My wife and I have been riding for about 6 weeks now. Anywhere from 5 miles per day up to about 15. This past weekend we did 37 miles in about 2hr45mins. There is a 67 mile road ride on the 18th of September (about 4 weeks from now).



If we really put our heads to it, will we be able to successfully train AND somewhat comfortable ride the 67 miler? Any training suggestions for us?



Thank you!

If you follow the 10% each week rule, three week steady increase and a week at week one pace and distance, nope. You could possibly increase it more, and being that you're not a competitive racer, sure. You might hurt yourself in ways you never thought though.

You're gonna have to increase it 10 miles a week, then drop down to 37 miles at week 4.

After not doing much bike riding for quite a few years, I got back into it this summer. I'm 54 years old and pretty much ride everyday about 5-15 miles. Yesterday, I got up and decided to ride further. I ended up doing between 55-60 miles. I just relaxed and took my time and it really was uneventful. A little stiffness in my shoulder/neck area. I did hydrate a lot before riding and ate a couple of bananas. I also wore cycling shorts. It was on a hybrid bike.

So, I think you can do it as long as you pace yourself. Also, I took a couple of breaks just to stretch out during the ride.

I know I could have gone further, but had other things I wanted to do. The cool weather that day really, really helped...and the fact that I had no flats!!!

Yup! U-2 can do it. Continue to increase your daily mileage and adrenalin and group mentality will see through the 67 miles!
Eat before you're hungry, drink before you're thristy and take a few minutes break about every 15 or 20 miles; you'll do fine!!!!

[QUOTE=AndyGrow]My wife and I have been riding for about 6 weeks now. Anywhere from 5 miles per day up to about 15. This past weekend we did 37 miles in about 2hr45mins. There is a 67 mile road ride on the 18th of September (about 4 weeks from now).



I can see no reason why you both cannot do 67 miles on the bike! Just keep on what you are doing. Be relaxed and make sure you drink a bottle of fluid every hour, consume good nutrition and have a great day! I was once asked how I ran 78 miles non stop and I replied I run with my mind and not my feet. ! You both have been training for 6 weeks and have a 37miler under your belt. Good Luck on September 18th!

"If we really put our heads to it, will we be able to successfully train AND somewhat comfortable ride the 67 miler? Any training suggestions for us?"

You can definitely do it! By "comfortable", I assume you mean that you won't be dead afterwards and take 3-weeks to recover? And you can do it a pace that won't have you be beaten by kids on tricycles? The idea here is to train you so that you don't have to do the ride at a high amount of effort and close to your maximum. I would suggest taking on a program which gradually adds more intensity AND distance to your workouts (not at the same time). Also don't recommend more than 4 days of riding at this point. Do the rides in order during the week:

INTENSITY: high->low as the week progresses
DISTANCE: low -> high as the week progresses

WEEK1: 90-miles, rest 1 day between rides

- ride1 - fast 10-mile ride at 65-75% effort, 5-miles warm up, 5-miles back briskly

- ride2 - medium 15-miles ride at 60-70% effort

- ride3 - slow 25-mile ride, at 50-60% effort

- ride4 - slow 40-mile ride at 50-60% effort, don't ever push hard, just steady pace the whole time, eat and drink lots, spin easy gears and work on smooth spinning rhythm.


WEEK2: 95 miles , rest 1 day between rides

- ride1 - fast 10-mile ride at 65-75% effort, 5-miles warm up, 5-miles back briskly, add a couple of intervals of 1-2 minutes. push hard up a hill until you're maxed out at the top, do a hard effort between speed limit signs at speed or something, recover by spinning easy and continue

- ride2 - medium 15-miles ride at 65-75% effort

- ride3 - slow 25-mile ride, at 50-60% effort

- ride4 - slow 45-mile ride at 50-60% effort, don't ever push hard, just steady pace the whole time, eat and drink lots, spin easy gears and work on smooth spinning rhythm.

WEEK3: 105 miles , rest 1 day between rides

- ride1 - fast 10-mile ride at 70-80% effort, 5-miles warm up, 5-miles back briskly, add a couple of sprints to your ride, these are 100% efforts for as long as you can hold it, usually sprinting for a speed-limit sign or telephone-pole with others work well. Pick easy gears and spin up, shift, spin up, repeat until you can't hold it any more. Then spin-easy and recover and continue

- ride2 - medium 20-miles ride at 65-75% effort, add a couple of intervals of 1-2 minutes. push hard up a hill until you're maxed out at the top, do a hard effort between speed limit signs at speed or something

- ride3 - slow 25-mile ride, at 50-60% effort

- ride4 - slow 50-mile ride at 50-60% effort, don't ever push hard, just steady pace the whole time, eat and drink lots, spin easy gears and work on smooth spinning rhythm.


