I ride in rolling hills terrain where there aren't really any monster long climbs but I'm constantly climbing and descending. I thought I was ready for my first century yesterday after doing lots of 60 milers where I felt pretty good afterwards. I failed miserably and now it aches just to stand up.
Usually when I push myself too far the culprit was poor food and drink intake thus bonking or just general lack of energy towards the end but this time (and the first time) it was purely muscle fatigue. I got the food and drink right. I felt alert and there was no cramping. The legs just gave out on me at about 80 miles when I stupidly went up the steepest and longest climb on my usual route which I usually tackle at about 40 miles. When I got to the top I wasn't gasping for air but my legs were so full of lactic acid I had to stop for a while but the muscles never fully recovered so I limped home reaching only 91 miles.
What do those of you riding in hilly terrain do to prepare your muscles in hilly centuries? I would use a higher cadence if I could but I'm climbing much of the time and the cadence and speed drop massively just to heave myself up.
I'm so disappointed. Until the legs gave way I was on scedule to do the century in about 6 hours. Instead I limped home doing 91 miles in 7 hours. I'll try again next weekend.
The BikeForums Team
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I agree. There isn't really any secret to being successful. Just lots of climbing. Still, look on the bright side, you completed 91 miles in hilly terrain. That doesn't sound anything to be too disappointed about.
bobbycorno
I agree. There isn't really any secret to being successful. Just lots of climbing. Still, look on the bright side, you completed 91 miles in hilly terrain. That doesn't sound anything to be too disappointed about.
+1 Just call it a preparatory ride for your successful century.
Scott P
Bend, OR
NoRacer
What drivetrain gearing are you using?
Hocam
It takes time to learn how to pace yourself on the hills, especially when jumping from 60 to 100 miles; you can't go nearly as hard as you do on the 60 miles so lower gears come in handy.
100 miles and 10,000' is no joke.
Godwin
Sounds very similar to the kind of hills we have around here, flat spots are pretty much non-existent but there's no mountains. It sounds like you just burned yourself out, next time just take it a little easier; you can't keep up a 60 mi pace for 100 miles, it should just take a while to find your century pace. Don't worry about the time it takes you on your next attempt, just get it done and add speed from then on. Spinning faster can help but it takes practise and if you're not used to it, you can wear yourself out just the same.
coasting
My gearing: 52/39 and 12/27.
I suspect the gearing is quite suitable as I don't have difficulty on regular 60 mile rides. When I get into the 39/27 I can usually handle the hills here. It was after my legs gave out at 80 miles that I found even the lowest gear was painful. Short of switching to a triple I guess the only way would be just to get stronger and lose more weight (both easier said than done!). I think a triple is a bit of over-kill without massive mountains to negotiate.
I was quite pleased with the 91 but the high expectations tinged it. I was expecting too much having got comfortable with 60 milers and probably rode as if it was just another regular ride. Maybe I should do a few 80 milers until they become comfortable or just take it easy early on.
CliftonGK1
If it's constant up and down, go with lower gearing. I don't know what everyone else considers to be a hilly century; I give one a 'hilly' rating when there's over 6000' or more of climbing.
A triple isn't necessarily over-kill, but it could be more total gears than you need since you can accomplish a similar gearing range with a compact double and a wide-span cassette. You don't have the tight configuration of 1 tooth jumps for cruising the flats any more, but it's a reasonable sacrifice. I have a 34/48 up front, and an 11-32t cassette. My daily commute is 30 miles r/t, with a bit over 2000' of climbing and I'm signed up for a 7000'+ century next month, so I'll really get to test out how this gear range performs.
coasting
How do you measure the amount of climbing on a route? If it turns out the route is not as hilly as I thought and feel then I will be really disappointed.
CliftonGK1
How do you measure the amount of climbing on a route? If it turns out the route is not as hilly as I thought and feel then I will be really disappointed.
