austintxeric

I have been reading this forum for the last couple of months and wanted to finally get around to posting! Many of your stories are inspirational and I have learned a lot while browsing. I am 32 years old and have been a clyde for most of my life. I recently got into riding a bike as a way to get into better shape. I have fluctuated up and down over the last 10 years from a high of nearly 300lbs 10 years ago to 189 lbs about 10 months later. I have gone up and down from that low of 189 over the last decade until I had gone back to 280 lbs this past January. I remembered that I had good success losing weight in college when I rode my bike everywhere around campus, but once I graduated I didn't keep up the habit. I have never found a cardio exercise that I enjoyed enough to keep up for a long period...I had always gravitated towards weight training solely. This obviously hadn't worked for me so I decided to give biking a try.

I broke down and bought a Giant Rapid 3 at the end of March and started riding it 5 days a week. In the beginning I could barely go 5 miles before my rear end was killing me. After reading the many stories on this site, I knew it took putting miles on the saddle before I would break in my butt....so I kept it up. I am now riding 20 miles each morning before I go to work. I have lost 31 lbs since the beginning of the year (I had gotten my diet in order prior to beginning my biking)...but most of the weight has come off since I have begun my daily biking. For once I seem to have found a cardio exercise that I can do for more than an hour at a time...needless to say I am pretty excited.

I do have some questions concerning training for a 100 mile ride. We have an organized group ride here in Round Rock, TX in October that I want to sign up for. I really want to shoot for the 100 mile route. I have worked myself up to riding 100 miles per week (Mon-Fri 20 miles per day). How should I modify this schedule to prepare for the 100 mile ride?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!

MIH-Dave

Welcome aboard! And congrats to your accomplishments. 100miles a week is nothing to sneeze at.

As far as training for a century... Start slowing upping your mileage on one day / week. Do it slowly so you don't push yourself too hard, too fast.

I was only doing 60miles 1 day a week before completing my first century in September.

10 Wheels

Just ride more.
Rest when you need to.

austintxeric

I am planning on doing my regular 20 mile ride on Thursday morning, followed by a 10 mile ride on Friday, and then doing a 30 mile ride on Saturday. I have been doing all of my riding first thing in the morning with no food and only water. I am thinking that I will take some food with me on Saturday to have about half way through the 30 mile ride. I may also bring a mix of half sports drink/half water to have a long the way. I usually feel that I can go much further at the end of my regular 20 mile rides if I only had a quick stop to stretch and possibly some food. I just don't have much more than 1 and a half hours in the mornings before work!

Bingo

Wow. You are really kicking butt there Austin. I hope to get where you are before long. I'm in kind of the same boat, big guy finally feeling like I may have found an exercise that I can get in to.

Seriously though, congrats on the weight loss and the huge numbers you are racking up. That's awesome and very inspirational to folks like me!

B

austintxeric

Thanks Bingo! I have learned that if you keep at it, you'll definitely see improvements! When I first got my bike back at the end of March, I was doing under 30 miles for the entire week, but I made sure I was out riding every weekday morning even if I could only go around my neighborhood. The biggest issue I had was soreness in my rear, and I eventually bought a WTB Rocket saddle for $35 dollars and ordered a pair of bib shorts from aerotechdesigns. The bibs really do help and eventually the soreness has gone away...but it did take time! I slowly started getting more comfortable riding further away from my house and found that going further out made the ride much more enjoyable. I guess it was having a destination to get to that made the rides much more interesting.

austintxeric

After I complete a 30 mile ride on Saturday, what goals should I set over the next couple of months in order to prepare for a century in October? I like to ride in the mornings before work most days for up to 1 and a half hours, but can plan on longer rides on Saturday mornings.

markdavid570

Other people will have great advice to help you train. I don't...but I wanted to step in and say welcome to the forum and good luck with your training! I think it's awesome that you get your riding in before work. It's something I've been thinking about doing, but I usually don't get up early enough to do it...so I end up going right after work. I'll have to give it a try!

austintxeric

Thanks for the welcome Mark! Here in Austin, it is already getting to 94-95 degrees for highs, so I HAVE to get up early to avoid the extreme heat. I have also found that if I get it done first thing, I won't 'find other excuses' for not getting on the bike.

markdavid570

Haha...good idea. My wife gives me a hard time about riding when it gets really hot out...but that's when I like to ride the most! "Hot" here in PA is probably much different though!

zoste

Welcome to the addiction, Eric.

As others have suggested, after completing a 30 mile ride this week, set a goal of increasing that distance by 10% per week on your "long ride". Within just a few weeks, you'll be riding distances that you never thought possible. Within a few months, your long ride will BE a century.

Another suggestion is to train on the same type of terrain that your century will be on. If your century will be on rolling hills, don't make the mistake of training on a flat MUP.

Finally, take one day a week off. Your body needs to rest occasionally. You don't build muscle by riding, your build muscle by recovering from riding.

There are some training tips here.