You're talking 80-miles a day for 7 days. If you want to be comfortable, you're going to need to get in miles more regularly/consistently. To explain this POV, I'm of the belief that regular, consistent riding does more for fitness than long--or even fast--miles. In other words, 200-miles ridden on 3-days throughout the week is not as effective as 200-miles ridden 5-6 days throughout the week.

Basically, replicate in practice what your event calls for. Since your event calls for 80-miles a day, I would aim to be at about 50-60 miles a day, 7 days in a row, about 3-weeks out. Replicate the event a couple times, meaning ride 7-days in a row without missing a day. Then take a day off the bike and don't worry about it for a couple weeks before doing the same effort again. Do that say 3-4 times prior and you should be good. The first one, don't pay attention to mileage/time. It won't matter if your daily mileage is identical. One day could be 40-miles, next 15, etc... Only start trying to replicate the event mileage as you get closer.

Well, thats the idea. The event isn't until June 2013, so I've given myself quite a bit of time. (Way more time than I'll need, according to veterans.)

That'd be great if I was going to have the time to ride that much. That's 4 or so hours a day for a whole week, and this thing called a job would make it hard. The advice I've gotten is that if you can do 2 60+ mile days back to back, wake up the 3rd day, and still get on the bike then you're probably ok.

Right now my biggest challenges are finding routes that I can do. I'm tired of the local MUP. I need to make some more local friends who can take me out and show me new fun places to ride.

Sign up for ridewithgps or garminconnect or strava and use their search or explore functions. You can take a look at all sorts of rides.

I guess, for now at least, I'm treating cycling how I used to treat running. When in marathon mode, I'd get in ~4 runs/week, building my long run to 20-22 miles, with others focused on speed/tempo/maybe hills.

Right now I'm focused on (safely finishing) el Tour de Tucson in Nov, I went in full-blast with the 111 mile version. I plan to build my rides to around 100, hopefully getting in 2 like that, with quite a few in the 90s. I've gotten to the point where 50 almost feels good, and 75 isn't bad.

Eventually maybe I'll set goals on timed finishes and all that stuff, but right now, I'm enjoying getting out, doing supported rides, and meeting other cyclists.

While on a group ride I chatted with a few guys who told me that because of my running, I may be a little ahead of the typical new cyclist. We'll see...

Yeah, probably so. Once your leg/back muscles adapt to the different demands, you'll find you'll be doing very well.

Excellent. I'll be out there with my son (16yo). He's making his 3rd attempt to match his pop & get platinum (1st he was too young & had knee pains, 2nd he flatted out, twice). Wave if you see us

I've had something similar, I think. Before I bought the bike, as part of my weight loss, I was doing a lot of work in the gym. The cardio was all on the elliptical and mostly intervals. The combination of weight loss and exercise brought my heart rate from 89 (during an EKG on 12/17/10) to 56 (during an EKG on 6/14/12). So when riding the bike my legs/lactic acid issues happen way before I get too winded. I guess this means I need to spin harder, but it's still a challenge. I need to find more hills.

To be honest I don't have a clue what I want to do yet! I understand the base miles a little better now. Since July 4th my rides have begun to get easier. I do appreciate the advice on this post. I'll put on base miles before I try and turn it up.

Thanks!