80 Mile Ride?

A bit of a jump in my book. How hard is he planning on going? If he's taking it easy and just getting in the miles, you could probably pull it off. But if there is any intensity to it, you'll bonk for sure!

Too much.

If your friend needs/wants the company, any way you could do half with him? Preferably, the second half!/

If he is doing two verona loops, just join for one loop....first time on the imoo course can be an eye opener.

The second loop would be the best to join, then you can grab some food when done.

Probably too much... unless your friend is willing to slow down to make sure you two come back together.

And if he's training for an IM, he's probably not going to want to do that.

Can you just join him for 50-60 miles?

I agree with this too. You might be able to make the jump to that distance if you took it easy, though it would not be fun and you might even hurt yourself. However, I expect you would be fading badly, very unhappy, and probably holding your friend back later in the ride if you tried the whole thing at his training pace.

I just bumped my longest ride from 40 miles (~2hrs) up to 80+ miles (~4hrs).  Did this over a couple weeks, which included a couple 3 hour rides, and the 84 mile ride was still exhausting.  Jumping straight from 40 to 84 would have been too much for me.

If I were you, I'd check the route on mapmyride and map out a 55 or 60 miler that is a subset of the 80 miler and ride with him for awhile.  That is of course assuming you can keep pace with him for that duration.  You don't want to hold him back.  I'd tell him to feel free to drop you if you can't hold his wheel consistently on the ride....

What makes the IMWI bike course an eye-opener?   Since I'm doing it in 11 weeks and 5 days - ish.

Who's going to ride it in July or August? I'd like to do the stick & 1 loop before race day.

I think anyone can double up their mileage on the bike; it is all about pace.  You will get sore in places you don't ordinarily.  You will recover.  The question is will your friend understand if you will likely slow him/her down?  If they don't mind, then its your call.  Personally years ago I went from only doing a 72 mile long ride in training to a 160 mile ride across Indiana (RAIN ride).  It hurt a lot, but I survived.  Probably not the best thing to do, but I did it and have been happy that I did looking back.  The key however is that I had been riding some good mileage going in, just not real long.  Too often we set limitations on ourself rather than just doing it.  Hydration and glycogen are key.

Before Saturday, my longest ride was in the 30-mile ballpark. I decided to ride to my wife's grandparents' house for a family party and that was 56 miles away. I felt awesome for the first half and started plotting which BBQ joint along the way I was going to go have my final supper at during the final 15 or so miles.

There were plenty of long, gradual hills but lots of flat riding, too, so a good mix. But that mileage, combined with some heavy winds and torrential downpours near the end just made for a loooooong ride! My legs felt like they were on fire and were in a weird can't-get-comfortable pain when I finally arrived after about 3-1/2 hours.

I probably should've worked up to it a bit better, but in retrospect I think it was a pretty cool accomplishment. Too bad I missed the family party, haha!

So, I guess from my perspective I'd say what many others have: Go for it, but if you're struggling don't feel bad cutting it short.

Edited by mrwrite 2009-06-23 8:51 PM

Thanks everyone for the feedback.  I think I am going to follow the guidance from most of you and try to do a portion of the ride.... maybe 50 miles or so.  I know I could physically do the 80 miles, but I don't want to be sore and unable to triain for a few days afterwards.  It isn't worth it to me. 

Regarding the confusion about the course, we are in south MS, which is nowhere near the IMWI course.   He is training for IMWI, but not riding the course obviously.  It is flat as all get out down here, but the wind is ALWAYS blowing off the Gulf of Mexico so you can't go anywhere without a headwind. 

Not to hijack the thread but I disagree with this. for example: 100 to 200 is a big jump! Additionally it is very difficult to include "anyone" in this statement because athletes are so individual and are dealing with VERY diverse athletic backgrounds.