# first 150 mile ride, one day or two?



## scandy1

I'm looking to do a 150 mile ride, which is quite a bit further than i've done before. i've done some 60 mile rides this summer at a quickish pace, which werent a problem. a 45 mile ride with 1500ft gain in elevation in 3 hours with hardly any food before or during. planning on doing a 100 mile this weekend to see how i feel, guessing that will give me a good indication of if im up to 150 or not. 


the ride starts as a flat/very gradual climb for the first 50-60 miles, then a mountain pass, so climb/descent for maybe the next 10-15, flat/gradual descent for the next 50, into another 15 mile mtn pass, finishes off with a short flat section. Overall its a 1700ft gain in elevation. so its definitely not an easy flat ride.

I kind of want to make it two days and camp, there's a good spot at 75 miles and again at about 120, and a hotel at 100. it would be my first time camping with a bike, and it would mean a bit of extra gear/weight. but it would be nice to take a little more time and enjoy it. 

I think physically i could ride the 150 in a day, there's 3 good food stops evenly spaced for the first 100 miles, nothing for the last 150. 

do you think im looking at a rushed, barely squeeze it in the daylight ride if i do one day? or would i have some time for some good rest stops and slow pace enjoying the ride?

Just trying to get some input for what a first time guy could expect.


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## Mr645

I say one day. But plan well. Eat properly, you will need to figure out how many bottles you need to carry between places to refill. How many tubes to carry, what to eat and how much along the way. 
Also, move at a moderate pace. If you can typically go 18-19 for 40 miles, stay at 17-18 for a little while but don't be afraid to drop it down to 16.
Dont forget sun screen, basic repair tools and think of anything else you may need on the road.
8 of us are going a 300 mile, 24 hr ride this weekend. With hourly stops, three meal breaks, we only have to manage 16mph speed while moving to hit our 24 hr goal.


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## Alfonsina

Do you mean 1700 ft ascent? 2, 15 mile _Mountain _passes? 1700/150 is flat. My vote is do the 100, time yourself including the stops and then see. Is this with a group of experienced distance riders? Camping with a bike for me at least would mean more than just a bit of weight, so is this a touring bike?


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## ericm979

Try a 100 mile ride, and if you still feel like riding another 50 when you're done, you can handle the 150 the next time.

Total elevation gain of 1700 feet is what I do on a 25 mile recovery ride. Doing that for 150 miles is extremely flat.

Eating and drinking is key. Even more important than for 100 miles. You need to do enough long rides to know what you need. Also to know how fast you can go.


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## rm -rf

Do you mean a net gain of 1700 feet, with lots of additional climbing on multiple mountain passes? Where is the ride?

For a hilly mountain ride, I would average around 12 mph for a 60 mile ride. ( 60 miles and 7000 feet of climbing, for instance.) I couldn't keep that pace for 150 miles. But even 12 mph for 150 miles is 12.5 hours, riding time, without including stops.

Most routes on sites like ridewithgps.com or strava.com, or recorded GPS rides, count every small change in elevation. That's what we are used to discussing here. So our flat to rolling 50 mile rides might have 1200 or 1500 feet of climbing, even with no hills higher than 100 feet.

(If the route is posted on mapmyride.com, their elevation totals extremely underestimated the climbing feet. They might have changed to match up better with other bike mapping sites.)


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## scandy1

yes 1700ft net gain, the two mountain passes arent super long but definitely will slow my overall pace quite a bit. I'm not worried about being able to make it in a day, but more if ill be able to chill a little bit and enjoy the ride. 

I'm leaning towards going for it, if i want to stop by 100 miles i can get a hotel and finish the next day. I want to camp purely for the fun of it, but not having done it before id rather do a less rushed, more mellow ride for my first camp trip. and no its not a touring bike, but a relaxed geo, big tire road bike. Not something id want to load up with panniers and all that, but should be good for fairly light touring. I added up what id bring and think i can do it with under 10 lbs of stuff in a frame and saddle bag.


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## duriel

150miles on a flat ride is a piece of cake in one day, if you can avg 15mph....10 hours on the bike. Then add in about 1.5 hours for stops.
You didn't state your riding avg speed abilities, but 15mph is pretty easy pace for most riders. If you rides avg 10mph, forget it... get the hotel.
Carrying a bunch of camping eq on the bike is a completely different ride. It will slow you down, you'll forget 1/2 of what you need (if this is your first camping ride).
RAIN is a 168 miles ride, all the riders do it in one day! easy.


