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What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

outsideonline.com

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Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#61

Post by bootload »

dasil003 wrote: post #21
bootload wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 stren…

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.

"have you ever raced mountain bikes?"

No. I think the OP was referring to road racing. One question, "do you carry the bikes uphill?"

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#62

Post by bootload »

justinator wrote: post #32
bootload wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 stren…

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 tr…

"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."

These are good points. The distance this bloke covered was 800km. Every day another 30km. That is hard.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#63

Post by thebent »

kevin488 wrote: post #59
nodamage wrote: post #39

Another good option if you're not interested in hiking is bicycle touring. A few years ago I spent a summer cycling across France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and it was an absolutely incredible experience. After cycling for roughly 6 hours per day over six weeks, I lost a ton of weight, despite eating anything and everything I wanted. (Which was more food than I would normally eat at home, considering you're b…

I would love to hear a rough outline of your path. Were you mostly on roads with cars or is there a more established bike lane infrastructure? Any issues sharing the road with vehicles?

@kevin488 The Adventure Cycling Association is the de facto source for bike touring routes and maps: https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#64

Post by kevinalexbrown »

somethingsimple wrote: post #26

How does one get started doing this kind of thing? Ever since moving to the US, and specifically to the PNW, I've been wanting to hike, but I don't know where to start. People here seem to grow up used to it, but I don't know what equipment I need, what food to bring, how to get to the trails (do I drive? what if there's no parking?), etc.

If you live in Seattle, check out the Mountaineers. If in Portland, the Mazamas. First and second largest mountaineering groups in the US iirc. I learned to climb through maxamas, you'll learn to do it right. They don't just climb though, lots of hikes and training.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#65

Post by kevinalexbrown »

somethingsimple wrote: post #26

How does one get started doing this kind of thing? Ever since moving to the US, and specifically to the PNW, I've been wanting to hike, but I don't know where to start. People here seem to grow up used to it, but I don't know what equipment I need, what food to bring, how to get to the trails (do I drive? what if there's no parking?), etc.

If you live in Seattle, check out the mountaineers. If in Portland, the Mazamas. First and second largest mountaineering groups in the US iirc. I learned to climb through the Mazamas, you'll learn to do it right. They don't just climb though, lots of hikes and training.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#66

Post by nodamage »

kevin488 wrote: post #59
nodamage wrote: post #39

Another good option if you're not interested in hiking is bicycle touring. A few years ago I spent a summer cycling across France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and it was an absolutely incredible experience. After cycling for roughly 6 hours per day over six weeks, I lost a ton of weight, despite eating anything and everything I wanted. (Which was more food than I would normally eat at home, considering you're b…

I would love to hear a rough outline of your path. Were you mostly on roads with cars or is there a more established bike lane infrastructure? Any issues sharing the road with vehicles?

We followed the Eurovelo 6 bicycle route (http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos/eurovelo-6). Fortunately Europe has great bicycle infrastructure so we were able to stay on dedicated cycle paths or at least bike lanes the majority of the time. In the instances where we did end up sharing the road with cars, it was not an issue, European drivers are in general very cycle friendly. (Especially in contrast with New Zealand which was frankly terrifying.)

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#67

Post by fian »

bootload wrote: post #7
justinator wrote: post #2

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…

"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 stren…

I have done both week long MTB touring off road with about 20kg of gear plus the bike. And 12 day off trail hikes through river gorges and crossing some steep ranges starting with about 24kg on my back.

On the MTB I got more fatigued each day due to the pace we were riding at. This meant we were burning glycogen most of the time. When you run out of glycogen you really struggle to keep pace.

On the hike the pace is usually at a level that allows effecient fat burning. Finding palatable food that has a high enough energy density and protein content to weight is a challenge.

If we rode slower then I would have been less fatigued each day.

Both types of activity are tiring but in different ways. The biggest difference though will come from the pace you set.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#68

Post by yupyupp »

A long thru hike is something I've always wanted to do. I was planning on hiking the AT or PNT after I finished university. But, now that I'm a few weeks away from graduating/starting my job, its not something that's financially possible for me. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to find time for something like this later in life?

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#69

Post by jspotanski »

yupyupp wrote: post #68

A long thru hike is something I've always wanted to do. I was planning on hiking the AT or PNT after I finished university. But, now that I'm a few weeks away from graduating/starting my job, its not something that's financially possible for me. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to find time for something like this later in life?

I know an individual from Microsoft who's managers were kind enough to allow him a 6 month absence to hike the PCT. He thru hiked it this Summer and is now back on our team, as productive as ever.

I'm sure this situation isn't exclusive to Microsoft. If you're valued as an employee and want to do something like this, make your wishes known to your management and see if they're willing to work with you. If you never ask, the answer is always no.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#70

Post by wyclif »

yupyupp wrote: post #68

A long thru hike is something I've always wanted to do. I was planning on hiking the AT or PNT after I finished university. But, now that I'm a few weeks away from graduating/starting my job, its not something that's financially possible for me. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to find time for something like this later in life?

Yes, it's simple. Quit your job. Get a new one when you finish your hike.
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