7 ms·

I've done quite a few very strenuous, multi-week races on bike, including riding the Colorado Trail in 7 days [0], and riding to, then summiting all the Colorad

I've done quite a few very strenuous, multi-week races on bike, including riding the Colorado Trail in 7 days [0], and riding to, then summiting all the Colorado 14ers in 34 [1] - as well as participating in the Tour Divide [2] twice. I would call my fitness before these races as "peak", but I wouldn't call myself anything but near, "onset of over training syndrome" afterwards. The only thing I experienced similar to the author's was a slight bit of fat loss. Every other part of my body was wrecked, which took months to recover from. One thing that stuck out with me is that they only hiked for 8 hours/day. That seems like a light day! compared to these races, where 5 hours of sleep is spoiling oneself. I guess the moral of the story before doing a, "thru hike for fitness" is to not to overdo it. It also seems like the author was in pretty alright shape to start out, with a fairly low pulse and overall bodyweight. [0] http://www.climbingdreams.net/ctr/ http://www.climbingdreams.net/ctr/ [1] http://longranger.justinsimoni.com/tour14er/ http://longranger.justinsimoni.com/tour14er/ [2] http://tourdivide.org/ http://tourdivide.org/

nicolashahn 10y ago
I'm willing to bet money that the single determining factor that led you to different results was the amount of sleep. 5 hours is not even enough for a sedentary person, much less someone riding a bike all day. The more you work out the more sleep you need. I'm guessing the author got at least 8 hours a night, or however much was enough to fully recover.
- brendan_a_b 10y ago
  I'm reading a book on breaking the two hour marathon and one pro (I cant remember her name at the moment) sleeps 16 hours a day when her training peaks
  - jrowley 10y ago
    What's the book? Sounds interesting!
    - rodhan 10y ago
      I'm guessing it's "Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon", by Ed Caesar (http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review-two-hours-the-quest-to-run-the-impossible-marathon-by-ed-caesar-1.2295977 http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review-two-hours-the...)
  - gjjrfcbugxbhf 10y ago
    Paula Radcliffe
  - dorfsmay 10y ago
    This is really interesting, statistically people sleeping 7 hours have the highest life expectancy. I personally need 8 to 9, but I'm sharper if I only sleep ~ 6 hours (and eventually crash and have to recuperate).
- morgante 10y ago
  Indeed. One of my favorite things about thru-hiking is that you get a ton of sleep: it's not unusual go to bed shortly after sunset and wake up at sunrise.
  - Bartweiss 10y ago
    I usually feel like crap hiking if I'm not in bed for 10+ hours. Mostly that's not hard - you're tired, and just sleep all night. It was a pain in the ass in Alaska, though; I think I'd have real trouble with long hikes there in the summer.
    - morgante 10y ago
      I actually found kayaking and hiking in Alaska amazing (I was only there for 2 weeks). We'd be going for 12-16 hours a day but the constant sunlight made me feel super energized and happy.
bootload 10y ago
"One thing that stuck out with me is that they only hiked for 8 hours/day. That seems like a light day! compared to these races," Really. Carrying a 20kg pack for eight hours over rough terrain is less strenuous than bike riding? Do this for over 500 miles? Ever done this before? Hike on foot with 20kg packs on consecutive days? Make camp, make food, rest, break camp. Everything on your back. This is a lot more strenuous than you think. Hands down racing on a bike is much easier ^physically^ than hiking on foot carrying weight over broken terrain over long distances.
- dasil003 10y ago
  Over the same distance sure, but have you ever raced mountain bikes? The broken terrain thing applies as well. And the increased efficiency just translates into more speed and distance. You might think descending 10k feet on a bicycle is cake compared to hiking, but packing that elevation drop into a tiny fraction of the time leads is actually a fairly intense upper body workout.
  - bootload 10y ago
    "have you ever raced mountain bikes?" No. I think the OP was referring to road racing. One question, "do you carry the bikes uphill?"
    - dasil003 10y ago
      When you hike do you ever jump down a 20-foot cliff? It's asinine to get into this dick measuring contest, you shouldn't claim your sport is more hard-core than a sport you don't know. This mentality is why Lance Armstrong got his ass handed to him the first time he tried mountain bike racing because he thought it would be easy. And yes, there are race format where you carry bikes uphill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclo-cross https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclo-cross.
- justinator 10y ago
  All these mountain bike races are self-supported, so they're actually very similar in the amount of gear carrying by someone doing a thru-hike with UL equipment, as you're carrying everything you'll need from start to finish, including your sleep system. Much of the course for say - the Colorado Trail is difficult enough you're not riding the bike: you're pushing it. This sort of thing [0] I've actually considered trying to hike the Colorado Trail unsupported - carrying everything I'll need from the start (except water) with NO resupplies until the end. My target time would be around 9 days. If you're trying to gauge how strenuous the types of effort I put forth when I go and do the things I do. Anyways, 8 hours seems like an easy day on the trail for sure. 8 hours hike + 8 hours sleep leaves you 8 hours for $Other_Things. Might as well hike some more! [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyznXGXiSDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyznXGXiSDk