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## MMsRepBike

Mountain passes, lol.

I ride 15 miles from my house in any direction and I've climbed 1700 feet. Trust me, those are not mountains. You must live out in the midwest or great plains or something.

Definitely do the century first. Funny thing about mileage is that at a certain point it will break you. You may think that point is at 150 miles because you can do 60 without stopping, but I bet it's closer to 100. Only one way to find out.


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## Social Climber

1,700 feet over 150 miles is about as flat as you can get, unless you live in Florida. Still, I would shoot for the 100 on day 1 if my longest ride before that was 65 miles. You'd probably be able to push yourself to the full 150 in terms of stamina; the real question is how much, and where, you are going to be aching after 6-7 hours on the bike.


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## Blue CheeseHead

When you say 1,700' of "net" climb do you mean you end the ride 1,700' higher than where you started, or do you mean your TOTAL climbing (sum of all hills) is 1,700'? I agree with others that 1,700' of total climbing is extraordinarily flat. 

150 miles should be doable in one day for a reasonably fit cyclist. 

The keys:

1.) Pace yourself. Use the "I could ride like this all day" perceived effort gauge cause you will be riding like that all day. 
2.) Eat well during the day and stop for some real food, not just gu and Clif bars.

A few weeks ago we did a 240 mile ride in two days (day one 124 miles, day two 116 miles) and one of the guys had not ridden had little saddle time and no more than 75 miles in one day this season. He made it fine, but suffered a bit.


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## scandy1

Blue CheeseHead said:


> When you say 1,700' of "net" climb do you mean you end the ride 1,700' higher than where you started, or do you mean your TOTAL climbing (sum of all hills) is 1,700'? I agree with others that 1,700' of total climbing is extraordinarily flat.
> 
> 150 miles should be doable in one day for a reasonably fit cyclist.
> 
> The keys:
> 
> 1.) Pace yourself. Use the "I could ride like this all day" perceived effort gauge cause you will be riding like that all day.
> 2.) Eat well during the day and stop for some real food, not just gu and Clif bars.
> 
> A few weeks ago we did a 240 mile ride in two days (day one 124 miles, day two 116 miles) and one of the guys had not ridden had little saddle time and no more than 75 miles in one day this season. He made it fine, but suffered a bit.



Yes i said that wrong, I end 1700 ft higher than where i start. sorry i was looking at the wrong numbers, a friend sent me the route saying it was 1700 ft gain, thought that sounded off!

TOTAL ascent is about 9800 ft. Big difference!

I do a 45 mile 4500 net gain ride that I average 13-14 mph on according to strava, which includes some slow speed wandering around. Hardly any of my rides are flat so its hard to say what I can average on flat. 
The 100 miler im planning has a 7000 ft net gain so that should give me a very good idea on my pace and how well ill last. 

i'd consider myself to be in very good shape, but not necessarily biking specific shape. I run, bike, swim and gym a lot, but havent done anything like this for this long. closest thing was a 30 mile hike in one day that started at sun up and ended at sun down, felt fine afterwards. I feel like I can get through it but it'll probably be a struggle for the last bit.


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## Blue CheeseHead

9,800' will make it a tough day. Make sure you have some nice climbing gears and spin up the hills. Climb at YOUR pace. Let others do the same and gather the group at the top or on the flats.

We have some long hilly rides here is Wisconsin and many do them the closest I have done to your proposed ride was 133 miles with 11,200' of climbing. Be prepared for a 12 hour long day when you factor in stops.

May the wind be at your back!


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## scandy1

Yeah I was figuring i'd start before sunrise, so start at 4:30-5:00, have an hour of riding done before the sun even comes up. that way i'd have plenty of time for rest stops. It'd be good to have a nice long rest at the last town at 100 miles, before I go for the last 50.


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## scandy1

well i did a 100 mile ride today, with 6800 ft of climbing, took me 6:30 hours not including an hour stop and two short stops, averaged 15mph which includes a bit of slow speed wandering around. felt pretty good even towards the end, definitely felt a little weaker in the legs, but still could keep my speed up. So yeah think im gonna go for it. I figure if i take two big stops and stretch/eat a a lot it shouldnt be too bad.


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## rm -rf

Those are good results on your 100 mile ride. Go for it. Post a ride report, too!


