If you love reading about cycling, celebrate!
Here’s how you can grab your own copy of Mike Kirby’s newest book for free through the weekend.
Long-distance cycling events are a world all their own. For dedicated long-distance cyclists like our CyclingScoop guest author Mike Kirby, perfecting the strategy for how to tackle a thousand kilometers by bike is part of the joy.
Are you curious about what compels someone to get into long-distance cycling and how they prepare for such long treks? You can hear more about Mike’s experience with long-distance cycling in his newest book, The Longer Road: The Rise of Ultra-Distance Cycling.
What can readers learn about in the book? Ultra distance bike riding can be brutal on those who enjoy this unique form of cycling. For example, it’s not unusual for only 50% of starters to finish any given event! In The Longer Road, Mike takes a deeper look at the world of ultra distance cycling races, including the most iconic events and amazing athletes who take part. The book goes into more detail about kit, nutrition, and training, to make sure that anyone who wants to try a long-distance ride of their own is prepared for success.
Read More: Interested in long rides? Thousand-kilometer trips aren’t for the faint of heart!
According to the book’s blurb on Amazon, for Mike, long-distance cycling “gifted him a unique stillness in motion and some fleeting glimpses of contentment, and left him feeling as proud of himself as he ever has.”
An excerpt from The Longer Road.
Timed with the release, Mike has also shared a piece from the book on his Substack page.
From The Longer Road: The Rise of Ultra-Distance Cycling:
Unless you are the kind of ultra rider who can get by on a ride to the pub, a few pints and a ride home, then training is likely to be something you should, and even want to do.
It is always a surprise to read posts on social media from people who, only weeks before an event, profess to having done no training at all. The ability to undertake a long race, with only a few training rides is enviable.
I have done several long distance rides with my son, for most of which he failed to do any/much training. I still had trouble keeping up with him even in his unfit state, now only able to compete when he is ill or hung-over, or both.
Training has to be taken seriously for me. Luckily, I love the post ride feeling, legs, slightly tight, but in a good way, you can almost feel the blood coursing through, and lungs that you can properly fill with the good air. When I took up time trialing with all the passion of the newly converted, I much preferred to train rather than race.
I am not one for poring over the numbers. I had a power-meter, long before learning to use it for anything other than to tell the time. Looking at the power stats on a ride, there are so many other variables. I prefer perceived effort as this takes into account training load and levels of fatigue.
A bank holiday weekend is a gift and with a big race coming up. The plan is three consecutive two hundred kilometre days. A good weekend can be two lots of three hundred kilometres. Luckily my partners chosen sport of long distance swimming is almost as time consuming as mine.
It is over consecutive days that we learn the effects riding long distances has on the body. You can do as many three or four hour training rides as you like and still not get close to the changes that happen when you string long days together. It is not necessary to ride for ten consecutive long days to prepare for a race with ten consecutive long days, but my contention is that you need to know what riding for days in a row, feels like.
Are you interested in checking out The Longer Road and hearing more about Mike’s experiences with long-distance cycling? Here’s hoping this book inspires a sense of adventure in its readers and provides some practical tips for anyone who wants to give it a try themselves!
Get The Longer Road for free May 22nd through 24th.
For this weekend only, you can get a The Longer Road e-book for free on Amazon! This is perfect for reading on your Kindle or another kind of e-reader. The book will also be available as paperback. After the weekend, it will still be available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
Mike’s other books are also available on Amazon as e-books and paperbacks. For those who want more hands-on advice and guidance for how to prepare for your own long-distance training or events, Mike is also a prolific writer on his Substack, The Cycle Scribe, where subscribers get access to additional training materials and workbooks.
As for myself, I’m not much of a long-distance cyclist, but I’m hoping to pick up this book and learn more about what it really takes to accomplish such long outings. Maybe at the very least it will encourage me to try a century ride! And I’d like to be “in the passenger seat” for Mike’s stories of his experiences in this unique form of cycling.
Read More: Check out Mike’s other recent post, The Tour de France — The Greatest Show on Earth?
Are you interested in checking out The Longer Road this weekend or reading in the future? Let us know in the comments or on social media! ★
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