This Pro Cyclist Rode 3,000 Miles in 13 Days—on His Trainer
With quarantine in full swing, we’ve all got a lot of time on our hands to ramp up our mileage. For some of us, that means getting out for a two-hour ride, when we usually only had the time for one hour. For others, like pro road cyclist Timothy Rugg, that means logging enough miles to ride across the country—on Zwift of course.
“When you get in a confined space for a while, you start coming up with crazy ideas,” Rugg told Bicycling, as he reflects on the last two weeks of his life riding 3,000 miles—roughly the distance of Race Across America—on his Wahoo Kickr trainer in 13 days. That’s 230 miles each day, on average. In place. Solo.
“Sometimes those crazy ideas become things that help you deal with the other craziness,” he said. And while you may not be planning the equivalent of a cross-country journey on your trainer, you’re likely spending a lot more time riding indoors now. Regardless of the amount of time you’re spending on Zwift Island, Rugg shares a few key takeaways from his at-home adventure.
Zwift Rides Are Harder Than You Think
My original projection was that I could do 300 miles a day and ride for 12 to 15 hours—but I didn’t do that, not even once. I rode over 12 hours, but I never rode over 250 some miles. Those estimates were based on thinking that I’d get a lot of help from the Zwift “game.” But it was actually so much harder than I could have ever imagined. If you stop pedaling for a second, you stop—you don’t get to freewheel. I could imagine riding across the country for real and getting 300 miles or more spent freewheeling, but in this pursuit, I had only a few minutes of freewheeling.
I also did the entire thing self-supported, which is a weird thing to say doing a virtual ride in your house, but I’ve been by myself for a month, and the time you spend on prep adds up. So not only was I riding 11 to 12 hours a day, but I was also having to make all my meals, do all my laundry—and it was a lot of laundry, because I went through a lot of bibs even daily—and take care of my water bottles every day. Filling up 25 water bottles doesn’t seem like much, but it takes a while. Basically, I was going 15 hours each day between eating, showering, setting up, and pedaling. Then, I’d sleep the other nine.
It’s amazing how quickly riding 12 hours a day became normal, but then that last hour on the last day just seemed to be the longest hour of the entire thing because I was just mentally done. I think a lot of people don’t understand what really is going on psychologically in some of these ultra-endurance efforts. What we’re experiencing mentally isn’t logical, and what we’re doing physically is exceptional.
Pace Yourself
The first day, I didn’t get off the trainer for six and a half hours before my first break. I thought, I just need to put in time, I just need to get as much done as possible. And obviously, I went harder the first day than I did any other days power-wise because I was like, This is how hard I need to go if I want to be able to do 300 miles a day. I quickly realized that was just crazy.
Have a Meal Plan in Place
The biggest mistake was on day one when it was over 80 degrees here in Tucson. You generate a lot of heat on the trainer, and if you don’t have everything perfect with your fan setup, you can dehydrate fast—I just I didn’t pay attention. So, I ended up dehydrated on day one. After that, I put a big emphasis on protein, aiming for around 140 grams per day—because I couldn’t go through a muscle atrophy situation—and put electrolytes in every bottle of water.
Before everything started, I made a bunch of food. I cooked the biggest pot of rice I’ve ever cooked, I cooked a lot of chicken, and I cooked a lot of root vegetables. The chicken and root vegetables lasted me a week before I realized it was going to take me 13 days to finish instead of 10. So I ended up having to spend another night cooking.
I also tried to always have a breakfast before I started. I ate so many bowls of cereal, and I went back to milk—I hadn’t drank milk since I was a kid. But I wanted it during the effort because it’s so high in protein, fat, and sugar, and it’s easy to drink. So it was kind of a nutrition supplement, if you will, that I put in cereal to really help myself get through some easily digestible nutrients.
Dial In Your Setup
I am fortunate enough to have a pretty cool Wahoo set up with the Kicker and the Floormat. People don’t put a lot of emphasis in the Floormat, but that makes a big difference with the way your trainer will creep over time. I also had a remote fan that sat lower in front of me, that blew all the hot air that developed around me away. I had another direct-blowing fan toward my chest and face. I was putting on Chapstick daily because my lips were definitely getting wind-burned.
[Find 52 weeks of tips and motivation, with space to fill in your mileage and favorite routes, with the Bicycling Training Journal.]
Plan for Skin and Muscle Flare-Ups
In the beginning, I had no measures in place to prevent saddle sores or other issues. I planned to change my bibs once a day, but that deteriorated fast. I had to switch from my time trial bike to my road bike for a better saddle. I had to start using chamois cream for the first time in my life. I started switching my bibs out three to four times a day. I also eventually had to change to mountain biking shoes and pedals because road shoes were too rigid. Every three hours, I would eat, shower, change, and recalibrate.
I’m also not really a stretcher, but I found I had to really focus on stretching enough during it. I probably wouldn’t have, but I would get these weird feelings in my arms because of how many hours I was spending putting pressure on my hands—the trainer is way worse for this than riding outside. So I would stretch a little bit in the morning. Days three and four, I couldn't even flex my muscles because they were so tight.
Keep Yourself Entertained
I had the little Wahoo Desk too, which was awesome because it has these grooves where I could put my phone and my tablet and actually have them upright. A lot of my ride was using technology to communicate with people during the ride. Then, I was on Instagram and Facebook trying to promote charities—my big emphasis for charities is always on World Bicycle Relief, especially now because they have a huge initiative on getting frontline healthcare workers bikes.
I was watching a lot on Netflix and YouTube to begin with, and then I would get to the point later in the ride where I was listening to more music. I needed less screen time, and it was kind of nice to just listen to my thoughts and listen to music for a majority of the later days. I also listened to a lot of NPR.
Don’t Wait
I guess my biggest epiphany during the 13 days was to not wait for the things you want to do. Everyone is feeling that same thing right now, where they wanted to do something, but now they can’t. So when we can get back, I don’t want to wait on anything because there’s something in the way. I want to attack things with urgency.
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