Road Cycling - New Rider questions.

I am sure this has been beat to death, but I wanted to say hi and look to get some data.

Story, Picked up my first road bike Canondale R600, I think a 1999 model. Put speedplays, a tail pack with a spare tube and tire leavers, 2 bottle cages, and a frame pump. I have some riding shorts and 2 jerseys. So I feel equipped now. I have to train during the weekdays in the gym on a lifecycle, don't ask. I wanted to make the most of that time, about an hour a session. I was thinking I would find out what heart rate I run on the road and copy that in the gym with a cadence of 100 rpm. Does this sound rite, and recommendations of other training methods.
:confused: :confused: :confused:

Oh one more thing, I would like to be able to ride a century in less then 1 year at around a 6 to 6 1/2 hour pace.

Originally posted by Baby Huey
I am sure this has been beat to death, but I wanted to say hi and look to get some data.

Story, Picked up my first road bike Canondale R600, I think a 1999 model. Put speedplays, a tail pack with a spare tube and tire leavers, 2 bottle cages, and a frame pump. I have some riding shorts and 2 jerseys. So I feel equipped now. I have to train during the weekdays in the gym on a lifecycle, don't ask. I wanted to make the most of that time, about an hour a session. I was thinking I would find out what heart rate I run on the road and copy that in the gym with a cadence of 100 rpm. Does this sound rite, and recommendations of other training methods.
:confused: :confused: :confused:

Oh one more thing, I would like to be able to ride a century in less then 1 year at around a 6 to 6 1/2 hour pace.

Welcome to the forum, you'll like it here, it's truly a friendly place.

Your equipment sounds like it is sufficient for your cause.

However for any of us to help with the other part of your question we need some more info. Your age, will aid us in recommending what heart rates are best to train at. Where you're located so we can better determine whether your century time goals are realistic. Your outside riding environment has much to do with a realistic determination of a projected completion time, I.E. if you ride in a mountainous region your century time could be longer than a flat windless area. A solo attempt at a century could be much slower than a group attempt, etc.

:)

Welcome to the Forums.

Quick ?. As far as your username, are you a copter pilot? Just curious, my best friend and brother-in-law are both pilots and Huey is in each of their nicknames.

Anyways, as far as your training goes, it sounds like you've got a pretty good plan. I've been using Chris Carmcihaels program lately and I've had real good results. Good move on starting with a realistic goal. If you don't have a goal, you'll never know when you get there!

Once again welcome and good luck.

L8R G8R

Well, I live in the Bay Area, was thinking of making next years Waves to Wine my first century. I have done the 25 mile ride on barrowed bikes the last 2 years and just decided it was a lot of fun, I was getting fat, needed more physical activity then riding my motorcycle was providing and am finding a really like spending time in the saddle. As to are an weight, I am 27 years old and right around 200lbs. Given that i am 6'4" I don't think that is too big, but I used to be 190 with a 6 pack, around this time last year I was 225 with a keg. ;)

Sorry not a chopper pilot either. A nickname I picked up years ago.

Originally posted by a2psyklnut
I've been using Chris Carmcihaels program lately and I've had real good results.


Any more details on that program?

Originally posted by Baby Huey
but I used to be 190 with a 6 pack, around this time last year I was 225 with a keg. ;)



I'm sure I've still got a six pack, it's just well insulated at the moment. :)

Everything I've read says that an optimum cadence is around 90 rpm. I also use a lifecycle some and try to keep the cadence around 90 so that I can get the feel for it.

Carmichael's Training Program is detailed in Lance Armstrong's book, "7 Weeks to the Perfect Ride". It's a pretty good program and has increased my endurance and overall fitness level dramatically. Like I said I'm into my second 7 week session and I'm having good results to date.

I'm 32 now and my 6-pack has been well insulated for too many years. It' now time to put up or shut up. My goal is to drop 20-25 lbs and start racing the Southeastern spring series mountain bike XC races this upcoming year.

My current desk job has gotten to me and I've become too stagnant in my lifestyle. I've been involved in cycling my whole life, BMX, Mt. Bike, Road and have decided to become less of a weekend enthusiast and more of a cycling athlete. I may even try a Triathlon this fall if I can ever get comfortable in the water.

Originally posted by a2psyklnut
Carmichael's Training Program is detailed in Lance Armstrong's book, "7 Weeks to the Perfect Ride".

So if I want to ride that century in July of 2002 I dont have to start working on it untill May ;)

7 weeks will take you from a regular OK cyclist to your peak fitness, but there is more to century riding than fitness.
You also need to accustom your body (esp butt) to the rigours of this new activity. In boxing and martial arts, this aspect is called conditioning. You can only do this by acquiring saddle time.

You can probably get conditioned for a century in 3 months, but the longer the better.
Most regular 10 mile commuters can do a century without any great pain, even if its a slow ride. If a very fit non-cycling athlete goes ona century with only a few rides preparation, they will be hurting.

Maybe it's just my unscientific opinion, but once you've got some good, solid base mileage in (from commuting, recreational riding, whatever), you should be able to do a century. If you aren't trying to set a speed record, the biggest difference between 50 miles and a century is logistics. You have to know yourself well enough, and have enough experience to recognize when and how much to eat, drink, what kind of speed you can maintain, etc.

