Touring - Training question for a tour

Hello everyone!

I saw the commercial today for the Wish-A-Mile Bike tour which is a 3-day event, 100 miles each day. The bikers spend the night at a school and there are buses that can pick up riders that are tired or hurt or whatever during the day. My question is...how long does it take to train for tours like that? I would love to do this tour even though I'm just now starting out cycling. I ride a hybrid bike and the longest i've ridden was 13 miles in an hour. i know..not much but its a least a start. I told myself that if i'm still biking, whether in the gym once winter hits or outside on my bike, that I will buy a road bike and my parents said they'd help me out. But..can people train for these things in a year or does it take longer? This tour seems awesome and I would love to do it. :-)
Does anyone have any good training advice?

Thanks for the help everyone!

~Kelsey

Welcome to the sport!

Here's a training plan for how to get ready to ride a century (100 miles). This calls for 9 weeks of training. You'll need to be able to do 3 centuries in a row, so you'll need to be stronger, but this is a good place to start.

http://www.diablocyclists.com/RiderTips/StrenghtCenturyTrainingProgram.htm

Also, there's an orgainzation called Team In Training that specifically helps people who are beginners get in shape for charity events. I have no idea what it costs or if there is a group in your town, but here's a link.
http://www.teamintraining.org/mi/

For long rides, day after day, the most crucial factor after training your body will be bike fit. If your bike doesn't fit you perfectly, you will end up with painful knees, shoulders, wrists, neck - and you may develope an overuse/biomechanical injury.

You will need to buy that road bike, and you should buy it as soon as you are absolutely sure you are going to keep biking for a few years. You should NOT buy it at Wal-Mart, you should go to a good bike shop (several, actually), get the staff to help you pick a size, then start test riding. Don't let price be the biggest factor in your decision - fit sholud be the biggest factor. And don't let the staff talk you into a quick purchase because something is on sale. Get a bike that fits. Some parts, like the stem, can be switched out when you buy the bike to make it fit better.

Oh, and bikes, like cars, are negotiable. But don't start negotiating until you are done picking it out.

Having a bike that works well and fits you will greatly improve your ability to train and your enjoyment of it. also, lots of bike shops have clinics on bike maintenance, how to change a tire and that sort of stuff. That's worth learning. And if you can find a club to ride with to learn how to ride in a group, that would also be great. Do that after you are comfortable going on 20-30 mile rides.

Don't forget to wear your helmet.

Again, welcome to the awesome sport of cycling!

Great response from valygrl! The only thing I'd add is to learn a bit about nutrition if you are going to ride centuries. Keeping the right type of nutrients in your body before, during, and after a long ride can make all the difference to the energy you have. Good luck with a great goal!

All great advice! Now that you have done a 13 mile ride I'd try to up the mileage in 5% increments. I find that having a destination half way through makes the ride more enjoyable, it might just be a coffee shop or even a water fountain, but somewhere to stretch and rehydrate breaks the ride up into manageable sections. I'd increase your miles until 50 is pretty easy, this is a good platform to build up to 100. I've done my first 3 centuries this year and last year I was at the 50 mile stage, and if I can do it at 210lbs, 5'10' and in my middle age, I'm sure you can too.

One thing I would recommend is that once you have a good road bike you start doing some hill training close to home. Its probably the hardest part of cycling, or maybe that's saddle sores and all the aches etc, but it will pay dividends in your strength and ability to survive any climbs you have to do on your longer rides. Training for hills hurts, but being able to cope with them mid ride is a big mental and physical boost. I speak as someone who doesn't do well on hills and on my last century I had sevaral long 8% to 10% gradients 50 and 70 miles in that I crawled up at 7mph. The final miles of the Century were very hard, so I'm off to hill train and lose some more weight.

Thanks so much for all the advice and the link to the training plan. I started the plan today and I plan on riding the mileage that it says to everyday. Is it OK to train on a hybrid bike? I won't be getting a road bike for some months now. I'm in Michigan and I'll probably wait to get a road bike until winter is over. That's a long time away but I may get one before. I go back up to school in September and I found that there's a cycling club there so if I stick with that then I may get one sooner. The training schedule says a 30 mile bike on Thursday. I may or may not be able to do that. It depends if I can get a bike bag, bar ends and padded or whatever I need for bike shorts. Hopefully I can get out and get those before though. Thanks for all the advice!

