1 year training plan to help me work upto 50 mile event

[u1bd2005]

Hi guys, I'm from North East England, UK, and I'm looking to put together a training plan to help me work my way upto riding a 50mile event (Durham Big Ride) next year.

Obviously its too late to train for this years as its pretty soon on the calendar, but with all the cycling recently, and the fact i've always liked cycling in my free time and occasionally to work and back. I decided I'd set a target.

So what tips would you give me for training to ride a 50mile event? I can train a few days a week most weeks (fitted around my work) and also have free gym access as I volunteer to run a gym in spare time too.

So access to exercise bike, weights, treadmill, rowing machine etc...

Can probably manage around 8-15miles atm without too much difficulty.

 

[Dr Lodge]

50 miles should be quite achievable if you take it easy, however cycling 50 miles at some kind of pace is another matter.

I would just get out on your bike and ride for distance without over doing the pace. Then once you can cycle say 30 miles or so, start upping your pace to improve strength and endurance.

What's your age, height & weight, and what kind of pace are you cycling for 8-15 miles. What prevents you from cycling further?

 

[u1bd2005]

Originally Posted by Dr Lodge .

50 miles should be quite achievable if you take it easy, however cycling 50 miles at some kind of pace is another matter.

I would just get out on your bike and ride for distance without over doing the pace. Then once you can cycle say 30 miles or so, start upping your pace to improve strength and endurance.

What's your age, height & weight, and what kind of pace are you cycling for 8-15 miles. What prevents you from cycling further?

timing for the distances i have no idea, i usually only do it out of boredom or just to relax so never timed myself, as for the reason i've never tried pushing myself further, i guess its just because i never want to go too far incase i get lost or my bike breaks.

Age 22, weight about 76kg, height, about 5'10' maybe little over, not 100% sure.

the reason i've chosen the 50 mile durham big ride as my target too is that its less of a race and more a fun event, so i can just cycle it at my own pace

I really need a new bike tbh though, 2 bikes, 1 the pedal comes off occasionally, no matter how much i tighten it, 2nd bike makes a continuous annoying clicking noise when i ride it, i think its the chain, my dad thnks it may be the ball bearings came lose inside nearr the pedal. both **** cheap bikes though tbh.

 

[swampy1970]

I remember decades ago racing in that neck of the woods and remember lots of short sharp very steep hills... something I was never really good at.

Try using some loctite threadlocking compound as a bandaid for your pedal woes. Remember that 'righty tighty' doesn't apply to both pedals - if it does then you've cross threaded the pedals. Loctite 'blue' threadlock is a semi permenant solution - the red compound is very tough to remove afterwards. You could pick it up at any car parts store like Halfords. DIY places will likely sell it too.

Your first goal - make sure your position on the bike is about right. You can get it roughly correct by following guidelines on many websites. I like the info given by Steve Hogg - google Steve Hogg bikefitting. It's a long read but a worthwhile one.

Your second goal is to become comfortable with riding for a few hours. You need to figure you how to eat and drink on the bike to do this. Two big water bottles will help and each should take about 90 minutes to go through. Between the food and drink you should be looking at about 200 to 250Kcal per hour of mostly carbohydrates. The easiest way to get upto that goal is go out and ride for a month or so and then start to work on something a little more structured. Go out and have fun.

When you're out on the bike, take note of how you feel on it. There shouldn't be any excessive pressure on your hands or nether regions. It's a balancing act of how far back and how high the saddle needs to be and how far away and how far down the handlebars need to be. Moving one effects the balance for the other. You can get it in the ballpark fairly quick - but that final tweaking can take a while.

 

[lanierb]

At 22yo/76kg/5'10" you could probably ride it with no training at all. Sure, you'd be hurting for a couple of days afterward, but I bet you could make it. I say HTFU and do it this year!


Edit: just googled it. You have until 9/9. Do it this year for sure! If you want it to be easy do 3 rides per week between now and then, two 90 minutes and one on the weekend for 2-3 hrs. Borrow or buy a decent bike.

 

[u1bd2005]

not totally down to the training, when i do it i also want to do it for charity and a month isnt enough to sort out all the sponsorships etc...

and fitness wise, im not the fittest, my legs are the weakest part of my body. Definetly wouldnt be able to train in a month imo, and dont want to rush things.

Its not just doing it, but i want to do it and enjoy it, if i push myself too much i dont think i'd enjoy it as much.

 

[swampy1970]

Why not do it for personal fulfullmet and unjoyment? If you manage to get around the course then you know what surprises are instore for next year and as soon as next years event is announced start with the charity side of things then.

Most folks can ride 50 miles. Chuck in some steep climbs and things get a bit harder as long as you don't force yourself to ride up the hills fast.

The biggest gains often happen initially, if you ride regularly.

 

[u1bd2005]

Theres little chance I'd be able to get a new bike by then as all my money atm is going on driving lessons, I may try and find a few smaller events to do in the run up to next years though, anyone know any other events in the north east area?

 

[swampy1970]

Originally Posted by u1bd2005 .


