new to regular cycling and a pending race!

bonjour24

Hi everyone.

i can ride a bike, like most people can. my exercise of choice has been running, but now i've ran 2 marathons my motivation for this has waned somewhat and i have been looking for something new and cheap to interest me. so, a few days ago i heard on the radio an advert for the 'conquer cancer' bike ride in auckland in november. this is a 200k ride over 2 days (100k a day), and it tickles my fancy!

i have 9 months to train. my hubby (who's a seasoned mountain biker and a ardent anti-roadie) said that he doesn't think i can do it. so, obviously, this has pissed me off enough to make me want to do it more!

i figure the way to increase distance on a bike is the same way that you'd do it with a running plan, and have 1 long ride a week and slowly increase the distance. i am going to spend a few months just getting basic fitness levels up, and cycle the 15k to and from work several days a week. when this gets easy, i'll start adding more distance.

i also figure that as this is a 2 day event, that i need to do some stints of 2 longish ride days back to back.

as i have already trained for and completed endurance events, i'm not scared of the distances involved (although im female and have no sense at all of how far this is! i work more on time over distance). i guess i just want to know that this is possible, and if anyone has any tips for me insofar as an appropriate training plan goes. i have no worries about day 1, but it's the 2nd day and having enough energy to get back that's a worry for me.

thanks

Cyclink

Wow, where to start...

First, welcome to the world of road cycling!!

Depending on the terrain and your level of fitness, 100K will probably be between 3 and 5 hours. If the course is flat and you are really fast, 3 hours is totally doable. If it's hilly or you have not built much speed (or both), it could be 5 hours.

A major concern, as you mentioned, will be recovery in time for Day 2. Part of your training should be riding long two days in a row, experimenting with different foods after your first ride to see how they help or hinder your recovery for day 2.

For training, there are many, many, many different options. With your marathon background, you should have the aerobic base you need, but need to convert it to cycling and develop a different form of aerobic fitness in your legs (not to mention getting used to the saddle and the technical aspects of riding in large groups that are common to that kind of ride).

The form of training that comes to mind for this type of event is what many call "sweet spot" training. It's a sustained tempo training, usually at about 90% of your threshold. It's intense enough to help build speed but not so intense that you need several days of rest between workouts. If you google it, I'm sure you'll find endless discussions on it.

This is one article: http://www.fascatcoaching.com/sweetspotpartdeux.html

Good luck!

jhalsey205

Great advice above. The only thing I'll add, is to "be patient." Don't try to "kill it" every training ride. Be patient and focus on the "miles" rather than "pace/speed." Build as much of a mileage base as you can.

Inferred in the previous post, but I will embellish ... a heart rate monitor is a great training tool (I use a Garmin Forerunner watch which also serves as my bike computer) to monitor workout effort/intensity (far more effective worrying about speed). There is a lot of great info online about hr training / hr zone training.

Good luck.

Cyclingbonnie

Hi, Wow, I remember when I was training for my first multiple day ride.

Here is my approach ... the first one done is the loser. The last one done got to see everything along the way.

A good saddle is really, really important and is a very personal choice. What works for one person will not work for another. Many bike shops will give you a couple of day test ride on a saddle. I like the Terry Butterfly saddle.

Consider using a similar schedule for your riding as you did for training for a marathon (the mileage will be higher, but similar in percentage change). But believe me as a triathlete I can seriously tell you, you can do this. If you can run 26 miles you can ride sixty miles easy peasy. Just take your time and put the time in the saddle.

I agree with the predicted time of 3-5 hours depending on terrain. I ride long distances, and once a year I do an endurance ride of 7 days averaging 60 miles a day (100k). I never worry too much about my speed, but I try to keep my cadence in the 75-90 rpm range. If I drop lower I shift to an easier gear. If I go over I shift to a harder gear. Put in the training miles, ride multiple days in a row. Make sure that near the end you are hitting close to the milage two days in a row if not the actual milage. And by all means enjoy! A good cause and a fun ride on top of it who could ask for more.

narak_lol

Welcome to the prestigious cycling community :flowerforyou:

All of the above are great advice, so I am just wanting to give you a vote of support - I believe your have the physical & mental strength to do well.

