How will you feel if you don't try? Better or worse than if you try and fail?

As for speed, your's is just fine. There will be slower people. And it isn't a race, it's a ride.
If you want to spend less time on the road, just be sure to spend less time stopped at rest areas and feed zones.

Ride within yourself and try not to get get caught up in fast groups.

So you get tired. Do your day, take a nap, go to bed early.

As you can see, I'm leaning toward DO IT. You'll forget the pain really fast, but you'll remember the ride forever.

Adding... if you have anxiety about the ride then do what you feel is best for you. I get this whole not having backup is stressing you out... You can do the ride but if its stressing you out; bailout and try again next year. It's suppose to be a fun not stressful thing. I would check with the ride organization and see if there are sag options. Generally there are...

Plus you are staying in hotels... at least you don't have to, after a hard day's riding, pitch a tent and go through all that. Nice comfortable room and shower... something to look forward to.

If she really wanted to do it, she would be out on her bike right now knocking down some miles.

Good point.

Goldfinch:

Since I am really more now into mountain biking than road riding, 4 years ago two friends talked me into doing a 5 day trip along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Note it was a camping trip and the areas we stayed in were very remote; no facilities at all. NONE!

Anyway, I read the ride description. It was suppose to be a moderate/intermediate trip and average skills. I wrote the ride organizers (Western Spirit at of Moab, Utah) and asked many questions. I convinced myself that the trip would suit my level of riding. Other than normal riding, I did no other training.

So long story short... hardest thing I have ever done. Technically over my head and the distances were very long (25 - 35 miles a day) at high altitude (9000'). I was that person who came in last every single day, sometimes hours after everyone else. I can't tell you how physically tired I was... dead dog tired; I could hardly eat dinner. As soon as the sun set I was sound asleep. One night, after coming in 3 hours after my friends; I said "screw it!"; took off my clothes in front of everyone (for an old, fat lady not a good thing) and enjoyed the solar shower; I just needed to be clean one night and after the ride (35 miles 5500' of climbing) I needed something to cheer me up...

BUT I will never ever forget that trip. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been (lovely remote places alot of people never see). I pushed myself to the limit and perservered. I made some lifelong good friends. I proved to myself I can do whatever I put my mind to... I would do it again no question (although I may try and train alittle!). Point is... you don't know until you try...

The more I read the more I'm concerned. I think I would reconsider this trip till next year.

HOWEVER, and BUT, DO NOT GET BUMMED OUT. Look man, you have had a sedentary lifestyle, you can't expect to turn 20 years (or however long) into a full fledge cycling pro in a year. It may take another year to get the average speed up to the tour levels, you're already about 66% there!

In my book you've done a great job!!!

An increase of only 33% puts you into the 14.5 mph average club, you could easily, I and mean easily get to that 33% increase in a year. All you need to do is start working on a scheduled training program, so you know how many miles you need to do to reach a goal. Century training programs are great for this sort of thing, like this one: http://www.kintera.org/htmlcontent.asp?cid=54755 I think if you started that program that in 8 weeks you could be doing a 100 mile ride because you've already done 75. But start from the beginning not in the middle because you don't want to hurt yourself, give your body time to build up comfortably. Keep an on going daily record of your average speed, then once that 100 mile ride has been accomplished start the program over and work on increasing your average speed by 20% from the last two weeks before the 100 average speed. Then in that second time of training work on interval training, interval training will bring your average speed up nicely; see: http://www.bicycling.com/training-nu...s/get-fast-now Work this into a 16 week program instead of 8, so you'll be stretching out the 8 week century to 16 weeks working in the intervals on the days that the century training programs says brisk, do not work more in then 2 times a week with a day between of a slower pace speed but not an even slower easy pace. And every two weeks try increasing your average speed by 5% (which you should be seeing a natural progression toward faster speeds as the intervals are being done)

On the Century training program easy pace means casual sightseeing type of pace; pace means the average target speed must be maintained for the entire ride; Brisk means interval training. Your first time doing this training you won't bother with all the easy, pace, brisk stuff, your only concern is base miles and doing the speed you're comfortable at doing; the second time you do this training program is where you're going to concentrate on the intervals etc.

Rekmeyata, you're talking to a woman, not a man. And she has a fair bit of experience at working on her endurance and average speed.

Goldfinch, 13.5 mph isn't that slow as an average. When I'm out doing a training ride at endurance pace I'll probably average 16-17, but I train and race, I'm not a recreational cyclist and I've been doing a lot of miles for quite a while. Most recreational cyclists would think a 13.5 average was pretty decent.

