(no subject)
Sep. 8th, 2006 09:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynMy mom asked me the other night if I was primed for Sunday. I don't think my brain's really thought about it yet. It's a hundred miles, and it's... just sort of there, you know?
When I was in high school I did cross-country running. 3.2 miles was our average race distance. My first one was something like 37 minutes run-time; my last came down to around 24 or 25 minutes. One of the distinguishing features of cross-country was that you did not stop. You got no pauses, no rest breaks, no nothing. That was how you tested your endurance. Run until you hit the finish line. Then stop. Or, rather, walk in circles until the dry heaves went away, then stretch in one place, then stop. If you were lucky someone might give you water partway through the race, but you were expected to drink it on the run. NO STOPPING.
Bicycling... it's different. In bicycling you're expected to bring water with you. You're expected to coast where you can, when it won't affect your performance. You're expected to stop at the rest stops- and most of the time, you're expected to eat. My first cross-country race was something of a disaster because I took another runner's advice and snorfed down some Jell-o powder near the start of the race as a source of quick sugar. Needless to say, this did not make the blood supply to my legs happy, because a lot of it had to go to my stomach to deal with the gelatin powder instead. Cycling? It's not like that. You get big signs saying FOOD HERE and people hand you bananas and complex carbohydrates. And this is normal. Perfectly, totally normal. This is how the sport works. Intellectually it doesn't feel like a test of endurance, because you're SUPPOSED to stop and eat. Not stop-at-the-corner, bounce-up-and-down, wait-for-the-walk-signal stop- stop. Sit your butt down and EAT THE MUFFIN. That kind of stop. It's not 'OH MY GOD A HUNDRED MILES', it's 'Huh. Five twenty-mile segments.' In terms of what I've already ridden, that's.... oh, that would be like riding from the WTC PATH station to 178th Street or so, then back, and having a five or ten minute stop for food and drink and gabbling before doing it again.
Mind you, there's also the part of my mind that points out that I did bonk at around forty-two miles on the sixty-four mile ride I undertook a while ago, but that's not as much of an issue as it could be. I'm aware that my carbohydrate loading for that ride was awful. I had meat for dinner the night before, since I visited my parents; there was very little in the way of pasta or other complex carbs available. In the morning I had a bagel, with cream cheese. I had failed to bring money for a real lunch, so lunch at the 25-mile mark was two bags of popcorn. There were no 'here, have food' rest stops. And I had one bottle of Gatorade; the rest of my liquid was water. Given the heat and the demands on my system, it's no wonder I bonked so early- and yes, you people in the Commonwealth are entitled to snigger, but honestly, the last time I checked the American cycling world used that term to mean what runners are speaking of when they say 'I hit the wall'. It's not naughty over here. Anyway, the point is that I'm pretty sure that with proper meals the day before, and with proper food in the morning and on the ride, I'm not gonna bonk until I'm a lot closer to the end of the route.
Cycling isn't like running. Cycling, to me, isn't as much of a test of your physical endurance- I mean, it is an endurance test, but it's not the same kind of test as running would be. Cycling is more of a test of your willingness to keep going, and of your desire to get where you want to go. Maybe it's that I use my bike as a car substitute, but my ability to complete long distance rides on my bike feels more like reassurance that I can go places if I truly want to. It's an act of self-transportation, not an act of pure endurance. The bike's not sports equipment; it's a steed, albeit one that I have to power myself.
A century ride's gonna be physically grueling, I'm sure, but if what I felt like when I bonked on the training ride was anything to go by, it's the mental endurance that'll matter most.
We'll see how it goes.
When I was in high school I did cross-country running. 3.2 miles was our average race distance. My first one was something like 37 minutes run-time; my last came down to around 24 or 25 minutes. One of the distinguishing features of cross-country was that you did not stop. You got no pauses, no rest breaks, no nothing. That was how you tested your endurance. Run until you hit the finish line. Then stop. Or, rather, walk in circles until the dry heaves went away, then stretch in one place, then stop. If you were lucky someone might give you water partway through the race, but you were expected to drink it on the run. NO STOPPING.
Bicycling... it's different. In bicycling you're expected to bring water with you. You're expected to coast where you can, when it won't affect your performance. You're expected to stop at the rest stops- and most of the time, you're expected to eat. My first cross-country race was something of a disaster because I took another runner's advice and snorfed down some Jell-o powder near the start of the race as a source of quick sugar. Needless to say, this did not make the blood supply to my legs happy, because a lot of it had to go to my stomach to deal with the gelatin powder instead. Cycling? It's not like that. You get big signs saying FOOD HERE and people hand you bananas and complex carbohydrates. And this is normal. Perfectly, totally normal. This is how the sport works. Intellectually it doesn't feel like a test of endurance, because you're SUPPOSED to stop and eat. Not stop-at-the-corner, bounce-up-and-down, wait-for-the-walk-signal stop- stop. Sit your butt down and EAT THE MUFFIN. That kind of stop. It's not 'OH MY GOD A HUNDRED MILES', it's 'Huh. Five twenty-mile segments.' In terms of what I've already ridden, that's.... oh, that would be like riding from the WTC PATH station to 178th Street or so, then back, and having a five or ten minute stop for food and drink and gabbling before doing it again.
Mind you, there's also the part of my mind that points out that I did bonk at around forty-two miles on the sixty-four mile ride I undertook a while ago, but that's not as much of an issue as it could be. I'm aware that my carbohydrate loading for that ride was awful. I had meat for dinner the night before, since I visited my parents; there was very little in the way of pasta or other complex carbs available. In the morning I had a bagel, with cream cheese. I had failed to bring money for a real lunch, so lunch at the 25-mile mark was two bags of popcorn. There were no 'here, have food' rest stops. And I had one bottle of Gatorade; the rest of my liquid was water. Given the heat and the demands on my system, it's no wonder I bonked so early- and yes, you people in the Commonwealth are entitled to snigger, but honestly, the last time I checked the American cycling world used that term to mean what runners are speaking of when they say 'I hit the wall'. It's not naughty over here. Anyway, the point is that I'm pretty sure that with proper meals the day before, and with proper food in the morning and on the ride, I'm not gonna bonk until I'm a lot closer to the end of the route.
Cycling isn't like running. Cycling, to me, isn't as much of a test of your physical endurance- I mean, it is an endurance test, but it's not the same kind of test as running would be. Cycling is more of a test of your willingness to keep going, and of your desire to get where you want to go. Maybe it's that I use my bike as a car substitute, but my ability to complete long distance rides on my bike feels more like reassurance that I can go places if I truly want to. It's an act of self-transportation, not an act of pure endurance. The bike's not sports equipment; it's a steed, albeit one that I have to power myself.
A century ride's gonna be physically grueling, I'm sure, but if what I felt like when I bonked on the training ride was anything to go by, it's the mental endurance that'll matter most.
We'll see how it goes.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-09-08 05:12 pm (UTC)This pretty sums up my feelings on bike riding. Granted, I do not have a racing bike but a big clunky bike.
Good luck!
no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 03:27 am (UTC)