chrismartin 10y ago
The conditions of a race are very different from a thru-hike done for enjoyment. I got the best sleep of my life on the PCT. 8-9 solid hours each night (sometimes I would wake up to eat), and an hour nap after lunch every day.
- griffinmmahon 10y ago
  Your comment has me fondly remembering a backpacking trip in Wyoming. We'd go to sleep around 8 or 9 since it would get dark before then and wake up at about 7, and the sleep was indeed the best of my life, like coming out of a coma.
- reneherse 10y ago
  That sounds like backpacking paradise, of which I am delighted to hear of as a contradiction to my experience. I hiked the New England section of the AT in high school, but our small party included a guy who snored louder than anyone I've ever met before or since. A wet, sucking, horrific noise that to the mind of my light-sleeping sixteen y/o self was surely identical to the sound of a giant lamprey or hagfish, slurping the innards of its living, long suffering prey, still undead after twenty-odd very very long nights...
  - 24gttghh 10y ago
    Try some earplugs next time?
deepGem 10y ago
Man, how did you survive on 5 hours of sleep ? I rode my bike for 200 km in 11 hours and post that, slept like a log for 9 hours. I mean, I was knocked out. Couldn't open my eyes despite alarms.
- xorcist 10y ago
  I can't understand it either, I'm absolutely exhausted from _one_ day of biking. But check out things like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Am_Bike_Race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Am_Bike_Race and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Race for the really extreme stuff. There's a great documentary about Transcontinental race from 2015 at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/transcontinental https://vimeo.com/ondemand/transcontinental which is well worth watching. Seems to be behind a (cheap) paywall now but it's well worth it as an intro to how it's done. It's absolutely mesmerizing to watch for regular crazy people (as opposed to the crazy crazy people who partake) and there is some great behind the scenes footage on youtube. These races are great to watch in real time because you can follow every GPS tracker and since each rider chooses their own directions it can get really exciting.
- gaius 10y ago
  The US Army's Ranger School is 8 weeks on 2 hours of sleep a night, apart from one night you are allowed 5 hours because there's a parachute jump the next day...
  - ryanmarsh 10y ago
    Don't forget the malnutrition and that it takes a year to recover from.
    - gaius 10y ago
      I'm just a civvy and obviously don't know anything, but I've always found what I've heard/read about Ranger School puzzling. Does it really produce something that cannot be produced any other way? Why does no other military have something like it?
ObeyTheGuts 10y ago
When i walk all day i sleep 12 hours, in morning i feel like i want to continue this way instead of noooooo no more walking! Sleep deprivation is just ridiculous, water sleep and food should be plenty in any of long strenous things or else its just self destruction madness
- rsync 10y ago
  "When i walk all day i sleep 12 hours" I wish there was some perma-link from: - HN comment threads about insomnia (lightbulb colors, screen brightness, silly apps) - HN comment threads about light to moderate exercise It's amazing how simple the answers to these problems are and how close at hand those answers are ...
  - Bartweiss 10y ago
    I agree that people often miss the easy answers on sleep. It's important, though, that light/dark and exercise are not interchangeable sleep aids. Very, very broadly: Light issues are about melatonin, which is production-inhibited and rapidly destroyed in the presence of blue light. Increasing melatonin levels is the point of Flux and blue glasses and all the rest. Exercise issues are about adenosine, which is produced over time and gradually with physical activity, and consumed during sleep. (It's also what caffeine inhibits.) These aren't entirely interchangeable, so there's more to be gained from addressing whichever one is the largest personal issue. (Anecdotally, I have a suspicion that the feeling zombie-tired insomnia is about a bad mismatch from sedentary tiredness.) I do think that people preferentially worry about light issues without trying exercise, though.
pixelbreaker 10y ago
I raced Tour Divide in 2015 too (21 days), slept an average of about 5 hours a night, until New Mexico, which I rode the entirety of on 5 hours sleep. I was utterly destroyed by the end of it. I went from 78kgs in Banff, to 69kgs in Antelope Wells. My resting heart rate was already low (around 45) by the end it was more like 35. Agreed with other comments on here, the thru-hike is a totally different situation, and 8 hours a day hiking is half the time I was on a bike probably. I'd love to do it again! He's the strava activity https://www.strava.com/activities/341380125 https://www.strava.com/activities/341380125

