How does this compare to a one day sportive?

Many cyclists will be doing sportives over the summer, so I thought I would try to explain the difference between what I am doing and what I would do in a typical sportive.

The obvious answer is that my world record attempt is nothing like a sportive.  Sportives generally last a day, are typically around 100 miles, and often have lots of climbing (the ones that I do are like this).  For most people the main aim is to complete the ride in as short a time as possible to get a gold or silver medal.  Obviously this requires quite a lot of training, with some tapering before, coupled with carbohydrate loading to be properly fuelled.  After the event you can celebrate and replenish some of the calories burned, although in reality it takes a few days to replenish the calories properly and recover from the exertions of the event.  During the ride you will be measuring effort based around your heart rate, keeping it to below your target which optimises your power output for the 4 to 8 hours duration of the ride.

My record attempt is completely different to a sportive.  Firstly, the preparation is based around making long periods of time on the bike as comfortable as possible without building up tiredness.  There is no tapering except before the first day, and you are carrying any tiredness and discomfort from one day to the next.  Obviously nutrition becomes important (see separate blog) and this is all about having a balanced diet and one which also balances energy expended with energy consumed.  The main difference between a sportive and an endurance challenge like this is the approach to the cycling.  In a sportive you have a fixed distance to be covered in the shortest time.  I am trying to cover as many miles as possible without building up tiredness from one day to the next.  This is really about managing effort.  I could cycle at 17mph for 6 hours at a heart rate of about 160 and this would mean I covered 102 miles, but would end the day with tired legs.  Instead I aim to cycle at about 14mph for 10 hours at an average heart rate of no more than 130 covering 140 miles, but crucially no tired legs.  On good days I may even stay out for even longer meaning I will cover more miles.