Miami Biker

In addition to many fine posts, suggest eating good meal night before as the body takes many hours to digest food.

Also start increasing water you drink the day before the race. And drink healthy amount of water upon getting up on ride day.

Also like the concept of going easier for the first hour+. Our bodies seem to like it more when we start with a controlled ride as it allows us to maintain or increase our pace over the rest of they day instead of wiping us out.

And of course comfortable shoes, bib, chamois cream and gel gloves to cushion the bumps. But your probably know all that already.

Hunterdog

OP here. Rode 65 thus a.m. In about 4:30 ride time, 5 hours overall. Didn't try stress on anything. Hydration was okay but only because I passed mini-marts where I could buy more water! Nutrition seemed okay, a power bar and another type of "nutrition bar", need to work on that. I'll try PBJ this week though it seems it would make me more thirsty.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

FullGas

did my first 'century' (unsupported) ride without much prep. a buddy and I just decided it would be fun to ride a hundred miles.

my longest previous ride was 47 miles. didn't take any food, had one water bottle. wore cut-off Levis and Adidas running shoes with toe clips.

got lost, ended up riding 108 mi.

was tired as crap at the end, but really wasn't a big deal. just went home and ate everything in the house and fell asleep for half a day.

you should be able to do a supported ride without much grief.

OldTryGuy

for today's successful adventure.

A couple of videos with helpful information regarding fueling.......


and


Keep in mind that anything you ingest, such as the PBJ or energy bar or a slice of pizza, will take time to digest. If you are riding leisurely, you can eat almost anything but if you are exerting an extreme effort into the ride, fuel accordingly or you can wind up puking.

bmwjoe

My rule of thumb is not to ride more in a day than you normally ride in a week. All of the above advice seems sound.

Yesterday I rode the PA Dutch Farm to Fork Fondo century (113 miles) in Lancaster PA
Ride Details & Prices ? Farm to Fork Fondo
I did it on my fixed gear bike with 70" gears. the ride had 6700' of climbing with a couple of 10% grades. It was a challenge, but I did not have to walk or change gears once. the ride was great. The roads were worn by countless buggies and very smooth. Each rest area offered a selection of local food. Some of the choices were:

- Homemade bacon
- Egg salad with local eggs
- Homemade pulled pork
- Local Peaches
- Local nectarines
- Local ice cream
- Local peaches
- Homemade sausages with peppers
- Homemade cheese with garlic
- Berries from the farm across the street
- Frittatas
- Turkey Hill Haymakers
- “Maple” drink
- Fancy raisin bread

Ride Safe,

Joe

Zinger

Damn this forum software sucks! I just love retyping stuff all over again..


I like this guys stuff but whatever you use it should be something familiar by century time. Use ziplocks because they leak olive oil. The bacon in the rice cakes take longer to digest. I've even stopped at restaurants when they're on the route. + 1 on the potassium for me at least

If the sags are handing out donuts or sweets try and save those for the last miles......Did I mention potassium?

Don't run out of water. If there's doubt, stop and fill them. Don't start too fast to keep up with the Jones's. If your group is burning you up then drop them like a hot rock, before then, and wait for a comfortable one for you or even solo or twosees or threesees.

10 Wheels

My 100 Mile Breakfast...Was able to ride 19 Century's one month.

Rest up Three full days before the 100

memebag

I did my first (and so far only) century at the age of 50. It was the first (and only) day of the MS 150 earlier this year. My advice is to have a steady 20mph tail wind the entire way, with nice shady cloud cover. At the end of that ride I was ready to do another one.

Before that ride I was doing a few 70 and 80 mile days. I took it easy the week before. It was a blast. I wish I was doing it right now.

Zinger

I have seen the painful looking after effects. If you're a first time drafter in a century paceline then that brings up the possibility that as many as everybody else could also be.

Biker395 

Yum.

What's that stuff on the left?

10 Wheels

Fried Corn Mush...slowly turns into energy for me.

bikemig 

Don't just do LSD miles at one speed all the time; do some higher intensity stuff as well. I like finding hills to ride but just picking up your speed on the flats works as well. I wouldn't sweat the food; there will be plenty on the ride. I would stay on top of my water; I'm a big fan of bananas on a long ride as well.

Zinger

Good stuff still in here for your second. Always keep those water bottles topped off.

CliffordK

I just did my first supported century in 20 years last Sunday. Lots of long rides, but this was the first one with supported rest breaks. They published a RideWithGPS map, and I figured out how to dump that into Strava which gives real-time routes.

Export from RideWithGPS as a GPX track.
Import to Strava using: https://labs.strava.com/gpx-to-route

Then it all depends on how long one's cell phone batteries last. I kept the screen off for most of the ride, but turned it on for critical turns.

There was LOTS OF FOOD. Far more than I take on my normal self-supported rides.

