AI Website MakerPreparation
Butt
2016 with £20 Pearl Izumu shorts sore about 150 miles in.
2017 good till about 100 on return leg - Endura fs260 (£50).
2018 tried b'twin 900 £30, the Izumo, Crane (Aldi), and Craft (a present) but all start to ache after about 60 miles, so stuck with the Endura for the ride. Asda blister plasters for the return leg 2017, which worked quite well. No change since 2018 but in 2022 the FS260's were worn and I had some chafing, new FS260 in 2023 caused much anguish. Velo speedflex AC saddle 130mm, suited me for probably 50,000 miles.
2024 had to replace the worn out 130mm saddle (narrow saddle and anatomical curve shape seem to suit me better than a flat saddle, I purposely avoided carbon variety as I think plastic has more flex, there is a $15 padded version of the 3d printed that would probably be just as comfortable for this shape and width saddle).
I tried a range of shorts from AliExpress: 5D gel pads have more cover over the gentlemans area to maintain modesty compared to 19D or 20D pads and some shorts are see-through at the builders crack area, a pair of $7 with rear pocket was as comfortable as any other I have used and not see-through. It is slight hit and miss with the pads as the dense foam can extrude to the sides in some pads, causing a chafing point on the thigh, I unpicked stitching and pulled dense foam out from the back of the pad for some, and repositioned a pad on another pair of shorts. Tri-Bars ($11) were the best upgrade for comfort but took me several weeks to learn how to ride them.
Chamois or barrier cream helps to keep any hair slippy and seals the skin against salt ingress from drying sweat on hot days.
Biker's palsy:
2016 leaning on middle of palm, affecting the medial nerve for three weeks or so: compression neuropathy loss of sensation in the thumb, index and middle fingers.
2017 Mitts with more padding central in the palm and leaning on the lateral part of the hand resulted in ulnar nerve problems with loss of power for a month and still tingling in November after the return leg with the last 50 miles in the drops.
I found ulnar neuropathy worse than medial nerve, if you want to choose.
Changing position, £13 instead of £5 mitts, using foam instead of tape and leaning on the interdigital web between thumb and index has eliminated this problem in the subsequent years. Also adjusted the angle of the handlebars to have largest possible contact area.
Knees
Niggles with lateral knee pain should be obvious in the training runs, had some early in year in 2016 but none in 2017. Seemed to be able to ride through this at some point in 2016 and not bothered since unless very strenuous training runs.
Feet
No problems in 2016 (one way) but 5 months of numbness and tingling in middle three toes on both feet in 2017 (retour) and every year since.
You will not find this on internet, but have narrowed my problem to compression of the ball of the foot causing a 'Morton's neuroma' type of compression neuropathy. The nerves of the middle toes run closer to the sole of the foot in the interdigital web spaces apparently that's why the big and little toes are spared.
Changed from flat pedals with halve-toe clips to clipless in 2018, but near Burnham had to take several walks as the balls of my feet were too painful and still ended up with numb toes. (Decathlon 100 shoes on SPD). Added gel insole padding in 2019, no pain on the out leg, mild at about 150 on the return leg, still numb toes. In 2020, 21, 22 & 23 Decathlon 520 shoes on SPD, no pain but still numb toes despite trying a firmer insole.
Having experienced my first 'bonk' on a training ride in 2016 (feeling cold but sweating, wobbling and near complete loss of power) I resolved to eat a couple of jelly's every 20 minutes or so. In 2016 had too much fatty food at lunch and went into a slow bonk with nausea from 100 miles, managing only an apple in Devizes and rescued with some crisps and sweets by the support van of the YMCA team just before Cheddar gorge.
In 2017 I carried jelly's but was so fed up with them from training that I did not force enough down. I stuck with low fat food - a sandwich in London and one just past Bramley, supplemented with coke and snickers/mars bars in-between.
This time stomach did not go on strike until about 150 miles, still managed half a sandwich at the Co-op in Chilcompton. Spreadsheet.
I could not eat through a sore throat until I woke at 2am, managed sandwich in the morning of the return leg, mid morning more bread and a large portion of grapes, late afternoon a tub of ice cream.
In 2018, thinking fat is the enemy, stuck mainly with pasta pots from supermarkets, on the return leg tried ice cream again (~100m) and a milkshake (~150m). Ginger nut cookies as sustenance during the ride. Still stomach on strike refusing food at about the same point.
In 2019 I stuck with the ginger nuts and did one training run (bad timing, set out late, shops closed) on a pint of milk and bag of crisps from a pub @ 70 miles, having had only 6 ginger nut cookies. Went surprisingly well. So drank a pint of milk at every stop (65, 110, 180, 205) except for 150 where I had ice cream. Looking at the high acidity levels of fruit juice and soda drinks it may cause additional irritation of the stomach and milk is a good buffer. Milk seems to have prevented the stomach shut down and sore throat problems.
2020 Organisers cancelled Chase The Sun (Covid19). I joined the only other participant and followed her breaks at every 30 miles with her son and his mate as looking after us. I was under-prepared for training and only made it thanks to having a mate to draft behind…
The 2017 and 2018 sore throat that prevented me eating on Saturday evening reappeared in 2020 possibly to drinking less milk (?). Could not eat on Saturday evening, slept under a tarpaulin on a grassy verge on an industrial estate rain delayed departure.
2021, 22 and 23 I carried on the 2019 milk, pasta and ginger nut diet, with stop intervals @ 60,50,40,30m intervals skipping the last stop both times. (stopped @ 60,110 & 150). No pasta at 110 so had a triple sandwich ('22) with no issues for stomach or throat on cool days (12-16C both years), in '23 however on hot days nausea came back and prevented me from eating after the out-leg, I will have to trial increase salt intake.
2024 Had a fall in London on the out-leg, but even prior did not feel 100% and chosen cola over milk at the stop. Continued with coke and a cold rice curry meal at lunch in the coop of Kingsclere. Was given a salt capsule by a cyclist on the stop in Devizes (sandwich, ice cream) and the increase salt seemed to keep my head clear. Several attempts of throwing up towards the end so whether the food, a bug, too much salt, no milk and Coke instead I do not know, but could not eat in the evening or morning, not even tiramisu. The $10 Tribars seemed the best upgrade ever, take a while to learn but so comfortable, bring on 2025...
I am not strong, have a haemoglobin of about 120-130 (lower than most females, that is my excuse), and no muscle.
I made a power and heart rate spreadsheet a few years ago on holiday in a hotel gym on a stairmaster (no bike in that gym). Pretty feeble as max about 300W for 5 minutes. The only compensation for my lack of power and blood cells is to try and carry even less weight...
I have a steel (? 1980's) BSA, converted from freewheel to freehub, with 1 1/8 27'' (28-630) continental ultra sports for most years and traditional alu wheels. The conversion to freehub required extra dishing and whenever a rim dents spokes break so I now have a dedicated wheel for the ride as truing a rim for a broken spoke wastes a lot of time. The best upgrade in 2024 were tri-bars, it is so comfortable and gain about half to one mile an hour, took several weeks to learn to ride on them though.
Messed up with old tubes and avoidable delays, so now tend to fit fresh tubes and I now have a dedicated chain, cassette and rear derailleur and the usual cable and headset checks. It is 'only' 400 miles and I expect most components give some warning that they are nearing the end. I run cheap components, for instance £10 chainwheel (9 speed), £10 ebay cassette (8 or 9 speed), SRAM PC951 9 speed chain, and a £8 sunrace 6/7sp derailleur, a 9 (current) or 10 speed front derailleur. Friction shifters are not fussy.
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