WEEK4: 112 miles , rest 1 day between rides, Start early this week to finish with your 67-mile ride

- ride1 - fast 10-mile ride at 70-80% effort, 5-miles warm up, 5-miles back briskly, add 1 more sprint to your ride compared to last week

- ride2 - medium 15-miles ride at 65-75% effort, add a couple of intervals of 1-2 minutes. push hard up a hill until you're maxed out at the top, do a stretch between speed limit signs at speed or something

- ride3 - slow 20-mile ride, at 50-60% effort

rest at least two days before your next ride

ride4 - THE BIG DAY! slow 67-mile ride at 50-60% effort, don't ever push hard, just steady pace the whole time, eat and drink lots

What you will notice is that the sprints and intervals will raise your average speed. And the 50-60% effort you put out for the endurance rides will be faster than before. Or another way to look at it is as your strength and aerobic ability increases, the effort you put out on those endurance rides will be less for the same speed, or for the same effort, you'll go faster.

You can even repeat this macro-cycle another time and do a century within two months without any problems.

That is really nice of you, DannoXYZ, to take the time to give a good schedule for them to follow. BikeForums.net people can be really nice and helpful.

Good luck on the ride AndyGrow.

This 67 mile trip will be very easy if you draft the whole way and follow danos program.

Increasing your mileage that much in one month may be doable, but you risk tendon and/or knee injury. It takes time for your body to adjust to the stresses of increased usage.

Danno has a good program to follow, the hill climbs and interval training help you make big gains in your training. The final week has you doing a long ride that will give you the confidence you can easily finish the "real event". The key elements to a 60+ ride is proper hydration and caloric intake, with the hydration being the key element. Not knowing what kind of weather you will be riding in consume at least 1 large bottle of fluid an hour, if you will be riding in a hot climate boost that up a bit. I start out with one bottle filled with water and the other with an electrolyte mix. As an example, today was 94F and I went through 9 20oz bottles on a 75 mile ride, one Cliff energy bar and a Subway 6in turkey sub and finished feeling very good. Every person is different so use your training rides to better learn what your body needs in terms of hydration and calories. Finishing a long ride with a sore butt and legs is still much better than bonking. Have a great 4 weeks training and a great ride.

Yes, absolutely. Lots of quality advice already given. Just remember, your "event" day is like a piano recital day ... a day of repeats. Do NOT try a different flavor energy drink, energy bar, change your saddle position, new gloves. Nothing new. Repeat how you train and you'll be fine. Also, don't get caught up riding someone else's "ride". Ride within yourself.

Don't foget to let us all know how you did ...

Wow - thank you everyone, especially Danno!!!

We are really looking forward to it - should be fun. I'll let ya know how it goes!
Andy

To add to it, my 63 year old father started 7 weeks ago riding almost every day with me. The first day we rode 25 miles and it layed him out for a couple days. Yesterday he knocked out a 70 miler and had plenty left in the tank. Everybody is different, go for it and find out.

Dang, where are you guys? I would love to do what Danno laid out with ride partners.

You have most of very good advices already. I'd like to add that you should stretch a lot. After your warmup, at every 15-20 miles break, and at the end of the ride. Some DeepHeat massage ( any Methyl Salicylate Menthol Cream will do) on tired muscles after 40 miles may also help. Also consider electrolytes after 3
0 miles.

All I can add is that the 10% rule really applies to people new to the sport. I easily break that rule weekly now, and don't have issues (about 1 year back in the saddle).


I'd say you can do it, distances seem to be about listening to the body and adapting to it, and having the mental strength to realize when your body is tired, and when its broken. Too many people quit because something 'hurts' when really, it just 'hurts.'

If that makes any sense...even I'm confused sometimes; its hard to put into words, let me try it again:

Sometimes the body feigns injury to make you stop; Sometimes the body is injured necessitating that you stop - the trick is knowing the difference and pushing when the legs want to shirk work.

yeah, with my recent return to cycling after about 8 years off, I went from 50-miles a week to doing double-centuries within a month. Knowing that quality of training is better than quantity of training allowed me to regain 90% of my previous fitness in just 1/10th the time.

However, there's a difference between pain and suffering. Personally, I always stop when I feel pain because it's a danger sign.

Suffering, on the other hand, is just discomfort. Like doing sprints and intervals; the lactic acid, the tight z-bands in the muscles, the maxed-out heart-rate; that kind of suffering I actually enjoy! Benefits comes in heaps and bounds when do you that extra 3-5 secons at the end of a sprint when you think you've given 100%. Extending the 1-minute interval at 95% effort an extra 10-15 seconds will allow you to do that minute even faster the next time. Suffering ends soon enough.

Pain that lasts longer than a couple hours? Like sharpness in the joints, pointed and heated spikes in the muscles, etc. should be attended to immediately.

If you can do 37 now, then you definitely should be able to do 67 a month from now.

You can do that 67 miles. I just bought a road bike on July 2nd, after a 25 year lay off from cycling. I am 54 years old and I started a pretty good training progarm on July 4th. I am now up to 60 miles. Did a 60 mile mostly flat ride on Sat. and I am doing 60 miles this Sat. but with more hills. I am training for my 1st Century in Oct.

There has been a lot of good advice given here. Just remember to drink plenty of water and electrolytes. You will also need to eat for energy. Do not wait until you are thirsty or hungry, start drinking and eating 15 to 30 minutes into your ride.


Good luck with you training.