Many of the Garmin GPS units have altitude tracking on them. You can get a standalone altimeter with an elevation gain tracking feature. Or (I'm not sure if it works for Europe) you can use a mapping site like www.veloroutes.org which tracks elevation profile on your mapped route.
mattm
another good training technique is to ride a fixed gear bike - gear it relatively low (~60-70 gear inches), and do your normal rides/climbs on that bike for training.
riding fixed gear (in hilly seattle) made me a stronger all-around cyclist, and it also helps with cadence (as in, you'll get used to a higher one).
nun
www.bikely.com is another good bike route site and gives good elevation maps. I completely empathize with the OP as I have issues with hills too, being about 30lbs over weight. I've done flat centuries, but I'm intimidated by hills. My goal for this season is to complete a hilly century going from Boston on Rt62 out
to Barre and back, its about 110 miles and will have 7000' of climbing. It's part of the BMB route and it freaks me out that on that ride they go from Boston to Barre in about 4 hours.
My approach is to work up to the whole thing by doing sections each weekend. I'll start by doing Boston to Sterling and back, the next week I'll try the hilly bit Sterling-Barre-Sterling. Hopefully I'll do the whole ride on one very long day sometime this summer.
sojourn
So, you've been training hard, taking on hills, and jumped from 60 miles to 91 miles.
Let’s see............you did GREAT! Your minds telling you that you failed, your body is telling you that you are on the verge of making your goal.
Listen to your body, your mind appears to be out to get you!
After you successfully complete your first century (and you will, probably within a week, two at the outside), your mind will become your friend and your confidence will soar!
If I can do it, anyone can do it!
Good luck-
coasting
Thanks for all the suggestions and the useful bike route sites.
Thanks also for all the encouraging comments. Now I'm all fired up to give it another go this coming saturday! I'll do it differently this time; taking it easy all the way round and forget about time. Oh no! Now I cannot fail since I announced the attempt.
zowie
I think a triple is a bit of over-kill without massive mountains to negotiate.
I think there's your error. Massive mountains are one reason to get a triple. Another is getting a rider up lesser slopes so he can reach the finish when he is quite tired.
Sound like the ride was an accomplishment anyhow even if you were a little short of your goal.
The Smokester
...What do those of you riding in hilly terrain do to prepare your muscles in hilly centuries? I would use a higher cadence if I could but I'm climbing much of the time and the cadence and speed drop massively just to heave myself up....
Yes. Climbing hills for practice is the best way to get better at them. I can't tell from what you have written how long or hard these hills are. There is no question that, while one can climb almost anything on a 52/39 when one is fresh, it does wear one down and it becomes harder to climb the same hill at the end of a Century...At least this is my experience. It is better to go easy with a lower gear at the beginning of a ride and control one's heart rate. If you have energy left over at the end of a ride then give 'er H E double hockey sticks on that one last hill.
Try a compact double (50/36 or 50/32) if you don't live in the mountains. For long distances here in the N. California coastal range I use a triple and sometimes need to resort to it after 100 miles even on grades that measure as easy.
Pinyon
First, I figure out what heart rate I can maintain for hours at-a-time over longer practice rides of 60-75 miles, and make sure that I don't go above that rate too often.
To get ready for hills, nothing else works as well for me, as dedicating one entire week in every 2-3 to steep hill training. If you don't have continuous 2-3 hour climbs where you live, the next best thing is power intervals, where you set the resistance such that you can barely keep the cadence above 60 rpm, while pegging your heart rate at 85% - 95% of max as long as you can (1.5-3 minutes, for me, depending on how I feel). But make sure to not let your heart rate drop too low on the downhill sections. You want your heart rate to remain between 75-80% of your max during the rest periods.
I also do lots of regular intervals to increase my lactate threshold. I do intervals using the same heart rates as mentioned above, but I tend to spin at 110+ rpm on the hard part of the intervals, and not let my cadence drop below 85 rpm during the easier recovery periods.
