How difficult is it to ride 100km?
 

There's a local ride this coming Sunday that's 100KM. I ride a Specialized Sirrus (hybrid) and have never done over 35KM in a ride. This ride has stops every 35KM, so I'd imagine there's only one physical stop location and the course just makes a loop? Basically, I'm wondering how much training is typically required in order to ride 100KM. Right now I'm not a very great rider. I average about 20-21KM/H, but there are tons of hills around here. I find it very difficult to believe that there will be no hills on this 100KM ride, however I'm going to try to find out via Google Maps once I speak to the coordinator.

The advertisements states that it's open to novice and advanced riders alike and that's it's for fun, not a race. That gives me some relief. I just don't want to get out there and be exhausted after 45KM. Do you guys think I have it in me?

EDIT: They are allocating approximately 5 hours for the race, which means I have to average over 20KM/H including pit stops.

while you haven't provided information what kind of loop it is (hilly, rolling, flat, etc), i'm going to take the leap: it's not difficult.

do it, enjoy, and please, please, please do not post a ride report.

It looks like a fun ride. You should be fine. I can't imagine the organisers advertising the ride as open to novices and then making it too hilly a route.

Dress comfortably (bibs) and carry the essentials (water, spare tube, pump/ CO2, some food, route map) and go for it!

EDIT: They are allocating approximately 5 hours for the race, which means I have to average over 20KM/H including pit stops.[/QUOTE]

What race?

I'm guessing it's a local charity ride of sorts?

Well 100km and 5hrs should be more than enough.

just do a general check up on the maintenance of your bike and bring a minimal repair kit, lest you be walking until someone decides to help you.

hint: most common problem you'll encounter is a flat tyre.

Don't go out too fast. Try to maintain a steady and relaxed pace.

:lol:

I think you'll find as you get more experienced on the bike that the euphemistic claim that it's not really hard to go long; but it's difficult to go fast (no there's nothing prurient about this!) is a truism. I did 460km in one day a season ago, and I'm not a great rider by any means. In fact, I could have gone much further that day had I not buggered up my diet.

I wouldn't say that ride length is entirely related to diet but that's a good portion of it: knowing what to eat and how much is crucial. If you bonk (or go through a series of bonks like I did!) you tend to crave stuff your body doesn't need and can't handle.

Comfort is also important, so -- as others have/will have said -- proper bike fit and a suitable seat and chamois are things to work on. And just be prepared for a flat. Lots of randos go nuts and carry spokes and extra tires. I've never needed that but maybe if you get really serious about distance you'll want to talk to lots of randos and see what they carry.

Good luck and can't wait for the ride report. :thumb:

Just take it easy (don't start out too hard), eat something every half hour or so (aim for 200-250 cal per hour if you can) and drink plenty (say, 500mL-1L per hour depending on the temperature). You should be fine. But probably very sore at the end :)

100K (~62 miles) is much easier than 100 miles. Many people have problems and "hit a wall" around 70 miles. In my experience pretty much anyone in reasonable shape can do 100K as long as they pace themselves. If you can do 35K and not feel like you are going to die at the end then you should be fine.

Thanks for the confidence boost guys, really appreciate it. It looks like I'm going to sign up tomorrow afternoon. I sent an email to the coordinator and she said the course isn't that hard and that new riders shouldn't be worried about it. I don't currently own any cycling shorts but I've read that it gets painful when wearing regular shorts for extended distances, so I'll buy some after work!

I know this isn't the proper forum, but can I get some tips on food and carrying it? Right now I plan on carrying nothing besides a tube and repair kit (patch and such). I've only changed a flat once and it took me forever, so hopefully if I get one another cyclist can help me :). Should I just bring a few oatmeal bars for food or something? I don't want to take extra bags besides what I can fit in the under-seat bag.

I also have two water bottles which I guess will get refilled at the rest station.

Won't they have food at the rest stops? Find out what they will have and whether than is compatible with you. Try to go on a medium length ride (your 35K should be ok), eating that type of during the ride and make sure you can handle it ok. If so, I would just say eat at the stops, but don't overdo it.

What color is red?

Following the eating, drinking, pacing advice, you'll be fine.

Also, what's the most miles you've done in a week? General rule of thumb is that most people can do their typical weekly mileage in one day. So if you've had 100km weeks,it won't be a big stretch to do a 100km ride.

Following up on this,

From a site that discusses ultra-marathons (200 miles+), the best way to train for this is to try and do 2/3 of the distance up to two weeks or so before the event. Make sure that you can do this distance safely. If you can complete that, then you will be able to complete the rest (though you might hit a wall because you're not used to that distance, like I did in my first century).

It's slightly challenging at first (depending on the route; if it's hilly or has a lot of rolling terrain, it will be more challenging), but it gets easier as you do them more often.

Oh, and:

It's not a race, man. Please don't get into that mentality (though it's easier to think so at first because it sounds cooler. I did it!). It's a ride.

Sorry, yes, a ride. I have ZERO intentions of making a race out of this; I think it will bring out most of the real riders around here and I have no chance of keeping up with them.

In regards to other posts: I'm not sure if they have food at the stops, though I imagine they will. I will bring a couple granola bars just in case. I have also done at least 100k in a week, so that's not an issue. I'm starting to think this shouldn't be so bad. I'm kind of worried about my bike though, I made a post about the problem here, in case anyone can help me.

As a primary color it should be an easy answer until we delve into the various hues of red. Perhaps we should assign a color temperature number to really pin it down, but then we'd need to have properly calibrated monitors...

If you can ride 30 km, you can ride 100. Just pace yourself and don't try to sprint through the whole thing.

riding a metric century is ONLY HALF AS HARD as riding a double metric century..

this is a fact.



BTW 200km should take about 4 hours. on a nice fast day.

(no big deal)..

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!

Carry three to four Power Bars (or Cliff Bars), and a large Gatorade, and large water container (the largest that will fit in your two bottle cages). If your bike fits a third bottle cage, carry a second sport drink.

This will accomplish what I find to be the most difficult part of riding more than a couple hours: staying nourished. You need to keep your caloric reserves up. Alternate: One hour, eat a power bar. Next hour, drink a gatorade. On the hours where you're not drinking a gatorade, drink a water bottle instead. You'll run out of fluids, so bring some cash to buy more during a rest stop. One bottle per hour is about what I need on a warm day for longer rides.

Yesterday I rode 70 miles (114km) with this strategy. Worked out great.

Seriously? Most of the "real" riders around my parts would consider this an average saturday ride.


You will do fine, learn alot, and have a ball, enjoy the ride, make some friends, and get your money's worth at those feed stations, ok, just kidding about that last one.

Good luck.

I just stepped up my distance to riding a metric century recently, I'd recommend putting in a couple of 40-50mile rides before the full distance to see how you pace yourself, rather than working that our on the day. Also use those rides to understand where you might have comfort issues. You'll want to have a proper sports drink, like HEED or cytomax and try your granola bar, or if that doesn't work for you a gel. The advantage with powdered drinks is that you can take more with you in a ziploc and make up fresh if you can find water half way into your ride.

Good luck.

Riding a metric century is way less than half as hard as riding a double metric for someone not accustomed to that distance.

To you maybe! 30mph average for 4 hours would be a huge deal to me.

+1. Show me where I can sign up for that downhill double metric!