I'm a newbie aiming to do 100 miles and need some advice

[mjr]

Exactly what of that lot are you attributing to me?

None, but it was answering your question by explaining that some people do indeed say that people should push themselves to lactate-saturated exhaustion.

[531colin]

This bit?............................

<<<<Speed Ride: The Secret Sauce. Distance riders often skip speed work because they think they need volume, not intensity, to go long. But riding fast improves your endurance by raising your lactate threshold, the point at which your muscles scream "Slow down!" When you raise this ceiling, you can ride faster and farther before your body hits the brakes. Aim to do four to six very hard or max efforts ranging from 30 seconds to two minutes; in between, spin easy for twice the length of the interval. Do these on a challenging stretch of road, such as a hill or into a headwind.>>>>

......4 to 6 intervals of 1/2 to 2 minutes each, in an hour's ride........"Lactate-saturated exhaustion"......or just lads messing about?

[david7591]

The debate seems to have concentrated on fitness and training programmes. What about comfort on the bike? Two things are necessary. A correct set up, i.e. your bike needs to fit you properly. The second is time in the saddle. Any little niggles you may feel on shorter rides say up to fifty miles or so, will become major problems on longer rides. So make sure your saddle is correctly positioned, reach is correct, and bars set at an appropriate height for your flexibility. Having done that, just spend time in the saddle, gradually and cautiously extending the duration of your rides. Then finally think about pace, if you want. But remember no amount of physical fitness will help if you are not comfortable on the bike.

And one further tip - off bike exercises. I have found doing a little daily yoga helpful in counter acting the physical stresses of spending time fixed on a bike in what, let's acknowledge it, is an unnatural position for the human body.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_no ... or+cyclist

[pjclinch]

I recently did my first Century. I'd done plenty of Metric Centuries over time, often as part of extended tours with full camping luggage, but had never done a 100 miler so decided that would be a good "life in the old dog yet" activity for my 50th birthday recently.

I've done little touring since we adopted our kids and what there has been wasn't far, but I've got basic cycling fitness from just getting about by bike. I built up the miles over the space of a few weeks, but I also did shorter hacks with plenty of hills and I pushed myself a bit up them to get my climbing muscles in to trim (nothing too Nairo Quintana, I just pushed at it rather than drop a gear and amble), not so I could race around the final course but so I could do it without having to go in to the red (my eventual route is http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_4396679.html this one, you don't ride 100 miles around here without any hills unless you want to lap a very restricted loop, and I didn't).

Buildups started with a 40 miler (first time on the 'bent in a year, seemed easy at the time but could hardly walk the next day, hmmm), then a couple of 12 mile local loops with hills (once with my wife, once solo), 40 miler with hills with the local CTC group, 20 mile higher intensity with bonus hills, 50 miler and then what turned in to a 60 miler where I hadn't had a plan in mind and just went where the wheels led me. The aftermath of the first excepted, these all went very well and my final buildup was to be the week before, doing 80 miles round my planned course to recce the bits I'd not visited before and then taking the train home the last 20. As it happened I felt fine at 80 miles, and having planned it with a fairly flat final 20 west to east with the usual prevailing winds that day I just carried on and did it a week before I'd planned. Once my legs were used to keeping going it was mainly just doing it for longer.

Whole thing, including stops, took 10 hours. I wasn't in any hurry (one of the nice things about the recumbent is I avoid the aches that limit my upright rides by time). On the actual ride, conscious of a long way ahead, I never pushed in to the red (aside from the very final hill up to my house) and I never had lactic acid to come back and haunt me as a result. Fuel was a good breakfast, stops for coffee with ice cream (20 miles) and cake (70 miles), some wraps I'd made for a packed lunch, a couple each apples and bananas, a small bottle of juice and a supply of Emma Pooley's flapjack recipe (use grated apple and condensed milk as a binder rather than sugar and butter, and add a supply of raisins). I took plain water and drank less than a litre, at my touring intensity I seem to generate water metabolising fuel and it's stopping for pees more than being thirsty that's a problem.

I was tired at the end, but not trashed, and wasn't stiff the next day (in marked contrast to the day after the initial 40 miler, so getting your legs used to just chugging away hour after hour really does seem to do the job).

Weather was okay, though not perfect. Got drizzled on for about half an hour and the coastal section had a bit of a nasty againsterly, but nothing that decent kit couldn't see off. I carried a waterproof jacket and a set of tools/spares (none of which were needed).

One of the main take-aways was that although I really enjoyed the actual ride, I also enjoyed the training rides a lot. Think of them as part of the enjoyment process and make sure you have fun on those, and the final route just gets to be the icing on the cake.

Pete.

[Ben@Forest]

One thing which I don't think has been mentioned but is worth doing is getting up/starting early. I know it sounds self-evident but psychologically there is nothing like stopping at 9.00 or 9.30am for a spot of breakfast with 25 miles or so already under your belt. At 14mph you've got more than 7 hrs riding - with stops lets say 8½ hours total time - leaving at 9.00 or 10.00am you're always going to feel like you're 'catching up'.

[mjr]

There's more than one way to do it. I can do early starts but I think they're not much fun. If you're doing a group ride, an 8am start easily means getting up at 7am for breakfast (I only ride without eating if compelled by doctor's orders) and that's quite early enough for a fun day. So we start at 8am, ride 40 miles, lunch about noon, set off again before 1pm, ride another 30, stop (it's now after three, so most pubs are open again) for a pie and pint, set off again by half four, ride the last 30, home before 8pm for an easy but filling dinner - a grand day out! (Which sadly I missed this year through illness... oh well, we'll do it again some time.)