Zuzus pedals

If it's the AIDS Ride For Life around Cayuga Lake (adding on a little more up North and through Seneca Falls to make 100), I can provide a detailed description of the terrain since I've ridden that course solo several times (but never done the Ride For Life itself) and have ridden out-and-back along both sides of the lake tons more times.

beechnutC23

If one can do 70-80 miles, I agree 100 should be within reach. A big factor will be whether the route is flat or hilly. I did a solo century last month, on a mostly flat course with only one significant hill, at 15 mph when in the saddle. The last 20 miles at much reduced speed with my back wheel wobbling from two broken spokes. I'm not sure I could manage it on a hilly course. I had to pack my own nutrition, and there were a couple of stops where I could replenish my water, plus I had a backpack with a frozen bottle of Gatorade that stayed cool for a very long time, very refreshing! A supported century will be much easier as you won't have to carry anything. Some rides may also offer flat and minor repairs if something goes wrong.

Be careful though, if you do latch onto a group; 6 years ago I rode the "Ride to Conquer Cancer", two 90 milers in two days. On the first day I was riding in a group to near the back to get a little bit of a draft. I noticed that these were clearly not people used to riding in a peloton (and for that matter nor am I) so I backed off and within a few minutes of doing so there was a major crash with much of the rear of the peloton going down. Broken bones, ambulances, etc. I was far enough back by then that I wasn't involved, and I finished the course solo. Better to work a little harder but finish than end up in a crash.

Zinger

Once I was in a long paceline in the '80s going around a not too steep curve when I saw a pedal cap pass me on my left and go bouncing into the ditch. I remember thinking that some fool nearly domino'd the paceline but luckily it was behind me. Then when I finished the century I went to put my bike in the bed of my pickup and noticed my left pedal cap missing. Those 175 crankarms need caution on the curves, lol.

Zinger

My favorite aerobar paceline video reposted for the umteenth time. Lucky he didn't break his neck.

Mmm mmm. I don't believe I'd want in a paceline with some weary guy leaning on those aerobars.

TGT1

Don't underestimate the brain fade in the last 10 or 15 miles. (see previous posts for misted turns, peloton crashes etc.)

The first century you do you will probably be pushing your glycogen depletion into unknown territory and the first thing to suffer is your reaction time and judgement.

Nothing to generate unreasonable fear, but just be aware of what's happening to your mental facilities and be aware and adjust.

Don't experiment with foods. Do what's been working for you.

Later you can experiment.

I'm a big fan of rice balls made from short grain sticky rice with something salty buried in them. (Sour plums are traditional, but Kalmata olives are good too) They seem to strike the right balance on the glycemic uptake index.

Dates rolled in salt are an other favorite. Two or three are about the same as a packaged gel calorically. (and you have a seed to spit at someone)

I can't stomach the gels.

PB&J for lunch. Heavy on the J The PB is there purely for calking to keep the J from becoming wearable

SHBR

First time I have seen it. Thanks for reposting it.

It appears the overlapped wheels are a bigger problem than the aerobars.

Probably an overly fatigued rider as well. (the guy who crashed)

Fatigue is enemy #1 on long distance rides.

I choose a pace that is a bit slower than my normal pace on long distance rides (100KM+), and wind it up at the end if I have gas in the tank.

canklecat

• On the hand, don't aero bars come with warnings that say DO NOT USE WITHIN 50 YARDS OF ANOTHER BICYCLE!?!? If not, they should. That's one of my pet peeves on the MUP -- tri-folk bearing down on you at full throttle on a narrow paved path, in full superman position, no way to reach the brakes, no slowing down for pedestrians. Even other roadies have complained about this, which annoys the delicate tri-folk.
• On the other hand, he came >>>this<<< close to recovering. Good effort. I'm guessing a wayward spoke thwarted his nearly perfect recovery.
• On the third hand, walking away from that face plant almost deserves some sort of award.

canklecat

BTW, now that I'm in my third day of recovery after a 42 mile ride Sunday, I may need to be more realistic about my goal of doing a solo century this year. I may need another bike to make this feasible.

I've ridden several 40 milers since this spring, but can't quite break that distance without suffering some serious back and neck spasms that keep me off the bike for the next 2-3 days.

I may have reached the limit of my 35 lb hybrid. Much as I've enjoyed it the past year I think I'll need a lighter road bike, anything under 30 lbs with more hand positions, to make longer rides possible without too much discomfort.

Either that or I'll need to stretch out my time goal beyond 12 hours. I may shoot for a century ride within 24 hours, and include some hour-long lie-down rest periods in between, along with more breaks to stretch and relax.

SHBR

A physical therapist might be needed to sort out those neck and back spasms.

Something is out of balance, assuming the bike fit is not way off.

canklecat

It's due to injuries from a car wreck. Busted up my back and neck, cracking six vertebrae -- two in each major section -- and permanently splintering the C2. That neck damage is the main hindrance. Not really much more can be done short of fusing or extensive surgery, which I'm not willing to risk.

A somewhat lighter bike with more options for hand and body positions may help. I can't ride drops for long because I can't crane my neck upward to look ahead, but I may be able to manage for brief periods on low risk sections of road.

And if all else fails I may consider a recumbent for longer rides and keep the standard bikes for short hops.

SHBR

If its bone or joint pain, you may be at your limits. For many people, spasms are related to muscle imbalance, no core strength etc. Also, if I get dehydrated I start to get stiff. I have no personal experience with spinal injuries, however I knew someone who had some moderate success with acupuncture, mostly just for pain relief. Perhaps swimming might help too.