YSC Tour De Pink

Thank you everyone for your donations and support! We have a little over 55 days left for anyone who still wants to donate, we are almost there!
 
We really need to start putting some time in the saddle, we keep putting it off. Any pointers? We are doing the NY century tour which will probably have the same vibe/pace as the TdP. It will also be the longest either of us have ridden in one stretch. ChrisG mentioned we need to start doing back to back long rides (50+ mile?) rides on the weekends and to keep an eye on what we eat between rides to see how we feel for the next day.

This seems like a great idea, we are both fairly healthy eaters. We're not big fans of fast food(Pearls White Castle binge made my stomach turn:puke:) but we've never really payed attention to how our meals effect our riding the next day. Any recomendations on what you've found works for you and what doesn't the night before or the morning of a long ride. Last thing I want is stomach issues on a 85 mile ride! I know most of this info can probably be found one of the several hundred training threads i have yet to read through...
 
You really need to try different things and see what works, it is a process, but each person if different. I would say stay away from very spicey and hot foods or foods with heavy sauces. It may not affect you at all, or it may affetc you and not your wife, etc...

It is a similar process to finding out what works for you on the bike as far as drinks and food.
 
Just log a couple of easy rides, You guys have great fitness that you won't need to worry about the mileage. I promise. I'm hoping I can breeze through the NYC Century without any real pains. We will see how that works out though!

Just focus on keeping yourself together during the ride. The hardest part about doing a 50 mile ride around here is finding a decent loop.
 
pearl said:
The hardest part about doing a 50 mile ride around here is finding a decent loop.
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Where do you guys live, Newark?

I'd agree with the idea that you need to start doing some back-to-back 50 mile rides, as well as some back-to-back-to-back rides as well. If you have to, find somewhere 20-25 miles awat to eat lunch. Ride there then ride home. You don't need to worry about killing it so much as finding out that you're favorite pair of shorts acutally isn't so great on the 3rd day, and so on.

Longer rides tend to "amplify" little aches/pains/problems that you might not notice on shorter rides.
 
Lisa has reached her goal and i'm at 99%! We have about three weeks to go before the ride and we are trying to do a bit of training. We probably should have been in the "training phase" all along but we'll see how it goes. We want to ride three times a week and get at least one of those rides to be 40-50 miles. So far life has gotten in the way a bit and we've only been doing 2 rides a week but one has always been about 40 miles with a ~14mph average. A few weeks back we did a 60mile loop with James and Mandi from Monmouth Junction to New Hope and back(thanks for the GPS tracks Tony). We felt pretty good afterwards, I bonked a bit around mile 52 but I also ran out of water and don't think I ate enough. Once I got some cliff bar in me I felt better.

Reading the course synopsis on the TDP website it looks like the end of day 1 is the toughest part:getsome: and after midway through day 2 it flattens out.

I was sad when I read this:
The course has been changed from previous years in an attempt to circumvent the mountains as much as possible.
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It doesn't sound like its going to be a tough ride. I'm more concerned about being in the saddle for three days in a row than the fitness side of it. We've got keister cream and shorts/bibs we're comfortable in for extended time so we should be as comfy as possible. I think we need to invest in some arm warmers considering its been getting cooler in the mornings lately:rolleyes:
 
Congrats on (almost) reaching the goal!

Riding flats can be harder than you think. With hills, you can coast. Sure it's tough going up, but on the back side you get to rest. If you stop pedaling on a flat you come to a halt pretty fast. Make sure you keep yourself at a pace you can maintain.

Eating & drinking properly is going to be of paramount importance. I'm sure you can tough it out. But at the end, you want to be able to say you could go another day, not that you're glad its over. Try to keep a reasonable pace, eat a bar every hour, and drink a bottle every hour.

Good luck!
 
Norm said:
Eating & drinking properly is going to be of paramount importance. I'm sure you can tough it out. But at the end, you want to be able to say you could go another day, not that you're glad its over. Try to keep a reasonable pace, eat a bar every hour, and drink a bottle every hour.

Good luck!
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I agree, I really don't want to feel toasted after this is over. They have stops and stuff at about 4 locations each day so we should be able to restock food and water along the way. As far as eating the night before i'm not sure what the menu will be like but I hope/assume it will be geared towards expending a lot of energy the next day. A few weeks ago we tried to do a ride the day after a family bbq. We both felt pretty miserable, to much beer and burgers the night before:puke:we learned our lesson...

Thanks for all of the suggestions!
 
