Century training Q?
 

I've ridden a couple of centuries and have relied on the oft-published training guides...I'm familiar with building base miles, adding miles up to 75 miles, tapering, etc.

I am planning on another century in a couple of months, and with work schedules and declining hours of daylight I'm having a hard time with fitting in the longer rides.

Is riding twice in one day, say 35mi in the morning and 35mi in the evening, the same or close to a 70mi ride? Is this effective training?

I don't know if I'm in the minority, but after my first century, I stopped training for them. I just do my regular rides every day. 30 miles here. 40 there. 20 this day. Whatever I feel like. Once I knew what 100 miles felt like, it was easy enough to gauge whether I was ready for another in the week leading up. I think you'd be good to go with your 35 miles as long as it is close to the terrain you're going to be doing in the century.

I think you said you'll be doing the GRR (I'll be there)? There is about 9k-10k ft of climbing on that ride. It was my first century and all I did was ride my normal 20-30 miles and then did a hilly metric the weekend prior. Worked for me. So, just make sure you get some hills in your rides and I think you'll be on the right track.

mirona, I've wondered about that too. My last century was in June. I continue to ride -- 15-30mi a day 6x/week. For this reason, I had only planned to do the last 4 weeks of the century training guide...basically that would be my normal rides with 4 long rides added in. I'm feeling good in general, but would like to crush the GRR if possible and not "just finish." It's probably good advice to focus on some extra climbing!

Depends a lot on your goal for the century. If your goal is a 'good' time then no, 35 and 35 isn't going to get the job done. But then neither is a 75 mile ride unless it is at pace. If getting in the 100 miles in without being dead tired and enjoying the ride is your goal then 35 and 35 will work just fine. If you plan a relaxed century with a long lunch break it might fit even better, sometimes for that mode getting bake on the bike for the first couple of miles after lunch is the hardest part of the centruy and 35 and 35 works great, esp if you work fairly hard for that first 35.

Keith99 has hit the nail on the head.

As I say, I'm really not interested in finishing on empty. My last century was 5 hours, but relatively flat compared to the next one. I guess I'll use up a little vacation time and put in the long rides. How many would you say is the minimum?

Whats a good training manual?

IMO if you've done a 5 hr century (even a flat one) and have been riding this summer, you won't have any problem with your next one assuming you don't quit riding between then and now. You already have a good base and you mind already knows what it's like to complete a century. Your 35-35 will be more than ample.

I've relied on The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling that Bicycling Mag put out. It's pretty adequate, I think.

edit: I should add that I don't remember anything in the book that I hadn't already read on this forum or any number of websites, but the book does put it together in an organized manner that makes it easy to get a lot of info quickly and without searching...

What cjbruin said. 5 hours in honkin' it pretty good. You've done centuries before, so you know what they feel like. You've been riding all summer and obviously have a high fitness level in addition to some quality time in the saddle. I'd say go for it without worrying too much about training for this specific ride. If you want to crack the 5-hour mark, you probably ought to add in some stuff at the 60-75 mile range at slightly better than pace, but given you're track record, you can dial it way back and still be sub-6hrs without having to spend vacation for training.

As to multiple 35-mile rides in one day, I've done that before and it's definitely worth doing -- better than just 35mi in one day, but it's not the same as one continuous 70-mile ride.

Good luck!