take a day off to play golf. (Lord knows why, but whatever floats your boat) Me, I take vacation days to go riding. As far as taking a day off from riding, do what works best for you. As others have suggested, rest, eat some good carbs, read something, or do some household chores.