Norm said:
Try to keep a reasonable pace, eat a bar every hour, and drink a bottle every hour.

Good luck!
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Thanks for the words of advice, Norm. We still have a few weeks to burn this into our memories. Any advice getting out of those other commitments that always seem to get in the way? Like work and family stuff? Those seem to be our biggest problem...

In all seriousness, we're very excited for this ride! Thanks for your tips and support! :D

Lisa
 
Glenlivet12 said:
...Any pointers? We are doing the NY century tour which will probably have the same vibe/pace as the TdP. It will also be the longest either of us have ridden in one stretch. ChrisG mentioned we need to start doing back to back long rides (50+ mile?) rides on the weekends and to keep an eye on what we eat between rides to see how we feel for the next day.

This seems like a great idea, we are both fairly healthy eaters. We're not big fans of fast food(Pearls White Castle binge made my stomach turn:puke:) but we've never really payed attention to how our meals effect our riding the next day. Any recomendations on what you've found works for you and what doesn't the night before or the morning of a long ride. Last thing I want is stomach issues on a 85 mile ride! I know most of this info can probably be found one of the several hundred training threads i have yet to read through...
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Norm said:
Congrats on (almost) reaching the goal!

Riding flats can be harder than you think. With hills, you can coast. Sure it's tough going up, but on the back side you get to rest. If you stop pedaling on a flat you come to a halt pretty fast. Make sure you keep yourself at a pace you can maintain.

Eating & drinking properly is going to be of paramount importance. I'm sure you can tough it out. But at the end, you want to be able to say you could go another day, not that you're glad its over. Try to keep a reasonable pace, eat a bar every hour, and drink a bottle every hour.

Good luck!
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Is your goal to finish and savor the experience or to finish in the top 25? Both of you will do just fine if you pace yourselves. Train hard now and then taper off the week before the event. All the training in the world and multiple back to back long days will do you no good if you go into it tired or go too hard and destroy yourselves in the first 50 miles because you just won't have time to recover between days.

I'd keep a brisk and comfortable pace in the flats and take it easier on the climbs to save some leg for the next day. On the way down the hills rather than coasting, just keep spinning to flush the lactic acid out after a climb.

Eat what you know will work for you and if you think it's an iffy proposition just don't eat it while you're riding. At the end of the day, eat balanced but eat whatever makes you happy.

My biggest ride was two 100 mile days followed by a 87 mile day with 7,000 ft of climbing. I never thought I'd make it to the third day yet it was my strongest day of all. And I followed it up on the fourth day with a 30 mile recovery paced ride. You both are in much better shape then I was then so you should have no problem. Just set your mind and the rest will follow.

Oh, and use chamois butter liberally even at fueling stops or the rest will fall off. ;)
 
Cyclopath said:
Is your goal to finish and savor the experience or to finish in the top 25? Both of you will do just fine if you pace yourselves. Train hard now and then taper off the week before the event. All the training in the world and multiple back to back long days will do you no good if you go into it tired or go too hard and destroy yourselves in the first 50 miles because you just won't have time to recover between days.


I'd keep a brisk and comfortable pace in the flats and take it easier on the climbs to save some leg for the next day. On the way down the hills rather than coasting, just keep spinning to flush the lactic acid out after a climb.

Eat what you know will work for you and if you think it's an iffy proposition just don't eat it while you're riding. At the end of the day, eat balanced but eat whatever makes you happy.

My biggest ride was two 100 mile days followed by a 87 mile day with 7,000 ft of climbing. I never thought I'd make it to the third day yet it was my strongest day of all. And I followed it up on the fourth day with a 30 mile recovery paced ride. You both are in much better shape then I was then so you should have no problem. Just set your mind and the rest will follow.

Oh, and use chamois butter liberally even at fueling stops or the rest will fall off. ;)
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We're not looking to finish anywhere specific in the pack(although its always nice to be towards the front :p), like Norm said we want to finish and feel like we can keep going the next day. We've never done anything like this so i'm sure we're over compensating but I'd rather be over prepared than under... plus it will give us a good fitness going into the winter hybernation

Thanks for the pointers.
 
After only riding with you once and have ridden with some other people who are "training" to do this, I think you will not have a problem. Some of the people I know will be pushing their hardest to not get sucked up by the less than 12mph sag wagon.
 
pittygirl said:
Any advice getting out of those other commitments that always seem to get in the way?
Lisa
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you guys have to wake up at like 4am. and be on the bike with lights like Norm to get your rides in:D
Glad to hear training and fund raising is going well.
 
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