this is my fourth time doing the Ride, and second time doing the 200M. I am not a hard core rider and i dont have enough time to train, but i like to push to my limit. I must say there were moments that i wanted to quit on the second day. The tricks i have learned in the past few times of the Ride has helped a lot, without which i dont think i could finish the Ride.
1. bring Extra Strength Aspirin and pop it at a frequency of once every 4 hours. i buy the coca cola flavour powder Aspirin so i can intake it easily. i started taking the Aspirins first thing in the morning till i reached the Finish last year. The drug certainly killed the pain the second day, but i dont guarantee your tummy will fare well at night. But killing the pain is worth everything.
2. use A525 deep heating rub. The medic tent in each of the stops usually gives out this ointment in a small paper cup. The medic advised me to smear it over the knees and upper thighs for the ointment has the effect of expanding the capillary blood vessels which allows more blood to carry the oxygen to the swelling muscles. This helps a lot. The effect may sound insignificant, but i think it definitely improved my deteriating condition on the second day.
3. Gulp down the Gatorade every 15 minutes, this will replenish the electrolytes in your body to avoid any cramps.
4. bring along some energy gel packages, i use Power Bar double latte, i have tried all different flavours, and they all taste like crap. however, this will give you the power boost when your energy is depleted and still have a few miles away from the pit stop. The eneryy kicks in about 5-12 minutes after the intake for me.
5. Stuff your face with whatever they provide in the pit stops. You need every drop of the energy.
6. grease your chain, and inflate your tires to a max recommended pressure to avoid pinched flats.
hope the above can help some of you and good luck.
All good tips! I'll be bringing Advil for after my ride aswell! Very important to stretch out after you get off the bike to prevent muscles from locking up that night!
I'll agree with lubing the chain (use proper chain lube - not "grease"), and make sure your tires are properly inflated - but I disagree with the rest of the suggestions.
No need for gels or gatorade for the non athlete. Drink a bottle of water every hour. Stop at the rest stops and eat some food. Don't stuff yourself, don't eat things that you wouldn't normally eat.
This is not a race, it's a fun ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls with the goal of raising money to find a cure for cancer.
I've never felt the need to medicate during the rides I've done. Then again I don't recall there being any significant pain either. Day 2 of the M200 was a struggle at times, but I put that down to a bad approach to dinner and the weather.
I do object to the recommendation to "gulp" and "stuff your face". It is important to keep hydrated and to keep adequate fuel coming in, but that terminology promotes over indulgence which can be counterproductive. You don't need to eat and drink like there is no tomorrow, just to meet your needs until the next rest stop.
As long as you are sensible in your approach to doing the ride (whatever distance you've chosen to do), you should be fine. This is my first ride, and that's the approach I'm using.
had a minor collision this morning with another cyclist who didn't know the lingo or why I was shouting at her from behind.
next week you're going to hear people shout "on your left", "passing on your left", or just "left". When you hear it, maintain your current line and speed. Don't move to the left or right, or look over your shoulder. Someone from behind is letting you know they would like to safely pass you on your left and it's the person being passed responsibility to be predictable. You may here the same thing only on the right, same rules apply but people shouldn't be passing on the right unless in a group where all riders are familiar with each other.
I usually let people know I'm passing from pretty far back, but due to traffic I ended up on her wheel before the opportunity to pass opened up. When I said on your left, I obviously startled her and she veered to her left directly into my path. Luckily we were only moving at 15kph so no damage or injury.
had a minor collision this morning with another cyclist who didn't know the lingo or why I was shouting at her from behind.
next week you're going to hear people shout "on your left", "passing on your left", or just "left". When you hear it, maintain your current line and speed. Don't move to the left or right, or look over your shoulder. Someone from behind is letting you know they would like to safely pass you on your left and it's the person being passed responsibility to be predictable. You may here the same thing only on the right, same rules apply but people shouldn't be passing on the right unless in a group where all riders are familiar with each other.
I usually let people know I'm passing from pretty far back, but due to traffic I ended up on her wheel before the opportunity to pass opened up. When I said on your left, I obviously startled her and she veered to her left directly into my path. Luckily we were only moving at 15kph so no damage or injury.
