merganser22

Hello, I'm new to cycling 33 years old 6' tall and 175 lbs in decent physical shape. I've had a road bike about 2 months and am loving it. My farthest distance thus far is 40 miles in about 2:15. Just for kicks I'm thinking I'd like to do a century ride by late spring 2011. Nothing exceedingly fast, just want to do it. My wife has concerns. She thinks its super risky and I could keel over of like heat stroke, or ruin my knees, or damage my ability to have kids. So far as i'm aware riding 100 miles at a noncompetative pace with my cadence up over 85rpm shouldn't pose any of the risks she is concerned about (so long as i hydrate) ? Or does she have valid concerns and I am just crazy?

SBRDude

She's over concerned.

RacerOne

Her concerns are not valid.

RUOkie

she is overly concerned. Just increase your time out on the road by about 15min each week. The next thing you know, you will be doing a solo 70mile ride. Then, when you mention the supported century, your wife will have no concerns.

midgetmaestro 

It sounds like you have it figured out already. As said above, her concerns are not valid. Stay hydrated, snack a bit, and enjoy the century!

RUOkie

What is funny, is that my wife had the same concerns. Then, when the day for the organized century I was gonna do last year came around, I felt like absolute crap, and made the turn for the 65mile ride. I have since done 2 centuries, but none on an organized ride. They were just rides that ended up being over 100miles.

StephenH

This is me a couple of years ago. I had just finished a 100k (62 miles) on the Worksman bike there in the picture. That was in the spring, and I rode that bike on my first century that August up at the Hotter-n-Hell 100. It took me 9-1/2 or 10 hours, so it wasn't pretty. Anyway, if I can do it, you can. Show the picture to your wife, say "If that guy can do it, why surely I can!" Try to get in all the riding you can this winter; if you're overweight, lose weight. If your route is hilly, it will be harder. If you expect to do it in 5 hours, you may be disappointed. But otherwise, go for it.


On the "damage my ability to have kids", that shouldn't be an issue unless you have things going numb down south. If you do, that's a problem that needs to be fixed, but it's not an inherent effect of cycling.

By the way, I'm 50 now, have lost about 60 lbs since I started cycling, and just this weekend did my first 300k ride- 192 miles in 15 hours.

merlinextraligh

^ great job!

Velo Dog

Well, you don't need kids anyway, so you can dismiss that. Otherwise, she's just being a non-athlete. I rode my first century on very little training (30-40 miles a week, longest ride 18 miles) at age 44. I suffered, and so will you, but I finished. I got faster until I was in my mid-50s, when I started to slow down (partly because I don't train like I used to, but the calendar catches us all). I'm hoping/planning to do at least one more, next spring, when I'll be 66 (I don't doubt that I CAN do it, but I don't have the drive anymore to train hard).

BrainInAJar

Anyone without a preexisting heart condition can ride a century without dying, it's just a matter of how long it'll take you. Bring plenty of food & water

merlinextraligh

While I tend to agree with the general sentiment, having doen an MS 150 ride with non cycling co workers, I can unequivocally state that 100 miles in the 12-14 hours of available daylight is beyond the reach of many people that are not cyclists, but still somewhat fit, at least in comparsion to the average american.

I'd say that anyone that can ride 40 miles with reasonable comfort at a decent pace (which would cleary include the OP) can do a century. But no way you average noncycling adult that doesn't exercise can do a century within the alloted time.

smithsb

Riding a bicycle a hundred miles is not a big deal. Maybe you should do a short ride (half century, metric) at an organized event and have her meet you at the finish so she can see that most of the people doing these rides are fairly ordinary people.

SBRDude

Awesome. Congrats on it all.!!

SBRDude

There used to be an axiom in running that one could easily handle the distance of 3x their usual run when doing a distance event, i.e., if you wanted to survive a marathon (26.2 miles), you should be able to do so if you regularly run 8-9 miles at a pop. My guess is the same thing and more holds true for cycling, at least on flat roads.

Machka 

Tell her that she can ride the century with you. If she gets a bicycle now, and works at it regularly, she could quite likely easily do a century in 6 months.

doctor j

Unless you have some underlying health issues, your wife's concerns are most likely not valid.

You may well be crazy. Anyone who would go out and ride 100 miles on a bike in 5 to 8 hours might be considered at least a little crazy. The ones who are really certifiable are those who ride the double centuries.

I'm 61 and just rode my second century of the year last Saturday.

Start increasing your mileage and learning to fuel and hydrate properly during the longer rides. When you can pull off a 70 or 75-mile ride, you should be good to go for a century.

CHAS

Tell her that in order to ensue that you will still be able to make babies after the ride that you must also keep those parts of your body in good shape.
Start the training now.

ErichM

33 years old? Come on dude, your wife needs to stop babying you. You're not an old man, or a little kid.

jt_moran

Agreed with all the above. I bought my first road bike in March of this year. I had never ridden more than 15 miles at one time before, and completed my first century in the August heat. It was hard, but a good learning experience to hydrate more! 6 weeks later, I rode 125 miles, and it was so much easier, now that I knew exactly how much hydration and food was needed along the way.

I'm not in the best of shape by any stretch, and completing 125 miles at 16.2 avg I felt was a massive achievement for me. Best of all, I didn't feel like I was going to keel over at the finish at all. Far from it, went out and enjoyed some beers for the evening!

Brian Ratliff

Take a physical. Keep riding. Eventually your wife will learn what you can and cannot do. There is a lot of difference between 40 miles and 100; a lot more than just drinking plenty of water (you also need to learn to pace yourself and eat). Just keep riding and turn it into a lifestyle. This isn't a time for rational argument with your wife. It is not a rational point of view she is taking. But that doesn't mean it isn't valid. She has a "woman's sense" that what you are doing is somewhat risky and perhaps somewhat needless; she is having trouble expressing the feeling though and so is kinda making up sh*t just to get the words out.

Oh, and regardless of her interest, be sure you talk about your rides with her. Even if it's just a couple words about how challenging your ride-of-the-day was or wasn't and how you felt or what you saw when riding.

Keep your plans fuzzy at this point and just keep extending your riding. Her irrational concern will eventually just go away; particularly when you keep coming home from your rides in one piece and don't need to resort to blue pills in bed .

BarracksSi

Play her this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdd31Q9PqA

Or this one (although I like the first one better):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ae3t...eature=related

And +1 to what Machka said.

MangoPumpkin 

If she's really concerned and you want to placate her, go to the doctor and get a physical before. There are no guarantees on anything, you could keel over and die into the first mile of a ride or at anytime for that matter. Have her do some research herself as well. I'm sure you'll be just fine. Good luck!

CHAS

and both of you need to bone up on what exercise can do for your health.

patentcad

I'm almost 53. I ride 12,000+ miles annually. I'm not dead.

































Yet.

billh92109

Been riding three months and 2 days.

Already done two centuries, one in 90+ weather. Tough? Hell yeah. But safe with enough sugar and water and electrolytes and sunscreen. Much higher chance of getting run over IMHO than anytthing else. I'm 36.