steve2k

Hello all,

I've decided in order to keep cycling I need to set myself some challenges. So I'm taking on a 'round the island' bike ride on the Isle of Wight (a little Island just off the south coast of England). The route is described as moderately hilly and it's 100km long.

This happens on a Sunday in early May and as I've only used the bike a couple of times in the last 8 months, I figured I need to do some training in the next 5 months.

I'm hoping to lose a few pounds over the next couple of months, and then pick up a more road oriented bike a couple of months before the ride to become acustomed to it.

My training plan so far is this:
- (time in the saddle) commute to work at least 3 days a week, which is a 10 mile round trip.
- (improved lung capacity) swim 1 day a week with my son (6 months old so I don't actually swim much).
- (general fitness) badminton 1 day a week

I'm also thinking of maybe trying this to improve my stamina: https://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Does anyone have any other tips I should follow?

I'm not trying to get round first or do it in any specific time, I'm just trying to get through it alive.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

kensuf

In the immortal words of Eddie Merckx, "Ride lots."

BetweenRides

While your general fitness activities are great, they aren't going to help you that much in the cycling department. Even your commuting mileage isn't going to be a great help - what you need is time in the saddle. While your mileage may vary, I find that I can't get any appreciable gains in cycling unless I do at least 3-4 days a week. Since the target ride is on a Sunday, you should plan on using that as your distance training day.

You don't mention how fast you ride or what type of bike you use, so I'll assume you average 15 mph on a road bike (is that 24 kph?). Start with a distance you are comfortable with, say what you can cover in 1 hour, or 15 miles. Don't focus on speed so much, just get the ride in. Every Sunday, add an additional distance (or time) on, in 5-10% increments. Establish mid-point goal distances, such as 25 miles, 30 miles, 50 miles, etc. Once you've reached 50 miles a time or two, it's really not that big a stretch to hit 62 miles. As your distances get longer, make sure you have a source for fluid replenishment, and start using snacks or gels while you ride to keep your engined fueled up.

Finally, in addition to your commuting rides, try to get in one additional day a week riding.

Good luck on your goal! It's a great experience to conquer an objective. The 100K distance is my favorite - I do that distance every Sunday at a minimum - Instead of worshiping at St. Mattress, I prefer to go to St. Lemond or St. Merlin, depending on which bike I want to ride that day.

Tom Stormcrowe

The running program can be adapted to cycling though, in principle. The interval training will be key with some interval work and following day devoted to recovery riding and endurance.

yeamac 

I'd suggest getting the Road Bike NOW. Once you get your bike, you may need to make some adjustments to it, including possibly a new stem or saddle. I've had my new road bike for 2 months and just finished getting everything "just right" for distance riding through trial and error. You want to put miles on the bike you will be riding in the event so that you know it fits you well.

mkadam68

+1

Commuting can help, if it's of sufficient distance. Of course, something is better than nothing You also need a good long ride at least 2x a week.

Me, I commute to work 4x per week, 15-miles each way. That's about 2 hours of riding, with 1-1/2 hours of that in close to TT mode. But, then on Saturdays, I complete a good 50--65 mile ride (and more as I approach my first century of the year).

My two cents.

GamecockTaco

Steve,

I'm going to have to disagree somewhat with the posters above. If you want to do a metric century, you can. You could walk out your door right now and complete it. It's a matter of mind of matter.

This past October I got my first road bike. Before getting it, I had been riding my mountain bike some on easy trails, but never more than about 10 miles at a time and approximately 1/2 of that would be on pavement. I put a cyclocomputer on that bike at the beginning of June. As of today, it has 421 miles on it.

Now, as I said, early October I got the road bike. I rode a 5 mile ride on it. Then another 5 mile trip. Then a 10 mile one. Those occurred in the first week that I owned it. 1.5 weeks later I completed a moderately hilly metric. Miles 35-53 were the hardest for several reasons: first and foremost, that's when the hills got bad. But, almost as bad was the mental tiring I experienced. I had never ridden that far at once in my life and by mile 40, I was too far from the beginning to have that excitement and too far from the finish to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

However, about mile 54 or so, I could begin to see the finish line and actually finished up pretty strong. AND, most importantly, I was able to get out of bed the next morning by myself.

