bassjones

Did 73 miles yesterday with a rolling 15MPH average. Will do a short ride next Saturday because I have a wedding to attend, then repeat yesterday's loop Labor Day weekend. September 12, I'm planning on a 50-mile ride at a pretty good pace. Between now and the 12th, I'll continue to do 3-4 weeknight rides of 20-25 miles, focusing on spinning cadence and then take the week of the century off. It happens to fall on my 45th birthday too.

glider54

I'm sure you can do it. You've been training hard and you seem to have your hydration and nutrition down pretty well. You certainly seem to have the stamina. It'll be a great birthday gift for you. I had been planning to do my 1st century on my birthday as well, but wound up doing it a little early. I turn 61 on Sept. 3.

TrojanHorse

You'll be fine. Just make sure you don't take off like a scalded cat at the start - that's a SURE FIRE RECIPE for cramps, bonking and disaster.

Flatbroke

Good luck

scrming

Sounds like you shouldn't have any problems at all knocking out a century!

As far as taking the week before off... do you mean not riding at all? I would still get on the bike and do some easy spin work... I've done 3 centuries in the last month and I know it's not a big sample but seems that the one century where I took almost a week off before hand, I actually felt the worse... This last Saturday I actually did 130 miles... I did normal training type rides Monday and Tuesday. Did indoor intervals Wednesday. Off on Thursday. Light mountain biking on Friday. On Saturday I actually felt better than the previous 2 centuries. The century where I took the most time off, where I thought my legs would be nice and fresh, well, they actually ended up feeling really heavy and sluggish.... just an fyi...

looking forward to hearing about your ride!

Francis73

Good Luck you got this!!

bassjones

Thanks for that advice. I may change my plan then. Nothing hard or heavy; just light, high cadence spinning.

superdex

do ride the week of. your body is used to riding almost every day, don't break that rhythm....

Black wallnut 

fwiw @bassjones my experience echos that of #scrming . I once took the day before a century off and my legs were heavy the whole day. A rest day 2 days prior may be better for some. Another often forgotten item is sleep. Two nights before make sure you get a full night. The night before might not be as good if you have excitement triggered insomnia.

Jarrett2

I take off Thursday and Friday from hard riding during the week of a (Saturday) century. That way Saturday morning, my legs are fresh and I'm itching to get back on the bike.

I also like to try and draft a little for the first 20 miles or so if there is a big fast group. I just pedal my normal range, but go a couple of mph faster thanks to them. Works out well.

I find the riding part of a century to be easy. It's the eating and mental focus that needs to be managed, imo. Make sure you have your fuel plan down.

I'm doing Hotter'n Hell this Saturday. Going to make the call the day of whether I'm doing the 75 or 100. I really want to ride through the Air Force base and that's only on the 75. I thought about doing that, then backtracking 12.5 miles from the end and riding back to get the 100. I'm just going to play it by ear.