vrkelley

I'm currently commute 100miles/week more or less depending on the weather. In looking at last year's CTS schedule, they want you to rack up the miles on Saturday and Sunday. Also their schedule adds more than the recommended 10% increases in mileage per week.

I'd rather start now and rack most of the miles up commuting -- as the ride gets closer to July, that would mean leaving a few hours earlier for work and also doing some of the suggested CTS Saturday rides. Does anyone have a suggested training schedule for commuters who want to do the STP in 1 day?

Daveyboy

Riding 100 miles a week, especially if you're already doing it now, will give you an excellent base for STP. I think you'll want to start getting in some longer rides to get used to being in the saddle for 12 hours. I've done STP 1 day 3 years in a row and have usually had between 1800 and 2000 miles for the year by that time and have felt reasonable prepared. So, with 100 miles commuting and even just one longer ride thrown in each week, you'll easily be doing 500 miles a month (3,000 miles by June) which will be PLENTY of miles for STP.

I've loosely followed the recommended training schedule of progressively longer rides on Saturday and Sunday with one mid week ride thrown in for good measure. If you're already riding during the week, you could probably get away with a shorter Sunday ride. But you'll definately want at least one long ride a week. That will toughen up your rear end as well as help you sort out your nutrition on the bike, which is extremely important on a long 200 mile ride.

However, I don't think it's really necessary to do much more than 100-120 miles as your longest ride, as long as you do a few of them before the big day. As has been mentioned on this site, Flying Wheels is a good test of fitness. However, IMO, that one shouldn't be your first century. Last year I did a bunch of 70-90 miles rides (with some hills thrown in) and one century (FW) and I had my best one-day ride yet. FWIW.

Butcher

Not to say this is the norm but my son and I did our first STP in one day with a Tandem. My son is autistic and not to take away from anything from my son he is over weight and has little muscle tone. We did it in one day [12.5 hrs]. I too had issues with training since our longest outting was 100 miles. That was two weeks before the big event. I did not think we were going to finish the one day event but I am glad we did. We left at 4am which was earlier than the official opening and got to the half way point by 10:30am. With the issues my son had I thought it would be best that we skip the official start and started at the U district. What I am saying, is that with all the training we had [which was less than recommended] we had little issues.

vrkelley

Good to know! When you say you didn't think you'd finish, do you mean that you were exhausted the last several hours of the ride? How many days did it take to recover?

woodway

I did my first STP in one day last year using my commute as my base training. My commute is 37 miles round trip with some good hills - it worked well for base miles.

Before last year, I had never ridden more than 40 miles in one shot, so the thought of 202 in one day was a little daunting.

Here is what I did in addition to my regular work commute:

In January and February, I took two 50-60 mile rides each month. In April I did my first century and in May I did another century and two 80 mile rides. In June I did Flying Wheels starting from my house which gave me about 130 miles total (this was the longest ride I did before STP), and two additional 60-70 mile rides during the month. The weekend before STP I did a 70 mile ride on saturday (basically the short flying wheels route) and a 50 mile ride on sunday. I only commuted to work by bike two days that week and then I stayed off the bike for the rest of the week.

Since I had never ridden in crowds and pacelines before, in May I went to Cycle U and took their paceline class, which was completely worth it.

I rode STP with three friends - we left UW @ 5:00am, arrived in Portland around 6:30PM. I was tired but smiling at the finish, no cramps and no chafing (did not need chamois butter either). I would say that the worst part was the last 25 miles just being ready to be done. It was more of a mental rather than physical tired - it's a long day on the bicycle. I felt pretty good the next day (sunday) and rode my bike to work on monday.

My monthly mileage totals were:

January: 280
February: 340
March: 350
April: 380
May: 737
June: 570
July before STP: 220

Besides the training, I would say it's alo important to find foods that work for you. If you cannot eat on a long ride, you are not going to finish. You also need to learn to drink on a regular basis and what kind of drink works for you.

Good luck with your one day STP. It's a difficult but rewarding experience!

CliftonGK1

I use my 100 - 120 mile/week commute plus some weekend mileage as my training for long distance. Even longer than STP.
Last year when I did STP as a 1-day, I had already done 3 centuries and a 200k. I suggest the Daffodil Classic, The Tour de Cure, and Flying Wheels as prep rides for distance. All of them have more climbing in 100 miles than you'll get in 203 miles of the STP.
This year I rode a bunch of 200k, a 300k and a 400k, all just using my 30mi r/t commute as my most frequent training.

HardyWeinberg

Interesting. I commute ~70 miles/wk through the winter (although about to take 2 wks off). Anybody use that kind of more modest commute route as a base? I do typicall get up around 400 miles/month by May.

Butcher

The last 30 miles were the worst [tired]. It started when the rear wheel spokes broke. The wheel story is long but I did have another wheel ready. Thanks to my wonderfull wife I was back on the road in about 20 mins. My son was at 230lbs at the time so he did a great job but those last 30 miles were the toughest for both of us. Sunday was the worst but I milked it out for at least two or three days to get out of house work [if you know what I mean]. I would not trade the experience with my son for anything and it is definately the highlight of my life with him.
My daughter is only 120 lbs and she is wanting to do the STP this year. We should fly this year [The down hills will not be so fast but it sure will be easier going up].