Any questions feel free to ask - we have so many bike professors (bike geeks) here

rides4sanity

Lots of good advice.

I'll just add a little more...

Invest in good well fitted cycling shorts and a comfy saddle. i like Pearl Izumi shorts, they are snug in the crotch and have a comfotable waist. I've sound that small non-squishy saddles are the way to go. Go to your Local Bike Shops (LBS) sit on a gel thing to measure your sit bones and they will size you accordingly. Stay away form the big cushy saddles, over the long haul it just give you more pressure points to rub.

Oh, and use a chamois cream and no undies!

Good luck!

bonjour24

Thanks v much, bikey people. Im thrilled to learn that the ride wll be about 5 hrs- i was antcipating 7! I dont have a flash road bike and nor do i intend getting one. But i did fail to mention that my hubby is a bike mechanic and works at lbs, so even though my bike isnt really suited to the purpose, it will be well pimped!
god, now i have to learn how to change a tyre.

funkycamper

OP, this cracked me up "i have 9 months to train. my hubby (who's a seasoned mountain biker and a ardent anti-roadie) said that he doesn't think i can do it. so, obviously, this has pissed me off enough to make me want to do it more!"

In July 2011, my son did the STP (Seattle to Portland) which is 200 miles. Most do roughly 100 miles each day. (As you probably know, this is roughly 40 miles longer than 100k each day, so a longer ride.)

When he did this, I was just back to exercising after a 5 year period of not being able to exercise at all beyond walking due to a major back injury. It was finally healed enough where I was just starting to work on getting back into shape. I was in such bad shape it was ridiculous. My first time back at the Y, I lasted a whole 5 minutes on the exercise bike. Not 5 miles even, just 5 minutes! I was only able to do about 3-4 miles on my real bike due to my muscles being so weak that it hurt my knees, my arms were too tired to support my body-weight on the handle-bars for longer, and my back would start hurting (due to an extremely weak core).

Anyway, when he did it I said "Gosh, that sounds like fun!". His response, "Oh, Mom, you could NEVER do that." OK, the gauntlet was thrown and I was determined to prove him wrong.

12 months later, I successfully rode in STP. Was it pretty? Well, it took me almost a week to recover. Each day of 100 miles was about 13 hours as I needed quite a few rest breaks, particularly through the hilly sections. But I did it and I'm looking forward to doing it again this July, faster and better.

Now, if I could do a ride that is 80 miles longer than you're planning, starting from virtually no aerobic or muscle fitness/endurance, when you've run marathons, I think this will be a breeze for you.

Yes, do the progressive training you're already discussed with one longer ride per week. About three months out from the event, start doing some back-to-back long rides. Of course, you can start doing them prior to that if you feel like it but three months out gives you plenty of time to get your body used to it.

Do some hill training. That's the area I didn't do enough of. I had the endurance for the miles but my training rides hadn't been on as hilly of terrain as my event. This year I'm doing more hill training, even if it just means riding up-down-back up the same dang hill over and over again.

Time in the saddle will strengthen your butt and your seat will start getting more comfortable for longer periods of time. But, yes, a good pair of bike shorts with padding makes a world of difference. And butt butter with no undies. I find that I am comfortable riding without any of these until I hit about 35 miles. After that, they make a big difference for me.

Other good training is to strengthen your upper-body and core. Lifting heavy weights is probably best but body-weight exercises will do if you don't have access.

During the winter months, most of my training was in spinning classes and that worked fine until the spring weather made longer outdoor rides more comfortable.

