Training plan for a century ride?
 

I am new to cycling but want to do a 100 mile ride next summer. Does anyone have an appropriate training schedule they could share?

All depends on what shape your in right now.

Also how many days per week you can ride.

You might take a look in the Long Distance forum. I don't have any specific advice other than to spend this fall and winter doing base miles. Long, steady rides. Focus on getting your fit dialed in, being comfortable on the bike for several hours, and good eating and drinking on the road.

First I’d pick the century and get familiar with the course description (elevation gain etc.). If it’s your first you might want to be conservative on how much you’re going to climb.

The rest depends on what kind of shape you’re in at the moment. At this point even if you struggle after just a few miles on the bike (nice Cannondale by the way) you’ve still got plenty of time to get into shape.

In general, have a plan that gradually increases your mileage from week to week or even month to month. Again, at this point they can be very small increases. Plan on doing one long ride a week with a few shorter ones in between . Don’t kill yourself either. You’re looking to build endurance not speed so keep the rides easy enough to where talking while riding is not difficult.

Also take this time to figure out your bike and notice any small discomforts you may have as far as saddle choice, achy knees, sore neck/back etc. You’re going to be on the bike for up to 10 hours depending on your pace so you’re going to want to have the fit all dialed in.

For more details I’m sure there’s a good book out there somewhere that’s specific to this.

just keep riding. If you can do 60-80 miles then 100 should be no problem. Just make sure you manage your energy (food [in] and exertion [out] during the century ride). Don't try to crush souls on any of the climbs early on and have your HR at 95%. You will pay for it later on.

HRM is a good tool. Get one, if you don't have one. Try to keep your HR within a good range.

For example, on climbs that are part of a longer ride I reduce my effort when my HR goes above around 183 or so. I have a pretty decent and quick recovery, so my limit might be kind of high % of my max.

MichaelDP,

I think we can give better advice if you are more specific.

Do you have anything particular in mind for your century as far as route or an organized ride?

What kind of distances and climbing are you doing now?

From now until next summer is plenty of time to prepare for a century, even if you are not riding long distances now.

Ride lots ;)

^^^^^^^^^^ I'm with stupid

At this point it's pretty irrelevant. Just hop on the bike, find an excuse to go for a ride whenever you can. It's typically not too hard to find a relatively local place to put on 20 or so miles in a given day. Work your way into some group rides as you get more saddle time.

The most important thing on a century will be your comfort level on the bike, both physical and mental. Only way around that is to get out and do some rides!

Once you're in better cycling shape and have spent some time on the bike, do some group rides, and you'll be doing 40-60 mile rides in no time. Once you're at that point, a century is a cinch.

It's good that you're planning ahead, but when you're a year out, there's no set schedule to follow. The more you ride, the better prepared you'll be.

Yep. If you're starting to feel uncomfortable after 30-50 miles, you'll be miserable by the end of a hundred miles or more.

Thanks guys. Sorry for the lack of information.
I used to be very fit but am not now. This is my way to get back into shape. I would say my stamina is low and I am carrying extra weight. I am 6 foot 2 , 36 years old and probably 20 pounds overweight. This is my sole exercise. I have been doing 20 mile rides with moderate hills and am averaging 15 mph. I usually do 1 ride a week but where possible i do a 16 miler during the week. I plan to increase the rides i do per week and do a longer one on the weekend. I was thinking that 12 months would be realistic goal. I would chose a 100 mile ride with as few hills as possible.

Machka, who usually posts over on the Long Distance forum, gives some great advice on her website:
http://www.machka.net/century.htm

Machka's advice is aimed at brand new riders - I think sometimes we forget what it's like starting out - how tough it can be to get enough of a base to finish a century when everything is brand new and we're really not sure what our bodies are capable of.

JB

There used to be a great training outline for both a century and a double century on the diablo cyclists website. They've changed the site and I can't find either one of them. I emailed to see if they've just moved it so I'll let you know if I find it again. They were both week-by-week outlines of how far you should be riding for training.

Like uspspro said, if you can do about 70 miles comfortably you'll be able to finish a century. Remember that organized events have food and water stops so it's easy to take short breaks and much on some PB&J if you need to.

My first suggestion is to ride more often. It is much easier to improve if you're riding 3 times/week instead of just once. Do a long ride on the weekend and try to increase your mileage by 10% every week. During the week, do a shorter (1-2 hours) high intensity or intervals ride and a shorter lower intensity recovery ride.

This is geared for double centuries, but you can use some of this information and apply it for your training for a century ride ... http://www.caltriplecrown.com/training.htm

That's not nice. If you're going to train for a century, just start riding lots. You can't do a couple 10 mile rides and then go out and do 100 miles and expect it to be a great success. I did my first century this year. My prep was: ride. Ride, ride, ride, ride, ride. And I did. I did a couple 55-60 mile rides in the weeks prior to the century (these were my longest rides to date prior to the century) but my normal loop is 21 miles. Day of the century came and I finished it very strong. It was the Tour of Napa, FWIW.