Training for Cycling Events

mystang2000

This year I decided to ride in RAGBRAI. It's a bike ride across the state of Iowa. I have never done this type of thing before. I was wondering if there was anyone else that is training for cycling events?

scorpio516

Time in the saddle

ronocnikral

Eat lots of food. I don't think Mr pork chop is still kicking, but his heritage lives on. A mandatory food stop. If you're doing it right, You'll gain weight.

Ragbrai is a pretty laid back event that is a lot of fun. I rode my first complete and by myself at age 11, Ragbrai 22. Time in saddle helps, but if you have a fair amount of cycling experience you don't need to go overboard. Also, be prepared that if the route is in the north it will be relatively flat. The south is typically what people would call "hilly." but hills are relative...

sijomial

Yep - I do Audax events in the UK.

Have a look at these groups:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3764-cycling-challenges

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/344-bicycling-road-and-mountain

Or this monthly cycling challenge thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10522407/march-2017-biking-cycling-bicycling-challenge/p1

mystang2000

It is north his year 3rd shortest and 3rd flatest. It seemed like a good year to jump to in. I have been riding 4 days a week and steadily increasing distance. Knocked out 34 miles today.

rileysowner

scorpio516 wrote: »

Time in the saddle

I was going to same the same thing. Your body needs to get used to riding long periods of time.

ronocnikral

mystang2000 wrote: »

It is north his year 3rd shortest and 3rd flatest. It seemed like a good year to jump to in. I have been riding 4 days a week and steadily increasing distance. Knocked out 34 miles today.

you're on a good path. just remember to take it slow, enjoy the ride, take some naps in the shade, eat some food, talk to and meet strangers while riding and you'll be fine. 70 ish miles a day is a pretty light load especially if you take 8 to 10 hours to do it.

not sure on your plans each night, but you'll find camping gets old pretty quick. especially going down to the high school and waiting in line for a shower (usually cold). my mom would write to each host town's housing committee and they have people who volunteer to put people up for free. usually you sleep in the basement on the floor, sometimes they have a room for you, sometimes you camp in the back yard (only done once or twice as I can remember over a decade)...but you meet some great people and you don't have to do the shower rig-a-marole each day (a pet peeve of my family). We also had a support van which would eliminate the need to pick up and drop off baggage as well so we could stay further out from town. But, we also need a place to get 15 or so people under one roof

Machka9

I am in the midst of both training for and riding Audax/Randonneuring events here in Australia: http://www.audax.org.au/public/index.php


This month, I've been working on getting in a good base. Hoping for a total of 1000 km by the end of the month.

I've done two 200 km rides and a 100 km, plus a bunch of shorter rides so far.

I tend to do shorter rides during the week, after work. A casual recovery ride and a faster ride or two. Then on the weekends, I do longer rides.


While you're building up your distance, make sure you work out your bicycle fit issues, and your nutrition and hydration issues.

mystang2000

I have a place to stay for half of the stops. Camping with friends the other nights.