So today I rode my longest ride… 155 miles. I did not look at my IF until after the ride, but I tried to keep my power in end or low tempo. I ate a ton (man, I am sick of sugar at the moment) and drank more than normal, but I arrived back home feeling not too bad.
I hit a climb a few miles from my house and I just could not make too much power anymore. A short climb Im easily in VO2 power normally had me sitting in Sweet Spot being glad it wasn’t any steeper.
TrainerRoad says an IF of .70. That about right for this distance?
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seems to be in the ballpark? Five years ago I did the Davis Double and tacked on some bonus miles for a total of 201 miles at .68 IF.
Basically downhill after mile 135:
That event has food and water about every 25-30 miles, and I also packed some powder (Hammer?) but mostly ate real food. Over 4 hours during the heat of the day around 100F / 38C, which of course meant for some sweaty climbs and a couple ice socks.
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Nice ride. Yeah this was my first ride that I depended on buying food and drink. I never drink sugary drinks anymore (besides my own malto/fructose stuff) so that part was a treat! Regular Red Bull, monster, Mountain Dew. Plus candy. That was one of my favorite parts of the ride.
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Apparently I’ve lost my sweet tooth, because that doesn’t sound good to me!
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It’s funny you say that, when I got back I was so done with sugar. People doing that ultra endurance stuff must have serious issues with palate fatigue.
@redlude97 im sure! I was alone and just moving along in my thoughts, it would have been nice to have a partner for this one to stop at some places like that and enjoy
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Thanks for the offer. I will!
Yeah, bang on I’d say. Even if you had raced this, I don’t think your IF could be significantly higher.
About palate fatigue, is it really about the taste of whatever food you have left in your pockets or is it :
- whatever i ingest will slush around in my stomach and not be absorbed
- It is hot and my body temperature has been creeping higher and higher
- blood is used in my muscles and there’s not enough available to digest
- all of the above
Personally, it is more that the longer the ride, the more I crave for “proper” food. It isn’t that I get sick of “salty watermelon” and “fruit salad” gels and would prefer vanilla or orange instead.
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For me it was just that sugary stuff didn’t sound good and I wanted real food. Probably the body saying it needs something besides sugar. I did have a snickers and I feel like that helped a little.
On an ultra I am sure fueling strategy is way different. They aren’t going for the power only but sustainability too. I’m talking like 500 miles and more, TABR, etc.
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Not sure. Higher for sure, but then I wouldn’t have been able to stop like I did to get food which kept me going and feeling good. I think I could have gone faster with known feed points or during a race where I had a car to feed me.
I rode mine to the lowest average HR on any ride over 100 miles, definitely could have pushed harder but I just kept moving and enjoyed the ride and meeting new peeps along the way.
Since you live in the area and now know you can do the distance, you might think about trying the RAMROD next year! It’s quite an experience.
I find I fall between .70 and .75 on 100+ mile rides, so you’re right in there.
Regarding that late fade: I know you said you ate a ton of sugar, but I’ve found it takes a lot of focus and willpower to keep stuffing 60-75g of carbs down after hour 5 or 6. Do you feel like you were still eating that much in the final hours? Also, what about electrolytes? It can be a hard thing to nail down, but you likely lost quite a few grams of salt over 9 hours! Were you taking in any extra beyond what was in your fuel?
And finally, perhaps I missed something in your initial description, but was there a purpose behind restricting yourself to just sugar? Simple sugar is fine for shorter distances, but you might feel better on longer rides if you include some protein and fats in amongst the gels, candy, and sports drinks.
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Yes sir, I definitely would love to do RAMROD. I have a buddy doing it today!
Unfortunately I won’t be here next year, I’ll more than likely be in europe.
I do think I dropped off food wise in the final bit. Maybe the fact that I was getting close and thought I could get away with it. And no, the only thing I ate besides sugar was a snickers, so just a tiny bit of fat and protein. I would do it a bit differently next time regarding that. Especially since I was keeping it in Z2, I could have broken up the diet a little differently.
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Regarding the Wahoo… I opened up a ticket with them. They said that I need at least 1GB free memory for it to work properly and I only had 699MB. Thats why it turned off.
I asked them: Ok, is this just a guess, or are you SURE? Because I don’t want to get 140 miles in again and have it do the same thing. I love my computer and don’t want to switch it out, but I want to trust it.
So they answered: We want you to continue loving wahoo so send it back. Once we receive it we will send you a replacement.
I haven’t done it yet. Kind of annoying I have to be out a computer for 2 weeks. Garmin sent me pedals immediately when mine went bad and I sent them the old ones when I received mine.
What would you all do?
So Wahoo support brought emotion into it? I don’t love anything that much. So odd they don’t park a charge on your card, ship you a computer, and remove the charge when they receive your computer.
I’ll ask if they do that, but I am surprised they didn’t offer. Its exactly what garmin did and I wasn’t without my pedals at all.
To be fair I am the one that brought love into it. I told them I love the computer and they said they want me to keep loving it.
I’m more concerned that I didn’t get a definite answer. Is it because of the 1GB or not? If not, why did you say that at first?
Same. On my rides of that length I’d usually stop and eat a pizza somewhere in the middle. Probably wouldn’t do it right before a climb but it worked out ok (though on an 185 mile ride I bonked anyway with 7-8 miles to go. Only time I’ve continuously eaten race food for that length of time were ironman’s.
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I’m skeptical of this new (to me) recommendation of 100-120 grams of sugar/hour for a 9-hour ride. Even if you’ve trained your gut to handle that much sugar for that long, the long-term impact on your health can’t be good. It’s not surprising your body was looking for something else.
The first and last time I tried to eat that much sugar for that long was a 13-hour MTB ride - and I never ate another PowerGel or drank another drop of Cytomax again. 
The craving for “proper food” could actually be salt cravings. That was very clear to me on my recent 600 km when it was 30C and I suddenly thought “I want a bowl of broth and I want it now!!” Lack of salt/electrolytes is less obvious in the body than running out of fuel but for me a craving for savoury food is an indicator.
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