nicolashahn 10y ago

I'm willing to bet money that the single determining factor that led you to different results was the amount of sleep. 5 hours is not even enough for a sedentary person, much less someone riding a bike all day. The more you work out the more sleep you need. I'm guessing the author got at least 8 hours a night, or however much was enough to fully recover.

brendan_a_b 10y ago
I'm reading a book on breaking the two hour marathon and one pro (I cant remember her name at the moment) sleeps 16 hours a day when her training peaks
- jrowley 10y ago
  What's the book? Sounds interesting!
  - rodhan 10y ago
    I'm guessing it's "Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon", by Ed Caesar (http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review-two-hours-the-quest-to-run-the-impossible-marathon-by-ed-caesar-1.2295977 http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review-two-hours-the...)
- gjjrfcbugxbhf 10y ago
  Paula Radcliffe
- dorfsmay 10y ago
  This is really interesting, statistically people sleeping 7 hours have the highest life expectancy. I personally need 8 to 9, but I'm sharper if I only sleep ~ 6 hours (and eventually crash and have to recuperate).
morgante 10y ago
Indeed. One of my favorite things about thru-hiking is that you get a ton of sleep: it's not unusual go to bed shortly after sunset and wake up at sunrise.
- Bartweiss 10y ago
  I usually feel like crap hiking if I'm not in bed for 10+ hours. Mostly that's not hard - you're tired, and just sleep all night. It was a pain in the ass in Alaska, though; I think I'd have real trouble with long hikes there in the summer.
  - morgante 10y ago
    I actually found kayaking and hiking in Alaska amazing (I was only there for 2 weeks). We'd be going for 12-16 hours a day but the constant sunlight made me feel super energized and happy.

bootload 10y ago

"One thing that stuck out with me is that they only hiked for 8 hours/day. That seems like a light day! compared to these races," Really. Carrying a 20kg pack for eight hours over rough terrain is less strenuous than bike riding? Do this for over 500 miles? Ever done this before? Hike on foot with 20kg packs on consecutive days? Make camp, make food, rest, break camp. Everything on your back. This is a lot more strenuous than you think. Hands down racing on a bike is much easier ^physically^ than hiking on foot carrying weight over broken terrain over long distances.

dasil003 10y ago
Over the same distance sure, but have you ever raced mountain bikes? The broken terrain thing applies as well. And the increased efficiency just translates into more speed and distance. You might think descending 10k feet on a bicycle is cake compared to hiking, but packing that elevation drop into a tiny fraction of the time leads is actually a fairly intense upper body workout.
- bootload 10y ago
  "have you ever raced mountain bikes?" No. I think the OP was referring to road racing. One question, "do you carry the bikes uphill?"
  - dasil003 10y ago
    When you hike do you ever jump down a 20-foot cliff? It's asinine to get into this dick measuring contest, you shouldn't claim your sport is more hard-core than a sport you don't know. This mentality is why Lance Armstrong got his ass handed to him the first time he tried mountain bike racing because he thought it would be easy. And yes, there are race format where you carry bikes uphill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclo-cross https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclo-cross.
justinator 10y ago
All these mountain bike races are self-supported, so they're actually very similar in the amount of gear carrying by someone doing a thru-hike with UL equipment, as you're carrying everything you'll need from start to finish, including your sleep system. Much of the course for say - the Colorado Trail is difficult enough you're not riding the bike: you're pushing it. This sort of thing [0] I've actually considered trying to hike the Colorado Trail unsupported - carrying everything I'll need from the start (except water) with NO resupplies until the end. My target time would be around 9 days. If you're trying to gauge how strenuous the types of effort I put forth when I go and do the things I do. Anyways, 8 hours seems like an easy day on the trail for sure. 8 hours hike + 8 hours sleep leaves you 8 hours for $Other_Things. Might as well hike some more! [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyznXGXiSDk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyznXGXiSDk

chrismartin 10y ago

The conditions of a race are very different from a thru-hike done for enjoyment. I got the best sleep of my life on the PCT. 8-9 solid hours each night (sometimes I would wake up to eat), and an hour nap after lunch every day.

