Minimal riding needed to maintain
 

May through August is peak riding season for me. I say this because all the larger events I like to participate in are mostly in September and October. My problem is my job is hectic and very time consuming as well as physically draining during this time. I manage to ride on Saturdays and Sundays, but I always feel as if this is not enough. If I were to squeeze in two 10 mile rides in late in the evenings during the week is this along with my more intense riding and longer distances on the weekends enough to help me stay in century shape? Does anyone else here have the same situation I do? If so how do you adapt so you dont regress?

is commuting to work on the bike a possibility one or more days per week. that's what i do, and most of the time, take the long way home to get in some miles...

Definitely a great way to get riding in if you're pressed for time. My commute is about 30 miles door to door but I often leave the house earlier and squeeze in an extra 10 miles. Typically I'll get anywhere between 200-250 miles a week though I've eased up the last two months but once the weather gets a little warmer I'll increase the mileage again, the shorter rides have been nice.

No but I wish it was. Would you suggest a good trainer or rollers? Riding the trainer is like using a treadmill for me very boring, but I suppose I could handle a couple sessions a week if it will help me stay in shape.

I also commute. I have lived as close as 10 miles to work and as far away as 20 (one-way). I find it takes me roughly twice as long as the same route in a car, but the workout is then done. It's already wasted time in the day, you are just using it to save money on gas and get a workout in. Example: I get home at 615 when driving, I'm home and showered by 715 cycling, but have 40 miles for the day. That's with a 20 mile commute each way, obviously the gap is smaller on shorter commutes.

I don't know how I would get the mileage in if I had to do 2 hours after I got home, I wouldn't be done and showered until like 9, and going to bed at 1030 that would suck.

Since commuting isn't an option, i'd definitely recommend a trainer or rollers. I don't like it much either, so I've taken to either watching a movie, listening to an audiobook, or studying (nothing quite like reading about protein synthesis when your heart is at 180 bpm!). Having something else to focus on keeps me from just watching my numbers, and makes the session go by a hell of a lot faster.

Time-Crunched training plan by Carmichael.

Pretty good results with no more than 6 hours per week of riding, even for competitive riders.

It's hard though. Prepare for the pain after the 2nd week. I'm pretty serious about training, but after I caught a cold which derailed me 5 weeks into the program, I just couldn't get back on the bandwagon - it was too hard unless I started over.

The trainer is definitely a good idea if you're time crunched. If you can leave the bike set up on the trainer, it's very time efficient to just hop on the trainer, and you get a workout with no interupptions for traffic, lights, stop signs etc.

You can do a lot with 45 minutes twice a day during the week (in addition to your longer rides on the weekends)

However, to get value out of those shorter workouts, they need to be hard, i.e. intervals.

And even though your goal is doing centuries, shorter intense workouts will add to your endurance.

Combined with longer weekend rides you'll be fine.

You mentioned big events, what type of events are you talking about?

Even one hour rides can be helpful if you push your intensity (eg intervals).
"Century shape" depends a lot on the difficulty of the century. Short rides can be enough for a flat century, but maybe not for a mountainous century.

intervals.

OP - it sounds like you're mainly busy/tired in May-Oct and esp in Aug/Sept, which is the same time you want to be in good riding shape.

If this is the case then you may want to consider doing a lot of riding when you have the time (like even now) and basically try and maintain form in your "peak season". Hard rides Sat and Sun are good, plus one warm up ride minimum on Friday.

You'll need to ride a bit the day before you ride "for real", just to loosen up your legs. I'll do 30 minutes or less, on the trainer, on a Saturday, just so I loosen up my legs for Sunday. I think you'll find the "ride the day before" really helps.

I do the bulk of my training in the off season, when I can get time off (from work and the Missus) much more easily.

Ultimately the more hours you put in the better; if you do them off season that's fine.

Personally I find it hard to ride more than 8 or so hours a week schedule-wise. When I go on little "training camp" trips (where I basically live to ride, typically in late January), I easily triple my hours, doing 25-30+ hours in a week. That's basically my long week for the year - the rest of the year I live off of that. I've ridden reasonably well on 150 hours for the whole year, with almost 50 hours in my training camp alone.