jkemp9

Ok, it's just a metric century... "Le Tour de Corn" (<--- ) south of Springfield Illinois.

How should I ride in the upcoming days? On Sunday, 2 days ago, I rode 52 miles with an average of 16.5 (including town and a nasty headwind). On Monday, yesterday, I rode a 12 mile recovery ride (fast spinning, slower speed, few hills). I'm trying to plan out the rest of the week to maximize my fitness for Saturday. This gives 4 possible days to ride. I was thinking of doing interval training today-- recovery ride on Wednesday-- 35 mile loop on Thursday-- very easy recovery on Friday-- then start century at 7:30 Saturday morning. I've been riding around 200 a week. This is the first century of any kind that I've done. I'm positive I can finish but I want to be as comfortable as possible on Saturday morning (i.e. zero leg pain or stiffness).

My questions: What do you all think of my pre-century regimen? Will my legs recover better if I include a recovery ride on Friday or should I not ride at all? Any suggestions on food or fluids (i.e. drink/eat a lot of carbs, protein, etc. the night before)?

Thanks for any and all input.

unixpro

If you're riding 200 miles a week, you're ready for a metric century without any additional training or any special planning. Just do your regular riding. If you're worried about how you'll perform on Saturday, take Friday off and rest up. Too many people really overthink their century rides.

On the 4th I did a full century. I then took Saturday and Sunday off. I did my regular commute the next week (28 miles/day), M-F. On Saturday I did another full century. I didn't worry about intervals or recovery rides or changing my routine at all; I knew I was able and ready and just went out and rode. Yesterday (Monday) I turned in a personal best on my incoming commute. Today I rode a little more relaxed, but still got her within 10 minutes of my regular time.

200 miles a week is a lot of riding. If you're just commuting, you're doing 40 miles a day, which is nearly a metric right there. Stop psyching yourself out and just enjoy the ride.

bdinger

^^^^ +1, you'll be just fine. I rode M-F last week, then did a speedy century on Saturday without issue. Had I done it over again, I would have taken Friday off to rest my legs, but eh. Go for it and ENJOY!!!

jkemp9

Ok, two days before the tour de corn. I'm wondering about hydration the day/night before the ride. My high school soccer coach told me to drink a gallon of grape juice a day before games, which I usually tried to do. Has anyone ever heard of this? I think i'll do the grape juice thing and try to get down a gallon of water today and tomorrow. Does that sound about right? I'm not worried about finishing the 62 miles, I know for sure I can do that. I want to ride hard and avoid cramping. First 120 riders get free socks, it'd be nice to be in that group, probably wishful thinking though...

Mr. Beanz

If you can do 50 miles at 16. 5 average you'll more than likely be in the first 120 riders. The 26 mph riders you read about in the forums are full of it! I was on a 40 mile ride averaging 18 when I blew by a guy in full kit that just got finished telling me he averaged 24 into the wind,........ with no shoes on.....in the snow! Some days the 18 average is 16.5 depending on the wind.

I did a similar ride in AZ. First 100 back get medals. I started slow as I rode with a forum member I met. 1/4 into the ride he said go for the medal as he was worried he would keep me off pace. I did and easily finished within the first hundy. I did run into a really strong rider on the way. I found myself out in the middle of the cornfields. Does corn grow in the desert? Oh well looked like corn!... This guy caught me from behind as I was trying to run down a paceline about 1/2 mile ahead. Next closest riders was another paceline about 1/2 behind. Well I don't know where the guy came from but he caught me. He asked to work together. I said I would try as I figured I couldn't keep up with the guy. He instructed me to draft him till I recovered then it would be my turn. Turns out his partner had mechanicals and had to drop from the ride. The guy saidhe saw me earlier in the ride and knew I was strong too.

Well I rode his wheel for about a mile then jumped in front. I was pulling at 19 then he'd pull at 20. Off and on for about 10 miles. We caught up to several riders inviting them to work withus. Everyone pulled for about a minute tops so that no one rider would tire too soon. At one point we had about 20 riders on us but only 5 of us pulling.

On the last 5 miles of the ride only 3 of us remained from the big group we had earlier. We rode together till teh last 1/2 mile when the third rider sprinted away. I figured we'd run him down but the strong guy said he was toast and couldn't lift the pace jsut then. He told me to run him down but I figured I wouldn't be here if it weren't for this guy so I got in fornt and pulled him in. We both got medals and had a great time doing it!

My average for the 62 miles was 19.9. Where as my average for the norm is about 16.5 to 18 for a 42 miler. That was one of the most enjoyable rides of my life!

Don't start too hard or you'll burn out in the later miles. You'll see your dream of new socks slowly fade. Be sensible in the early miles, let Lance and his team go. Find someone more your speed that you can ride with comfortably. Pick up the effort in the later miles, which means you may match the speed of the early miles. FI you start smart, you will have the energy to do so. If you find a good partner, stay with him as long as he is able to maintain your speed. If you feel macho in the last 5 miles, don't try to drop the guy. He just may run you down and leave you. Smarter to continue the team effort and both get some socks!

I think you'll find that you will easily win the socks!

CliftonGK1

Does your HS coach own Eli Lilly stock? That's the only reason I can think of why he's trying to make everyone on his team diabetic. A gallon of grape juice is more than you should drink in a week, much less in a day.

At 200 miles/week, you'll have no problem pushing it for 62 miles to stay competitive in this ride. Keep hydrated, and pay attention to your electrolytes. I'd say drop a tablet of NUUN in your water bottles or pop a few Endurolyte caplets at the start, and you'll be fine.
If you don't usually drink a gallon of water a day, then don't push it like that for 2-3 days before your event. You risk hyponatremia (over-hydration water toxicity) and really hurting yourself.

