Long bike rides aren’t everyone’s idea of fun but are you making mistakes that make them harder than they need to be? Whether you’re looking to complete a local sportive, an epic adventure, a multi-day ride, your first 50km, 100km, or first 100 mile bike ride, hopefully, we can impart some knowledge to help you hit that goal and have you champing at the bit for your next endurance cycling challenge.
Jamie has recently completed some of his longest ever bike rides, but there’s a few things that he thought he’d thought of before setting out on them
We reckon that these long bike ride tips will help you ride further on your bike and still have a smile on your face at the end.
Let us know any of your tips on how to ride long distances in the comments section below…
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33 Comments
Fueling is indeed important. I wanted to throw away my bike when I wasn’t properly fueled.
Who makes the rear rack and all the bags on your bike? Looks to be an effective set-up.
Chamois cream has become more essential as I age and my skin is both less elastic and drier. I find myself also needing hand lotion and lip balm more often too.
You just about nailed everything in the video👍🏼. Most important things in my opinion are, pace yourself, refuelling is very important, if you eat when you're hungry its too late. Take spare chamois cream and use it generously. Biggest ride was Plymouth to dartford in 24hrs 265 miles.
Definitely adhere to the two inner tubes. Went for a 190km with a friend and had a first puncture. Checked the tire to take all residues out before replacing. 10km later other puncture… checked again, nothing. Thought it was pure bad luck. Rode again third puncture. Luckily my buddy had spares and we finally found the culprit which was tiny piece of metal which glued itself inside the tire. By then we had spent 1 hour repairing. (Learned then that tubless ready tires are really more difficult to take out and put back in) weather had turned and becoming cold. Again… luckily we had wind jackets. We didnt especially prepare for any of this or were espcially cautious but lessons learned. Wind jackets, at least two tubes, tools and absolutely dont put tubeless ready tires if you dont ride tubeless.
265 KM in a day (11 hrs riding) was longest single ride, visiting all 4 borders of County Durham. No issue but good bike prep and having stuff with you if things change is a great confidence booster. Tips on food, eat what you are used to when you can as energy drinks etc can get very monotonous very quickly🤣. Take a cloth of some sort, so useful!
I'm that guy who sets out on a 200km day ride with no supplies beyond a bottle of water and wearing a t-shirt, blue jeans and trainers on a 50 year old steel bike. I grew up in the country, and that wasn't a sport, that was just how we got to the next city. That being said, your version sound like it probably sucks less.
The route tip is so good! I smartly cut out a load of elevation but then missed views, coffee trucks at the top of views and ended up with looking at lots of dark hedge rows instead. Quite dull.
I shall be taking some ibuprofen on my next long ride as get a headache eventually from either over or under hydrating (no idea which)
…I wish I’d known… come on.
Great vid, done a fair bit of long distance, mostly Audax, wider tyres lower pressures help (32mm pro one tubeless work for me) extra clothing if you're going into or through the night, even in summer, tools, and spares, i take a spare rear derailleur hanger and have had to use it! Emergency food, gels etc, eat when you can and before youre hungry! Longest ride 768miles PBP 2023.
spare inner tube and hand pump were added to my list recently
heck i was trying to do a long ride but only did a small percentage of it (30K) since the tire started going flat, oooooofs.
Is that a cube agree?..how do find it in terms of comfort..no recent reviews of the cube agree on YouTube..hint hint
Ski touring wisdom says every extra kilo in your backpack equals 10% less fun. So similarly to your weight saving mini chain lube bottle trick, I take a good squirt of sun cream & chamois cream in little zip lock bags instead of bulky bottles.
no mentions of a good seat for long bike rides?
I do the Ride Across Indiana each year. It's 162 miles, all done in a day. I can vouch for the chamois cream and the dark moments. Doesn't matter how excited you are at the start, there will always be a moment you hate your life, but a short rest will do you a ton of good. Call me crazy, but I'm not all that concerned about a 5-10 minute stop if it means helping me get through the remaining 8-10 hours.
Great video, thanks!
That Cube looks stunning, looking forward to the video featuring all tings Cube 🙂
My longest ride was a solo 143 miler the first Saturday of May this year as a way to celebrate my birthday a few days later.
