nmichell

After a year of riding more seriously .. no wait, I meant riding more, for fun ... I decided that this year I'll do a century. Since my wife likes Santa Fe, that looked like a good choice. It's now, however, only 6 weeks away I managed 1700 miles last year, but only 250 so far this year, with my longest ride of 42 miles yesterday. I'm hoping to do 60 miles in the local club's "Spring Warm Up" ride in 2 weeks, and then I'll have 4 weeks to get in a 70-80 mile ride before the century. Maybe twice a week I can get in about a 20 mile ride.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan?

I'm very encouraged that hawkijohn made it through a century only 2 weeks after doing his 1st metric, but then again he may be just an extraordinary guy Or is it more likely that I could be headed for some major pain? I'm not too worried about altitude in Santa Fe since I'm already at 5000 ft. And while pacelines sound like a great idea in theory, all my riding has been solo, so for the safety of myself and others I might do best to avoid them.

Nick

oilfreeandhappy

Ride up to Estes and back a few times. That will get you ready!

GrannyGear

How much climbing at the Santa Fe? How much climbing have you and your bike done lately? Is your bike geared for long and/or steep hills? You'll make sure you have a plan for eating and drinking before and especially on the ride? Any friends going with you--nice if they do. Flat centuries are pretty do-able with where you're at plus a little determination. Hilly, demanding centuries take some patient preparation. Best of luck and keep us up-dated.

NOS88

IMHO, If the rise and fall in elevation is similar most people can do about 1/3 more than their longest ride when pushed. So, you should be ok. Just keep the fluids and calories high enough to get you through that additional mileage and make sure to pace yourself.

DnvrFox

SFC is classified as a "medium" level century. Not easy, but certainly not the Triple ByPass.

Is your general fitness pretty good?

I guess I would prefer more mileage this year for you. There are several options. One of them is to do 50 miles or 75 miles, which are explained on the SFC web page. However, the century is still doable. This is wide open country, no or few commercial edtablishments. But the rest stops are great.

Have fun

Here are some pictures of the Santa Fe Century:

https://members.aol.com/dnvrfox/santafec.htm

nmichell

oilfreeandhappy:

Biking up to Estes Park is a good suggestion. I want to get a couple hundred more miles in before I do that, but I will definitely add it to my plan.

GrannyGear:

I've done a few hills and lots of rollers so far this year, but overall not a whole lot of climbing yet. There are plenty of hills here to climb, though. I'm not a particularly good climer, due to the extra 20lbs I keep carrying around

Denver:

I've been doing aerobic work over the winter, so the heart and lungs are in pretty good shape. I agree that more bike miles at this point would have been better. This past weekend was perfect, but the weekend before that I wasn't willing to brave the 30mph winds.


Nick

Velo Dog

I hate the idea of "quitting," but I make an exception for century rides, especially early in the season. Most rides around here, at least, have shorter options, a turnaround or cutoff that reduces the distance to 50 or 60 miles. What always burns me, though, is that I usually feel great at that distance and blow past. Then about 25 miles later, my legs will barely go around...
One key is to start pretty slowly. It's easy to get caught up in the thing and go out too fast, so you're cooked at 70 miles. Another tip I've read, but only tried once, is to do the first 50 miles nonstop. Drink and eat on the bike, or as quickly as you can off the bike, and keep going to the halfway point, then evaluate your speed and condition. As for conditioning, I've suffered least on centuries when I have a LOT of long rides beforehand. That's one reason I often cut them short early in the year--I ride in winter, but it's pretty hard to get in the 75+ mile days you need to be ready for a century.

stapfam

I do a 100 miler each year and my training for this is 35 mile rides-- UP HILLS. We have enough steep ones round here to say that it is all uphill, so no problems there. A month before the ride I also do a 65 miler that only takes in 4 hills- two at 15% for 1 mile, one of the others is 20% and the other just goes on and on and on at around 12% Main thing is saddle time though- get in a few flat rides of 4 hours nonstop, As far as I am concerned- 1 x 100miler like this one is enough in a year.

On the food and nutrient stakes- I take at least 1 litre of drink an hour. On the food side- Carbo load with every meal being pasta- rice- bread -potatoes and best of all-- Sticky buns, for a week beforehand- On the ride eat anything that tastes good- Cereal bars- dried fruit- cake- and I always take some cheese with me for protein. I do find that around the 6 hour mark- I have trouble swallowing food so Creamed rice or a bowl of soggy pasta helps.

You will have to be prepared for this ride- and I am about to start 2 seesions a week down the gym- Only a one hour sting of 6 exercises of 10 minutes each but I will push hard for that hour- then a bit of Leg and quad weight training- but all that will stop 3 weeks before the ride- then it will be 3 hour rides twice a week but taken fast.

Good luck on your ride- it will be a piece of cake, but do not overtrain and pull a muscle in getting ready for it.

Attachment is of the second to last hill that we negotiate and I just hope it doesn't rain on 20th May this year

jppe

Six weeks gives you just enough time to get ready. Others have already said it-get the base miles increased and quickly . Do a long ride (at least 80 miles 2 weeks prior to the century). If the century has some climbing be sure and get in some 40-50-60 mile rides with some hills. The best way I've found to do the centuries is to simply pile on the miles and just get acclimated to riding 6-8 hours.

On ride day-you might think about breaking the ride down into three or four rides.....Just plan to get from point to point and don't think about what comes after until you get there. Once you get to 80-85 miles you'll be okay. The most challenging part might be the mind games so be prepared to be mentally tough.....

You can do it and will feel really, really rewarded afterwards. Worth all the training and challenge of the ride!! Just remember, as long as the bike is moving forward you're making progress and getting closer to the finish.

Al1943

Good pictures, thanks. Makes me want to do it.

Al

Old Hammer Boy

I would strongly encourage you to obtain a copy of the book, [I]The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling[I] by Burke and Pavelka. They thoroughly deal with training issues, nutrition, and (especially) tapering before a century or other long-distance event. I have found it very helpful. OHB