A good daily recommendation for hydration is 1 - 1.25oz per kilo of body weight (on resting days. More when you're training.)

Mr. Beanz

I practice something I read a while back. I drink plenty of water the evening before the ride. I drank a big Gatorade before beddy bye and kept a glass of water on the nitestand. I'd wake up every so often thent ake a drink. Not hard to do cause excitement keeps me waking the night before. Also that night I was craving nuts which doesn't usually happen in everyday life. I had salted cashews and those suckers were GREAT! The salt just seemd to quench everything my bod was asking for!

Another thing is sleep, now that you mention it! On the night before a big ride, I have a hard time sleeping. Have read several others share this issue. BE SURE to get good quality sleep about 3 previous nights before the eve of the ride. Excitement and nerves act up so getting proper sleep that night is tough. Also seems to be the issue here so I do the sleep thing for 2 or 3 nights. On the toughest centuries I've done 10,000-12,000ft of climbing, I've only managed to get about 3 hours of good sleep. Most of the time is laying down hoping everything goes smoothly!

And get yor stuff ready 2 nights before the ride. Gives you enough time to prepare incase you forgot something. And you'll find out 2 days early if something went wrong with equipment etc.

jkemp9

I already have someone to ride with. We did the 50 mile ride last sunday and took turns pulling pretty effectively through the wind; i think we plan to do the same on Saturday. He's in better shape, I've got about 60 pounds on him, so that should help me push myself and I don't think I'll be holding him back. As per the grape juice/lilly question from clifton, he's Argentinian so maybe they do grape juice differently down there. I don't think I'll have a problem with a gallon of water, I drink 2-3 liters on days that I ride.

Mr Beanz: that's a really inspirational ride description, sounds like it was a lot of fun too. Thanks for the encouragement. I've been making sure I get at least 7 hours of sleep a night, tuesday night I only got about 3 low quality hours but I don't work tomorrow so I'll get some good sleep tonight.

We're meeting at Denny's at 6. I plan to get a tall stack of pancakes, oatmeal if they have it, maybe some bacon or sausage, and as much coffee as I can drink with my meal. Sound good? Is 2-3 cups worth of caffiene ok before a long ride?

Mr. Beanz

My kinda meal! I have to have a big breakfast myself. But I throw in atleast a couple of eggs for protein. I've tried the 'one bagel and a banana' trick, doesn't work for me. I know some friends that say it works but most fade in the later miles.

I'd pick up some fig newtons at the rest stop, maybe half a banana to stay fueled. If it were a the full 100, I'd say eat a sandwich (turkey or P&J) at miles 65-70. That keeps me feeling good from 90-100.

Trebor Snave

First off, thanks for this thread and all the advice given.

I am also doing a metric century this Saturday, the "One Helena Hundred". I'll let everyone know how it goes!

Mr. Beanz

Cool! Try to keep it together! I have a hard time finding faithful partners. Most suck wheel for 70, then seem to want to drop me after. I did a ride with 2 partners (Solvang). One guy as big into nutrition and training. The other was a wheel sucker but very fit (150 lbs) but not as much power as me (230) and the other guy (200 lbs).


We did fine for the first 40 miles. Than at about mile 50, the stonger of the other two developed mechanicals. His crank almost fell off. We waited at the rest station for him nearly an hour as the mechanics repaired his bike. We then continued but at about mile 75 I seemed to have faded a bit. I needed to slow for some recoup. My small partner held back as the stronger dude sprinted around and said that he felt good so he "HAD TO GO"!

My little buddy told me to take his wheel so I did for about 3 miles into the wind. I then recovered, jumped back onto the front and lifted the pace. The stronger rider was out of sight and we could no longer see him (wide open fields). I had recovered so I was feeling good again and the wind wasn't much of an obstacle anymore. Sure enough at about mile 90, I see our runaway friend. Only more motivation to pick it up somemore!

Right before we caught him he pulled over to the side and slowed. He then said,"there you guys are, I was waiting for you"....He seemed to have forgotten about the agreement we made to ride 'together'. No biggie so we let him join back in the small line. At about mile 99 the little buddy decided to take off and look impressive since our wives were waiting at the finish line. I guess he wanted to look like a hero. He finished aobut a minute ahead of us eventhough we didn't chase him. I know I was impressed....We did the cenrtury in 5:30 ride time. Mechanicals, another hour

Another guy rode with me and my wife on a century. Gina and I were on the tandem. The other guy asked if he could ride with us since he was one of Gina's coworkers. No problem, we even trained together. He sucked our wheel fo 70 miles. Never asked or never offered to take the front. When we approached a 3 mile hill (7%) at mile 71, he sprinted around and dropped us on the hill. I couldn't figure it out! He didn't wait at the top, just kept going. No problem we were gaining back anyway. Then hestarted running thru traffic and redlights to stay away.

I told Gina it wasn't worth the risk so we let him go. We finished about 2 minutes behind the guy. At work Monday, Gina found out tha the guy had bet another employee $20 that he would beat us on the ride!.....Arace without knowing it I guess!

Next year he asked to ride again, I said yes. He didn't know this year I would ride alone on my single. At about mile 10, I forced him to the front and made him do his share throughout the ride. right before we got to the big hill he said he was tired. Thnat's when I poured it on. Dropped him like a bad habit and never looked back.

This year he had invited his wife to meet him at the finshline. When I got ther she asked where her hubby was. I said I didn't know that he pooped out somehwere and I hope he doesn't get lost.

I ate my lunch while he rolled in about 30 minutes after me. I think he was a little red in the face when he met his wife. He prolly lost 20 bux too!

Mr. Beanz

Moral of the story. If you got a good partner, stick with him even when he tires. He'll more than likely recover and continue, helping you when you need it! If not, he's gonna drop you like a sack of potatoes next time around!