LEJOGLE 2020 – Preparation

Reflection

But, for some reason, middle aged women do develop an interesting ability to compete in endurance events very successfully, and armed with this knowledge I was keen to understand if, with a different approach, I could indeed get stronger and faster.

Clearly continuing to ride the way I had been for the last 10 years, wasn’t going to make a huge amount of difference in the long run. I needed to review everything that I had done that had gone well, and also the things that had caused me issues in the past and needed to change. Some were physical, some were mindset and others related to equipment.

My equipment issues were mostly resolved before I considered LEJOGLE. These were conditional for me before I considered the Race Around the Netherlands. I love my new bike, replacing my dynamo lights has given me reliable lights again, and my luggage arrangement just works perfectly. Everything I need when I’m riding is easily accessible, and there’s never any worry about having to unpack everything from my main bikepacking bag, as everything is easy access from the Tailfin.

The issue however with my saddle took a lot more work. I tried several different saddle types, but kept going back to my leather brooks for the longer rides. The saddle that came with my bike was very comfortable and didn’t create any saddle sores, but it was not quite right. When riding longer distances I would end the ride with a discomfort that can only be described as akin to period pain. Women, you know exactly what I mean, but guys, it’s a bit like being punched very low in the stomach.

I visited my friends at local bike shop Bike-U-Like and started the process of testing different types of saddle until I found one that was right for me. It turns out that although I’m not a big person, my sit bones are actually quite wide apart, certainly too wide for most standard saddles. This is probably why I always got on with Brooks so well. They are quite wide where you sit. Eventually we found a saddle that worked for me, and I’ve been riding well on it ever since.

I’ll talk more about my equipment in another post where I’ll provide all the details

When it came to strength and speed, I have been most surprised about just how much improved this 50 something year old woman has become. I won’t lie to you, my training plan has been tough. I set Trevor, my coach the challenge of getting me to be able to ride between 15-16 mph in 5 months. In a million years I never thought we would even get close, but here I am, slightly ahead of time, knocking out 100 mile bikes rides with a 15 mph average speed. I ride often. During lockdown there were hill reps, up and down the same hill 8 – 10 times. We couldn’t ride for far at the time, and so up and down a local hill I rode. I would sprint along the seafront into the wind, and then there were endless turbo sessions. I don’t think I knew what suffering was until I embarked on this level of training. But along the way, it started to get easier…..and I started to get faster, and stronger. I can now ride up a hill that’s almost a mile long, standing up all the way. This was a whole new world for me. It’s a very long way from social rides with friends, for lunch and coffee, even long social rides.

I do long for more social coffee stop kind of rides, but I now know the difference between those rides, and ‘training’. Training needs to be either alone, or with others that are also training with the same outcome in mind. The two should not be mixed up. Now that I’ve got this into my head, my whole attitude has changed as well. I’m unlikely to have any more social rides until after LEJOGLE now, but I don’t always train alone, so it’s not so bad.

The Nutrition aspect has been an interesting development. For a ride of 150-200 miles in a day, especially if it’s to be repeated the next day, you need to eat enough calories to fuel the ride + enough calories to have you ready for the next day’s ride. So, for me this is around 5000 calories. I tried once in the run up to PBP to eat 5000 calories a day over a weekend and I didn’t even get close. It’s easy to put away a lot of calories if you think of eating entirely bad or unhealthy foods, but in reality if food is more normal, that’s a serious amount of food.

On the bike it’s also quite difficult to eat lots. Flapjacks, nuts, chocolate bars, bananas are all common riding foods, but even then there’s a knack to being able to eat enough, and regularly. After many hours on the bike, especially if you’ve not had much rest, it can simply be hard to eat. What do I mean by that? It’s not unusual to take a bite of flapjack for example and be unable to swallow it. I’ve had a mouthful of food before just go round and round and round in my mouth, but have developed an inability to swallow. It’s a very bizarre scenario, when you are hungry but cannot eat!

So I’ve had to change my approach to nutrition. I have found a liquid carb drink (32Gi – now one of my supporters) that my stomach can tolerate well. You simply make it up, much like a milkshake, and 1 bottle can fuel for up to 4 hours. When your body gets a regular doze of carbs, it doesnt tend to shut down in the same way as I’ve experienced before. This means that my stomach is always ready to accept solid food when it’s available and it becomes easier to keep the calorie and carb intake up. And a body that is getting the right amount of fuel should keep on going. It’s a bit like running a car, without fuel it will eventually stop moving. My choices where available are mixed. A cheese sandwich, jacket potato, new potatoes, cous cous, something rice based, mashed potato, thick veg based soups. Food that is carb rich and quick to digest is always a favourite. Quick digestion is really important, as the last thing you need sitting in your gut is a lump of meat that just wont break down. Luckily I am pescatarian, so that’s rarely an issue for me

Since The Hubster is also going to be supporting some days of the ride, we have a stack of ‘Expedition Foods’ ready to be warmed up for my rest breaks. With each meal being between 800 & 1000 calories each, it helps to ensure that I am fuelling both for ride of the day, and giving me a little extra for the next day.

Practice makes perfect

Over the next month, its my final chance to just practice, practice and practice some more. My training has now moved to the stage of riding a decent distance every day, although this can be tricky when working full time as well. Riding every day will get my legs used to having to get up and ride each day, during the event. Hopefully this will help avoid the usual energy drop that often occurs in the early parts of stage events. This drop needs to happen before the event not during it.

Milestones

Training milestones are being hit, which has helped remove a lot of the anxiety I had about the reduction in the time limit. Now every ride I do, I consider it to be race conditions, even the easy rides to some extent. Race conditions means….

• No faffing
• To ride for 3.5 hour blocks without stopping
• To find food on the route (takeaway)
• Quick turnaround if stopping in cafes at rest break
• Head down, consistent effort
• Eat while on the bike
• Carb meal in water bottle
• Electrolytes in 2nd bottle
• No faffing (yes that’s so important it’s worth adding twice)

Navigation & routes

I’m not going to dwell on this in this post, as I’ll shortly be posting about my routes so that followers can track me and maybe ride with me for a little. But it’s important to note that I have been checking out routes that have been done before, especially by current and past record holders. In training it’s become clear that I reach my desired speeds when I’m on good, straight roads. Country roads may be safer, and many may go in the right direction, but they necessitate going slower around bends, hills may be more brutal, they may have lots of potholes, horses, and cars. Average speed drops considerably on country roads, and so in my route planning I’ve chosen the straightest and least lumpy roads I could find. By their very nature that means lots of A roads. It’s not ideal, but if I want set the record, it’s necessary

Supporters

I’ve mentioned here a few businesses that have been helping me along the way, and who have been supporting me on my quest. Without their help the journey to this point would have been impossible. When you take on a challenge like this, it’s important to find people who can work with you to sort out problems and issues. Yes, you can do it alone, but it’s so much better to call on the expertise of those whose business it is to know better.

So I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight my supporters in this journey.

Coaching and Training support – Trevor Payne – Zone6 Concept

Zone 6 Concept

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Bike Maintenance & Advice – Ingrid and Arunus – Bike-U-Like