Andy_K 

I'm always shocked at what I read here about STP. Everyone makes it sound easy. I've never done STP before, but I'm signing up for the 1-day ride this year.

I've been commuting 100 miles/week for about 2.5 years. Before that, I didn't bike at all and had zero fitness. That may be why my experience with centuries has been a bit checkered.

The first year that I tried riding a century, I found it incredibly difficult. I couldn't do it on my first try and struggled on my next two. Each time, I was progressively more serious about getting in long weekend rides in addition to my commute. Last winter, I spent a couple of winter months going to the gym during my lunch hour to try to build some leg strength. Then I was more conscious about mixing more hill work into my weekend rides. That seemed to really help a lot.

The centuries I've done have all been at least moderately hilly. They seemed very hilly to me, but Cycle Oregon has created a state full of people who don't understand what the word 'flat' means and many of those people have told me that these routes were mostly flat. As a concession I call them moderately hilly. I hear people say that STP is fairly flat, but I don't believe them. Even if it is, I think the hill work probably pays off for long rides.

I'm repeating the winter strength training and plan to be aggressive again with the hills in my training. I'm thinking I'm also going to do some speed work this spring and summer, though I hope I can get a lot of that done during the commute. And then definitely a century or two in June/early July.

woodway

I rode Cycle Oregon this year and the "flattest" day on Cycle Oregon had more ascent than STP in less the half the distance (according to my Edge 705). Therefore, I can state with confidence that compared to any one day in this years Cycle Oregon, STP in one day is fairly flat.

I would not say STP in one day is easy however. It's easily the most difficult single day ride I have ever done. But if you train properly for it, you can enjoy the ride.

Butcher

Seat time is the worst part of the ride. >12 hours on a bike seat is going to hurt if you are not used to it. I had a Italia Carbon SLR seat and I was fine. My son had a softer seat and he was OK.

vrkelley

Exactly. One of the guys at work didn't train but completed the STP in 2 days. He was stove in for a whole week after the STP. A year later, he did the same thing all over again (not remembering the post-agony week).

BengeBoy 

There is an *excellent* "winter training series" of rides that starts on Saturday January 9. Starts with a 35-mile ride on the 9th, and then graduates up to 60 to 80-mile rides by the last Saturday in February. It's co-sponsored by Cascade and the Seattle Randonneurs - great way to get you launched into the riding season, as long as you don't mind riding in a bit of rain and cold. You can skip the really awful days and still hit 3 or 4.

I did a couple of the rides last year, and will plan to do several this year if/when I have the time.

Details here:
https://www.seattlerandonneur.org/ind...id=4&Itemid=28

If you do the Winter Training Series, that launches you into March with a really good base.

kitsap leo

If you've got a few years in your legs, but can't get the time to do a lot of miles, do sprints. Two or three times a week, sprint until you really don't want to because your heart rate is skyrocketed. Take time to recover, slow spin days in between sprint days.
Trust me, you'll be faster and you'll cruise the Stp.
I've done this in years past when I couldn't get mileage in.
Going for number 18 Stp...leo

Andy_K 

Sure, but this is what I'm talking about. You go out and ride Cycle Oregon and you have a week of ridiculous climbing. Then you get back home and tell people that the Otter Crest loop is basically flat.

TBatty

Trust me Andy, it is flat . If I were doing it as a two day ride, I'd use the single speed, just for grins. As this year is going to be a one day (I'm the nut-case friend who suggested to Andy that this is a good idea), I am hitting the training a bit harder than usual. In addition to my commute (16 mile round trip), I plan to hit some longer weekend rides and at least a couple of 100 to 200K rides. Since the weather has not been ideal for training after work, my wife and I purchased the Spinervals Ultra Conditioning 5-pack and have been doing a disk a night 5 days a week. I'm not pushing this product, but so far I think they provide a good workout, they push me harder on the indoor trainer than I would push myself, and this series each disk is about 60% on the bike and 40% floor exercises.

if you want hills, try the Portland Century.

alpinist

I commute around 70 miles a week year 'round (7 miles each way). In the late winter and in the spring I trained for a marathon, and ran it in the first week in June. Between the marathon on June 7 and the STP on July 11, on each respective weekend I rode 60, 80, 100, and 120 miles. I did 30, 40 or 50 miles on Wednesdays after work. I did the STP in a day. It was my first STP. No problems, other than a couple of flat tires. I will add that I was riding a recumbent, so I had no issues with soreness - just exhaustion - at the finish line.

Kamala

I am living proof that anyone can ride STP. I didn't start my training in earnest until April. Before having surgery in March, I had ridden my bike maybe 8 miles on the Burke-Gilman before stopping from being in ridiculous pain. Commuting 8-20 miles each way to work (take longer rides home on summer evenings when I have time) 3-5 days per week and 1-2 decent length rides maybe every other weekend and I nailed 2-day STP. I weighed anywhere between 340 and 300 lbs that whole time. And all that was on a giant, heavy mountain bike (admittedly very plush ride though). Aiming for 1 day STP this year.