AMRD V

Hello all, Ive just started cycling, i had gotten my bike a few weeks ago(a trek 1.5) along with all the gear,as an early 17th Bday present and with the summer coming up (this being my last week of school, yipee!) im planning on doing a lot of cycling (for me at least, because im only doing 20+ miles every other day) , probably about 30+ miles a day at least 5 days a week..... And now to the point of this thread, do you people think that i could possibly conquer a century by the end of this year or possibly by the end of this summer?

All comments are appreciated, especially the trolls, well maybe not so much, but they do still make me laugh

Carbon Unit

Sure, I think you could get in condition to ride a century. You age will work to your advantage. How is your weight? The more weight you carry, the harder it will be to carry it.

You don't want to ride hard everyday. Do a hard day and an easy day (recovery day). Also get one long ride in a week. I was doing two 30 mile rides during the week and one 60 mile ride on Saturday.

Make sure to take nutrition with you on rides over 30 miles. I have heard some say you want to consume 120 calories per hour. Not sure if this is accurate but it seems reasonable. I take Gu with me but there is a variety of different calorie rich foods you can take. Ie, Grapes, etc.

fogrider

at your age, I'm not sure doing a century is the best thing for your growing body. you should find a local club and get some mentoring with every ride.

7bmwm3gtr

That's wrong, a lot of Juniors including me do centuries, and I'm fine.

Welcome to BikeForums. If you want advice from people from your age group, take a look at the Juniors thread in this Road Cycling forum.

If you want, you can plan your weeks every Sunday, assuming that your weeks start on a Monday. I use a worksheet from Joe Friel's "The Cyclist's Training Bible" which i found very helpful

Here's an example, which is my actual Week for this week: (Sunday/Yesterday i did a Moderate 64 Mile ride with about 5000ft of climbing)

Monday: Easy/Climbing Workout/20 Miles/Under 1.5hours
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Moderate/Climbing Workout+3 Mile Intervals on 10% Hill/30 Miles/Under 2.5hours
Thursday: Intense/Flats Workout+5 Mile Sprinting Intervals/30 Miles/Under 2hours
Friday: Recovery/Flat Riding, fast cadence/30 Miles/ Under 2hours
Saturday: Moderate/Endurance Workout/60 Miles/ Under 4hours
Sunday: Moderate/Endurance Workout/50 Miles/Under 3.5hours

By doing that, you can keep track off improvment, which will feel great when you really start to notice improvement.

I started Cycling in April of 2009 and i didn't really do 30 miles a day. Once Summer hit, i would ride every other day and just do 30-40-30-50-30-40 etc.. eventually i was able to do 40 Miles every other day or two throughout the whole year until November when i did my first century.

You don't really need to do 30 miles a day for 5 days every week to do a century by the end of the year.

What I'd focus on is finding how well your endurance is.

Best of luck to you!

AMRD V

Thanks a bunch, and about "The Cyclists Training Bible" is this something i can find at like Barnes and Nobles or any book store?

Zizka

The Cyclist's Training Bible would be overkill for training for a century. If you ever get into racing, get it, but not now. If your goal is to ride a century, build up to it. Pick one day a week for your long ride. Start out with 30-35 miles and add 10% every week. Once you hit 70-75 miles on your long ride, you are more than ready for a century. If you start now, you will be riding a century by late August.

coasting 

you're just jealous. he's closer to peak physical condition than most here and every year i get further away.

frpax

you could do it easily

rumrunn6

sure just take your time. there no race to doing a century. you can take all day!

lazerzxr

I reckon you could do it. The only thing i lacked when I was your age was enough experience to know when to take a rest day and when to listen to your body telling you something is wrong. Train sensibly and dont ignore those niggling pains, give your self time to adjust to the miles and on easy days make sure they are really easy! Make sure the bike is set up correctly for you as an injury now could spell a miserable cycling life for a long time.

All the best and enjoy it

blamire

why is this? I'm a junior and do long endurance training all the time (and i usually give the developed experienced adults a good kicking too). I ride with 17 year olds who do centuries in the winter and road race 70 miles plus and 16 year olds who do the same winter training and race track and crits all summer. How is doing a century bad for a growing body? (I assume you are talking about 100miles not 100k?)