And don't forget to rest. I only ride 4-5 days per week when I'm training for hills that week. I hike or do something else on one of those non-riding days, and take the other day off from all activities to heal-up (I don't repair or recover as fast as I did 15-20 years ago).
Oh, and I think that you did great as well. I've known lots of more experienced riders than myself that have bonked during a given event. Hilly or no. Even in guys that race competitively. It happens. Have fun out there!
ebrady
So, you've been training hard, taking on hills, and jumped from 60 miles to 91 miles.
Let’s see............you did GREAT! Your minds telling you that you failed, your body is telling you that you are on the verge of making your goal.
Listen to your body, your mind appears to be out to get you!
After you successfully complete your fist century (and you will, probably within a week, two at the outside), your mind will become your friend and your confidence will soar!
If I can do it, anyone can do it!
Good luck-
Amen Brother! You are so close it will be very soon before you hit this goal. In fact, I would bet that with the training your muscles got on this one, you could go out and ride the same course a week from now and do better if not complete it. Then it will not be long before you get another one under you belt, then another one, then before long you will posting ride reports about the most recent Brevet ;). Just keep at it...
BreakingWind
I live in Colorado. I thought the key to my first century was to ride a lot of miles - so I rode a lot of flat miles. Although I finished, it was just barely! The key to my second century was to climb, climb, climb! I can't tell you how much better that turned out to be!
As for gearing, check out this link on gearing for the Tour of the California Alps (Markleeville Death Ride).
Good luck on your next century! You're almost there! Embrace the hills!
Hezz
I ride in rolling hills terrain where there aren't really any monster long climbs but I'm constantly climbing and descending. I thought I was ready for my first century yesterday after doing lots of 60 milers where I felt pretty good afterwards. I failed miserably and now it aches just to stand up.
Usually when I push myself too far the culprit was poor food and drink intake thus bonking or just general lack of energy towards the end but this time (and the first time) it was purely muscle fatigue. I got the food and drink right. I felt alert and there was no cramping. The legs just gave out on me at about 80 miles when I stupidly went up the steepest and longest climb on my usual route which I usually tackle at about 40 miles. When I got to the top I wasn't gasping for air but my legs were so full of lactic acid I had to stop for a while but the muscles never fully recovered so I limped home reaching only 91 miles.
What do those of you riding in hilly terrain do to prepare your muscles in hilly centuries? I would use a higher cadence if I could but I'm climbing much of the time and the cadence and speed drop massively just to heave myself up.
I'm so disappointed. Until the legs gave way I was on scedule to do the century in about 6 hours. Instead I limped home doing 91 miles in 7 hours. I'll try again next weekend.
Coasting,
You made a pretty good effort. Usually you can't expect to be able to ride any further than about 20-25% further than the longest distances that you train at. Unless you were going at a much, much slower pace than usual. Which is why you died at 80 miles.
You will need to do at least one 85-90 mile ride a week at a similar pace that you want to race at to be ready for that century. And increase the pacing a little on your 50 & 60 mile rides to up the intensity. Still, 91 miles in 7 hours on a hilly course is a very respectable ride time. Keep up the good work.
Pinyon
If you are going to try it again so soon (one week later?!), I would also suggest at least one 10-minute stretching session off the bike to also use the restroom and cram a cliff/energy bar down your throat (solid food at the middle of a century keeps my stomach settled).
Keep it simple with the food and drink too. Don't try anything new that may upset your stomach during exertion, but try to evenly space it out over the entire ride. I shoot for about 150-200 calories per hour, mostly in the form of diluted sports drinks. I burn a lot more energy than that during an hour, but if I consume any more than that my stomach becomes upset. Experience has shown me that this approach really extends how long I have before I bonk. It adds about 15-20 minutes per hour that I make sure to eat and drink that way.
