Hey everyone,
I am a filmmaker working on a documentary that is going to involve riding 700 miles through the mountains without a support vehicle, and pulling a 100 lb trailer with all of my camera gear and survival gear. I need some help! What should I plan for? How should I train? I need to talk to some people that have done something like this. Here is a link to my blog so you can read a little more about it and see exactly what I’m doing.
Reported as spam.
Click on his blog, he seems to genuinely be looking for ideas…even if it involves promoting his business/film at the same time.
Get your bike re-geared.
100 lbs uphill won’t be doable with standard gearing.
Do all your training rides with the trailer loaded and unloaded.
You will need to fit brakes to the trailer. No way will the bike brakes handle that load downhill.
Get a better motorcycle.
This seems valid to me. At least until and unless there’s better evidence to the contrary.
Also, I see one other identical post (on website that appears to have something to do with cycling) as opposed to on 30 other message boards and googling burningtorchproductions brings up only facebook, youtube and handful of other random hits. Not what you see from someone blanketing the internet with spam.
Hey everyone! I apologize for my post seeming like spam. I can assure you this is not the case. I am the one going on the ride and am looking for any advice. I agree with the gearing issue. I have been training with my trailer and it is almost impossible to pull up hills. I am changing my username to bikeANDfilm so that it doesn’t sound so commercial.
What are some of the possible injuries that I should be aware of? I have been riding bikes my whole life but I have never done anything quite like this. I am a little concerned about burning out and not being able to finish. How many mile a day would you recommend if I have a 100 lb trailer and going through the mountains?
Daily mileage will depend on the elevation gain, grade and altitude. You’re looking to average 23 miles a day which is solid with a load like that.
The only real injury might be knee trouble if you don’t maintain a high cadence.
Next would be tendinitis if the jump in training load is too much.
Establish your normal resting heart rate. If your HR on waking is 10 beats or more above, take a day off or reduce the mileage that day. Wear a heart rate monitor to help regulate effort.
Take frequent breaks and make sure you eat and drink. You dehydrate faster at altitude.
How much time do you plan to actually spend on the bike each day?
Glad to have you bikeANDfilm! How old are you?
I did a tour in Utah hauling all my crap on the back of my bike. The one nagging injury I got was I had the saddle just a touch too high one day and was pedaling hard to beat a thunderstorm to a town and I slightly pulled whatever it is that runs from my hip down the outside of my right thigh. Also, in the final analysis I hauled way too much water. I was in the desert most of the time so I hauled as much as I could get away with. I never ran out, so that’s good, but that stuff’s heavy. It’s tough to guage.
Hi Ellen, I am 23.
I have quite a bit of filming so I am planning on not riding for more than an hour without shooting some footage. I am planning to be riding for about 6 hours a day and filming for about 4. The rest of the time I will be trying to stay out of the sun. The altitude is going to range from 5000 to 7800 feet so it’s a pretty high altitude ride for the most part. I have a water filter but I’m not sure if I trust it in some of the water on my route… I might just pack water and stock up every two days. How much water did you use a day Mack?
I would think a good part for the film, and for you personally, would be to go to a sports medicine doctor beforehand and get evaluated (think how the Super Size Me guy talks to a doctor before going on his “diet”). I would think you could get a doctor to agree to being filmed for such a purpose.
I don’t remember. I imagine I used the 1 gallon per day rule of thumb as a starting point. I started with a water bag in the bottom of each pannier, added a canteen here, couple water bottles there, it adds up.