~Kelsey

Cool Kelsey.

Sure, train on your hybrid - but if you start having joint pain (not muscle soreness) that might be telling you something, so listen to your body.

here are some cheap online places to buy bike stuff:
www.rei-outlet.com
www.performancebike.com
www.bikeworld.com

Welcome to the sport!

Here's a training plan for how to get ready to ride a century (100 miles). This calls for 9 weeks of training. You'll need to be able to do 3 centuries in a row, so you'll need to be stronger, but this is a good place to start.

http://www.diablocyclists.com/RiderTips/StrenghtCenturyTrainingProgram.htm



To my mind, this looks more like a program for someone who is planning to race a century, rather than just ride it. I rode less than half this mileage prior to my first century, and finished fine averaging 17.8 mph and I'm, ahem, not svelte. Of course, this century was dead flat.

I'm not trying to discourage you from following the above training schedule, just trying to avoid having you, or anyone else reading this, give up if you can't meet that mileage.

For me, it seems that flat distances basically require you to be in moderate shape (you should have done at least one long (75 mile) ride w/o being useless the next day), and be able to sit on the bike for long, long hours w/o your butt becoming sore. This latter ability might :eek: be the most important.

All that said, however, you are trying to do 3 successive centuries, they might be hilly, and of course YMMV.


Good luck!

Thanks for your advice quester. If you think the training program is more for a race, what would you recommend? The schedule doesn't seem to bad other than the 30 miles that I'm supposed to do on Thursday :) but i'm going to give it a shot anyways. :-)

~Kelsey

To my mind, this looks more like a program for someone who is planning to race a century, rather than just ride it. <snip>

Actually, if you look at that page, it is the training plan for how to ride a century with strength to spare. on the left side of the page there's a link for a plan for how to ride a century. i linked that one b/c the OP was looking to get in shape for 3 consecutive centuries. But yeah, it's a pretty heavy schedule. Maybe it would be better for the OP to do the regular one first, then get into the heavier one, maybe starting partway through.

I'm not a personal trainer, and I dont play one on tv. It's just a link. :)

I really like the link a lot. I actually printed off the regular one for 100 miles not the one with strength to spare. Since its a 9 week program i'm not too worried since I have a year till the tour is. Thanks a lot though for all the links and especially the training one. I had been searching for one and hadn't been able to find it so yours is perfect

Thanks!

if this triple is in a years time just getting on your bike at the moment will be good enough get used to riding every day then when you get your road bike start the plan in ernest.. if you don't have a year you can even ride your bike that you currently have... the best thing now is to make sure of your bike fit and to ride to much training to soon and you get injured joints muscles things like that that always sets you back so if you have time take it easy and just continue to build a miliage base then three or four months before the triple when you get your road bike begin the training program in ernest

I would recommend joining a team, and I think, this is the best advice you can get.
There you will learn from experienced people. Riding as part of a team even if you are not with them, let you achieve a lot you couldn't in any way do alone! In a team people cheer you up, and there is a driving force. Quickly you will find yourself climbing mountains and ride half century at Sundays. To do it alone is stupid, because you are new and riding new alone in the roads is dangerous, but with a team its bearable.

I would recommend joining a team, and I think, this is the best advice you can get.
There you will learn from experienced people. Riding as part of a team even if you are not with them, let you achieve a lot you couldn't in any way do alone! In a team people cheer you up, and there is a driving force. Quickly you will find yourself climbing mountains and ride half century at Sundays. To do it alone is stupid, because you are new and riding new alone in the roads is dangerous, but with a team its bearable.

stupid????? maybe unadvisable but not stupid. and by team i think you mean a riding club and that is a good idea you can get a lot from club rides and members will have great advise.

I've looked for clubs but there's none around here. The closest is like 25 minutes away and I don't have a car and I'm not going to bike there since its across the highway. I found that theres a cycling club at my school so I plan on joining that and they do group rides 3 times a week. I would love to ride with people now but no one else bikes that I know but I don't mind riding alone. I find it peaceful. I mainly stay in the subdivision so I feel pretty safe. I would love to get advice from riding with people but using the forum will have to do until I go back to school :-)

Thanks!

