Top tips for your first sportive or charity cycle?

Where to begin?

Having worked on many sportives and charity cycles I can understand signing up for an event such as Ride London or London 2 Paris, the distance doesn't seem all that long. 80 miles a day, it's not that far, is it? A couple of hours in the car... Or I've ridden 30 miles so how much harder is it? Likewise, the event may be far away so you'll start tomorrow. Below are some of my top tips to get the most from your event or charity cycle, and get the most for your donors.

So you've signed up for your first event. First things first how long is the event?

80 miles, 100 miles, 100km, 200km?

You don't need to have ridden this exact distance before the event - if you have, that's even better.

Training:

Let's use 100-mile sportive as an example as that's often used as a big benchmark in your cycling career. Your legs are not what will make you fail on a distance like this, it is the time in the saddle. You will be spending anything from 6 - 9hrs in the saddle! Your legs hurt, your neck, your hands, your undercarriage and your mind, having to constantly tell yourself to keep going.

My biggest piece of advice for you is to spend time on your bike. When you go out for a ride, don't have a distance goal; have a time goal. Go out for 2hrs, 3hrs etc. Weather and wind are uncontrollable but if you can do the duration the distance will naturally come with it.

To accompany this I'd recommend doing a training ride of around 80% of your target distance/duration (generally if it is under 100 miles - I would change this if you are doing more e.g. 24hrs). If you are going to be doing London 2 Paris (80ish miles per day) do 2/3 days of back-to-back 50 miles/3-5hr rides. If you only have a weekend then maybe 65 miles or so. The more custom you are to time in the saddle the better you'll do.

Training plans:

I am not going to give you a training plan! You will read lots online about fasted training, HIIT, threshold, endurance......... The list continues. My advice is to do what you enjoy. Sounds cringey maybe...but it's what will make you event ready. I love long rides which get faster and faster and finish with sprints. It's what works for me. Likewise, you're not here to win the Tour de France so what does your FTP matter?

As long as you spend the time in the saddle to get used to the duration, you'll have a fabulous time!

Nutrition:

Does this matter? That's your opinion. Of course, it does to an extent, but yet again we are not training to win races, we are training to raise money for a great cause, or complete your first century/sportive. The main takeaway here is; to find what agrees with your guts! Sounds crude but you do not want to turn up and be stuck on the toilet for the rest of the evening! Some people can hack gels all day, some people don't need lift-me-ups, and it's all individual. Knowing what works for you will mean you have a much better time. For example, if I'm doing a long ride, I will take bars with me for snacks, I will try and stop at a café or garage for real food (real food is a priority for me), if I'm excessively hot and feeling like I'm mentally roasted I'll have a cucumber (don't ask), and if I am grumpy I'll reach for a snickers. Find what works for you! Finding what works takes time on the saddle!

I hope you find this helpful for whatever event you are about to do. This is by no means a training or nutrition plan, but provides some top-tips for your next adventure