My First Century

[Kruze]

I am looking for some advice. I have committed to ride my first century ride in September. I have never ridden anything close to 100 miles, though I am working up to it now. I have always been primarily a runner who would occasionally break out the bike if I was running late for work. I am not entirely sure what I was thinking, but I wanted to set myself a challenge.

Now that I am fully committed and have begun riding daily, I am getting a bit daunted. I am realizing that this is going to be really, seriously, no joke, hard.

What I am looking for are advice and tips to help me avoid any common newbie mistakes as I prepare for this ride. Currently I am riding about 10 miles a day, and 20 on the weekends. I know I have to up this fast to get near the 100 mile mark in the next 4 months. I do not feel like I am out of shape, but I feel like I am REALLY working to make the shorter distances I am riding now. Maybe it is me, or maybe it is the bike. I am currently riding a late 80s/early 90s Raleigh Technium Olympian hybrid (more or less in good shape) though I may replace it before the ride.

Any advice, tips, hints, or direction are greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your help!

 

[Shut Up Legs]

There are lots of different training methods, but one common method is simply to gradually increase your distances each week. If you want to be ready for a 100 mile ride in 4 months, then see if you can find ways to increase your commute from 10 miles per day to 15 or 20, or if that's not practical, try doing more on the weekends. It's best to aim for at least a few rides of about 1/2 or 2/3 of that 100 mile distance before the big event, and you can then gauge your fitness by how you handle these earlier rides. So over the next 15 weeks, you could try increasing your weekend ride from its current 20 miles, by about an extra 5 miles each week, i.e. 20 next weekend, 25 the one after, etc.

Anyway, good luck with the big one, and I hope you enjoy it!

 

[Big Nick]

I'd check out how much climbing is involved in the 100 miles if I were you!

Most advice seems to be to build your training so you can achieve 2 shorter rides of around 20 miles each during the week with a two thirds your distance ride at the weekend

I've never done a 100 miler but can do 40 fairly easily so will have a go at this distance before the year's out!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Hi Kruze and .

Your description suggests you weren't a regular cyclist before taking on this challenge. Have I understood that right?

If you're fairly fit, yet finding 10 to 20 miles hard going I wonder whether the bike is set up right for you: It's quite common for new or infrequent cyclists to set the saddle up too low (thinking they are supposed to be able to put both feet down when sat in the saddle) which does make riding much harder work than it should be. I gave this advice about it just a couple of days ago:

+1 for getting the saddle height right. It needs to be higher than most beginners expect. If too low it makes riding much harder work than it should be and will make your knees hurt.
To get it somewhere near right, set it so that with your heel on the pedal the leg is practically straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke. Your knee will then have just about the right mount of bend in when pedalling with the ball of the foot and it can be fine tuned to suit from there.
Once set up you'll find you probably won't be able to touch the ground while seated except on tiptoe. The trick here is when coming to a stop you transfer your weight onto the pedals and just step down to the ground. It's easier to do than describe and once you've done it a few times you won't even think about it.

It is possible that riding daily isn't the best thing. Your legs will need some time to recover and build up, so perhaps aim not to ride as frequently but push to do a few more miles when you do (add 5 miles to what you're currently doing for example) and increase the distance from time to time.

I've only done a couple of centuries, so no expert, but I reckon the more miles you can manage before the event the better. I'd done a 75 miler before my first one but I know there are people on here who jumped straight from 50 to 100 miles and managed it. (Not sure how much fun that would be though).

 

[Kruze]

Thank you all for your replies and advice. I am new to biking but in good shape, so I am sure I can pull this off I have decided not to replace my current bike, but to try to do what I can to make it as functional as possible for this ride.

Based on the description, I do think my saddle is too low and I will adjust this afternoon and see how it goes. By recommendation I also picked up some padded bike shorts, to make the long rides more comfortable, and clipless pedals. I can't use the clipless until I get some shoes in though (have to special order for my gigantic feet).

I am going to continue to do my daily commute, which is pretty short, but I am going to add a longer ride a couple times a week. I will also take at least one day off a week to let my legs rest.

Again, thanks for the advice. If anyone has anything to add please do. I really appreciate the tips from folks with some experience.

 

[JasonHolder]

Luckily 4 months is a long time
Personally I wouldn't ride everyday if I had the choice. Legs just don't really get the chance to recover.
Im confident you know from running the easiest mistake to make is too much training too fast. Get a little base under you as you would in running.
Some useful bits to get,
A bike that fits you, by people who specialise in this.
Decent shower jacket.
2 water bottles and have an idea where to stop for water. Good habit to get into. Nothing worse than being low on water and can't find any
And keep the sugar levels up on bike. People who say fat is the energy for endurance dont ride 100m and if they did try, nothing but pain awaits them.
Work up to the distance, and then work on speed. Training isnt a race when you start out good luck