century ride in october, need some advice on how to train
 

there is a century ride in october that i am wanting to ride in. it has been a year since ive done any real riding, and i do have a vintage bike, a 1986 centurion facet, its in good condition, and will be getting tuned up and few things upgraded. i did just move back down to florida, gainesville to be specific. any advice on what to read or any advice would be great. im also going to be getting a computer that has a cadence. thank you in advanced

well, you've got lots of lead time, that's for sure. if the weather is good start riding now and try to get your mileage up. not sure what your fitness level is but you might have to start small? 5 miles, then 10, then 15, etc? basically a century ride is about being active all-day - that takes some getting used to. if you can't ride all day right now you might try doing other things combined with cycling over the course of 8 hours.

ok thanks, im used to moving all day, as i work in a warehouse so im moving all day. but cycling no, will deff need to work up to it, should i be more focused right now on riding length of time, or miles?

thank you will bookmark that to reread

You might want to pick up The Time Crunched Cyclist book. It has a specific plan for training for century rides.

will deff, do that thank you guys so much

I recently completed my first century, have been cycling for about a year. I started a thread that summarized the process, you might check it out: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...g-plan-summary.

H

A century is just a long ass endurance ride. The only thing you have to do to prep is ride, ride, ride and ride some more.

You got time. I have a century in 3 days. High that day is supposed to be 39°. That gets it a definite maybe.

Ride your bike. Put in the miles. Try to work up to 100 miles/wk. When you get closer, use a training plan. Consistency is good.

thanks guys, appreciate it. right now since i have clipless pedals and no shoes for it, and kinda broke right now, i got regular old peddles but got to get a 15mm wrench to get them off, then i get to riding again.

carbonfiberboy good luck on your century.

It does not seem to me that you have read the thread I directed you to, so I will summarize.

If you are just getting back into riding, you should be focused on building an aerobic base before you do any more intense training. Your goal should be around 2000 miles. Since you are in Florida, I am assuming the century will be flat. Therefore, I would use the century ride as the culmination of your base-building phase. Until you have the 2000 mi, you should not try to ride faster, just longer distances with improving cardiovascular conditioning.

Your equipement priorities should be:
1. Clipless pedals
2. Bike fit with excellent fitter. You will have to ask more experienced cyclists.
3. Bike computer that can measure speed, HR and cadence plus a HR monitor
4. Training book(s). I read Friels Cyclists Bible and Carmichael's The Time Crunched Cyclist

Your training priorities should be:
1. Increasing slow distance that you ride at a low to medium heart rate for you. Start with whatever you can do now and increase total weekly mileage by 10% per week until you are riding 100-150 miles/week (time permitting, you could possibly get away with less)
2. Regularly scheduled light training weeks/training breaks. Maybe every 3-4 weeks, depending on your age.
3. Try to avoid anything hard until the last 3 months of your training- ie avoid hard hills or sprints
4. With around 3 months to go in your training, try to find a beginner or intermediate group to ride with so that you can get used to riding in a mass of people. I would avoid doing this too early because it might encourage you to ride too hard too early.
5. Again, around 3 months out, try to figure out the challenges you might encounter on your century ride (wind, hills, etc) and begin to replicate them in your training plan.
6. Always schedule 1-2 days off the bike per week
7. Do something off bike to work on core strength, upper body strength and hamstring/glute/hip flexibility. For me that's yoga, for some Pilates, for some weights and stretching.
8. Come here and ask questions frequently. You will be blown away by the time people take to answer your questions.

Good luck.

H