BabyAlligators

Confusing situation, but here it is..

I was biking frequently this summer and early fall, until mid-August I hit an armidillo on a night ride and broke my wrist, had to get surgery. I'm restless and very excited to get back on a bike, and my heal date is September 29th or so.

There is a 100 mile ride on October 11th, I set a goal to do it, and my friends thing it's impossible, and I love a challange.

How would I go about building strength in only 10 days? Rest days? Or just ride twice a day everyday? Lots of protein? I have all the motivation in the world, but not quite the knowledge.

Thanks,
Ben

nubcake

If it was me i would go out and do a 50 ish mile ride as soon as possible and then a easy recovery ride and up until the day of your century do a few moderate-easy rides, rest the day before and pace yourself on your century. Ridding 100 miles isnt as hard as most people thing as long as you eat right, drink water and pace yourself.

keep in mind im not a trainer, i just like to pedal and this is my guess at what would be best

zzzwillzzz

why aren't you riding a wind trainer now?

BabyAlligators

I should be on a wind trainer, but I don't have one, and I'm not willing to invest the money. If I could even find an old treadmill I would do it, but short of getting a gym membership I don't know where to find one.

Photosmith

I'm about as cheap as it gets, so while it was 110-115 degrees here in Phoenix over the summer and I was hardly ever riding, I would just do some sets of squats (bodyweight only, no bar) to keep some muscle workout going for my legs. I honestly have no idea if it helped or not, but it seemed like it did. If you're looking for something you can do for no money, with no touching your wrists, squats at least do something and I would think something is better than nothing.

Road Fan

I can understand being cheap, but right now Nashbar shows an Ascent mag trainer for around $90, and a Cycleops wind trainer for around $150, plus some fluids in that same neighborhood.

bobbycorno

...and you can probably find one on Craigslist for way less than that.

SP

banerjek

The dude needs this right away. If he orders it from Nashbar, he won't see it until after the ride.

BengeBoy 

Running?

ericgu

You shouldn't worry a lot about strength. You will lose some over 6 weeks, but not a ton, and trying to get it back all at once is a very stupid thing to do. You will need to ride with whatever strength you have when you get back on the bike.

Aerobic conditioning goes away a bit faster - at least some of it does. If you haven't been walking, walk 30-60 minutes a day, and do it enough that you're at least a bit out of breath.

donrhummy

You might be able to do it but you need to be VERY careful about saddle sores, knee issues and back/neck problems. That's where you'll have the issues, not with the "engine" - which can be trained quickly with "muscle memory." But the other issues will sidetrack those gains.

Six jours

Ten days isn't enough to train effectively. You are more likely to wear yourself out than ride yourself into shape -- especially if your motivation greatly exceeds your knowledge and/or fitness.

If you were fit enough to easily complete a century ride prior to breaking your wrist, you can probably ease back into a fairly light training program and be able to complete a century at an easy pace. If you were not fit enough to do a century before the injury, then you are kidding yourself if you think you can become fit enough, after a long layoff, in ten days.

And to be even more blunt, if you were/are "serious" then you would have "invested" in the trainer within a few days after the injury, as that's the only way to maintain any kind of conditioning through an upper body injury.

Sorry that's not the sort of stuff you wanted to hear.

gmacdermid

I did a 200 km ride a few weeks ago with little training, just a few longish rides (30 / 70 / 90 km) in the week and a half before. Mainly I wanted to see if any of those rides were too much. I just wanted to complete my first brevet and this was really my last chance for the season. For me there wasn't much risk in giving the ride a go.

Hezz

If you were in very high level of conditioning before the injury (meaning you could easily do a century without much effort) and have not gained much weight you probably can do it with some gentle training rides on a stationary bike. Maybe if you don't have a gym membership you can get one for a month.

You can ride on the stationary bike in an upright position without putting much strain on your wrist.

This is what I would do. Exercise for three days then take two rest days. Then repeat. So you will have six exercise days before the ride.

Exercise day one. One hour easy paced riding on stationary bike.
Day two: weight workout at gym. Not too hard. 2-3 leg exercises and 3-4 upper body after 15 minute warm up on stationary bike. Followed by 10 minute slow spinning on stationary bike. Do only machines that don't require grabbing with stress on hand. Like Pullover machine and shoulder isolation, peck isolation etc.
Day three. 90 minutes on stationary bike. Easy pace for first 75 minutes. A little harder for last 15 minutes.

Two days off for rest.

Exercise day four: 90 minutes on stationary bike. 75 easy 15 harder.
day five: strength training legs and upper body (working around wrist injury)
day six 120 minutes on stationary bike 90 minutes easy 30 minutes harder pace.

Rest two days then go on ride. Do this only if you could do a century before you broke your wrist. If you couldn't don't try it.

Lucky07

I'd just get in some riding. Do one long ride, some intervals and rest the day before. DON'T go all out in the 1st half of the Century. Set an easy pace & pick it up very gradually if you're feeling good. Good luck!

theetruscan

If the ride is assisted, you'll be fine. I rode 82 miles after something like 28 years of sedentary life just 2 weeks ago and felt great. Every 10 miles someone would hand me gatorade and cookies. I coulda gone forever.