How did you start?

[funrover]

I really want to do a century but know I am a bit off.... What can I do to start training and what has proved to be beneficial during the ride?

[Machka]

Have a look over the article I wrote about riding a century. It is geared toward those who are somewhat new to long distance cycling:
http://www.machka.net/century.htm

[merlinman]

depending on your geography, the one thing I would add to Machka's excellent article is to do hill intervals/repeats. Most of our centuries in the Great Northwest have hills and they hurt a lot of beginners who train primarily on flat ground. Take one day a week and go ride some hills.

[bigskymacadam]

it took me a few weeks to figure out the fueling plan for the ride. keep that in mind as you progress into longer rides as it will be telling which foods you should or should not eat.

[kpumpy]

Just start riding...four months after I went a whole seven miles on an old beater bike (and boy, was I proud at that moment because I was a couch-potato slob prior) I did a century. Be careful of the first even you choose -- like here in Wisconsin for example, you have events like the "Horribly Hilly Hundreds" and other events with some really bad hill climbs, so if it has "horrible" or "pain" or other such similar words, you might want to try something else for your first go-round. My first one was fairly flat with some hills and I had energy to spare when done and thousands more miles of confidence after it. Good luck...you sound like you want to do it so I'm sure you will!

[ericgu]

Having a lot of experience on 3 hour (ish) rides is pretty important. Being able to figure out your fueling and being able to deal with the mental issues when you get discouraged only come through experience.

My best advice to add is to try to ride the route in sections, especially if there are hills. The first century I did has a big steep climb (400' at around 10%) at about 85 miles, and I was very happy to know what it was like ahead of time.

[Pat]

I really want to do a century but know I am a bit off.... What can I do to start training and what has proved to be beneficial during the ride?

Well, there are a number of things to do.

1) Ride often. Also as far as training goes, just doing the weekends does not cut it. If you can not ride during the week, try doing a similar aerobic exercise like walking, spinning, climbing stairs, etc.

2) For me the turtle method won out over the rabbit method. There are times for the "no pain, no gain" attitude, but really being consistent and going out and riding is more important than insane intensity.

3) Have fun. If you are not having fun, the bike becomes a chore or an instrument of torture and you are not likely to keep doing it.

4) Mix up your ride types. Do long rides, short fast rides, easy rides, hill rides, sight seeing rides. The more ways you ride the better. You are more likely to stick with it, you are more likely to enjoy yourself, and you are going to get exposed to more aspects of riding.

5) It is a good idea to get in at least one long ride before attempting a century. By "long", I mean 70 miles.

6) On the day of the century, never do anything new. No new shoes, no new shorts, no new kinds of food, no changes in seat height. Go with what you know.

7) Ride slower than you might think. Centuries are about pacing. I have seen people who do no training at all and do centuries relatively easily because they don't push themselves. I have also seen strong riders who never do centuries because they burn themselves out in less than 50 miles. If you cruise at 18 mph drop down an mph. Ride well within yourself. When you get to 80+ miles and you feel strong, then you can speed up. It is easy to bonk on a century.

8) Stop early and often. Take a fast snack, fill up your water bottles, air out your hinder parts, rest your contact points, relieve yourself and get back on the bike quickly. You don't want to cool off too much because it is hard to get going again. A fit cyclist who is experienced can get by on 1 or 2 stops on a century but for a first time, plan on 4 or so.

9) Learn about the symptoms of dehydration and heat exhaustion.

10) Know how to fix a flat.

Have fun.

[stapfam]

Just start riding...four months after I went a whole seven miles on an old beater bike (and boy, was I proud at that moment because I was a couch-potato slob prior) I did a century. Be careful of the first even you choose -- like here in Wisconsin for example, you have events like the "Horribly Hilly Hundreds" and other events with some really bad hill climbs, so if it has "horrible" or "pain" or other such similar words, you might want to try something else for your first go-round. My first one was fairly flat with some hills and I had energy to spare when done and thousands more miles of confidence after it. Good luck...you sound like you want to do it so I'm sure you will!

Similar to kpumpy- I started riding one summer- By the autumn I was doing 60 mile offroad rides and late autumn did a 100 miler with the only change being to fit Slicks to the MTB. Only problem was I bonked at 80 miles but most new century riders do that in any case.

If you are doing distance on your normal rides- riding faster for a lesser distance or climbing mountains every week, then you can do a century. Just make certain it an easy one for your first attempt.

[froze]

You need to follow a plan or a schedule like this: http://www.carbboom.com/education/century.php

This schedule is for beginners thus it's on an easy longer track to help you reach your century goal.

You can alter it depending on what shape your in now; if you haven't rode a bike much but want to begin with a goal of riding a century then I would add two weeks in the beginning of the schedule so that day 1 would read: Mon-off, Tues-5; Wed-9; Thur-off; Fri-8; Sat-off; Sun-15; Then on week 2 it would read: Mon-off, Tues-7; Wed-10; Thur-off; Fri-9; Sat-off; Sun-17 or 18.

If your a good rider currently and want to finish the century stronger then I would disregard the days off except for maybe Thursdays, you could ride on Thursdays if you just keep a short fun relaxed ride with no real effort being put out, just enjoy the scenery! Otherwise you would use the same pace per day as the above schedule shows but start the first week: Mon-10 easy pace; Tues-12 at a century pace you want to average during the century; Wed-14 brisk pace that is faster then your century pace; Thur-off; Fri-12 at a century pace you want to average during the century; Sat-40 at a century pace you want to average during the century; and Sun-15 at Sat pace.
Week 2: M-10; T-13; W-14; T-off; F-13; Sa-44; Su-17.
Week 3: M-10; T-15; W-17; T-off; F-15; Sa-48; Su-17.
Week 4: M-11; T-16; W-19; T-off; F-16; Sa-53; Su-20.
Week 5: M-12; T-18; W-20; T-off; F-18; Sa-59; Su-22.
Week 6: M-13; T-19; W-23; T-off; F-19; Sa-64; Su-24.
Week 7: M-14; T-20; W-25; T-off; F-20; Sa-71; Su-27.
Week 8: M-16; T-21; W-27; T-off; F-21; Sa-75; Su-29.
Week 9: M-17; T-22; W-30; T-off; F-22; Sa-80; Su-35.
Week 10: M-19; T-22; W-30; T-off; F-10 century pace; Sa-5 easy pace; Su-100 your century ride.

These schedules if you stay with the program work very well, you will surprise yourself. They take young snot nose recruits in the military and put them on a 10 week conditioning course called basic training where these recruits think they can't make it...but they do and are surprised at themselves when they do finish it. This century training programs are based on the same principle-10 weeks to top physical conditioning...well at least close to the top!

I started the same way with nearly the same schedule over 30 years ago! And I've used this schedule since then.

Have fun and just do it.