by Andrew G » Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:03 am
[quote="Toks"]
I've got to disagree 100% the key determinant in doing well in a 12 hour race and doing well at Palace is a high lactate threshold or sustainable power. Admittedly one requires more endurance training, good fueling an pacing strategy and the other some anaerobic and sprint training but they can definitley be done. It takes some planning and you wouldn't want to do peak for them at the same time. For example, Hal came 2nd at Palace about 3 times and also got top 10 in quite a few 6 hr plus sportivs. Nonsense, and I repeat, of course it can be done.
Well that would get you half way round
.
The 12hr is about survival first time out for at least 99% of people Toks. Do you know how your body will react and behave after 8-9 hours of continual cycling without a break longer than a pee stop? And you've still got 3-4 hours left at that stage. The step up to a 12 from what is normally considered a very long ride is still very big in terms of time, and if you do go on long rides then you're almost certain to have a 30min+ cafe stop in the middle in the vast majority of cases.
Nutrition, comfort, and pain come far higher up the list than "high lactate threshold or sustainable power", or certainly did for me. Ignoring making any minor injuries worse and assume you are a vision on physical perfection, on very long rides your position on the bike is likely to suffer a bit through fatigue and you'll tend to slump a touch which will put pressure on different muscles and parts of your body.
I know I'm not as talented as Stu (and many, many others) but in the 12 the pain towards the end was pretty noticeable. From about 6 hours (if not before) to avoid getting a stiff back and so on I changed position by getting out the saddle on the rises. This helps stretch out and eases aches and little bits of stiffness (easy!). This did however put different muscles to work in different ways in my legs (thighs). Another couple of hours on and I wanted to stretch my back out by getting out the saddle but that was starting to make my thighs ache more. In the last hour the continued in and out of saddle, generally more slumped position and fatigue meant I had now added hotfoot to the list. The last half hour I was squeezing water on my foot all the time (which already had the straps loosened up a bit) and crawling all over the bike to try and switch from one ache to the other so as not to make any one too much pain.
Bit of a ramble/rant I know but a 12 hour isn't "just" about anything and needs proper preperation and very careful planning, and the assistance of a team to keep you topped up with supplies etc while you're riding.
George and Sylv's debut 12hr rides were nothing short of phenominal and should not be viewed any other way.