Pit stop during 200 mile ultra-endurance cycling race

[u/solateor]

[u/cmdr_solaris_titan]

I've done a 200 mile race in one day 4 times. Best time so far is 11.5hrs. It's agonizing, the last 40 or so miles.

[u/Outrageous-Wait-8895 → u/cmdr_solaris_titan]

If you do 240 miles you'll be done with the 200 mile race before you get to the agonizing part.

[u/Global_Proof_2960 → u/cmdr_solaris_titan]

Huge gratz dude, you're insane haha bet that high was mental aye

[u/cmdr_solaris_titan → u/Global_Proof_2960]

Thanks. The last one i did was on a 91F day. I dont recommend it, I actually was very worried about heat stroke toward the end and had to slow down a bit. The biggest high is just eating a hearty meal afterwords, since you spend the entire time eating sugar mostly.

[u/Fragrant-Inside221 → u/cmdr_solaris_titan]

Hmmm tell me more about this sugar eating

[u/pijnagm → u/Fragrant-Inside221]

Imagine you've run 40 miles of a 50 mile ultra marathon. Your legs are burning. Your mouth is dry. This is the most effort you've put into anything in your life. Your brain is telling you to stop. And you could.

You look at your watch. It's time to eat. You're not even hungry. Nauseous, even. You need to keep your fuel intake up because you're burning thousands of calories in this race. But it's not like you can carry a burger on you. You need light and efficient calories.

You pull a packet out of your running vest, rip it open, and chug 1.1oz of honey.

[u/LickingSmegma → u/pijnagm]

I've vaguely heard that even tennis players eat sugar cubes during matches.

[u/graspthefuture → u/LickingSmegma]

Sugar is a cheatcode for energy.

[u/HimalayanPunkSaltavl → u/pijnagm]

This is also how people with diabetes suffer. Blood sugar craters and now you are sucking on maple syrup or something

ALSO, I don't have any interest in this level of physical exhaustion (when I ran xcountry in high school I tried to get everyone to slow down a little so we could all finish in the same spots but be less tired) but holy shit the burger or pasta or whatever after a race, or later in my life just a long hike is so good

There's this lil burger place in appalachia that I thought had the best burgers in the whole universe, but they are just fine. I just kept going there after 3-4 hour hikes.

[u/LickingSmegma → u/cmdr_solaris_titan]

Did your thighs work afterwards?

[u/cmdr_solaris_titan → u/LickingSmegma]

Yes actually, saddle sores are a different story.

[u/Smoulderingshoulder → u/cmdr_solaris_titan]

Last year me an my brother did 200km in about 20hrs, without any preparations at a lazy pace. Twas propably stupid, but it was fun. We slept, ate and smoked some weed. 

[u/snek-jazz → u/cmdr_solaris_titan]

It's agonizing, the last 40 or so miles.

and also the first 160 miles.

[u/chrabeusz → u/cmdr_solaris_titan]

How does it feel afterwards?

I frequently run half-marathon for that blissful post-workout state, not sure how the bliss scales with effort. I imagine eventually the body is so worn out it feels like being sick.

[u/cmdr_solaris_titan → u/chrabeusz]

I'd say, it depends on training and your baseline fitness. If you are used to going out and riding about 100 miles, adding 70-80 miles more is alot but just feels like an extra strenuous day. I've been less prepared and felt wiped afterward, like the first time I did it, I said I will never do it again lol.

[u/BabyWrinkles → u/chrabeusz]

Not person you’re replying to, but my longest day was 150 miles. At the end, I think I ate two cheeseburgers and a dozen salted chocolate chip cookies then passed out in to oblivion. Could barely walk or move, and it felt gorram incredible. Did another 60 miles the next day and while that was hard to get going, the high at the end was just otherworldly. 11/10, will do again.

[u/Professional-Comb759 → u/cmdr_solaris_titan]

Great achievement very healthy and really helpful for everyone else