Training & Nutrition - Fitness advice for non-competitive rider?

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Pale Rider
03-25-06, 07:17 AM
I'm looking for advice on how to train so that I can eventually ride in a Century without dropping dead. I'm 36 and about 35-40 pounds overweight, and have decided that road cycling will be part of my fitness plan. I thought that some of you folks might have some good advice for getting back into the swing of things and slowly working my way up to doing 100 milers in one day. I know I'm quite a ways off from that accomplishment, but I gotta start somewhere. Thanks!

2manybikes
03-25-06, 08:01 AM
At this point you don't need to be very specific. Get a comfortable bike and start putting on the miles. Google " Training for a Century" or something similar. There are plenty of sites devoted to that, showing detailed training plans. A forum member "Machka" has a link to her pages about training for a century in her forum sig. She rides more long rides that anyone on this forum I believe. Search the forums for " Century training" and you will find lots of good info.
Bockman
03-25-06, 08:51 AM
Just starting out like this you have to go by 'time in the saddle' not distances ridden. Try 30-40 minute rides for a few days and see how you feel. Try to pick rides which have you pedaling steadily most of the time (no insane climbing or passive long descents where you're tempted to glide). Increase your times in the saddle slowly but steadily, 10% per week is a good rule of thumb.