Time contracts when I'm riding indoors: I’ll look down at my computer, thinking, surely it’s been at least 30 minutes, and my heart will sink when I see that I’ve only done 15. Getting to even a couple hours is a feat of mental toughness.
So I was simultaneously horrified and intrigued when I learned that cycling coach Daniel Matheny, 37, had ridden 24 hours on the rollers. I wasn’t alone. Other reactions from Bicycling editors: “Jesus Mary Joseph!” “Someone should’ve brought him psychedelics.”
What in heaven's name would motivate a person to do this? Well, it was for a good cause: Matheny joined the 24-Hour Trainer Challenge fundraiser put on this past weekend by Kids On Bikes, a non-profit that promotes cycling to children in lower income neighborhoods. But most participants in the fundraiser, which took place at the Olympic Training Center velodrome in Colorado Springs, did the 24 hours with a team. A few brave souls attempted it solo on trainers. Matheny was the only one who did it on rollers.
Why rollers? “I’ve always kind of had an attachment to the rollers just because it’s the utmost honesty when it comes to riding stationary, and I’m a purist,” says Matheny. “And if I can get the shock factor, more people might say, ‘Let’s donate, because he’s doing something really challenging.’”
A professional mountain bike racer, Matheny used to do 6-hour days on the rollers during the base season, and once did 12 hours straight in college, but this was his first 24-hour attempt. He started the challenge at 8 p.m. this past Friday and finished at 8 p.m. Saturday. He covered 385 miles (calculated by Zwift using his power and the virtual terrain) and burned over 10,000 calories. He did step away for two hours, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., to attend a birthing class with his wife, who is due in February. “I didn’t want to be a deadbeat husband,” he explains. (Bicycling approves.) While he was gone, Daniel Byrd, executive director of Kids on Bikes, kept the rollers spinning. But otherwise, Matheny did the whole pull.
Here's everything you wanted to know about what it's like to ride rollers for forever.
What hurts most—besides your, ah... undercarriage?
“Towards the end, the wrist and hands were more sore than I thought they’d be, just trying to take the weight off the hind end,” he says. To manage some of this, he transitioned between bike positions: seated, standing, and no hands.
How did he break it up?
Every couple hours or so, Matheny would hop off to use the restroom, refill his bottles, eat, and do a yoga routine. “I focused on a bunch of extension stuff to counteract being hunched on the bike. I think that was clutch, I did that the first 10 to 12 hours then I didn’t have to as much. Like racing ultra-distance events, you have to take care of yourself because when you’re gone, you’re gone.”
Didn’t he ever get sleepy and ride off the rollers?
A lot of people asked him that—but surprisingly, Matheny says that even in the dead of the night, he "never really wanted to fall asleep and ride off.” Nor did he ever ride off because he lost focus. At one point, he had ridden so long that one of the rear legs on his rollers vibrated straight off. When the drum hit the ground, it sent him off the front. But otherwise, Matheny held strong.
How did he deal with the boredom?
He listened to a couple podcasts, but the rest of the time, he left his earbuds out so that people would come by and chat. He also had Zwift going on his computer screen, and the organizers showed a few movies. Otherwise he just...kept pedaling. The one crack in the armor: After going hard for the final 2-3 hours in an attempt to hit 400 miles, and realizing he wouldn't make it, Matheny shut it down and just pedaled the final 40 minutes in his sneakers, on top of his clipless pedals.
What’d he eat?
For the first part of the evening, Matheny fueled with Enduro Bites bars, Honey Stinger waffles, and peanut M&Ms, aiming for 200 to 300 calories an hour. By early morning he was craving real food hard: “When you watch [my] videos you’ll see that I was talking about food a lot,” he says. Mid-day Saturday, he put out an SOS on Facebook Live. Friends and family brought pizza and donuts. He also made protein shakes, using Enduro Bites’ Beta Red Citrus pre-ride mix and Tailwind’s coffee vegan protein recovery mix to replenish the amino acids broken down by such a long ride.
Did he wear the same shorts the whole time?
“I knew that was going to come up,” he laughs. “I may be weird but I would have worn the same shorts the whole time if I could have.” For the first 15 hours, Matheny wore his coaching company’s custom kit, made by Primal Wear in Denver. After going to the birthing class, he switched to a new pair of cycling shorts, “just to be proactive,” he says.
The 24 Hour Trainer Challenge has raised over $20,000 so far for programs including the Pedal Station community bike works program in Colorado Springs, and an earn-a-bike program for third to fifth-graders. Want to give Matheny virtual props for his insane ride, or just support Kids On Bikes? Donate here. Please note as an honorary donation for D. Matheny.