Longest Distance

I’ve started training to do some longer distances on the fixed gear (~200km) and was wondering what is the longest you’ve ridden on a fg/ss.

I know Gypsy and LAM did the epic vanishing point trip and I’ve seen fyxomatosis blog a few journeys so I know it’s possible.

Also if anyone’s got any nutrition tips please share them. The distance I plan on doing has only 1 place to fill water bottles and no place to buy food does this complicate things?

most i’ve done in a day is about 60kms.
200km wouldn’t be too bad, but i’d want a pub in the middle

longest day fixed was 110km, longest day on a roady was 365km, and funnily enough the fixed day was almost harder

Unicycle: 162 km
Bicycle (s/s): about 100 km
Geared bicycle: 230 km
Motorcycle: 1400km
Car: 2300km

Nutrition: eat a good breakfast. I usually have 6 slices of toast (wholegrain - low GI) with Vegemite and some Nice biscuits. Coffee is good. When on the road I eat energy bars, lollies and gels. Drink plenty of water with the gels.

140kms fixed.
legs were fine. balls were not.

I got about 180km in a day, half the distance from paris to london. Backed it up with 150km the following day. Was pleasent riding, but bought a new saddle as i was somewhat sore for a while afterwards. Was all fixed by the way.

I know they are un-eurocool, but a hydration pack should sort you out if refilling is a problem. I haven’t looked into it much but 3 L bladders are common and I’m sure bigger ones exist. Even a 3 L one is 4.5 bottles, so it’s more space efficient.

We did >160km for Brewery Ride v3.0. I’m always surprised how much water I go through, so if you only have one spot to refill (where are you riding, Cambodia?), I’d definitely take two bidons.

As far as snacks, I find a few Snickers work a treat when you start to fade, but you will need more than that for a 200km ride. And as m1 said, a good, big breakfast will serve you well.

Perth to Bunbury on a brand new highway, unfortunately the bright sparks that they are didn’t think to put a servo on the entire road so it makes things a bit difficult. I’m taking a camelbak so that’s 3L.

Prague to Berlin 660Km. over 5 days. 100 average/day smashed 140km on the last day.

  • likewise.

the most on my fixie about 6kms i have only owned 2 weeks on my roadie 160kms lots of climbing in it

Oh yeah protein bars
titan protein bars
Endura optimizer

and get BSC aka body science or the optimizer and make a cake before you bake it pour some of the protein powder in and BAM that shit is how i do 12-24 hr events oh and REDBACK high protein pancakes ]

thats all i have to offer :-Dgood luck
and if i feeling im nearing depletion i eat Endura the re hydration formula straight

Did 60kms today, powered by Maccas beforehand, and a couple of beer stops along the way.

about 200kms fixed… to Portsea and back from Melbourne

-2 bananas before I left
-Water, half a bag of snakes, a gatorade on the way down.
-Lasagna at Portsea pub and a pint of coke
-water and a bag of snakes on the way home.

Gels and all must be ok, but would they be as good physically and mentally as ‘real’ food?

I like smashing an up and go before rides now, doesn’t sit as heavily as a stomach full of a meal.

Doing Portsea and back tomorrow, will probably go an up and go and a banana and some peanut butter on toast before I leave and try to chill on the sugar on the way down. Maybe dig into some snakes if i’m fading on the way back

I’m doing portsea return as well tomorrow.

Today I’ve loaded up on 4 slices of toast, a banana, bircher muesli, vegetables and rice, a burger with the lot + chips, a pack of mint slices and a tin of rice pudding.

Oh and about ten coffees but thats nothin different from any other day.

Smashing another rice pudding for breakfast and taking powdered gatorage and a couple of caffeinated gels to carry so the bag is light, will eat sugar at servos and big lunch at portsea.

Happy dead jesus day. Or is it when he comes back to life? Whatever…

Not very space efficient, but bagels are fucking awesome. My last 200 k ride, i ate three bagels over the space of the ride and they served me very well. Sports drink of some sort mixed with water is always good. A coffee or two. Any more and my heart hurts and i start to sweat weirdly.

Easy on the sugar… and you dont really need gels :wink:

There was a good thread on here where people discussed fuel for longer rides.

Talk to angry, the guy has done some good thinking and testing on what works (for him). it’s not high-tech but it is smart.

I find too much sugar without other stuff to digest gives me gut problems on longer rides. things like trail mix/scroggin, simpler sugars (honey and fruit) gives me more and longer lasting energy than a lot of the ‘high-tech’ stuff. thats not to say that when you are feeling a bonk coming on a handful of snakes or whatever doesnt work, but if you plan ahead you often dont need them.

bananas are the single best thing on the world for longer rides…

agreed nic. You can’t beat real food. - that said, it’s interesting to see what you crave once you roll into a servo after a good 50k stretch - it’s often the massive greasy burger that wins out over any kinda health bar.

Yep, real food for as long as possible - sandwiches, muesli bars (just plain uncle toby’s not the hi-tech ones (sorry cadel)), salty nuts (almonds are good), bananas, bag of party mix lollies and plain water. This keeps me going all day - slam some sugar as needed e.g. lollies, gatorade, big M etc. I try to stay away from too much sugar, greasy, heavy food - it just increases the chances of giving me the shits. You want to constantly nibble stuff that will move through your stomach quickly and not unbalance your sugar/salt levels while giving you enough energy to ride at the pace you want to ride.

Works for me (plenty of >12hr rides fixed) but you really have to just do long rides and see what works for you. Everyone’s different.

For more info on this and long distance riding in general, goggle audax, randonneur, nutrition etc. There’s heaps of knowledge out there if you listen to your bearded elders.

good rule of thumb…

+1 for: bananas, fruit cake, trail mix and snakes. Peanut butter, banana and honey sandwiches work well. *Elvis knew his stuff, he just didn’t ride! You don’t need the gels and expensive, high tech bullshit.