The Festive 500km indoor turbo challenge

Statistics

Distance: 500km/311miles

Average speed: 19.7mph

Elapsed time: 15hr:45mins

The Xmas Eve challenge

Ultra distance cycling goes beyond just power numbers, heart rate zones and fitness; it is a test of mental fortitude and resilience. Some athletes like to suffer more than I can; it's a trait associated with the sport. You become familiar with exercise-induced pain where your legs are burning, your lungs are screaming, and your body is that tiered you struggle to hold yourself up on the bike. Ultra-endurance challenges require a substantial mental component that requires precision, discipline and an acute understanding of one's body. You can't afford to neglect nutrition, hydration or have any lapses of judgement with spikes of speed or power, or your body will respond in an indescribable way, telling you have messed up. Bonking and hallucinations are all factors that can be avoided or at least prolonged if you remain focussed on the elements that are required to cycle 500km under 24hrs. And thus, I hope this short extract and my other blogs begin to fathom what it takes to exercise for longer than 6,12 or even 24hrs

So why 500km? The Rapha Festive 500 is a worldwide challenge that keen cyclists aim to complete between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve within a week. During winter, it is challenging to ride in the UK due to inclement weather, often with treacherous icy roads, short hours of daylight, and cold weather. Hence the distance is a difficult challenge for even the fittest of cyclists to undertake, and hence it is a widely respected and kudosed challenge. Albeit, I completed the challenge for two years in a row; my first year, I did 500km, and the previous year, I doubled the distance and cycled 1000km within a week where the weather was extreme with snow. Hence for 2021, the next challenge I could only think was appropriate was to do the challenge inside on my calibrated turbo trainer in a garage with limited stimulation. But instead of doing the challenge over a week, I aimed to cycle the 500km in under 24hours.

What drives me is discovering what I can do; it motivates me and makes me improve, but it requires the Goldilocks of difficulty, choosing a challenge that is not too easy or too hard. These personal challenges mean you can set the bar tailored to you; low key without the marketisation of T-shirts and medals, just purely me versus the elements or, with this challenge, me versus a hot, gloomy garage. 

I am a statistical geek who trains and paces my efforts within heart rate zones; it is a beautiful tool for displaying the overall fatigue of one’s body. Elevation, fatigue, temperature, and wind are factors in how the body reacts and how the heart rate beats. This is why I prefer to analyse hr instead of speed and/or power as these factors inevitably change over time, elevation and weather conditions. 

It was midnight, pitch black, and I was ready to explore dark places inside myself, with little human contact. It was a test of mental and physical resilience where I had four walls to stare at in the garage with only spiders and bricks to count. Thus for the 1st half-hour of the 500 km challenge (I started at midnight), Jo ran on the treadmill beside me; I had no music or the TV on,  I just set a hard pace, and solely focussed on my HR and started to accept I had 24hrs ahead of me (or at least that was my initial intention). I was disciplined with nutrition and hydration; within the 1st 2hrs, I had a bottle of tailwind and a few snacks. After Jo left me and went to bed, I then set into a pace, put on some documentaries and pedalled for hours, repeating the strategy of regular fuel and hydration. It went smoothly until I hit a low point at 6.5 hrs; my legs felt awful; I had a caffeine gel, the music got turned on, and it was enough to distract me. It may have been a placebo effect, but I held 22mph and over 200 watts; prior to this, my pace dropped to 17mph! 

Endurance challenges are a fine line between struggling within your comfort zone and stepping over the line when it's bad for you psychologically and physically. Fortunately, I remained on the edge of my parameters and kept spinning my legs. I am a novice indoor cyclist, with 1hr being the longest I have ever spent inside. In hindsight, I should have trained for the discipline as there are differences from cycling to outside, particularly with your position on the bike because the bike remains fixed. You can't move it between your legs or feel the wind in your face; ultimately, it is uncomfortable compared to outdoor cycling. However, what did help in order for me to change the position is I fitted some tri bars to my bike the day before the challenge; these were incredible! I could slump over the bike, which you cannot do on the open roads, but it enabled me to the pains caused by being in a semi-static position of sitting on a bike for hours.

Between 8-9 am, Jo reappeared after her sleep, and the time flew by as we watched a few inspiring sporting documentaries; the art of distraction is hard to comprehend. If you let your mind, take control of your body, it can grind you down in seconds! Your legs almost feel like they are falling to pieces if you let your mind convince you they are! By Midday, my friend Rich came to visit me for an hr where we chatted about running whilst he ran beside me on the treadmill; again, this was a much-needed distraction from how far I still had to cycle.  In the final hours of the challenge, I had an abundance of visitors: Mark S, Sam, Mark B and Ant. My legs came to life from the encouragement and the company of my friends; I held the same power as I did during the first hour of the challenge; I even had the energy to put a hard sprint in at the end. 

To conclude, I finished the 500Km in, and was positioned 15th fastest in the world to complete the challenge! I am ecstatic to have completed 500km significantly under my 24hr target, without any cycle training or riding for longer than an hr on the turbo. It highlights the transferable nature of fitness; it is an excellent end to 2021 challenges; bring on 2022 for some more adrenaline-fuelled endurance endeavours!