kstep7711

Hi I'm a 46 old guy and been riding for bout 2 months using a Bianchi bergamo commuter bike. I ride between 25 and 30 miles with rolling hills a day depending on heat and humidity takes me 2 hr to do 25 miles so average 12 mph and a little tired when i get home but feel fine after a shower. by spring next year I want to do a ride from St. Louis to Memphis so i need to be able to do 60-100 per day. is this feasible and if so I need advice on a training program. how much do i focus on Hills. distance, time and cadence or are there other things i should be working on. Also I know that any bike will get me there but with that said should i be looking for a different bike for rides of 400 miles and longer?
Thanks for any advice and help K2

NomadVW 

A lighter, faster bike (faster in the sense that the bike is lighter, more aerodynamic, etc. ) will be... well... faster. But you don't need to break the bank to get into that arena. You can put yourself on a 19-21 lb road geometry prett cheap.

As far as training goes - the question is "How fast do you want to get there?"

If it's just about completing the distance, I would spend the next 6 months only worrying about time in the saddle. Fitness will come along and so will some speed, but the real goal is to increase your aerobic endurance and day to day recovery ability. Increasing your weekly mileage by about 10% is considered the "standard" from week to week. You might increase it less at the beginning, or more - depending on how fit you are now. The slow increase will help you learn hydration/nutrition requirements along the way.

Once you're comfortable doing 2 days back to back @ about 60 miles, then I would start working on intensity to work specific areas of your cycling fitness which will both improve speed and continue to develop your overall aerobic fitness.

I'm also assuming that you intend to ride the distance without a rest day, which means you need to build up to riding 4 days in a row. This will also teach you quite a bit about rest/recovery. A lot of the folks I know that don't ride successive days or say they "can't" is because they don't know how to sleep/eat/rest properly between hard days.

TurboTurtle

Doing the same thing every day really isn't the best way to train. You are simply teaching your body to ride 25-30 miles at 12mph. I would suggest a plan based on riding 3 days per week - 1 fast, 1 hills and 1 long. You could expand it to 4, but the other days should be off or REAL easy. Here is a training plan I use (it's a cut & paste from another posting).
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Here is a 25 week plan (mostly stolen from Joe Friel) that I have used successfully with a number of beginning to intermediate cyclists. We start in March and do the century the second weekend in Sept. These are riders who don't ride much in the winter so are starting 'over' each spring. I do not start the intervals/fast rides until June after they have some miles.

Ride (at least) 3 days/week.

1 - Hill intervals - What these are depends on where you live. Here in NE IL, we have few hills so this training is on either a 1/4 mile long grade or a short, sharp hill. On the grade, it is divided into thirds where they are 'encouraged' to go harder on each third. They are also 'encouraged' to go harder on each interval than on the last. Swearing at me and is only acceptable on the last one. On the grade they learn cadence and basic shifting. On the steep hill they learn to be in the right gear and momentum. These are just 4-5 miles out, repeats, back. 45 min - 1 hr.

2 - Fast ride - Since my hill intervals are really near-sprint intervals, the fast ride is just a fast group ride. Teaches group riding/handling and motivates to go fast. About a 20 mile ride. Group riding (drafting, working together, etc.) is the hardest thing to teach.

3 - Long - The point here is the saddle time (not miles or speed). For most, the first century is about sitting on a bike for 6-8 hours. Here are the hours for each ride from week 25 through week 2: 1/1.5/2/1/1.5/2/2.5/1.25/2/2.5/3/1.5/2.5/2/3.5/1.75/3/3.5/4/2/3.5/4/4.5/2.25. This is saddle time, not counting breaks, stops lights, etc. If you plan on riding the century regardless of the weather, ride the long rides regardless of the weather.

A short, easy ride on the off days really helps even if it's only 20 min.
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As for the bike, I would stress comfort. You are going to be spending a lot of time in that saddle and you have all day to do the 60-100 miles.

TF