The Longest Day 2015

I'm actually thinking of doing this during the week in the next few weeks. Maybe even a stayover and ride back. I'm really wanting to get this done.
 
In my experience with century plus rides it's all in the head.

If your going to be on the bike that long spells of doubt, negative talk in the brain and even the feeling of quitting may come on. The good thing is they pass. Imo working the on the head game is imperative of you dive into long distance stuff full bore.

I did a ride last year that was 175miles. I made a huge mistake early on wearing a rain jacket. All it did was sap all the water from my body. I spent the rest of the ride eating potatoe chips and other salty delights to bring me back. Too late. Eventually I had to stop for a 1/2 hour because of serious cramping. On the back end of the ride there was an hour or so where all I could think about is calling in the wife to pick me up and started to question why I was doing such a thing. In that time I knew my thinking was off. It was more or less a battle in my head. I had the juice to go on. I eventually finished in a very undesirable time but man the take away from that ride casted a life long shadow for which I always reference when my head tries to play games with me.
 
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The Kalmyk said:
In my experience with century plus rides it's all in the head.

If your going to be on the bike that long spells of doubt, negative talk in the brain and even the feeling of quitting may come on. The good thing is they pass. Imo working the on the head game is imperative of you dive into long distance stuff full bore.

I did a ride last year that was 175miles. I made a huge mistake early on wearing a rain jacket. All it did was sap all the water from my body. I spent the rest of the ride eating potatoe chips and other salty delights to bring me back. Too late. Eventually I had to stop for a 1/2 hour because of serious cramping. On the back end of the ride there was an hour or so where all I could think about is calling in the wife to pick me up and started to question why I was doing such a thing. In that time I knew my thinking was off. It was more or less a battle in my head. I had the juice to go on. I eventually finished in a very undesirable time but man the take away from that ride casted a life long shadow for which I always reference when my head tries to play games with me.
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Absolutely nailed it! Of course your physical condition plays a huge role as well but IMO it's a huge mental effort. I was soooooooo wanting to quit from around mile 160-180 but I knew I still had the juice to finish. Having my wife as my biggest supporter in this helped me press on to the finish!
 
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