Have fun!
dave.henri
I'm working on my first century of the year too. My recipe is to add 10 mile per week. No hurry. I'm at 75 now and I can tell you I really felt the difference from 65 last week. You need to condition those muscles and joints. I do my hill climbing in the middle of the week and save the distance for the weekends. And the above comments about nutrition and drinking. I drink Gatorade but dilute it 50% with water to lesson the sweetness, and make good use of sandwiches and cliff bars. One of the joys of a long bike ride is the picnic lunch!
coasting
I managed a new personal best last sunday. A whole single mile!
I caught a cold on tuesday and by sunday I thought I felt recovered except for a slight chesty cough which I still can't shake off. One mile into the ride I hit a slight upward slope (not even a hill) and my chest felt like an elephant was sitting on it. Had to turn around and roll home. Such a waste of fine weather!
CliftonGK1
I managed a new personal best last sunday. A whole single mile!
I caught a cold on tuesday and by sunday I thought I felt recovered except for a slight chesty cough which I still can't shake off. One mile into the ride I hit a slight upward slope (not even a hill) and my chest felt like an elephant was sitting on it. Had to turn around and roll home. Such a waste of fine weather!
I'm right there with ya, brother. I've been off my bike since Monday due to a pulled trapezius, and we've had great weather the past two days.
Hope you feel better soon. I'm hoping that my shoulder is better in time for my 200km on the 17th...
mkell33
I am doing my first century this coming weekend. I feel confident that I will finish because I have been training in the same area where the ride is - it is all ups and downs - very hilly. What I think works for me is following an average mile per hour as the pace rather than heart rate. The plan is 16mph for the first half and 15 for the second half. I did that on a 90 mile training ride and it worked very well - preventing me from going out too fast on the first half and keeping me focused for the second half.
AirBeagle1
Good luck!!!
coasting
Finally! I did my first century on sunday. It was completely unplanned and with hindsight not the smartest thing to do, but boy am I glad I did it!
Saturday was the first day I felt recovered enough from my cold to go for a ride and I did a very gentle 40 miles. It felt so good I decided to do some hill repeats the following day, but after climbing the 3 nearest hills I normally suffer on, I felt fitter than I had done for ages (probably the result of my near miss century attempt of 91 miles) and thought "what the hell let's see how far I can go". Because I hadn't intended on doing long distance I hadn't prepared food (but I did have a bowl of porridge with honey for breakfast), so I stopped and bought a packet of chocolate coated raisins and a sports drink and off I went.
The day turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far at 28c so at 50 miles I stopped to eat 2 sandwiches and a big bag of salty crisps followed by a 20 min snooze under a tree.
End result: 102.7 miles in 7 hours 30 mins, no major aches and pains the day after or during the ride, finished feeling fresher than on previous shorter rides, ugly ugly tan lines, and a promise never to do it again. I know I will break that promise.
I ride in rolling hills terrain where there aren't really any monster long climbs but I'm constantly climbing and descending. I thought I was ready for my first century yesterday after doing lots of 60 milers where I felt pretty good afterwards. I failed miserably and now it aches just to stand up.
Usually when I push myself too far the culprit was poor food and drink intake thus bonking or just general lack of energy towards the end but this time (and the first time) it was purely muscle fatigue. I got the food and drink right. I felt alert and there was no cramping. The legs just gave out on me at about 80 miles when I stupidly went up the steepest and longest climb on my usual route which I usually tackle at about 40 miles. When I got to the top I wasn't gasping for air but my legs were so full of lactic acid I had to stop for a while but the muscles never fully recovered so I limped home reaching only 91 miles.
What do those of you riding in hilly terrain do to prepare your muscles in hilly centuries? I would use a higher cadence if I could but I'm climbing much of the time and the cadence and speed drop massively just to heave myself up.
I'm so disappointed. Until the legs gave way I was on scedule to do the century in about 6 hours. Instead I limped home doing 91 miles in 7 hours. I'll try again next weekend.