Tip 1: If you don’t want to carry extra bottles or food on you, make sure that there are stores along the way that you can stop at to get extra snacks/drinks to supplement what you would have on you. I was also fortunate that the route hade a few parks along the way where I could top off my water bottles.
Tip 2: Carry hydration tabs with you to drop in your bottles so all you have to do is refill with water.
Tip 3: If your head unit can set reminder timers, use that function. The Garmin Edge 530 I have is set to remind me to drink every 15 minutes (I drink a quarter of a 750ml bottle) and to eat approximately 100 calories every 30 minutes.
Tip 4: Have an escape/bail out plan if you feel you can’t make it back to where you started. Let someone know your route, carry your phone with you, and call someone to pick you up if you don’t feel like you can continue.
Number 1 tip: Plan the toilet stops. Just in case.
The most important thing i find is to have someone else with me. Its makes the ride more enjoyable and more tolerable when times are hard.
agree that plus Dynamo hub and Swiss knife,have done LEL and PBP and some of Audax.
Last season was about experimentng with chamois creme.
It didn't prove to be the best solution so it was ditched after a few months.
Its problem is that it doesn't take away salt crystals that precipitate on the skin, so a 5 hour long ride in the heat becomes a torture.
Nowadays I use a rag and a bit of water.
One wipe goes a long way and it's a way more comfortable feeling not having microscopic crystals cut into the skin.
I'm just wondering, which pannier rack is that you're using? Thanks!
My longest ride was 252km in 24 hours. I can't say enough, do not overestimate your condition. I hadn't ridden in years, and signed up for a cancer fundraising ride. Did a few 60km trips, figured I'd be good for the long one. I was definitely not. The last 10-15kms was excruciating and I spent the next week with a knee the size of a grapefruit. I greatly overestimated my condition and ability and didn't get on the saddle again that year.
300km, I would say get small front chainrings. Trying to push the speed up when you're already doing 45kph is wasted energy fighting the wind, so what's a 50:11 good for for most of us?
Biggest tip for me is hydration, approx 2 x 600 mL bottles with hydralite PER 25km. I always drink less, about 1.2 L per 50km (half the amount). I'm going to be strict on my next ride & see what difference there is. Use a Garmin watch for tracking & it estimates sweat loss. Longest ride 120km 🚴
I agree with all of your tips. A huge leap for me recently is bringing along electrolyte powder. If you can find the stuff in little packets, it weighs nothing and can be added to your water with no effort. Electrolytes stop you from getting spaced out and weak after drinking a lot of water.
thanks sir
When going for days over 150 miles or multiple back-to-back centuries, don’t forget to mix some fatty foods and proteins into your food intake from time to time. This is going to be something that is person-to-person dependent because it can upset the GI tract, but after 14 hours of riding, chicken nuggets and french fries can satiate a hunger that gummies, carb gels, and drinkable carbs cannot. I found that a gas station meal gave me that surge of power I felt like I was missing to get through that last 1-2k ft of elevation left in the day. For a 380 mile journey I did just a month ago, I even packed a protein powder mix to drink before I went to sleep along with some multi-vitamins. Despite doing 172, 112, and 98 miles back-to-back-to-back, I felt like I could easily do many more days of riding with this strategy.
I see you've gone over to Tailfin' bags. Welcome to the dark side. 👍
I did a back packing trip and last min decided to take waterproof trousers and jacket even tho weather looked good ….. that night in tent it was so so cold and I ended up wearing all my garments Inc trousers and jacket and thank god I had it…..
I also vasaline up 1st day and forgot 2nd day and decided to keep going …. I also called into a halfords and changed seat and great buy …..
Don't be afraid to make a few mistakes …. it's what makes us stronger
Hi Sir
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Some great tips, but one I'd disagree with is lathering up with chamios creme. I used to do this, but developed terrible chafing mid way through a bikepacking event a few years back, ironically exaccerbated by the creme. I have since learnt to save chamois creme for when I need it – so when chafing does start to happen (ie during a hot race), or when weather turns wet. I am careful to clean myself each night, use a healing ointment like Lucas Paw Paw when im sleeping, then start next days riding clean (ish), again only using champois creme when I need it.