Tour de Jutland

Ultracyclists likes to go out for a spin. A really long spin. Carsten Weber finished a cold 1200km ride around the coastal line of Jutland in less than 4 days. All in the name of meticulous training and preparation.

Carsten Weber, a 30-year old Danish military man from Aarhus, is no ordinary cyclist. He’s an avid ultracyclist who competes in long distance racing and rides for charity.

RIDE DATA

Distance: 1204km
Duration: 46:07:04 (moving time) *
Avg speed: 26.1 km/h
Avg cadence: 73
Avg power: 172w
Max power: 970w
Pedaling time: 95% of the activity
Avg HR: 134 bpm
Calories: 31,902 (112 slices of pizza)

* Interesting note: there are still 200 hours of battery life left in his rechargeable Zpider

A 1200km training ride

There are no ways around it: ultracyclists needs to build up a huge mileage. That’s why Carsten decided to ride around almost the entire coastline of Jutland in less than 4 days, riding for more than 1200 kilometers. That’s the same distance as riding from Copenhagen to Paris! This served as a preparation of what’s to come during this season.

“The goal of the tour was to gain a lot of experience, mileage and to push my body to the limits. I was inspired by a fellow ultracyclist to plan the ride around Jutland. At first, the plan was to do 3 days of 200km each. But 200km is not really that ‘ultra’. So instead of doing just 3 days of 200km I wanted to do ONE ride. It was hard to plan for but a friend devoted his Easter holiday to support me in the van and drive 27-29 km/h. The bad weather was not a part of the plan, but we made it and finished 18 hours faster than expected.“

Working in the right training zones

Sticking to the correct power zones on your training rides is always a good idea. Especially when your training rides last for days. Ultracycling is all about perfecting your pacing and spending just the right amount of your energy. When you burn a ‘match’ you have done a hard effort. Burn too many and you’re toast. Carsten spent the vast majority of his ride in the lower Active Recovery (Z1) and Endurance (Z2) zones, making sure he didn’t burn too many matches. His pacing was very solid considering the various terrain and windy conditions of Jutland.

Power napping

In ultra-racing, the clock doesn’t stop before you cross the finish line. The amount of sleep needed and the best time to have it during races varies. The ambitious racers sleep just enough so that they don’t get too drowsy on the bike, and not anymore. Riding while sleep deprived can be very dangerous. It’s not uncommon that tired riders fall asleep on the bike. But if you sleep too much your body starts to recover, making it almost impossible to continue:

“Prior to every race, I set myself a goal to reach a certain distance. At Melfar24 (24-hour race) in 2017, I had to reach at least 500km. When I was eating my ‘midnight snack’ I got more and more tired. So I estimated that I could sleep for three and a half hours before going back on the bike and finish the last 5 hours. I reached 535km on that day. The ride around Jutland was finished with less than 12 hours of resting.”

You can follow Carsten on his ultracycling journey on facebook and you are welcome to join him on his long training rides!

Carsten’s race calendar

Styrkeprøven (543km)
Helnæs24
Rad Am Ring
24 Heures Vélo
12h of Monza