Tips required for long distance preparation.

+1 on the riding 50 miles back to back.I coach endurance athletes, people racing 400 miles +, and the best way to fit in  endurance training for real people with real jobs and real lives is to do back to back shorter rides rather than very long rides. Doing 2 x  50 - 60 mile rides 2 days in a row has a greater cumulative effect than doing one  long ride, and you recover quicker. BEyond that sm's tips for the event are absolutely spot on, especially on taking it easy. You should be able to hold a comfortable conversation the entire time you're riding the event.

I'm doing LEJOG in Sept-  SM's list is essentially my own note-to-self.

Echo-ing mattydubster too, I think a really important point is to eat proper food during the ride. Losing 5 or 10 mins to have a sandwich is well worth it over trying to survive on gels or bars.

1. Draft others where possible
2. Conserve energy at all times, take it easy especially uphill, even if you feel great
3. Eat well and often on the bike
4. Stay hydrated
5. Go to bed early and get as much sleep as possible, your best recovery tool
6. Fuel up each night as you deplete your energy stores
7. Train a little if you wish, try some 50 mile rides back to back
8. Ensure you stay stay warm in this Siberian summer of ours
9. Find someone to talk to so the miles will pass quickly, especially the flat fenland miles... Zzzzz
10. Enjoy it!

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http://bestbikesforwomen.com/top-21-bicycle-forums/

The distance is about 700km, over 5 days that's 140km a day. I think it depends whether you 100 miles a week is a 70 and a 30 or five 20s If the former it probably just means upping the distance slightly and doing a few back to back days. If your regular max distance is less than 50 miles there'll be more building up of distance. Look for sportives gradually building up the distance to 100 miles. And again you will need to do long rides on consecutive days at some point. Last summer our club did a trip to Paris that was 3 days of around 110km everyone made it comfortably, and most were not doing 100 miles per week before the build up.

I am assuming this is a supported organised ride. If you are going solo it becomes a much tougher challenge. Riding 100 miles carrying luggage is much tougher than riding 100 miles with your bag in the van. And navigating as well.

100 miles a week is a solid base so you are starting from a strong position.

If you want training programmes, have a look here:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/events/training-zone/cycling-trainin...

I know i am a bit like a broken record on this but try and fit in some pilates a couple of times a week. It will strenghten your core muscles, hip flexors etc and make the difference between the ride being painful and pleasurable for those long days in the saddle.

The only other thing is to fit a couple of longish rides consecutively as getting going the next day after a long ride can be tough.

Good luck !

Have a look on Pistonheads at Gruffy preparing for the Transcontinental Race. Lots of stuff there that I'd just not even have thought about) if I was nuts enough to be doing something like that!)

Hi.  I did Newcastle to London in 24hrs last year (300 miles) and , like you, was a bit concerned about how to tackle it.  The single best bit of advice I can give is to fuel well on 'proper food', not just gels or anything too sugary.  I ate all sorts, from malt loaf to sandwiches to dried mango and all sorts in between.  Eat small amounts regularly and you'll be surprised how much it powers you along!

And obvs plenty of fluids too...