Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Working up to longer distances

I've always wanted to work up to the point were I could ride a century, but I'm not exactly sure how I should set up a training plan.

I just started riding 10 miles a day round trip, commuting to school, and I'd like to start adding in longer rides on the weekends, but I don't want to do too much and not be able to get to school over the next week. I've ridden 20 mile rides, but not with the 10 mile commute on either side.

I was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations on how far/how fast I should add miles on the weekends. I don't have any particular end date for being able to ride a century, just that I get there eventually.

thanks

in general, just keep riding
attention your bike fit
the way you pedal
your nutrition... that is calories in vs time
hydration, etc..

and just work on spending time on your bike.
if you have the time
try to ride your bike 2hrs a day.
it doesn't have to be 2hrs straight
just run around town, do errands, etc...
use a stop watch, and shoot for 2hrs a day, and see how you feel
if you can get to 10hrs a week, thats pretty good.

ideally you want to become comfortable with an 8hr effort.
7hrs for 100 miles with 3,000ft of elevation gain, is pretty good. darn good.
some people may say fast.

"how to train for your first century" has got to be one of the most written articles.

google search:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&ei=v6LBSrG6FI-AsgO_seHDAg&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=how+to+train+for+your+first+century&spell=1

you can also seek out a bike club, local cyclists, etc...
community

I've written an article aimed at people who are new to the century distance, or long distance riding.

http://www.machka.net/century.htm


In your specific situation, keep riding the 10 miles 3 or 4 days a week, and then on 1 or 2 days of the weekend, start increasing your distance by about 10% (give or take a bit) per week. So if you're comfortable with 22 miles this week. Next weekend, do 22-25 miles. And just keep working your way up.

During the week, at some point you might want to increase some of those rides to 15 or 20 miles ... and/or you may opt to work on speed or hills or things like that.

If you find you are struggling a bit with a particular distance, back it off a bit the next weekend to give yourself a break.

general advice from me would be to keep the commuting up and build up the distance of those weekly long rides slowly each week.

also try and aim to vary your commutes if possible. take in some hills now and again if you can, blast it flat out one night a week, generally mix it up to both keep you from getting bored and to help develop different aspects of your riding.

take your longer rides at an easy pace, slow and steady. as machka suggests back off if you don't feel up to it. listen to your body.

The more you ride the stronger you will become.
I see no problem if you would add 10 miles each week to one ride.
Once you pass 75 miles you can ride a 100 miles.