I've done many centuries over the years and only have two for 2008. The first one this year was 3 State 3 Mountain. Before that ride, my LONGEST ride of 2008 was 66 miles. I had logged a TON of road miles before 3S3M but nothing over 66 miles and that was the weekend before 3S3M and that was nearly a 6k feet of climbing ride.
I've ridden in the mountains before so I was ready for the climbing.
What you need to do for a century? KEEP hydrated! Water, water and more water! Gu or some type of food every 30 minutes or so. Some people take salt tablets before long rides. I started with water and switched to an energy drink during the ride. Since this was the 1st century of the year, I wasn't too worried about time. I did attack the climbs and felt good about them.
Hydrate, food, hydrate, food, maybe salt tablets and potassium during the ride.
The next weekend, I did yet another century and had 6 others helping for the first 60 miles and then three of us opted for the 100. The course was again hilly but I didn't work as hard and hung back in the pack during most of the pulls early on. When it came time to break away, I pulled hard for several miles until one of the other two popped and we pulled him back.
The thing about doing a century or any long distance ride is the physical aspect but mentally finishing when your body says to quit. One of our three popped at mile 82. There was no short cut home. None of us had a cell phone. He just had to finish. We still averaged almost 19mph the last 40 even after he popped. He looked pale at the end but it was either finish or wait for us to finish and get the car.
I felt stronger after the 2nd century and went home and push mowed the yard. After 3S3M, I felt fine but 3 hours later....I probably couldn't have told you what zip code I was in.
BTW, higher cadence during the climbs is the key for me. I never got below 80 at 3S3M during the mountain climbs even at Burkhalter gap. I was averaging around 85-90 cadence on most climbs. Since I've been keeping that cadence during climbs, I haven't cramped in over two years.
We have a guy that I ride with that we call Diesel because of his low cadence during climbs. Guess what? He always cramps beyond 60miles.
One thing I would like to add is that on those type of rides is that I wear a HRM. I never really worry about the high sustained HR on most shorter rides but during longer rides...and for example during 3S3M at Burkhalter gap...I watched my HR and would back down my effort some to get it below maximum threshold. It was creeping toward 180 about 1/2 the way up so I backed off until my HR was back down toward the 160 range.
my gearing for that ride? 50/34 front and 12/27 rear
Another rider had 50/36 and a custom 11/27
another rider had 50/24 and 12/25
the last rider in our group to do the ride had a triple.
Rutnick
Finally! I did my first century on sunday. It was completely unplanned and with hindsight not the smartest thing to do, but boy am I glad I did it!
Saturday was the first day I felt recovered enough from my cold to go for a ride and I did a very gentle 40 miles. It felt so good I decided to do some hill repeats the following day, but after climbing the 3 nearest hills I normally suffer on, I felt fitter than I had done for ages (probably the result of my near miss century attempt of 91 miles) and thought "what the hell let's see how far I can go". Because I hadn't intended on doing long distance I hadn't prepared food (but I did have a bowl of porridge with honey for breakfast), so I stopped and bought a packet of chocolate coated raisins and a sports drink and off I went.
The day turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far at 28c so at 50 miles I stopped to eat 2 sandwiches and a big bag of salty crisps followed by a 20 min snooze under a tree.
End result: 102.7 miles in 7 hours 30 mins, no major aches and pains the day after or during the ride, finished feeling fresher than on previous shorter rides, ugly ugly tan lines, and a promise never to do it again. I know I will break that promise.
good job! yes, you will break that promise many many times.
I'm doing 4 centuries this month. Once you start doing them, the body wants more.
sojourn
Finally! I did my first century on Sunday.
See!
Good job, we KNEW you could do it........now, do it again.....just to show yourself not to make promises you shouldn't keep!
A man/woman who can ride a hundred miles on a bike, can do anything!
coasting
good job! yes, you will break that promise many many times.
I'm doing 4 centuries this month. Once you start doing them, the body wants more.
