Approach to training for mammoth one day rides

I was wondering if people had an opinion/advice on how to train for monster one-day rides. I’m doing a 200 mile, 18000ft elevation one day event in January and was trying to figure out the best way to approach it. It’s basically 4 climbs ranging from 5 miles to 19 miles. Should I aim just to get my ftp as high as possible or focus specifically on muscular endurance and long aerobic rides as that will be were i’ll be spending most of the day. I was thinking probably SS then Sustained power and some of century…

Thanks in advance.

Yeah, SSB 1 & 2, Sustained Power then Century would be a good fit.

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Did the SPBMV & HMHV II (HIT Maintenance) plans followed by the Century plan earlier on this year for a few Audaxs I’d entered earlier this year. So I would give a thumbs up for your plan.

April 200km (10,000ft ascent)
May 400km (18,700ft ascent)
July 200km (12,000ft ascent)

The plans I did put me in good condition for the events, especially as I’d never cycled more than 70 miles in one ride before. The FTP improvements thread shows what plans I did.

Knowing you have the fitness goes a long way as when doing these events as I find its more of a mental challenge to complete.

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I recently did Lotoja (~200 miles and ~9k ft of climbing) and I’d say it depends on the way you are going to ride it. Is this a race where you’ll need to respond to attacks or will you be riding it and setting a reasonable pace and disregard if others pick up the pace unnecessarily?

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here are some tips! 4 Tips for Long Distance Cycling | 250 Mile Bike Rides | EVOQ.BIKE

and some double century training tips from a guy that did his first double in the 1970s:
http://caltriplecrown.com/training.htm

I followed a lot of the tips when preparing to ride my first double century. Good stuff.

thanks for the feedback. Some great tips in there!

Haven’t quite hit the imperial 200 yet, but sweet spot base, sustained power build, century is what I did in the lead up to LBL which was 275km. My legs weren’t the issue anyway on what turned out to be the toughest day I’ve ever had on the bike.

I re-did sweet spot base, sustained power build and a partial century into my late season Audax too (which I’m hoping will carry through to my first gravel grinder too in a couple of weeks!).

Although I generally listen to the advice of the guys (particularly regarding FTP being the key), last season, thanks to a crash, I did a purely inside block in the lead up to a 200km ride, and felt I missed a few longer outdoor rides.

What are people thoughts on changing the gearing over early? I currently have a 36:30, and will be changing to a 34:34 for this event because there are several very steep pinches ~20% that will sting. I was planning on changing my crankset and cassette a month or so out in the hope of building up some climbing strength… or is that just silly? I should just practice spinning up at 90+ rpm where I can?