Yeah, 5 hours for 55 miles is pretty slow. Sorry. I once asked Pete Penseyres how I could ride the third pass faster. He said "more base." He was right.
I took a look at the profile. They say 6-8 thousand feet of climbing. Only one hard climb at 8-10%. OK. Not too bad. I do a ride very like that every year. So I assume you have triples in front. Go to a 13-27 in back. Do not go out hard at the start. Dial it back about 2mph from what you usually ride. Try to save your strength for the 3rd climb.
As far as training goes, try to ride a lot. Mostly ride base miles in zone 2, on the flat. 75% of your miles should be on the flat. The more moderate miles you ride, the more you'll be able to ride. Don't try to ride hard too much, you'll wear yourselves down. Ride 5 days/week and hike or go for a long fast walk on one day. If you feel yourselves getting tired, take a day off. You only get stronger when you rest, not when you ride. Ride in the mountains one day a week, just like you did. That's a good ride. If you're not too tired, you can ride hills on another day, Wednesday or Thursday. Ride the hills hard, much harder than you will ride them on your century. You want to punch it really hard on some of them, to where you think you're going to die. You won't. That's very important.
Find out what nutrition will work for you on your long ride on the weekend. That's very important, too.
You can try riding in the mountains on both weekend days. That would be best, but it might be too much. I'd probably try doing the mountain ride on Saturday and then just put in about the same number of miles, but easier miles, on Sunday. With that weekend scheme, I'd take Friday off and take my hike or walk on Monday.
The last week before your century, just ride on one weekend day, a ride in the mountains about like what you just did. Then do very easy rides on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, doing shorter rides each day. But on Monday, do three 2 minute very hard intervals. On Tuesday, two of them, and on Wednesday, one. Take Thursday and Friday off. Eat a high carb diet on Thursday and Friday.
Last edited by Carbonfiberboy; 04-02-07 at 08:03 AM.