Are you kidding? That is hardcore. Or maybe you need therapy for your addiction! :D
coasting
See!
Good job, we KNEW you could do it........now, do it again.....just to show yourself not to make promises you shouldn't keep!
A man/woman who can ride a hundred miles on a bike, can do anything!
Thanks alot. I think I'll do it again next weekend and try to do the same route a bit quicker. One thing I realised was that the mental aspect is huge. At about 60 miles I just desperately wanted to end it but it was an out and back route so to go home I just had to finish it so I just cleared my mind and plodded on. 10 miles from the end I seemed to get a burst of energy which i guess was simply having the end in sight.
CliftonGK1
good job! yes, you will break that promise many many times.
I'm doing 4 centuries this month. Once you start doing them, the body wants more.
Yow! I'm doing two, and that's plenty for me right now. I'll have some truly "hilly century" stats after next week: 7 Hills of Kirkland is on Memorial Day.
WVHilljack
LOL Congrats! As far as my training...I dont have any flat ground to ride so hills arent much of a prob. Flat miles are like free miles.
ericgu
I ride in rolling hills terrain where there aren't really any monster long climbs but I'm constantly climbing and descending. I thought I was ready for my first century yesterday after doing lots of 60 milers where I felt pretty good afterwards. I failed miserably and now it aches just to stand up.
Usually when I push myself too far the culprit was poor food and drink intake thus bonking or just general lack of energy towards the end but this time (and the first time) it was purely muscle fatigue. I got the food and drink right. I felt alert and there was no cramping. The legs just gave out on me at about 80 miles when I stupidly went up the steepest and longest climb on my usual route which I usually tackle at about 40 miles. When I got to the top I wasn't gasping for air but my legs were so full of lactic acid I had to stop for a while but the muscles never fully recovered so I limped home reaching only 91 miles.
What do those of you riding in hilly terrain do to prepare your muscles in hilly centuries? I would use a higher cadence if I could but I'm climbing much of the time and the cadence and speed drop massively just to heave myself up.
I'm so disappointed. Until the legs gave way I was on scedule to do the century in about 6 hours. Instead I limped home doing 91 miles in 7 hours. I'll try again next weekend.
My guess is that you were riding a little bit hot in the first part of the century and then it caught up with you. It takes some experience to pick the right "all day" pace, and it's a lot slower than you might think.
You also may have had an off day - some days the legs just aren't there.
CliftonGK1
My guess is that you were riding a little bit hot in the first part of the century and then it caught up with you. It takes some experience to pick the right "all day" pace, and it's a lot slower than you might think.
Oh, tell me about it... My last century I intended on making into a 200k by riding to/from the start line from my house. Around 105 miles my muscles turned into steel cables and I struggled just to finish 108 to get all the way back to the finish line.
I know now that I took off way to fast because I was with a group of much faster riders. I burned out too much energy in the first 80 miles of my day and didn't have enough left to finish out with.
Don't get me wrong... I feel great about the time I did for the distance I rode, but it was a lesson learned about riding "my ride" and not sticking with a pace just because everyone else is.
coasting
My guess is that you were riding a little bit hot in the first part of the century and then it caught up with you. It takes some experience to pick the right "all day" pace, and it's a lot slower than you might think.
You also may have had an off day - some days the legs just aren't there.
This is absolutely right. When I made my successful second attempt my average speed was 3mph slower than my 60 mile rides which was the pace on my failed first attempt. I'm sure I slowed down more than I needed to since I had plenty of energy when I finished and felt fine. The off day is also true. My successful second attempt was not even planned..I just felt so good on a planned short ride and took advantage of the on day.
icyclist
>Usually you can't expect to be able to ride any further than about 20-25% further than the longest distances that you train at.<
I think - based on my performance only - that it's possible to ride 50% farther than the longest training distances.
banerjek
Are you kidding? That is hardcore. Or maybe you need therapy for your addiction! :D
There's a dude in my area that does one every week, year 'round.