Old 03-06-07, 07:20 PM
  #17  
ericgu
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Originally Posted by trace22clawson
Currently this is how I train and plan to train. I commute on my bike 4-5 days per week. 14 miles round-trip. I try to take this opportunity to ride fairly intense even though I'm loaded down with gear (15-20 lbs.) During the week I try to do a moderate ride of 15-30 miles. A Saturday ride of 40-80 miles. A Sunday ride of 20-50 miles. The mileage on the rides will increase until I am about 4-6 weeks out from the 200 mile STP. I'm trying to follow the guidance from the STP website:

http://cascade.org/EandR/stp/pdf/stp..._book_2007.pdf

see page 8 of the document for the training plan. I don't follow it exactly and I don't count my commute miles in the mileage totals (They are only 1/2 hour rides each way - I figure they can't hurt, huh?) From what I'm reading in the thread, maybe I should kick in session of intervals once I get to May/June.

I will begin doing my midweek ride with a group in April. The pace is between 14-16 mph and the rides are 20-30 miles. The local bicycle club also has Wednesday rides for beginners. It's a 4 week curriculum that includes the basics of group riding including etiquette and safety... I plan to complete that course (the rides will be about 1 hour at 12-15 mph)

Where I'm at now?? I guess my best measuring stick is today's ride - 40 miles in 3 hours (13.3 mph) This was on an MUP - it was pretty wide open, but you have to come to pretty much a complete stop to get through the gates that are in place at all the crossroads. I was loaded down with my 20 lbs of commuting gear for the entire ride. I was tired, no question. I feel like I need to get to a level of fitness that will allow me to ride a 14 hour day (14 hrs bike time + 2-3 hours of breaks for a total of 17 hrs) at 14-15 mph for the duration of the STP.

I'm open to suggestions and advice from experienced long distance riders.
While the Cascade plan has a lot of history behind it, it's an "old school" plan. The old school said that you had to ride pretty much the whole distance to be in shape to do the ride. While there's some truth in that - you especially need rides long enough for you to work out your nutrition plan - you don't need a ton of miles. You need quality miles and a good training approach. Most real plans these days are periodicalized, but the cascade plan is too old for that.

Once you've got the nutrition part down, it's hills that really take it out of you on a long ride. Since STP doesn't have much in the way of hills, it's fairly easy to come up with a "ride all day" pace, especially if you are able to ride in a paceline. And I think you'll be surprised how much easier that makes things - if you have a good training program, it's not hard to average 16 MPH for the first century of STP.

How fast are you when you're rested and not carrying around the extra weight? My guess is that a two-hour comfortable pace by yourself is something you'll be able to hold for the whole STP with a group and some more training.

Oh, and if you don't have a heart rate monitor, they are a great help in training.
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