Preparing for a 40mile road ride... What do I need?

Not long back from the shop for beer supplies after todays ride.

41 miles but it includes a huge amount of offroad work, ploughed fields, various boggy/swampy mud baths in the woods and a set of DH tracks that took me 17 miles to reach in the first place (and i was quite disappointed by them after riding to them )

Knackered, but i now have beer and some homemade bacon muffins with spicy ketchup on them, ommm nommm!

The mighty 99 FSR Elite seamed a bit creaky near the end though, think the front forks are past there best

Is that an app? If so what and will it run on my iphone4? was going to get a bracket for my garmin etrex until i saw that????

Just saw it was cyclemeter. Does it eat battery? My golf rangefinder on does so was wondering?

It uses a fair amount of battery if you're out for a day. Although most places I'm heading to have a charger so I don't tend to worry to much.

Try putting your phone into "airplane" mode, it should let gps apps still work, but save a hell of a lot of battery!

I use it all the time on my android phone and i am pretty sure the missus uses it on her iphone (not sure which model it is)

Does that still enable the GPS function to work?

I use Map My Run because it lets me track my running as well as road and MTB, but it kills the battery on my phone.

I think it's fair enough to ask tips, not everyone can do a distance or even a gnarly off road ride, every one has a start point or difficulties. I'm not too bad but seem to dehydrate or run out of steam too easy after a mega ride. Get like a hangover following post ride fatigue. Might be cos I'm tall and slim so don't retain much fat or water summat like that, good sleep, relaxing and awareness of energy consumption as stated. also where road riding is concerned outside of commuting I've yet to try it proper, hoping to pop my road cherry on a retro or tourer this summer maybe. Keep the great tips coming all.

reanimation":mruicocp said:

I think it's fair enough to ask tips, not everyone can do a distance or even a gnarly off road ride, every one has a start point or difficulties. I'm not too bad but seem to dehydrate or run out of steam too easy after a mega ride. Get like a hangover following post ride fatigue. Might be cos I'm tall and slim so don't retain much fat or water summat like that, good sleep, relaxing and awareness of energy consumption as stated. also where road riding is concerned outside of commuting I've yet to try it proper, hoping to pop my road cherry on a retro or tourer this summer maybe. Keep the great tips coming all.

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I agree.

I find my fuel and hydration needs on my road bike very different to the mountain bike. I happily badged out 48 miles on Good Friday with one water bottle and a couple of energy bars. On a much shorter off road ride I'll easily get through two litres of fluid. I've only just started road riding, so am learning as I go...but have so far really enjoyed it!

My big thing on road is keeping warm...I really struggle. On my mountain bikes I always ride in shorts, a base layer/jersey and may be a gillet or a jacket. On the road, I've really struggled to keep warm over the last few weeks despite donning bib tights, base layer, jersey, wind proof jacket thing and shoe covers.

As others have said, cadence is important but so is just relaxing and enjoying it. Don't get too hung up on the details or what everyone else is up to. You'll be fine.

Thanks guys.

3 weeks to go as of tomorrow. Going out for a ride in the morning. Going to see if I can crack the 50mile mark. I'll report back with the results

Managed 45 miles this morning with relative ease. Approximately 17 off road miles and 28 on road. Least I know I'm capable of that sort of distance anyway.

My crowning moment was riding up a gradual climb to be overtaken by a bloke on a specialized stumpjumper HT... How far have you done this morning.. I'll of done 15miles by the time I get home.. I replied I was on just under 40 at that point...
He mentioned something about his efforts being inadequate but I was too busy feeling smug lol.

Good effort. You'll be fine on the real thing, just enjoy it.