You have said you don't want to necessarily finish fast, just that you want to finish. If that is true, my advice would be to just get as much saddle time as possible.

kensuf

Indeed it can! I used my old marathon training programs to get myself ready to ride my first century last year.

However, one nice thing about cycling is with the speedy recovery from less knee pounding, you can go and do your "long ride" every weekend as opposed to running where you need to alternate weeks to recover!

DieselDan

My plan is to keep rides to a 20 mile minimum, except for rides with the family, although little Diesel wants to do 12 and 15 mile rides now. Once a week, try to do 40-50, if not a full 62.5/100K ride on your own. I've done the 100K solo by using public parks and rec centers for water sources and carrying 2 Clif bars with some single serving Propel powders.

GamcockTaco: where was that ride? I did a metric around the same time in Yemassee, SC/Hampton County.

teamcompi

Riding a bike is simple get on and ride, the more the better, ride on a trainer, ride in the rain, ride to work, ride to play. The more time in/on the saddle the better. I used to tell my kids that if you think you can you can and if you think you can't you can't your right either way. I am sure that if you want too you will do the ride and have fun doing it.

steve2k

Thanks guys. Just for information, in the summer I did a 32 mile charity bike ride, with little preparation. The only hardship was the 5 mile long hill at the end. However there was quite a bit of stopping & waiting as the route takes in 2 ferries, one of them about the size of a minibus, and if there are 200 of you, it takes a while. The journey took almost 7 hours with probably 2 hours of waiting for ferries and hour for lunch (we were pretty relaxed).

I know I'm going to have to pick up the pace a bit to complete 62miles in the 8 hours we've got, and I know there will be less rests, so I think I'm going to have to do some proper training.

Time in the saddle it is then.

P.S. how much hard would I make this for myself if I tried to do it on a mountainbike (with road tyres) vs. a tourer vs. a road bike?

Thanks as always,
Steve

jyossarian

I knocked off a 62 mile ride in about 5-6 hours (including rest stops and waiting for a ferry) on a mtb w/ knobbies after 2 months of riding. I wasn't really training per se, just riding my bike and going to the gym 3-4 days/week to use the cross-country skier. Time in the saddle to build up your muscles and aerobic exercise to develop the stamina and endurance is what you need. In addition to commuting, I'd throw in a long ride of about 20-30 miles, maybe on the weekend. Also, if you can build up to commuting 5x a week after a few weeks, that'd help too. You might also want to try a long 40-50 mile ride in a couple months to work out the equipment issues (saddle comfort, hydration, food, clothing, etc.) When the time comes, pace yourself and enjoy the scenery. Good luck!

crtreedude 

I just recently did something like that and found my commute of about 25 kilometers every day was plenty. What I did was staged my self with little breaks about every hour. Riding time was 5 hours, but I broke it up with lunch and food breaks. I wasn't even sore the next day.

The biggest thing will be time in the saddle and keeping enough food in you. Lots of people can do a Metric Century even though they rarely ride and are coach potatoes.

If you really want to make it a piece of pie - do some frequent rides of half the distance. Say every couple of weeks - get to where they are easy, and the metric century will be not that much worse.

One of the biggest things is look for things that hurt or are irritating after a longer ride - those things will kill you on a long ride.

DnvrFox

In March of 1998, at the age of 58, I bought a Specialized Hard Rock Mountain Bike and put "slicks" on it. I hadn't ridden over 7 miles in a ride, ever, and had only a $10 garage sale roadie with a bent chain ring to ride.

In late June of that same year, I did the "Ride the Rockies" on that mountain bike - 7 days of Colorado passes, up to 85 miles or more in one day. Here is the official photo (and proof) of that bike and me at 58yo, and, yes, technically a "Clydesdale" (although I got to 197 lbs just before the ride).



I trained 1,100 miles in preparation. If I can do it, anyone can.

Training tips?

Ride, ride, ride. Short, long, fast, slow. Lots of time in the saddle.

Good luck.