JugglerDave

I just got back from my personal longest ride ever. 45 miles in 3 hours, 95% flat but with a 2 mile
section in the middle with maybe 300 ft clime max. I'm riding a Giant Cypress DX, so it's a hybrid with
fat tires at 75 psi. My previous longest ride was 35 miles.

I usually do a 32 mile one-way commute once a week with about 1000 ft climbing, and I often do
25-35 mile rides on weekends with up to 2000 ft climbing.

The problem is, on this 45 mile ride, I was in virtually intolerable pain (legs/thighs) the last 5 miles. I drank plenty of water (maybe 4-5 water bottles worth), and I had 2 clif bars at 21 miles and 32 miles (500 calories total) and a prety big breakfast before the ride.

I'm wondering if I can do an organized metric coming up on August 21, which I believe is almost 6000 ft climing in the 65 miles. That's 3x the climbing and 2x the distance I'm used to. But I *really hurt* after 40 miles on the flat!

Advice? Should I not attempt it? I only can do 2 more weekend 'training' rides before the big ride.

va_cyclist

I would take it easy this week, then try for 50 at an easy pace next weekend. If you can do that, you can do the metric. Don't try to cram a bunch of training in before your big ride if you're already hurting. Let yourself heal.

supcom

You are not ready for a 6000 foot metric century. You might be able to handle a flat metric if you reduced your speed to conserve your glycogen a little better. But to expect to go further with more climing in a month is unrealistic.

toomyus

hey man, u use water for the first hour , then u changr to gatorade and food after. uve to ride and eat. sounds like u ate before u went.

JugglerDave

I ate my breakfast 1 hr before riding.

I did not have any gatorade but I had plenty of water throughout the ride.

I ate 1 clif bar (250 calories) at mile 21, and the 2nd clif bar at 32 miles. I've heard that you should consume 300 calories per hour, so did I not have enough calories or enough protein? Those bars are 11g protein per bar.

JugglerDave

Thanks for the advice. My legs felt almost 90% better after an hour and a recovery lunch. And today (next day) only mild soreness. I was definitely pushing the speed a little bit (fairly strong headwind for
the 1st half / 23 miles).

jeff-o

Is this 100km or 100mi? You called it a metric century, which as far as I know is 100km. I may have misunderstood though. If it IS 100km, then you only have to worry about riding 60miles...

barleyrocket

the protien isn't going to help much..you need carbs when riding. and the only way you will be sure if you can make it is to try it, but have a bail out option. Meaning that, you can probably get the course map and preride the course. Have an SO/friend give sag support and take a day and try. Baring that...do your normal course and then just add on to get total disired milage.
You'll never know how far you can go until you push yourself. you have a couple of more good weekends to push yourself. Keep at it...

JugglerDave

Yes it is a metric century (60 miles), so distance wise only 1/3 more than the 45 miles I did Saturday, but with 5000-6000 ft of climbing (based on TopoUSA and what may not be the actual course).

Ride is the Lancaster County Covered Bridge Metric

Little Darwin

I can't give you any advice on the amount of climb, but I would encourage you to try.

Last October, I rode my first metric century, and the longest ride I had ridden was about the same as you have stated.

In my case the vast majority of my riding was DEAD FLAT and the route for the century had rolling hills, and a few real hills.

I swallowed my pride and pushed up some hills. After 6 hours of riding, plus rest stops and at the end I could barely get off the bike. I cried tears of joy for a few minutes before I could go into enjoy the post-ride meal. Then as I was getting ready to drive away, I cried again...

Background, I started riding about 13 months before the century (starting at pushing itto complete a mile. I was 47 years old, weighed just over 300 pounds and was riding a Giant Sedona DX with road slick tires at 80 PSI.

Again, my advice... DO IT!!!

Take your tiome...

Take all the breaks seriously.. ;-)

Drink...

Eat...

Beat that damned course!!!

I met people along the road who encouraged me greatly, and even though I don't know their names, I will never forget any of them!

And if you don't make it... Well, I assume this is a supported ride, so take advantage of the sag vehicles if you need to.

I guarantee you that you will not make the metric century if you don't try!

Anyone who guides you otherwise is either being too cautious, or is an elitest that doesn't consider people like you and me cyclists.

Enjoy the ride!

PS - Do not risk your health by continuing after your body tells you to quit (only pro athletes are conditioned to go that far) but don't quit until you have to.

CTBiker1001

One thing you might look at is changing out those fat tires. I did a very, very hilly 35 mile organized ride a few months ago on a Trek 7200 hybrid and it was tough. Since then I've bought a road bike and put skinnier tires on my hybrid, and wow, what a difference. I can now cruise up hills that would have killed me a few months ago. I know a lot of this is I'm improving physically, but the equipment has made a hugh difference. You could change out the tires for a relatively small amount of money.