The results & a short summary of my 1st attempt of 1000 km in 48 hrs challenge ride

The results & a short summary of my 1^st attempt of 1000 km in 48 hrs challenge ride

( 2 + 1, so 3 days rides continually with some sleep 2 times, 2 days challenge ride + riding back to home on the 3^rd day)

I haven't reached now my mighty 1000 km within 2 days but for 1^st try it was a great experience to me. :)

My challenge in numbers:

Distance

Total distance, what I rode on my bike within my 48 hrs challenge: 443 km / 275 mi with some mind-blowing elevation gain.

(This is a new presonal record (PR, henceforward) to me in distance within 2 days.)

1^st day: 232.8 km

2^nd day: 210.2 km

I ended this 2^nd day ride out of my 48 hrs challenge, so anyway the total distance was 244.2 km / 151.7 mi on this single, 2^nd day ride. With that I have no new PR yet in longest ride since my longest ride so far 277.7 km (but with less elevation gain), what I done earlier in this year.

My total distance on all the 3 days rides together: 632 km / 392.7 mi

(This is a new PR to me in distance within 72 hrs.)

3^rd day, finishing 2^nd day ride during night & back to home after 4 hrs of sleep: 155 km

My new site: https://heyjoecyclist.com/

Elevation gain

Total in 48 hrs: 7515 metres / 24 655.5 feet

1^st day: 3101 m

2^nd day: 4414 m (It's a new PR to me in climbing on 1 single ride.)

3^rd day: 1097 m

Total elevation gain within 3 days: 8612 m / 28 254.5 feet (New PR to me.)

Weight

My actual weight was before my start: 79.3 kg, 88 kg with my bike (so my bike only 8.7 kg)

With full tools & equipment my weight gained to 99.5 kg, so the extra weight what I had to carry on my bike & in my back pockets was 11.5 kg. It's included all the gadgets, clothes, tools & equipment. When I had to climb & ride across on the mountains, I had approx. 20.2 kg extra weight with the weight of my bike together. (Sometimes I had to carry less or more foods & drinks, so that's why I can't tell more accurately.)

Speed

My top speed was only 61.2 km/h / 38 mph, no new PR this time in that category. :)

Average speed on the 1^st day of my challenge: 22 km/h

Avg. speed on 2^nd day: 17.9 km/h

Avg. speed after my 48 hrs challenge on the last, 3^rd day: 20.4 km/h

If you are not too familiar in sports, especially in road cycling

Then maybe worth to do a quick look on the stats of the UK's most toughest cycling events, sportives to compare with my 48 hrs results & get a better picture:

Just an interesting fact: only the world’s 14 highest mountains are an exclusive club of peaks whose summits tower more than 8,000 meters / 26,247 feet. (My total elevation gain within 3 days: 8612 m / 28 254.5 feet.)

Hardknott Pass is one of the world's hardest cycling climb:

Length: 2.6km

Average gradient: 13%Maximum gradient: 33%Vertical: 315 m

I started to climb on the Hardknott Pass in the dark night on my 2^nd day, when I already rode 190 km just on that day. Yep, I still can't believe it, I made it. XD :D

Most of the sportives & cycling challenges are happening within 1 day, where you can choose your route usually from 3 different difficulty level. (Easy route for beginners & also available normal & harder routes) The longest, most difficult routes are no more than 161 km / 100 miles on these events in the UK, where the elevation gain is usually between somewhere 1300 to 2812 metres / 5000 to 9229 feet. You can find some of this great events here for example. One of the hardest probably this one in the Peak District.

There are some extreme, epic but really rare sportive cycling challenges too of course, such as “The Dragon Devil”, what is not just one of the toughest cycling sportives in the UK but currently one of the toughest cycling sportives in the world. The riders are invited to cycle 300 km, climbing a total of 3437 metres across the Welsh countryside.

I had now 244.2 km just on my 2^nd day with 4414 metres of elevation gain.

Also you can find not much but a few 24 hrs cycling challenge in the UK & really rear but you can find some 48 hrs cycling challenge too:

The hardest probably the “Rat Race Road Trip”, it's an unbelievable ride from London to Edinburgh in 48 hours.

The distance: 708 km / 440 miles & the total ascent more than 6000m / 19 900 ft.

I made it 443 km / 275 mi now, on my 48 hrs challenge with 7515 metres / 24 655.5 feet total ascent, elevation gain.