As for nutrition, I suspect that what works for your marathon will probably work for a long ride. I quickly found that I need to really focus on getting more potassium, electrolytes, and upping my hydration starting about 3 days prior so I don't bonk. I also absolutely can't eat any big meals starting the night before. I'm fine with a big lunch the day before but if it's as late as dinner, it really negative impacts my performance and how I feel. So I do better to load for the 3 days prior, stopping at lunch the day before, and then eating numerous small snacks with plenty of hydration (including adding stuff to half my water for my electrolytes like GU or EmergenCee) from that point on. You will need to experiment to find out what works best for you.

Time to finish? Could be 7 hours. Depends on your average speed, how you do on hills and how many hills there are, etc. Is it a race? If not, what difference does it make? I chose to enjoy the planned stops that had food and entertainment along the way and rest adequately when needed so the ride was enjoyable. I was about the middle of the pack in terms of time to complete.

Even though I can easily do 17-18mph on relatively level surfaces, headwinds and hills really drop that for me. I might be as slow as 3.5mph on a steep hill. Headwinds can drop me to 10-11mph. So I calculated my average speed at 10mph for the event and figured that the stops would add 2-3 hours over the course of the day. My calculations were pretty darn close. But I'm in better shape for this year so I'm going to try to average 12mph. Of course, with your marathon background, you will probably do better with hills and speed overall than I did last summer.

Also, there may be times when you get stuck behind a group of slower riders so you need to allow for things like that to happen until you can safely pass.

I don't know if these rules are the same everywhere, but for events around here, these are the rules:
* always pass on the left
* always alert riders to the fact you are passing by either jingling your bell or saying "on your left"
* always allow plenty of space before you edge back in after passing
* don't get into a pace line unless you really know what you're doing and how to do it safely

I saw several accidents along the way and most seemed to be caused by people breaking these rules.

Best wishes!

76tech

but now i've ran 2 marathons

...

200k ride over 2 days (100k a day), and it tickles my fancy!

i have 9 months to train. my hubby (who's a seasoned mountain biker and a ardent anti-roadie) said that he doesn't think i can do it. so, obviously, this has pissed me off enough to make me want to do it more!

I, well, I'm really impressed. You present this like "yeah, I ran a couple marathons. Bored now. Ooh, 200km! Shiny!"

You've obviously got the whole conditioning thing down, to be able to complete marathons. Best of luck to you, don't forget to enjoy it along the way.

Best advice I can give is 1) proper shorts 2) chamois cream 3) proper, not squishy soft saddle and 4) chamois cream.
(yes. twice. it's that important)

AlwaysInMotion

I'd recommend searching for articles on how to train for a century-distance (or longer) ride/race. Lots of wisdom out there on conditioning for longer distance and multi-day rides.

From my personal experience - make sure your gear is in good working order (I go for full tune-ups before big distance events/races), don't swap anything out or try anything super-new (aka new saddle, new shoes, new fueling technique, etc) immediately before the ride, bring tools and lots of tubes/air, pace yourself, don't forget to plan out your pre-ride nutrition/hydration and during-ride nutrition/hydration, apply sunscreen before and during the ride (you'll sweat it off on long rides)... invest in some damn good shorts... and ditto on the chamois butter.

Sorry your husband's such a pisser (who tells somebody they can't do something?!) Tell him he should ride domestique for ya.

Cheers and good luck!!!

AlwaysInMotion

If it's a ride (not a race), then you can take all the time you need, rest when you need to, etc. That makes a big difference. Pacing is key.

cyclist_44060

Everyone on here has great advice. There is not much more I can add except to second the concept of concentrating on miles and not pace. It took me a couple years to learn that lesson. Concentrate on the miles and the pace will come. I think you will have no problem tackling a 2 day 200km ride.

Good luck, be safe, and enjoy!!

Scudder76

I did my first multi-day ride this past September, 3 days, 275 miles Boston to New York, and with 9 months, I'd say you have plenty of time to train up. One longer ride a week, increasing 10-15miles each week, and you'll be fine.

One trick I was taught for endurance riding - Keep you rest stops under 5 minutes or over 30. (that is, mostly quick pee and water-refill stops, and then one truly restful meal break.) The shorter stops keep the day from getting too long, and to truly recharge you need more than 15-20 minutes.