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## duriel

150 miles and a 10000 elev is one big day, it could hit you like a hammer. Hiking/running/etc ain't the same, for that ride you need training. 
If you want to make it enjoyable, make it 2 days. If your ready to go for it, you could make it, but it will hurt.


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## scandy1

I was trying to feel out how well I'd do biking another tough 50 miles on top of the 100 i already did, and yeah, initially i was thinking hell no, but after about an hour rest and some food i was feeling pretty well recovered. I figure if i can do 100 in 6:30 hours, 150 in the 15 hours of daylight i have wont be a problem.


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## ericm979

Yea, with that ride I think you can do the 150. You should target to finish at least an hour before daylight ends in case you have an issue- mechanical, or feel bad, or get lost. Or you can carry lights.

One tip is to not stop much and when you do don't stop for long. An hour is way too long. Not only does it eat up riding time, when you stop for too long you'll be stiff and feel bad when you start again.

Eat while you are riding. Enjoy the scenery while riding-or if you stop to check out the scenery, eat and stretch while doing it.


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## psycleridr

I'd say two days to enjoy it. 14-16mph avg for a ride that has 1k elevation per 10miles is good for your average cyclist. The elevation hurts eventually and although you might be able to finish the 150mi/10k in one day im not sure how much you will have time to enjoy anything after if you even have the energy.


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## scandy1

Well after that 100 miler I did an 11 mile run the next day, and another 100 mile run the day after. So 200 miles of riding and 11 miles of running in 3 days. And I was a bit faster on the 2nd 100 mile ride. So really feeling up for it. I'll give my legs the rest of the week to recover, then ride early next week. 
Any tips for nutrition on the ride? Big dinner the night before and a decent breakfast obviously. But I'm thinking maybe 300-500 calories(ish) of on the bike food per 50 miles. (bananna chips, shot blocks, whatever else) so 1000-1500 cal worth total. Then a small meal at the first stop at 50 miles, and 2nd stop at 100. 

I figure on this ride I'll be burning about 6000 cal, so would say 3000 cals during the ride be sufficient?


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## ericm979

The limit is what you can digest. For most people 250 cal/hr is safe (if you stay hydrated). You may be able to do more, the only way to find it is to experiment.

On long rides you can usually handle some fat and protein, and those are good for you. The food does not have to be all sugary stuff. I've eaten whole wheat bagels with cream cheese on double centuries.

It's easier on the stomach to eat small amounts frequently. "meals" are going to weigh in the stomach for a while afterwards, making you feel sluggish.


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## scandy1

Well I did it! Ended up being 160 miles. I was feeling good for the first 80 miles, really started feeling fatigued after that and for the next 20 miles until my stop. Ate/drank a bunch at a gas station, felt good for the next 40 miles, then bonked pretty hard just as I was approaching the last/steepest pass, that was a painful/slow climb. But the most rewarding descent ever. Once I was finished I felt like I could keep on going another 50, don't know if I really could have or if I was just excited since I finished. 

Averaged about 14mph and took about 11 hours, biking into the wind for a majority of the ride. 

Next xt time I need to plan my water/food better, I was carrying too much when I didn't need it and not enough when I did.


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## duriel

Start eating immediately, don't plan on big eating stops.


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## Rokh Hard

scandy1 said:


> Well I did it! Ended up being 160 miles.



excellent work scandy!!! right on! congratulations! 
:thumbsup:


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## JCavilia

Rokh Hard said:


> excellent work scandy!!! right on! congratulations!
> :thumbsup:


I'm sure he appreciates the kudos, even if this was 10 months ago and he hasn't been back since.

;-)


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## Rokh Hard

his is probably out of logging some hard man miles and not sitting behind a computer on a forum 





JCavilia said:


> I'm sure he appreciates the kudos, even if this was 10 months ago and he hasn't been back since.
> 
> ;-)


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## JCavilia

Rokh Hard said:


> his is probably out of logging some hard man miles and not sitting behind a computer on a forum


Like we should be doing . . .


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## Rokh Hard

JCavilia said:


> Like we should be doing . . .



yep, just got back from miles. just before the weather turned nasty. back in the saddle 8am tomorrow!


i have 20ish days to bring myself back up to speed as im riding from SF 2 LA at the end of the month, 545miles.....and have not been on the bike for a coupla months......"makeup training"!!


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