MLC has tuned into my thinking! I think you could probably set off at sunrise next Sunday and have a century in the bag by sunset, but it sounds as though you would end up in quite a lot of discomfort.
Your weight shouldn't be a big issue because you aren't going to be doing lots of big hills. You will feel it when you
are going uphill, but just twiddle a nice low gear and save your legs for the flatter bits, and enjoy the downhills!
The thigh pain might just be because you are pushing your current limits but I'd make sure your position on the bike is right. I've had sore thighs from having my saddle too low. I think many inexperienced cyclists start off with a low saddle because they feel safer being able to get their feet on the ground. If you can sit on your saddle and get a foot flat on the ground without tilting the bike way over, your saddle is far too low. I have to lean my bike to be able to get the tip of one foot down.
If a low saddle is the problem, then you'll notice a big improvement in comfort and efficiency when you raise it. Don't raise it too much in one go though. Try raising it by no more than a cm at a time and give yourself a few rides to see how you get on. If you set it too high, your legs will straighten too much at the bottom of the pedal stroke and/or your hips will start to rock as you pedal.
It might be that your bum just needs time to get used to longer rides, or it could be that your shorts or saddle don't suit you. Saddles are a very personal choice, but I'd say this - if your sit bones are well-spread then you don't want a narrow saddle or it will go up between them and hurt your delicate bits. If you have narrow sit bones, then you don't want a big saddle or it will chafe. One size doesn't fit all.
Even with a saddle that suits you, some careful adjustment may be required. When you think about it, there are 4 separate adjustments you can make:
- Height
- Setback
- Vertical angle
- Left-right rotation
#4 is fairly obvious - I think nearly everybody should have their saddle pointed straight towards the front of their bike. There might be somebody with a major anatomical problem that requires special treatment but 99.9xx % of riders should not have their saddles rotated! Double check that every time you change the saddle height. It is easy to get it wrong.
#3 is one that gets people hot under the collar. I've had no end of people tell me that my saddle position is 'wrong' because I have the nose tilted ever so slightly downwards. They insist that it has to be 'level', whatever that means. How you define 'level' when the top of your saddle isn't flat? They put a straight edge from from front to back, but on my Arione saddle that means the front is tilted upwards and that gives me numb nuts within half a mile, No thanks! Find an angle that suits you. Front too high = numb genitals. Front too low = sliding forward with friction on the saddle and sore arms and shoulders. Somewhere in between = right for you; experiment to find what suits you, sir!
#1 and #2 interact. If you change the saddle height, the slope of the seat tube means that you also change the effective setback relative to the bottom bracket. It takes some work to find the ideal position and after you've done that, you might need to swap your handlebar stem for a shorter or longer one.
Of course, if you can find a good bike shop who will do a proper bike fit for you, that would be the ideal thing to do.
Once you have tackled the comfort issues, do more riding! Some short fast rides, some longer slower ones. I like to do longish, slowish rides but I put little burst in now and then to get my pulse rate up. For instance, sprinting up a short 10% climb. I like to gauge it so I'm just running out of steam when I get to the top.
Make sure that you take rest days or do very easy recovery rides the day after a hard ride. Fitness is built by your body repairing your muscles after exertion has stressed them, and the repairs are done when you are not using them!
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