Sources, related articles:

The world’s hardest cycling climbs - http://win.gs/2dSsRW5

Britain's top 10 toughest cycle climbs - http://bit.ly/2dGuqIs

The UK's toughest sportives - http://bit.ly/2e0PMec

More about Hardknott Pass: http://cyclinguphill.com/hardknott-pass/

The five toughest cycling sportives in the world - http://bit.ly/2dfVYRX

Ten of the UK’s steepest climbs to tackle - http://bit.ly/2dL5YCL

Seven of the UK’s toughest sportives to ride in 2015 - http://bit.ly/2drvYko

All about the Highest Mountains in the World - http://abt.cm/2elCa1m

My final verdict on my 1^st attempt of 1000 km in 48 hrs challenge ride:

Pros & cons

...The good things:

My 48 hrs challenge ride was a great experiment to find out my actual limits in my physical performance on my road bike.

I have got again some awesome results, new personal records in cycling. I'm glad I was able to made these continuous, 3 days rides. :)

I had really great weather & was able to discover tons of great place in the Lake District within 48 hrs, I have lot of great memories from these rides. The +1 day for ride back to home was great too. To be honest, I was dead-tired at the end of the 3^rd day but still, it was really great! :D

...& the bad:

I wasn't able to reach 1000 km (621 mi) within 48 hours this time, on my 1^st attempt.

Next time I have to relax & sleep more before my event to not getting tired too early on the 1^st day & get better overall performance on the 2 days challenge.

I have to plan my 1000 km route on more flat roads, so in much less hilly area to get the best result within 48 hrs.

Few tips if you are a cyclist too

- Troubles what you can try to avoid on long / ultra-distance rides

Cold, sligthly windy & rainy weather with enough proper cycling clothes.

You can also avoid to getting hungry or / and thirsty. No petrol: no performance, it's simple like that. This can be lead even to pretty dangerous situation in your physical condition if you are out of nutrition & / or water in midle of nowhere, so just be sure you have enough food & drink for a long-distance ride. How much of water & nutrition need for you? It's depends on your weight and what level of performance you aimed for and on the weather conditions (hot or cold temperature, headwind all the way, etc.) too for example.

If you are properly check & prepare your bike, then you have a great chance to avoid most of the technikal issues on your long / utlra-distance rides. Still, you can have technical issues, so to avoid the real trouble (in the middle of nowhere, where you can not get help from someone, 'cause the traffic is really rare & no mobile network at all for exemple), you should have some basic tools & spare accessories to be able to fix your bike or your gadgets or your helmet, or your cleats on your cycling shoes for example.

If you are planning to seating on your bike for longer period maybe you can find useful some kind of chamois cream. I tried 1^st time on the 1^st day of my 48 hrs challenge but to me wasn't useful, so after the 1^st day I just skipped.

Troubles what can comes even if you are prepared

For example technical issues, such as: 1 of my spoke just popped out on the 3^rd say, so luckily just after my 2 days challenge & I was also lucky enough to find an awesome bike shop not too far, where was also a mechanic available on Sunday. Thanks again for the life saver, friendly staff in the Evans Cycling shop in Kendal! :)

I also had problem with my Garmin Edges (500 & 800), without portable charger no way you make it with them (!). Also I had problems with them not just because of getting low battery but they wasn't able to save my 48 hrs rides in one ride, 'cause of memory overload & I got some freezing on my Garmin Edges. So I had to reset them after they are was able to work & save my rides again.

I had troubles with my cleats (Shimano SPD-SL) too on my 2^nd day of my challenge, after I just passed the top of Hardknott Pass. My cleats on my shoes wasn't too old (I checked at home before my challenge started & both was in good condition), but it was totally destroyed (by the climbs & also by the walk across some rivers for example). So I had to fix it, replace them in the dark night on the top of Hardknott Pass by my torch light. If you are planning a long or ultra-distance ride, you must have a spare cleats-set (!).

You can get also easily some punctures if you are don't really care too much about the surface of the road front of you. This time I was enough lucky to avoid this problem but as always, I had some spare tubes too, just in case.