[Ben@Forest]

There's more than one way to do it. I can do early starts but I think they're not much fun. If you're doing a group ride, an 8am start easily means getting up at 7am for breakfast (I only ride without eating if compelled by doctor's orders) and that's quite early enough for a fun day.

I suppose it's relative, I'm up for work between 5.30 and 6.00am. Up at 7.00am is a luxury lie-in. Spring to autumn I get up at around 6-ish on Sunday, on the bike by 7-ish and having done between 25 and 28 miles am having coffee at 8.30. I join the club for the club run at 9.00.

[pjclinch]

I chose an 8 am start time for my ride. Plenty of daylight (back on 1st September) but I wanted to be back in good time for something other than going to bed. Didn't start earlier as I wanted to call in at Rohan in St. A's for the very worthwhile Gift Your Gear I had a donation for (and I arrived 10 minutes early for opening as it was, was forced to get coffee and ice cream while I waited...). With a 10 hour total that put midway at a sensible lunchtime, and getting home for a sensible teatime.

Other things to consider are possible traffic issues at rush-hours. I was pleasantly surprised that Perth was entirely benign when I arrived there a little later than was ideal, but depending on where you are it might be prudent to miss some towns/roads at "drive time", just for the sake of pleasantness.

As the nights start to draw in you might want to consider sunrise and sunset. I have dynamo lights on my tourer so I could've gone in the dark had I wanted, but I didn't really want: the scenery is rather better when you can see it. A check of the weather before you set off might cause a budge in departure one way or the other, if it's the difference between a big front arriving or not. I quite deliberately hadn't set a concrete date so I could roll with the weather: as it happens it was good I jumped a week earlier than my notional target, as it was a lot windier on any day I might have been able to go since.

Pete.

[JBoaPB]

I've just started training for the Velo Birmingham next September. Over the last few years I've lost a lot of fitness and gained a lot of weight.

I've completed a few tons in the past so distance isn't worrying but I think it has shocked me how far gone I was after not riding for a bit.

As long as I stick to my plan of short Tue ride, intermediate Fri ride and continually extending my long Sunday I'm sure I'll be fine. I've started with 10 mile rides but I don't think it matters were you start as long as you get there in the end.

[amcycling]

Thanks to all that replied to this thread; it has helped me get started and helped me see that I don't have to worry too much; just get started and that there are lots of ways to get to the goal.

I did my first two hour ride on Saturday and found it surprisingly OK, I thought it would be worse. Worst part for me was the traffic, I'm not confident enough to zip by the side of cars yet so stopped quite a bit each time the traffic built up. Otherwise my worst nemesis at present are inclines, anything 4-5%+ fills me with dread!

I've started off by doing two mid-week rides and am doing a longer weekend ride. I'm pretty sure I won't do the 100 miler until next year with autumn/winter setting in, but that's OK with me, I'm in no rush. For anyone interested I switched to the British Cycling guide as that seemed better suited to where I was starting off from: https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowl ... ing-Plan-0.

Again, thanks to all that replied to this thread.

[mjr]

Well done! The easiest way to deal with gradients is not to look at the % and just keep changing down the gears until you can sustain the ride up the slope - and change down before your pedalling slows too much, if possible, so you can ease off pedal pressure a bit and let the gear change happen more easily.

It's great if that British Cycling plan works for you, but if it doesn't, please remember it's only one particular view of cycling and it gets much more into lycra, formation riding, not eating properly, drinking on the move and bum cream than many cyclists ever do, let alone during the first 8 weeks.

[Vorpal]

I did my first two hour ride on Saturday and found it surprisingly OK, I thought it would be worse. Worst part for me was the traffic, I'm not confident enough to zip by the side of cars yet so stopped quite a bit each time the traffic built up. Otherwise my worst nemesis at present are inclines, anything 4-5%+ fills me with dread!

Well done Just keep at it. Walk them if it's too much. They do get easier as fitness improves.

[MikeF]

Otherwise my worst nemesis at present are inclines, anything 4-5%+ fills me with dread!

Use lower gears and ride up at a pace you can manage.

[landsurfer]

Just start early and take your time, ....unless your planning a time trial.
My son in law rode his first 100 miler in June.
Called for him at 8, poodled along until 1230, cafe stop, ride, ride for another 2 hours.
Coffee and cake at forest park cafe then a gentle ride home.
He didn't know how far we had ridden until we returned to his.
Although the next day he hurt .....
No drama because we just took our time and had a "grand day out".
His longest ride before this one ...14 miles ...his daily commute.

[Phil_Chadwick]

If you "push yourself" to the extent of getting out of breath on the hills, you will get fit quicker.

you'll get fitter to ride up hills. It may not help you ride 100 miles any faster. The key to endurance is training for endurance. if you want to ride PBP, you won't get there by doing intervals. You'll get there from spending ages on a bike at a moderate levels of intensity, building up from 100k to 200k, to 300, 400, 600, then 600s on 2 consecutive weekends etc

Those of us who can ride big mile take it for granted, but there's a lot of training f the body needed to be able to keep turning the pedals for 6, 8 or whatever hours