Anastasia

I found this forum when it was a shell of this glorious site on my screen. I began seriously biking last year - and am looking at completeing a few centuries and a 500 mile bicycling adventure for charity this year.

I started weight training about 6wks ago, and have had dramatic results already.

I just purchased a Cycle-ops Fluid2 trainer, and will begin indoor spinning later this week. I am psyched! 2 days a week by myself, and one day in a spinning class throughout January. I will continue lifting 3 days a week.

Has anyone done lots of centuries? Does anyone have any training tips - or simply tips from your own experience?

I love my bike~
Anastasia

Dirtgrinder

Welcome Anastasia! Sounds like you have a healthy winter season planned for yourself. Let me know how you like the Cycle-Ops. I'm thinking seriously about a trainer myself. I'm ready to throw my treadmill out the window!

velocipedio

I haven't done LOTs of centuries, but I do a fair bit of long-distance riding. My average weekly mileage during peek months [June, July, August] is about 450 km/week [280 miles]. I'll have about 9,000 km for the year by the end of this week.

The thing to remember about a century is that it's really no big deal. You should work up to the distance, though over a few months. A good rule of thumb is that, if you can ride 100 km [62 miles] or 120 km [75 miles], you can ride 160 km [100 miles]. So... what you should do is plan you century on a six week campaign.

Cycle six days a week, if possible, and make at least two rides of the first two weeks 35 mile rides. In the third week, make it one 35 mi and one 50 mi ride [out of six rides in the week]. In the Fourth week, make it one 50 mi and one 60 mi ride. In the fifth week, make it one 50 mi and one 75 mi ride. In the sixth week, go for the century. Don't take the day before the century off, but go for an easy 25-30 mi ride. Take the day off AFTER the century.

Don't do it alone. Go with a group of rides. Aside from the moral support -- and the fact that conversation can take a lot of the edge off of a 5-6 hour ride -- you can keep up a fair bit of speed in a paceline [if you have paceline experience]. On my one century this year, I only rode with two other guys and our time was 5:40 [28.5 km/h]. With a group of ten experienced riders riding steadily and cooperatively, that time is easily down nearer 5 hours even.

Bring lots of food [I suggest at least three energy bars or a dozen fig newtons or a combination of each] and lots of water [mixed with gatorade is good]. You'll probably want to plan a couple of water stops, and if you're new to high-speed, distance riding, you might want to take a ten-minute break at 60 miles.

Anastasia

Thanks for the reply....

I have absolutely no experience with pacelines. I do belong to a touring group here (I just joined and haven't been on a ride yet with them), so I am sure in the spring I will have my first paceline experience.

On the 500 mile ride I'm doing, pacelines are forbidden.

Thanks for the nutritional info too!

Anastasia


I love my bike

velo

Welcome to the Forums! And I'm glad you "love your bike"!!!

velo

ljbike

Welcome Back Anastasia! Haven't seen any posts from you since we got back to this site. Glad you're here.

Centuries are not very difficult if you follow the advice already given. Proper nutrition and hydration on the ride are the most important ingredients --AFTER a good positive attitude. Try to think of it as a FUN ride. Don't put too much pressure on yourself for speed. Riding with a group helps.

Your training regimen for the winter seems very organized. You're on the right track. I hope you are into proper nutrition as well. Good Luck.

Captain Crunch

Welcome to the group. You have certainly come to the right place if you want to learn what you need to do about anything related to biking. These people are great. I learn new stuff everyday here.

Best of luck on your training schedule and your comittments for next year. What a great goal to set for yourself.

I am interested as to what type of weight program you are doing. Is it specifically adapted towards cycling or is it an all around program? What kind of things are you doing?

Mike

Bobsled

Welcome to the forum Anastasia. I don't pretend to be a personal trainer or an expert cyclist, but one of the things that has helped me with cycling is weight training. Some people say that they are two completely different things, but a couple years ago when I road the Solvang Century after an intensive weight program I was fresh as a daisy. All I know is it worked for me. Keep up the good work. Solvang info.

Chris L

I love "centuries", although I haven't done one for about a month or so. I've actually got a couple of regular ones that I ride solo when the mood takes me. There are a few things that you'll need to do.

1. Work up to that sort of distance gradually, and do it by riding. Weight training is good, but there really is no substitute for pure riding.

2. Treat the first one as a fun ride. Basically, don't try to set any land speed records initially. If you pace yourself, you'll actually be surprised at the sort of speed you can average over the distance.

3. Proper eating and hydration during the ride is good, however, in my opinion, proper eating and hydration before the ride is more important.

4. If you see a fruit stall offering "orgasmic strawberries", can you pick some up for me. I neglected that opportunity on a 220km ride earlier this year.

Bobsled

Sometimes boredom is your worst enemy. Definitely build up to it.

Joe Gardner

Welcome to the forums! If you have any questions about forum features, or problems with the site, let me know! Enjoy your stay!

Richard D

I can't give any advice on riding but welcome to the forums anyway

Richard

Anastasia

WOW.

I am overwhelmed by all of your responses. I got a warm fuzzy just looking at all the replies. Thank you so much.

Dirtgrinder: I will let you know how the Cycle-ops works out...Spinning starts tomorrow (Thurs.) - so I imagine I will have comments in a week. I know that the test spin I took at the bike shop went well - but we'll see how the trainer holds up under pressure....LOL....

Okay, back to all the posts, and onto the next reply....


I love my bike!

Anastasia

Anastasia

Captain Crunch -

For these past six weeks, I've had a personal trainer taking me through twice a week - as I get stronger, the workouts become MUCH more challenging.

The weight-training program is not specifically geared to cycling - though they know that is my passion. And in fact, tomorrow is my first day of spinning in six-weeks - in order to build muscle mass quickly, I was forbidden to do any cardio - including cycling! The simple reason for this is that cardio and muscle building compete for the same resources, thereby slowing down the whole process of building muscle mass.

Recently, we have been concentrating on abs - which is a good and beautiful albeit painful thing. I've learned that the abs help in cycling alot by providing a smooth transfer of power between the legs and the arms.

We have also been doing alot of upper-body stuff, chest, pecs, triceps, biceps, traps, lats and the entire back.

Additionally I have been doing tons of squats, and working on strengthening the gluts.

Hope this answers your question.

I get to go spinning tomorrow - - yeah!


I love my bike,
Anastasia

Anastasia

Bobsled:

Thanks so much for the encouraging words - and thusfar, I have never been bored on my bike - tired yes, bored, no.


Chris L:

If I do happen upon "orgasmic strawberries" I will definately give them a go, and let you know of the experience. I don't believe they would hold up well being shipped to the land "down under."

Thanks for all of the tips, and it looks like I will be doing my first century in May, and one again in June, and then the big 500 in July.


Ilove my bike,
Anastasia

Anastasia

ljbike,

Thanks for the reply - it is good to be back on Bike Forums. Work has been nuts, and my schedule in the evenings hasn't permitted much computer time - so I will probably be kinda "off" and "on" on this site.

I love my bike,
Anastasia