A 6-6.5 hour century is a reasonable goal (~15 mph average), given the amount of time you have to get ready for it. So, my main suggestions are, overtraining is much worse than insufficient training, start working in some longer rides to get the conditioning and experience you need (again, not just in terms of conditioning, but pacing, eating & hydration, bike setup, sore butt, etc.).

Runners have what the call "the wall" when running a marathon, cyclists have a kinder, gentler encounter usually around 70 miles. That's where you find out if you went too hard early, or didn't drink or eat enough. If you did things right, you'll just start checking your cyclo-computer more often.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck!:thumbup:

Thank you for the suggestions. I am going to go out and try to set on record, the time on my first century. Every time I have ridden an organized ride I seem to go out hard and fast early and die at the end so you suggestions on pacing are dead on. Any suggestions on how to avoid this trend?

It sounds like at this point I should be aiming to ride about 25 miles a night on the life cycle and then put in some 50 mile rides on the weekend up to the 7 week point. Then start a serious program to peak at ride time. Does this sound reasonable.

Baby Huey, Bicycling Mag has a training chart that you might find useful as well. It is online at http://www.bicycling.com/home/fitness/training/century/

In another article from a few years ago, the author, Bill Strickland, had some guidelines:


Take at least one day off per week, but no more than two. (Remember, easy riding helps you recover better than inactivity.)
Make sure a high-mileage ride is always followed by an "easy" day.
If you miss a daily mileage goal, add the mileage somewhere else during that same week. The 10% total weekly increase is crucial.
The final-week taper is important. You'll start feeling lots of energy, but control yourself during training and save it for the big day.

A lot of these training schedules are based on no more than a 10% increase in mileage per week to avoid overtraining. So my suggestion would be to not immediately jump into 25 miles a night, but to work up gradually, since you have plenty of time, and also definitely take one night off for recovery.

Good luck, Waves to Wine should be great fun. And if you find yourself in shape in May, you could always do the Wine Country Century, put on by the Santa Rosa Cycling Club. Always a beautiful ride.

Nice site. I looked at some other postings there, very helpful


May, I just might do that one instead. Or both

Not sure I can be back in top shape to beat my time when Waves to Wine time comes. Would like to have # 2 be faster then #1

I wouldn't worru about the century. It's just a ride fer cryin' out loud. In my experience, any reasonably fit rider can ride a century in a decent time with few problems. Getting reasonably fit -- not the century -- should be your goal.

I have to share this one...
I have been training for an upcoming sprint triathlon series this summer for about five months. I started joining group rides in November. Now I must admit I was in pretty good shape before I started training for this series.

One Sunday morning I headed out to meet up with what was suppose to be a two hour recovery ride. Only three other people showed so we decided to join up with another ride that was suppose to be around three hours. (Note the key word, suppose) The group started out with around 25 riders but quickly melted down to 8 in about four miles when the lead pack hammered down the first stretch. Well I sticked with the group and luckily they slowed to what I considered a reasonable pace for a three hour ride.

The problem is that I was some how misinformed. What was suppose to be a three hour ride turned out to be my first century. I hadn't planed on riding 115 miles that day, but I did. My backside was extremely sore the next day and my legs felt like they had been thru a meat grinder. However, I drank lots of fluids, made sure I stretched and went on some light rides, and I recovered just fine.

In my opinion the physical act of actually riding will offer better training than being in any gym.

Originally posted by Baby Huey
Every time I have ridden an organized ride I seem to go out hard and fast early and die at the end so you suggestions on pacing are dead on. Any suggestions on how to avoid this trend?
Finding the right pace takes experience, and it varies with weather and terrain. Some people use heart rate monitors to pace themselves, but it's not necessary... I've never used one. Basically, you have to base it on how you feel, and not your speedometer. It just takes experience.
When riding with a group, it's easy to adopt the groups pace, and tell yourself you can hang on. That's fine on a 20-30 mile ride, but won't do for century.

Originally posted by Baby Huey
It sounds like at this point I should be aiming to ride about 25 miles a night on the life cycle and then put in some 50 mile rides on the weekend up to the 7 week point. Then start a serious program to peak at ride time. Does this sound reasonable.
It sounds reasonable, but for me, the hardest part would be putting in the time on the lifecycle. (I hate riding/running/whatever in place. But ya do what ya gotta do.) My recommendation is to start riding outdoors as soon as weather and daylight allow. 25 miles a day is fine, if you don't over-do it. Go hard a couple times a week, with completely easy days in between. In fact, you won't be giving up much if you just take the day off in between. My point is that you will get much better results if you don't over-do it. This lesson took me a loooong time to learn. I wouldn't necessarily wait for the 7 week point to start going for longer rides. If you shoot for an August/September century, you could do some supported metric centuries leading up to it.

Velocipedio is right on. Don't go at it as training. You'll probably burn out, or get discouraged because you can't keep up with the mileage or goals set forth. Use the century as a goal to motivate you, but it's perfectly adequate to just go out and ride regularly, building toward your goal. Staying in tune with what your body's telling you is more important than what some paperback coach dictates.

As long as you're having a good time, you'll make it, dude!:beer:

If you have more questions, feel free to send a personal message, unless there are others who'd be interested in keeping the discussion online.