Cycling: What's your strategy for long-distance rides?

Heeeyho Readers! Are you into cycling long distances?

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Just as Spring arrives, inspiration comes back to ramp up training volume. Those long Zone 2 rides that most of us fail to perform — some even considering them as boring compared to hitting explosive intervals. To be honest, as someone who's got into cycling as a traveler, slow-paced sessions are incredibly delightful and refreshing before harder exercises and the summer competitions.

In this post I invite the #cycling community to discuss their personal strategies to tackle long-distance rides. What to eat? How many calories? What kind o hydration? Etc etc.

^MTBing

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Some of us cycle long distances just for fun; others need the volume to become more competitive. My goal with this post is not to delve into discussing long-distance bicycle training per se, but rather enumerate simple strategies for those aiming to achieve greater distances on two wheels.

How far is considered a long-distance ride?

That's purely subjective to each of us, our level of fitness, and cycling modality. Say, for example, 100 kilometers on a road bicycle is not the same as a mountain-bike over gravel roads. For the sake of simplifying this post let's target 100 kilometers, which is an awesome milestone for any amateur on any bicycle.

Strategies to cycle 100+ kilometers

Don't take my advise as rule of thumb. I'm not a professional. Also, this kind of general strategies are widely available online. More important here is to discuss strategies based on our [the community] experiences.

^{Most recent mountain-bike ride}

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Above is my most recent long-distance MTB ride, mostly on gravel roads with bits of loose sand, on a sunny winter day, with significant wind from North-West (tail wind coming back home). All this information is important for the first strategy.

Planning

Don't go out far away without planning. The day before I check the weather. If that is promising, the next step is to dress accordingly, pack enough food (mainly carbohydrates), load hydration bottles, check the map for possible refueling spots, and so on. You get the idea, right? There's no need to over-prepare, but at least have some idea of what you wanna do/achieve.

The wind is one hell of a soul breaker. Whenever I go out on a long ride, going headwind first is prioritized (unless it's a competition), so the way back home is easier. I've seen experienced cyclists suffer to return against the wind. Also, feeling cold or cycling on extremely hot days can be dangerous — don't take that for granted.

Part of planning involves checking your bicycle. Is the bicycle in order? Is the GPS charged? Is your chain lubed?

Make sure to tell people about your plan and stipulate a time limit of return, just in case your cell phone dies.

Nutrition & Hydration

Pump those carbs! {jokes}

The number one reason cyclists get home completely wasted is because they fail to ingest enough carbs — we call it hitting the bonk. It's a sudden sensation of lacking the energy to pedal. Once you hit the bonk, the wisest idea is to stop and eat. Or you can avoid the bonk by ingesting enough calories while you pedal. The same happens for lack of proper hydration; lack of minerals causing those nasty cramps.

• I aim for 60-100 grams of carbohydrates per hour

For me, that's an awful amount of carbs, although it's what keeps me energized. Most of the carbs is packed in form of hyper-caloric drinks that I alternate with plain fresh water. Carbohydrate gels, power bars, rice bars, etc are other options. Then I usually stop halfway through to eat a sandwich. In case of a marathon competition things happen a little differently, but that's not the aim of this post.

If you are new to cycling and aiming for the 100-kilometer mark, don't worry much about eating while cycling, since you can quickly stop to enjoy the view and eat. Just don't forget to eat! The same goes for water... I try to drink a whole 600ml bottle per hour, but that changes quite a bit (summer days might be more).

Don't go for a long ride fasted! But don't eat a whole cow just before leaving. And... avoid alcohol at all costs.

Train & Test

Last on the list comes the obvious: The more you train, the easier it is to go far away without feeling wrecked. Also, test things out and take notes of what worked and what didn't, especially when it comes to nutrition and hydration.

• Felt hungry? Eat more.
• Not peeing enough or pee is dark yellow? More water.
• Cramps? More minerals

Our body is perfect in telling us what to change.
Take it slow. The aim of long-distance rides (excluded competitions) is to build our endurance, so there's no need to rush.

And don't forget to enjoy the views!

What about your strategy?

I hope you've enjoyed my strategies. This post is down to the basics, as you've just seen, but I wouldn't have touched the subject if it weren't for the many, many, many people who fail to follow such principles.

Now let me know about your experiences; your mistakes; your biggest ride.

Peace.

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~Love ya all,

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Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking and more than 5.000 km cycling. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.

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I'm Arthur. I blog about Adventure Stories, Brazil, Travel, Camping, & Life Experiences.

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