I've looked for clubs but there's none around here. The closest is like 25 minutes away and I don't have a car and I'm not going to bike there since its across the highway. I found that theres a cycling club at my school so I plan on joining that and they do group rides 3 times a week. I would love to ride with people now but no one else bikes that I know but I don't mind riding alone. I find it peaceful. I mainly stay in the subdivision so I feel pretty safe. I would love to get advice from riding with people but using the forum will have to do until I go back to school :-)

Thanks!

excellent idea join the one at school and don't be intimidated byt the ones that like to ride really fast you will get faster with each passing week and stronger and wiser. just get out and ride that and start working on your nutrition that is probably just as important and the training because you will have to take in a lot of fuel to ride and ride well... and good luck

100 miles = 160 km = quite a long way if you're just starting out, but a year is heaps of training time if you're serious about doing it.

The nutrition thing starts to kick in at 3-4 hours of cycling so you need to build up to this before it becomes a major issue. It does, however, become a major issue.

The bike - aah, the bike. Ride the hybrid lots, don't wait for the "right" bike. Vary your rides. Do some hills; do some easy-pace but really long rides (now, really long probably is 20 miles; that's fine, it will increase); do some long rides back-to-back Saturday and Sunday (or whatever). Make sure to have some rest days to recover. Once you can do 2-3 hours on the bike (maybe 4-6 wks build-up), start building your speed and strength - ride harder, do more hills, maybe join some group rides. Do some cross training to build fitness - esp. running. Find a club or trainer or coach and get some cycling-specific stretching and weights work - this is partly to build strength, but just as much it is to prevent back and knee injuries. See them every 6 weeks to monitor progress and adjust your program. Of course, if you can afford personal training you could see them 2-3 times a week!

Think about what bike you need when doing the longer rides. The only essential is good fit; however, a fast bike is handy because you will be able to join groups and do the ride in 4-5 hours rather than 8-10 hours. If your hybrid has a "sporty" riding position (back at 45deg. not straight up), if it is not too heavy and if you can safely put 25-28mm tyres on it then you don't necessarily need to change bikes. Go to a bike shop and have a look at a sporty Norco or Specialized or Merida or Avanti flat-bar road bike to get an idea of what this means. If it is a comfort-style hybrid (sit straight up, short reach, high bars, suspension anywhere) then you'd find it much easier to change bikes altogether.

Note that almost all road bikes are racing bikes. This means:
- The geometry is for fast-manouvering bikes
- The geometry puts aerodynamics above comfort
- The frame is designed to be stiff for maximal power transmission, rather than comfortable
- The wheels are designed to be light and aerodynamic, not strong and cushy.
If you are young, light, flexible and can afford carbon forks and seatpost then all of this is to your advantage as you will gain the benefits without losing too much.

However, if you have a big gut and stiff hamstrings/back, you won't be able to "assume the position";
if you're heavy the wheels may not offer enough cushioning or even enough strength;
if you get tired or lose control the quick steering will make you lose control more quickly;
and the ride will be harsh over bad pavement (your wrists will notice it most).

Look at the "audax 853" and "audax classic" bikes at http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/ for an example of long-distance non-racing road bikes (but not tourers), or the "cyclosportif" for something closer to a racer. These bikes are fast, but have the ability to take medium-width tyres and carry a small load. The steering and tracking is also more stable than race bikes. They also cost an absolute mint (damn british pound...)

Look in the "road cycling" forum for their what bike to buy threads; just keep in mind that they are coming from a speed-first, not comfort-first perspective. Most of the bikes they recommend won't be any good for anything other than riding fast in a group, carrying all you need in your jersey pockets.

Some of the Giant bikes (eg the better OCRs) seem to me the best balance between price, comfort, practicality and availability. I don't know if that is the case in your part of the world or not.

Winter training - I guess you get snow and stuff up there - you probably need either a wind trainer or rollers to keep up your bike fitness, plus lots of weights, running/swimming/xcountryskiing or whatever you are meant to do in the snow.

Seriously, check out the Road Cycling and Long Distance Cycling forums. Check out the websites of Machka and some of the other long-distance riders. And do a google search on Audax.

Good luck!

However, if you have a big gut and stiff hamstrings/back, you won't be able to "assume the position";


lol :lol:
................wait....:(