I like your strategy. Get decent rest, eat plenty of protein, try the back-to-back rides this week, see how you feel. Do the ride if it feels like a challenge, don't do it if it feels overwhelming.

Medical issue should be considered and only you and your doctor can decide if there may be medical reasons to be cautious.

But I think worrying about being able to finish can create an imagined fatigue also. Develop a good base. Then find your own comfort level.

For our upcoming WI trip I'm doing just 30mi every other day with emphasis on hills, and we will average 75 - 100 mi a day. That is a low base for our mileage but is all the time I have.

In previous years there have been days where I dropped off the back of an aggressive group because I was worried I could not finish the day at their pace. Once I relaxed it became easy to maintain a comfortable pace that was almost the same as the aggressive pace.

I'm also very sensitive to the timing of my exercise, and I usually try to put a day of rest between exercise days. The "very tired" evenings that I occasionally have correlate with a lack of a rest day.

Last week I did two 62 milers back to back. I was pretty beat the day after the second ride.

But I would definitely do the ride.

Also, I've been riding a lot more, and there is a real change in how I feel on rides. They seem much easier. Perhaps you can accomplish that between now and Aug 17.

None of us can put ourselves in your shoes. Do you know what the terrain is like on the organized ride compared to your usual rides? I only ask because back-to-back+ rides over terrain that involves more climbing than your used to can make for a difficult recovery. OTOH if your backside can deal with multiple days in the saddle and the terrain is very doable and you stay hydrated (what's the usual weather BTW?) you may want to give it a shot.

You seem to have the base to keep your legs moving, you should be able to get plenty of rest, nap in the afternoon and good night's sleep, so finishing wouldn't seem to be out of the realm of possibility. Think of the sense of accomplishment.

I'd go ride back-to-back 100k rides every chance I had in the meantime and go for it.

"Slow" is relative. I just finished a long ride, and we averaged 15.02 mph. So you're a bit slower than that, but not a bunch. At 65 miles, you've got 5 hours ride time. In Minneapolis at that time of year, you've got something like 14 hours of daylight. If you're trying to stay with a group, you may have problems. If you're willing to ride alone, or have someone willing to ride with you, no problem. If you don't have anyone willing to ride with you, ask around, it may be easier than you think to find someone. Personally, I'd rather ride 10 mph with someone friendly and talkative than to ride 20 mph by myself or in a paceline where all I see is another person's tire, and there's some other people out there that think the same way.

If you have overall exhaustion, I'd consider seeing a doctor and seeing if anything is fixable. If your legs are sore, that's pretty normal, though. What I find is that if my legs are sore, they'll stay sore for 2-3 days if I just sit around the house, but if I get out and ride, then they'll be okay.

If you live someplace hilly and the ride is in a flat area, that'd actually help you. If your route will be all day in the same direction, you can potentially ride into a headwind all day.

That's the truth! I learned it earlier this year when I made my first assault up GRM. Didn't have very many miles in my legs since the winter lay-off. When I came back down the hill, my hamstrings were "killing" me. Could hardly walk. They "hurt" for several days until finally I forced myself to get back out there on a bike and do a ride. It was hard for me to believe, but the pain/soreness went away ... totally.

You have had responses all over the map. May I suggest you decide on what the worst thing that could happen will be? From your description it looks to be not being able to finish. You've said that is doable, just not desirable. If, in fact, that is the case why not do it? If you go all the way you have not only met a challenge, you've had fun; a real emotional high. If you don't finish, so what? The only failures in life are those who don't dare.

13.5 mph average is not slow! And, 11 mph on a tour is not slow either. On that cross-country trip I PM'd you about...I planned on a 10 mph daily average speed, and was quite happy to to go at that pace and "smell the roses" along the way. As others are saying, this isn't a race. There are no trophies.

Just curious...have you ever had a pro fit on your bike? Just a guess, but maybe the fit of your bike is increasing your fatigue level to the point that multi-day rides are something that is too painful to do.

I am in the do it slow camp. My gf averages about 8-9 mph including breaks and we just finished an 8 day 500 mile tour. Even a 10 mph average will get you there in plenty of time at the end of the day. Try practice riding consecutive days. First two 20 mile days. Then two 35... etc work your way up. You have plenty of time to get used to riding several days in a row. And go to bed early sleep well dont drink any alcohol or caffeinated beverages later in the day.

I know when I go out on a tour the second day I am usually tired and a little sore then after that I am fine. I think you will be ok.

Sorry, I had no idea this person was a she. My understanding from a local bike club that their average speed is 14 mph and I think recall reading that was the average everywhere. Problem is with this tour she wants to go on is the average speed is higher, and she has difficulty doing long back to back rides, so the problem becomes that the more tired she gets her average speed will drop. She may want to contact the tour company again and find out what they do if someone is trailing far behind.