On a similar note, if you hear or see a car coming from behind and people in front are doubled (or even tripled) up, yell "car back".
If you hear someone yell "car back" make sure you maneuver into a single file line. The best way is for the person in the right-most lane to maintain their speed/position (i.e.: be predictable) to allow the person on the left to move up and in or back and in.
4. bring along some energy gel packages, i use Power Bar double latte, i have tried all different flavours, and they all taste like crap.
Hammer Gels. Whole bunch of flavours, most of which actually taste good, and some even have caffeine if you like that.
I'll second this. I've tried almost every gel out there; some I didn't like the taste, others didn't like my stomache, but Hammer seems to have hit the nail on he head (for me at least).
That said, if you haven't trained with them, I wouldn't necessarily go out and buy a full box. Certain gels don't work with certain people's digestive systems (if you catch my drift), so it's all a matter of getting out and trying them until you find one that works.
Tried the gel packs my first year.... didn't like them.... I mean REALLY didn't like them.
Luckily I know some marathon runners and they turned me onto those energy gummie chews. Same idea, just in a different form. Also, easier to take since you just pop them like candy. For long rides I carry two, maybe three packs in my jersey pockets and grab one when the urge strikes me.
I've tried several... Clif Shot Bloks, Sharkies, GU chomps... but I haven't tried the Jelly Belly Sport Beans yet. I haven't really acquired a preference for one over the others, but if I do I'll let you know!
is it really necessary to bring your own snacks? i heard there will be lots of goodies at the pit stops and would like to avoid bringing anything extra if i don't have to.
also, i know everyone says to bring 2 water bottles or 1 bottle and a camelback...my bike can only accomodate 1 bottle, and i really don't want anything on my back. i've been doing 35k on one water bottle and i've been doing fine. what do you guys think??? should i suck it up and use a camelback?
is it really necessary to bring your own snacks? i heard there will be lots of goodies at the pit stops and would like to avoid bringing anything extra if i don't have to.
also, i know everyone says to bring 2 water bottles or 1 bottle and a camelback...my bike can only accomodate 1 bottle, and i really don't want anything on my back. i've been doing 35k on one water bottle and i've been doing fine. what do you guys think??? should i suck it up and use a camelback?
You can easily survive on the snacks they provide - no need to bring your own. And as it's only 100k it's easy to do the full ride without any snacks at all!
And one water bottle is fine. Fill it up at each rest station and you're all set. The stops are roughly every 25k.
-- Edited by twinpro on Tuesday 7th of June 2011 02:06:44 PM
....and I'd go easier on the Extra Strength (aspirin, ibuprofen, tylenol, etc.)....your body hurts for a reason....sometimes to prevent further injury. Unless you have something chronic, at the end of day one, and maybe the morning of day 2 to ease muscle (and saddle!) sore and help you get out on the road again.
I'm with twinpro....a minimalist when it comes to carrying stuff on my bike. This ride is extremely well supported. ....I take a few "Simply Bars" (16 grams of protein, 160 calories...gluten/dairy/whatever free....healthiest bars with the most protein!) in my jersey pocket because I like them better than the snacks they offer (along with cell phone, a credit card, and a few bucks), one water bottle in its cage, and a tube, gas cylinder, and tire levers in an under-the-seat pack.
Weather forecast is looking pretty good so I don't plan on dragging extra layers with me.
thanks for the responses and your suggestions. i'm going to stick to one bottle...might bring a couple of pro plan bars as their yummy and keep me going. definitely bringing a rain jacket though...will have to figure out where to stick that.
I always carry two bottles, one for water and one for Gatorade. As Adiamond said, there is no downside! But if you can only carry one then I don't think that you'll suffer, if you have been doing your training with one then you should be fine.
To the first timers, we all went through the same routine our first year, we worried about not bringing enough and then bringing too much, not training enough and will I be able to make the Hamilton Hill. All I can say is that with all our worrying the ride was pretty easy, don't get me wrong there were some tough spots but in most cases your going to have a BLAST!!
Thanks BAM. I went through a week of worry, but i'm finally getting over it. i'm just excited to be doing this event and raising money to beat this crappy disease. looking forward to seeing everyone out on the road!