griffinmmahon 10y ago
Your comment has me fondly remembering a backpacking trip in Wyoming. We'd go to sleep around 8 or 9 since it would get dark before then and wake up at about 7, and the sleep was indeed the best of my life, like coming out of a coma.
reneherse 10y ago
That sounds like backpacking paradise, of which I am delighted to hear of as a contradiction to my experience. I hiked the New England section of the AT in high school, but our small party included a guy who snored louder than anyone I've ever met before or since. A wet, sucking, horrific noise that to the mind of my light-sleeping sixteen y/o self was surely identical to the sound of a giant lamprey or hagfish, slurping the innards of its living, long suffering prey, still undead after twenty-odd very very long nights...
- 24gttghh 10y ago
  Try some earplugs next time?

deepGem 10y ago

Man, how did you survive on 5 hours of sleep ? I rode my bike for 200 km in 11 hours and post that, slept like a log for 9 hours. I mean, I was knocked out. Couldn't open my eyes despite alarms.

xorcist 10y ago
I can't understand it either, I'm absolutely exhausted from _one_ day of biking. But check out things like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Am_Bike_Race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Am_Bike_Race and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Race for the really extreme stuff. There's a great documentary about Transcontinental race from 2015 at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/transcontinental https://vimeo.com/ondemand/transcontinental which is well worth watching. Seems to be behind a (cheap) paywall now but it's well worth it as an intro to how it's done. It's absolutely mesmerizing to watch for regular crazy people (as opposed to the crazy crazy people who partake) and there is some great behind the scenes footage on youtube. These races are great to watch in real time because you can follow every GPS tracker and since each rider chooses their own directions it can get really exciting.
gaius 10y ago
The US Army's Ranger School is 8 weeks on 2 hours of sleep a night, apart from one night you are allowed 5 hours because there's a parachute jump the next day...
- ryanmarsh 10y ago
  Don't forget the malnutrition and that it takes a year to recover from.
  - gaius 10y ago
    I'm just a civvy and obviously don't know anything, but I've always found what I've heard/read about Ranger School puzzling. Does it really produce something that cannot be produced any other way? Why does no other military have something like it?

ObeyTheGuts 10y ago

When i walk all day i sleep 12 hours, in morning i feel like i want to continue this way instead of noooooo no more walking! Sleep deprivation is just ridiculous, water sleep and food should be plenty in any of long strenous things or else its just self destruction madness

rsync 10y ago
"When i walk all day i sleep 12 hours" I wish there was some perma-link from: - HN comment threads about insomnia (lightbulb colors, screen brightness, silly apps) - HN comment threads about light to moderate exercise It's amazing how simple the answers to these problems are and how close at hand those answers are ...
- Bartweiss 10y ago
  I agree that people often miss the easy answers on sleep. It's important, though, that light/dark and exercise are not interchangeable sleep aids. Very, very broadly: Light issues are about melatonin, which is production-inhibited and rapidly destroyed in the presence of blue light. Increasing melatonin levels is the point of Flux and blue glasses and all the rest. Exercise issues are about adenosine, which is produced over time and gradually with physical activity, and consumed during sleep. (It's also what caffeine inhibits.) These aren't entirely interchangeable, so there's more to be gained from addressing whichever one is the largest personal issue. (Anecdotally, I have a suspicion that the feeling zombie-tired insomnia is about a bad mismatch from sedentary tiredness.) I do think that people preferentially worry about light issues without trying exercise, though.

pixelbreaker 10y ago

I raced Tour Divide in 2015 too (21 days), slept an average of about 5 hours a night, until New Mexico, which I rode the entirety of on 5 hours sleep. I was utterly destroyed by the end of it. I went from 78kgs in Banff, to 69kgs in Antelope Wells. My resting heart rate was already low (around 45) by the end it was more like 35. Agreed with other comments on here, the thru-hike is a totally different situation, and 8 hours a day hiking is half the time I was on a bike probably. I'd love to do it again! He's the strava activity https://www.strava.com/activities/341380125 https://www.strava.com/activities/341380125