First Century Suggestions?
 

I will ride in my first century on Sunday. The longest I have ridden previously is 65 miles. My weekend rides are usually about 50 miles give or take.

Any helpful advice? How many clif bars how many gels?

Eat lots, take it easy, never push hard... HAVE FUN! :)

Drink, eat. If possible link up with others going the same speed. If you have a headwind find a way to link up with someone at some speed you can maintain.

If you have trouble (actually doubtful, 65 to 100 isn't usually a problem) then stop wait and recover. The one way to really screw up is to bonk and try to keep going. Better to stop, eat drink and go when you feel better.

I did my first last week, with my previous longest being a single 62-miler (six days earlier).

Finishing was not a problem, especially since I got in with a pace line (first time) from miles 75-90. There were rest stops about every 15-20 miles. I ate one gel between each stop, and had one Fig Newton or mini-Clif Bar or granola bar, plus some nuts and candy, at each stop.

In between drank Gatorade in one bottle and water in another, both of which I topped off at each stop.

Taking in the gels, bars, nuts/candy mix, and Gatorade, I figure I got my recommended 250-300 cals per hour.

How many to carry depends on how well supported the ride is. The support for my ride was great, so I ended up carrying two Clif bars and two gels through the entire ride.

Eating in the last 50 miles is VERY important as you're running on what you're eating. Don't use this time to loose weight, better to stay topped off. Did a hundred last week and one of the guys resisted eating and paid for it in the end.

Don't do what I did on my first century. I had been riding a lot of training raides in the 60 to 65 mile range. I started the 100 mile ride nice and slow (just like the advice I'd read) and then I said to myself "screw that" and started riding a decent (but way too fast for me) pace. Of course by the time I decided to "put the hammer down" I was with all the slow pokes and there was nobody to ride with. At the last rest stop (mile 83, all solo) my time was 4 hrs 20 minutes. My finishing time was 6 hours 20 minutes. I had heard about "bonking" before but had never actually experienced it. That day I experienced it in spades. That was the most painful and grueling 17 miles I have ever spent on a bike (or anywhere else).

What I found out later after some research and much riding was that my muscles then (22 years ago) stored enough glycogen to ride about 65 or so miles without eating. None of my training caused me to need to eat while riding or switch me over to a non muscle glycogen metabolism. During that first century my body got to experience something completely new and not very enjoyable!

After that experience I started riding my training rides for century rides and back-to-back century rides (100 miles on Saturday and 100 miles on Sunday) with numerous 75 to 85 mile rides. Since then it has always been smiles at the end of a century ride.

So the advice to eat before you are hungry is very sound. For me really ripe bananas are good (but if they are the least bit green it would be better to have not injested them!). Clif bars stay down for me, but seem to slow me down for about 4 or 5 miles. I find Coca-Cola to be wonderful (caffeine, sugar, and water!), but others can't tolerate the carbonation. I cannot take Gatorade unless it is diluted with water about 8 to 1. If its really hot and I've been out a long time I will drink some to help the electrolytes get into better balance. Lots of others do well by Gatorade, but not me. What you can eat while riding varies greatly from person to person. Sometimes it varies day to day with the same person. Listen to what your body is saying. It's pretty smart about what it wants. :)

I did my first century a couple weeks ago. It wasn't an organized one but rather just me riding alone through various parts of Marin County for 104 miles. The longest I had gone previously was about 65 miles. I kept a fairly relaxed pace and did not push at all, knowing I needed to conserve energy for the end. I also ate when I wasn't hungry (brought 2 cliff bars, 2 gels, a bag of cookies and, at mile 80, stopped for possibly the best burger & fries I've ever eaten) and drank a lot (one bottle water, the other a mix of gatorade/water) all the time. Weatherwise I was lucky in that it was foggy and fairly chilly (as is typical in the Bay Area summer) so the climbs did not cause me to overheat. I stopped for two or three bathroom/stretching breaks.

I finished in just under 7 hours and felt surprisingly good. The route was a mix of rollers and a few longish climbs (about 4,000' total climbing) and a few spots had the much dreaded constant headwind. As my computer rolled from 99.9 to 100.0 crossing the GG Bridge back into SF I let out a woohoo! and probably scared a few tourists :D

Good luck to you :)