But like I said, she needs to test herself by doing a training program to see if she can do it.

It is surprising what you can do when in a group. IMO you need to force yourself to ride 5-6 days in a row no matter how tired you feel and even if the rides are less than 1/2 distance of your event. Do this for 2 weeks, take an easy week, Do it again for a week. DO NOT train very hard the week before your ride. Try to start these rides about the same time of day as the event rides which will mean early.

Not saying the other advice is wrong mind you. There is nothing that hardens you like riding nearly every day. Make all of these rides at your endurance pace or if its a really short ride you can step on the gas just a little.

You can do this.... most of these rides have a lunch break so keep that in mind... 60 miles = 2 30 milers.

This business about the average speed goldfinch is capable of is absolute BS. For a start, short randonnees have an average speed of 15km/h which works out to around 9.6mph. The really long ones have even lower averages. Admittedly, that includes everything such as stops for food and eating. But then, an event like the one being discussed is similar.

Those averages do not prevent people from riding them, especially the short ones (50, 100 and 150km) and as far as I am concerned, any ride organiser should use that average speed as a guide on which to organise their rides for the slowest participant.

We are not talking about a race. This is just an organised ride. Yes, there are going to be participants who tear off into the distance at 20 or 25mph. All power to them (literally and figuratively). But I will remind goldfinch that one of the secrets behind successful randonneuring is: Ride your own ride.

The only thing is, you might need to be happy in your own company. You might indeed be the slowest on the ride; then again, you might not be, and you could easily hook up with someone else who rides about your own pace, and you could have delightful days on the road that pass quickly because of the conversations you have.

It's also completely different being part of an event, and doing practice rides by yourself.

I definitely vote to stick with it. Get out there and ride. As I said before, do back to back rides at distances you feel you can currently handle, and ramp them up by 5 or 10 miles every week between now and then.

Here's my input -

I have found that on a longer ride, even going uphill for a couple of hours, that having someone to talk with as you ride really helps the miles to disappear.

And that's everything I know.

Thank you everyone. I have a few more days to think about this and do another set of back to back rides. No riding today, I really needed the day off. I can ride tomorrow but then the next day I am tied up all day. After that I can do a string of days of riding.

I am a decent fit on my road bike, with a pro fit a couple of years ago. My last back to back rides was on my Terry which hasn't been fitted to me. I rode it for the wide tires on the gravel. It isn't a drop bar bike, it has sparrow bars I outfitted with bar ends and is comfortable unless the distances are really long. I get hot foot (no clipless on the bike) and generally sore after about 40 miles. I'll try to have my next set of rides on my road bike.

I like Billy's thought about doing 5 or 6 days in a row.

I haven't heard back from the tour organizers yet about pace.

Good luck Goldfinch whatever you decide. You're one of my favorite posters and I'm rooting for you.

Charlie

One other thing to think about: Even if you feel exhausted after a ride, or exhausted the next day, you may find that your energy returns when you start riding. I've had days when I start a ride, and I really don't feel up to riding. But often, after 10 or so miles, I feel great, and have plenty of energy.

IOW, your energy level sitting on the couch the day after a ride may not be indicative of the energy you'd have if you were riding.

I think if you do some training leading up to the event and make sure you take a day off in the middle of the back to back rides and a day off at the end of the one long mileage day, then take two days off before the tour I think you should be able to do it IF your attitude is a can do attitude, in some of your post the attitude was not that and if you don't have that can do attitude you won't be able to do it which is why I was doubting that you will be able to do it. So several times every day, starting today and leading up to the tour and during the tour say out loud: "I can do this, I will do this, I will finish it".

And I think as others have said, which were great points, is that finding a small group of slower riders to hang with and talk to while riding will make the ride go faster and be less monotonous.

If you're still soliciting opinions, I say do it. I used to do an annual 3-day ride in central Illinois each Labor Day weekend that typically totaled about 240-250 miles. It was the only back-to-back (-to-back) riding I did during any of those seasons. It was also supported, but we camped on school grounds each night. It was a challenge, but definitely doable, and I never regretted a single minute of it. I think with your mileage base, and careful eating (especially dinner each night), you'll be fine and will be glad you did it. Plus you'll have the benefit of getting better rest, being in motels instead of a pup tent on the hard ground.

Ack! With birding obligations I have had three days of no biking. Does that mean I am not committed? :) Anyway, tomorrow I start a long stretch of back to back rides ala Billydon, but with not quite as high a mileage as I was doing on my two day back to back rides.