(rock music)
- Now one of the easiest ways to pace yourself
when you're on a really long ride, like this.
- Yep, trying to cross the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
- Is to keep tabs on your energy expenditure.
Now you don't wanna go too hard too early.
My advice, decided this morning,
was find a nice easy gear that you're comfortable to ride in
and then shift up to the next easiest one.
Now it will feel a little bit too easy to start with,
however, later on in the day, it'll start to make sense
and it'll help you pace much more evenly.
- And now, I must say, it was a little bit difficult,
first thing this morning, to do that.
But once I got my head around the fact
that it wasn't about speed,
it was about getting to the destination,
actually it was pretty liberating.
And what it's meant, in practice,
is that we have been going slowly on the climbs.
Particularly as we're heavily laden with gear.
But, then, that is also a pretty good excuse
as to why we are going slowly.
And, then, the one thing I have had to bear in mind
is it's not just about the long climbs,
it's about those short little ramps and rises
where, back home,
I'd just get out of the saddle and power over it.
But I'm not actually allowed to do that here.
But, then, it doesn't really matter, we've got all day.
- And, quite often, if you do feel tired
when you're riding all day,
it's often due to energy levels, low energy levels, or that.
So it's a really great excuse to stop,
have a nice lunch, have a snack, maybe a coffee,
and take in the views and the local culture.
(rock music)
- Ah, yes, energy levels.
Now, in order to keep riding all day,
you need to keep your energy levels topped up.
And that means eating.
The general rule of thumb, on long rides,
is to eat little and often.
But, when we're out all day, as well as doing that,
we also need to think about meal times.
- A great way to manage your meals
is to break the day down in sections.
So you want to start your day with a nice big breakfast
to give you the energy to see you through to lunch.
Keep snacking throughout the morning.
And when you get to lunch time,
it's a chance for a big meal.
You can enjoy the local cuisine and the local culture.
And then the same principles apply after lunch.
So keep snacking, keep your energy levels up,
and, by the time you get to dinner,
you would have really earned it.
When you're on a multi-day trip,
it's important to keep eating early in the trip
for the subsequent days.
Your natural energy levels will drop as you go onwards.
So if you don't eat early,
you could really struggle later on.
(calm hiphop music)
- While post lunch, whilst we're waddling slowly
up this quite epic climb,
let's take the opportunity to talk about hydration.
Which is, actually, arguably, more important
than getting your food right.
Cause there's some pretty serious health consequences
of actually getting into a dehydrated state.
So the key, if you wanna ride your bike all day,
is to drink little and often.
And, when you get thirsty,
which, in a hot country like Morocco, is quite a lot.
- You also need to consider storing water on your bike.
Now, on this trip, we've got 700 ML bottles.
And that's just about enough to see us through.
However, on a longer trip, or in more remote areas,
you may want to consider running
a cage underneath the down tube.
Or carrying a bladder inside your frame pack
to give you extra storage.
Now in Europe and North America,
it's often safe to drink the tap water.
However, in more far-flung places, such as Morocco,
the tap water isn't always safe to drink.
So it's important to try and drink
bottled water when you can.
Or, if it's not available,
take the appropriate filtering equipment to make water safe.
And that can be a water filter, a UV pen,
or just chlorine tablets.
- Now in order to make sure
that you are carrying enough food and drink
for your whole day ride, you're gonna need to plan ahead.
Now depending on where exactly in the world you are,
it's gonna dictate how much you need to plan.
If you're in a really well-developed country
with loads of towns and villages,
then you're probably not gonna need to plan that much.
You'll always be able to find stuff.
Whereas here, in Morocco, and particularly today,
we're going through some really, really remote
high mountain areas.
And, so, we have had to stock up.
We've looked at the map.
We reckon that we can probably get lunch.
But, otherwise, we're kind of on our own.
So we are stacked full of all the water
and all the food that we can carry.
Particularly given that we've actually
got to cook dinner tonight as well.
- Yeah, so we've got rice and tuna, just in case.
(rock music)
- By now, you may have noticed a theme.
Riding all day is all about management.
As well as managing your effort and nutrition,
and hydration, you need to manage your body.
Little things, that may not irritate you on a short ride,
could soon add up, over the course of a day,
to cause bigger irritations.
- Yeah, like not putting on sunscreen, for example,
or not covering up.
Because the heat is really extreme.
The consequences of that,
it will make you pretty uncomfortable and, also, pretty ill.
And, even on a cloudy day, you can still get sunburned.
So, a golden rule, slap some suncream on, early doors,
and top it up as the day wears on.
And bear in mind, as well, in really extreme conditions,
riding all day might not literally mean riding all day.
It might be riding first thing in the morning
and, then, getting off the bike
and sheltering from the heat of the day,
before getting back on in the cool of the evening.
- It's also important to consider
the clothing you're wearing on your bike packing trip.
So make sure it's tried and tested,
if you're not wearing something new,
it may be uncomfortable.
You may also want to consider the seams.
I mean, you may have a seam that's okay for short rides.
But it may rub over the course of a day.
Wearing slightly loose-fitting clothing
can also be more comfortable as well.
(calm hiphop music)
- Now, finally, as the cliche goes,
endurance is a state of mind.
If you follow Josh's advice,
that we've covered in this video,
it's gonna go a long way to alleviating
some of the physical challenges
associated with riding all day.
But the fact is, if you let it,
your mind can make you call it quits
a long time before your body does.
So staying mentally strong is absolutely key.
- A way to manage your ride, mentally,
is to break it down into smaller chunks.
So rather than thinking about one big ride
that's gonna take all day,
think about two or three smaller rides
that are broken up with breaks or meals.
Now if you do feel really tired
and your mind is beginning to wander,
and is thinking about quitting or stopping,
quite often the best thing to do is to stop, have a rest,
eat some food, and have a drink.
When your energy levels are high,
your mind is functioning at its best.
And that's when it's gonna be strongest.
- Seems like food is something of a reoccurring theme
in this video, Josh.
- It's a bit of a result, really, isn't it?
- Maybe I can ride all day after all.
Now do make sure you give this video a big thumbs up.
Not least because we've ridden up the Tichka Pass
in the Atlas Mountains, whilst making it.
And if you wanna see some more content
from this bike packing trip,
then why not check out that video just down there.