rdtompki

Summary
1. It's probably going to warm/hot and humid. Drink at least one bottle of water an hour. I'd take two bottles just in case, but there are plenty of rest stops. 200 calories or so an hour is about what the body can handle. Don't experiment at the rest stops
2. Don't try a new shoe/pedal setup this late in the game. You may get "hot foot" with the tennis shoes, however. I might consider a thin cushion insole in these shoes.
3. Finding folks to ride and converse with will make the ride go faster, but I'd avoid pacelines even if you stay at the rear. You don't have the experience and even in the back you need to be fairly close to get a significant benefit.
4. I'd go with the ridewithgps estimate of climbing at about 3700'. This isn't much climbing for 100 miles (think Palm Springs Century), but cycling uses different leg muscles even if you're fit. There is one 300' or so climb that has a section around 10% and you might be better off walking this rather than blowing up your legs, but this really depends on your gearing.
5. There are probably short steep pitches that will find you in the wrong gear. Definitely better to be in the small chain ring, but you still may find the RD in the wrong place. It it's short enough, stand, but you're not used to standing and this expends a lot of energy so use judiciously. If you're in the wrong gear put a bit of "grunt" in it for a few pedal strokes, accelerate a bit, back off and shift; my wife and I do this all the time on the tandem. You don't want to shift under load.

Above all, have fun, enjoy the sights and fellow cyclists. You can do it; in 1985 my wife and I rode 385 miles in four days with our (then) 10 y/o twin sons.

Beginner Biker

UPDATE: So I went ahead and got shimano spd clipless pedals and rode 50 miles yesterday, and it wasn't too bad actually, muscle and in shape wise I was perfectly fine, but the aching in my hands and butt and feet was bad, but everytime I took a break it was fine. My feet do get numb on long rides (with tennis shoes as well, so the clipless didn't help), what do you guys think I'm doing wrong there? Also do putting in shoe inserts help? What should I do this week (ride is on saturday) in terms of training and nutrition and rest? (I started school this week).

Thanks!

dnuzzomueller

My suggestion for the feet: Get some Lake shoes perhaps. I notice Shimano Shoes cause my feet to go numb, due to my slightly larger toe-box. Lake Cycling shoes do not give me this issue. As with hands, if you aren't already try to switch hand positions more. I find the bottom of the drops particularly comfortable and relaxing, swap your hand position every now and then. Otherwise you should tweak your position and fitting, but that takes time, time which you do not really have since a tweak can easily make one thing worse for you.

Also remember: When you ride with others the miles pass quite quickly. My 50 mile sunday rides seem to fly by when I am with others. When I am alone they are a tedious drag.

Mose

First try loosening the laces/velcro/ratchet/whatever closure system your shoe has on it to address foot numbness. Second try a higher cadence and less force per stroke. Then think about new insoles/cleat positioning.

Watchdog

Your situation has some similarities to mine. In June I completed a charity ride from Vancouver, BC to Redmond, Washington. It was two days and roughly 120 km's each day.

In July 2010 I started commuting to work by bike again. The first few weeks seemed hard but after six weeks I started to feel pretty good. My wife completed treatment for breast cancer so I decided to sign up for the Ride to Conquer Cancer as I saw the significant resources that went into treating her.

I basically did minimal training other than commuting to work by bike, which is 18 km each way with a measly 140/160 metres of elevation gain depending on which way I'm going. I did two 100+ km rides before the charity ride. One 105 km ride on my own and I also rode the Tour De Victoria (137 km) which was on a favourite training route of Ryder Hesjedahl who hosted the event.

How did I do? Well I have poor flexibility and on day 1 I made the mistake of stopping and socializing way too long. I cramped badly at around the 90 km mark and needed medical to give me a heat pack which I placed in my shorts to keep my muscles warm (it rained both days as was not that warm out) and I limped across the line.

On day 2 I learned from day 1 and basically rode non-stop other than to stop for food, which I ate very quickly and also went to the washroom. Over the 118.5 km's of day 2 I finished in 5 hrs and 2 min, and I stopped for less than 20 min over the entire day.

My 2 cents is that for charity rides they do a good job of making the ride sound hard so people will donate money to the cause, but the rides are not that hard. If they were then most people would not complete the ride. I am generalizing because I know of some other rides like Ride2Survive which is 400 kms in one day with lots of elevation gain.

In any event, due to looking after two kids and a wife being treated for cancer my training was fairly limited. My regular commute to work comprised about 90% of my training and I finished day 2 very strong. I felt like I could easily ride another 40 to 50 kms. Having said that, on day 1 I limped across the line because I cramped up. Really that was stupidity on my part as I've had cramps many times before, usually due to not drinking enough and/or sitting around letting my muscles cool down too much.

The TDV brought me to my knees though. That had a lot more elevation gain and what everyone else is saying about pace is spot on. My plan had been to sit on my friends wheels and then I was on my own for the hills. Seemed like a decent plan since they all race and are pretty quick. It all fell apart when the hills started about 20 - 30 km in and I told my friends to take off since I didn't want to ruin their ride. I ended up riding solo for the last 100 km, chasing trying to catch up. It was by far the most difficult ride I've ever experienced and I was in a world of hurt.

PS - I am 45 years old now and about 20 - 30 lbs overweight.

alexfboyle

Carbohydrate fixation takes 36 hours. All this will do is help you recover. Carbs 2 days before, and protein the day before.

Watchdog

I almost forgot, elevation for each of the days which obviously makes a big difference.

All figures estimated by my Garmin 500

Tour De Victoria - 3,665 ft
Day 1 RTCC - 1,965 ft
Day 2 RTCC - 1,345 ft

Beginner Biker

The 100 mile ride is on Saturday 7am, I am sort of sore from riding this week, what should I do Thursday and Friday to optimally prepare for it? Rest? light rides? Cross train? (btw I put in my running shoe soles into the shoes and they feel so much better!)

thanks!

gregf83 

I would just go for a very easy 1 hr ride on Fri and maybe tomorrow if you feel like it. Don't cross train or run or do anything else you're not used to.

Beginner Biker

Rode it, there was a whole lot of hills, probably >20, with 5 huge ones. I am going to hurt a whole lot tomorrow, thanks for the tips!!

coldehammer

From seeing the course and the info you've provided, you might be challenging yourself a bit much. You just switched to clipless pedals and are asking questions about basic shifting techniques. Those are fine questions esp. since you admit you're a beginner but tackling on a century is no small feat. I do however applaud you for attempting any charity ride for that matter, far better than being a couch potato.

Only recommendation I have for you is that the majority of it is mental and you have to remind yourself that if you think it sucks (esp. past mile 50), it's more that you were unprepared/ready vs. thinking charity rides are not for you. Don't punish yourself to the point where you're not having fun. On my first century charity ride, I saw many "beginner" riders at mile 40-60 starting to become unfocused and scatter brained due to the courses obstacles. There were two riders who actually crashed during a downhill descent because they were so exhausted they couldn't react fast enough to hit brakes at certain points.

Just take it easy and listen to your body. Charity rides are just that, meant to support a cause and to enjoyably challenge yourself.