OR for example you can have trouble if you are having some really bad weather: yep, you can prepare yourself for some rain but not for really heavy rain or especially you can't really prepare yourself for a storm. The best to get a shelter then, soon as possible. Luckily, I had really brilliant, cold but not too windy & just a bit rainy, mostly dry weather on my 3 days ride (as I mentioned before, I rode back to home on the 3^rd day after my 48 hrs challenge) at the beginning of October in the mountains.

And of course, you can have accident any time (This can be happening not just by your fault!!!), so a basic first aid kit really necessary, mandatory on every ride, can be a life saver (!).

Helmet, sunglasses (not really 'cause of the sunshine but more like 'cause of protection against small objects such as: flying bugs, whipped small stones by cars, etc.) gloves, proper clothes (such as padded cycling tights for example) are also mandatory by my opinion. You can go without them ofc, if you wanna increase the chance of your death or wanna be a cripple in the rest of your life but I do not recommend to ride without proper cycling equipment. On a ultra-distance ride can be really useful a new pair of good quality of insole for your shoes. ;)

And now, at the end of my writing the big question: Am I try again to do 1000 km ride within 48 hours, I will try to make a second attempt?

My short answer is: YES! Definitely! :)

And my longer answer is: I am not sure yet about when exactly ('cause of work & studies, etc.) and where (well, somewhere, where I can find LESS hilly route for 1000 km :) ) but I try to do in the next year again. As I mentioned already for some of my friends, I'm not really sad about this result of my 1^st attempt but really happy.

Some of my friends are asked already during this challenge and some of them after I finished this challenge: “Why are you not aimed only for 500 km to ride within 48 hrs?” Well, my answer is simple: I do not want to make a self-deluding, FAKE challenge for myself, just to get more likes on Facebook, etc. I wanted to make it sg really epic, extraordinary challenge ride / kind of great adventure for myself where I can really push myself, push my limits. To me this 1000 km in 48 hrs sg like when the Everest climbers making their 1^st attempt to the top: most of them are not 100% successful on the 1^st try but hey, if they are enough lucky, then at least they are survived the first try and can do later a second or a 3^rd one and so on!

I wanted to do this first of all more like for fun and for some kind of experiment for a great experience, just because of I love cycling and not for glory. So, just can't wait to do my 2^nd attempt of my 1000 km / 621 mi in 48 hrs in the next year! :)

But until my 2^nd try: Have some nice rides, all! :)

Thanks to everybody who read all of this above, also special thanks to everyone for all the support, to pull for me, it was really kind of you! :) Especially thank you for everyone who take part in my fundraising on my JustGiving page for the Macmillan Cancer Support!

My new site: https://heyjoecyclist.com/

My rides in few pics

At Lake Windermere in the 1st 24 hrs, near to my accommodation

At the Wray Castle during my lunch time on the 1st day

The 1st day was cold & cloudy mostly but not too windy & dry

The 2nd day was the real challenge with so many km / mi & also Hardknott Pass was included. But sometimes not the climbs make me the most adventures: floods are destroyed roads & ancient stone bridges or sometimes wasn't even any real bridge across the rivers just some "ancient path", how the local peoples just called. :D

I had to start my 2nd day with some proper cakes & coffee :)

After my delicious Chai latte at Windermere I just started to roll...

At the Aira Force waterfall during my lunch time on my 2nd day ride in my 48 hrs challenge

In the sunshine with some rainbow was really fabulous

Riding at the lakes...

My last "feed station",

a life saver petrol station on my 2nd day ride after I just started my night ride

ahead to Hardknott Pass

The feeling of heading to Hardknott Pass on road bike during night & see this sign: priceless! xD :D

I knew, all Romans was crazy but 2 built this route across the mountains... Oh, c'mon! xD I feel lucky I wasn't there at daylight, it was scary enough even in the dark night. :D

... Ofc, pretty sure, I will go there again 2 see in daylight too! Oo ;D :)

I had to replace 1 of my cleats on my right shoe after less than 48 hrs, when I already passed on the top of Hardknott Pass & across 2 rivers too for example. At the beginning of the 2nd day I had to change my another cleat on my left shoe too but at least in daylight & not on the top of the windy & cold mountains. :)

I just barely survived Hardknott Pass during the night, I arrived to the guest house at Windermere at 3 AM & after 4 hrs of sleep I just started my final, 3rd day ride back 2 home. :D

I was dead-tired already so it was an interesting challenge to getting home on my road bike but at least the weather was again surprisingly stunning, clear & relatively hot in October. :D