I really need a new bike tbh though, 2 bikes, 1 the pedal comes off occasionally, no matter how much i tighten it, 2nd bike makes a continuous annoying clicking noise when i ride it, i think its the chain, my dad thnks it may be the ball bearings came lose inside nearr the pedal. both **** cheap bikes though tbh.

If it's any help, I started racing on a cheap Peugeot. It served me well and was used as my training bike for most of the year for the following couple of years until I broke the frame. I was a 10 speed (5 speed at the back) with cheap plastic rear gears, steel bars and stem and a saddle that should only be seen in a landfill. The wheels were chromed steel and a death trap in the wet...

... but I ended up on the second year of training racking up over 10,000 miles on the darned thing - and that wasn't including the miles of racing at the weekend and some midweek events. A bike doesn't stop you from riding if you really want too.

As for your bikes.

Threadlock with stop the pedal from coming loose.

Loose ball bearings can be felt by grabbing the pedal at the front and the back and pushing one end in and pulling the other end out. If you feel lots of play the pedal is f--ked. Some pedals have adjustable bearings but these days most don't. Take the pedals off the other bike and see what the threads look like on the pedal and if they look OK, use those to see if the 'click' goes away.

The easy way to see if the chain is the culprit is by seeing if the 'click' happens at different times in different gears. If you ride in the biggest gear, see if the click happens at the same point of every pedal revolution. Ride at the same speed in a few gears smaller. Does the click happen more often or at the same interval. If more often it's likely something to do with the chain. If the same interval then it either the bottom bracket or the pedal. Do this test in the saddle but when riding hard.

 

[swampy1970]

Originally Posted by u1bd2005 .

Theres little chance I'd be able to get a new bike by then as all my money atm is going on driving lessons, I may try and find a few smaller events to do in the run up to next years though, anyone know any other events in the north east area?

The only event that I can remember off the top of my head in that area is a race. Not sure if they do it anymore but I rode it the first couple of years they did it back in the 90's... and too be honest it's a b=stard hard course to race. I hope they still do it because it was a fun challenging time trial that was different from the usual dragstrip type event on the fast roads up there.

The Teesdale Mountain time trial. There's a hill near the far turn that you descend down on the way out and come back up on the way back and it's silly steep. I remember the first year I rode it with the original Campag Victory calipers and about **** my shorts... I think it was called Unthank Bank. No thanks required to the event organizer for putting that 'wall of death' in there...

 

[swampy1970]

Originally Posted by u1bd2005 .

Hi guys, I'm from North East England, UK, and I'm looking to put together a training plan to help me work my way upto riding a 50mile event (Durham Big Ride) next year.

Obviously its too late to train for this years as its pretty soon on the calendar, but with all the cycling recently, and the fact i've always liked cycling in my free time and occasionally to work and back. I decided I'd set a target.

So what tips would you give me for training to ride a 50mile event? I can train a few days a week most weeks (fitted around my work) and also have free gym access as I volunteer to run a gym in spare time too.

So access to exercise bike, weights, treadmill, rowing machine etc...

Can probably manage around 8-15miles atm without too much difficulty.

Going back to the original post...

No weights, ride the bike. During gym time, ride their bike. If you look like a pasty white pencil but have designs of meeting (and having fun with women) do some weights. Other than that, ride bikes... Weights don't help you on the bike unless you have some issues that are better solved by a health professionals advice.

As said already - most folk can ride 50 miles. It's really not that hard. Ride, drink, ride, drink, ride, eat, ride, drink, rinse and repeat. The effort required is probably more than you're used to but you'll likely surprise yourself and finish. You might be f--ked the day after but if the ride is on a Sunday, you'll be feeling dead chuffed at the days end but hurting till Wednesday and then what? The pain goes away and you'll still be chuffed to bits.

Maybe watching re-runs of Byker Grove and eating the most excellent greasy-spoon full English breakfasts are in your future instead.

Where there's a will, there's a way. Enter it. Do it.

Next year I expect you to do the Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge and come back telling us that one lap wasn't enough...

 

[u1bd2005]

Thought the leg press on the weights machines would help with cycling, as my leg muscles are probably the weakest part of my body.

Also, with my job having me on my feet 4/8 hours a shift, I dont think it'd be wise to totally knack my body for a few days but i might try and push myself over the next few days/weeks see what i'm capable of, if all goes well who knows day off tomorrow and wednesday so gonna try and push myself, go for nearer to 25/30 miles hopefully.

But im still young so see no hurry in entering before i feel personally ready, which I dont think is now, unless next few days go really well.

Want to do it properly when I do do it, not feel like i've rushed it, I wanna train myself, get a better bike, raise money for charity and hopefully a decent finish, and most of all have fun

 

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by u1bd2005 .

Thought the leg press on the weights machines would help with cycling, as my leg muscles are probably the weakest part of my body.

The weights won't help one iota toward the cycling. They will however help you look better at the beach, shore up muscle imbalances, and improve bone density - a neccessity to a healthy old age.

 

[swampy1970]

Originally Posted by u1bd2005 .

Thought the leg press on the weights machines would help with cycling, as my leg muscles are probably the weakest part of my body.

Also, with my job having me on my feet 4/8 hours a shift, I dont think it'd be wise to totally knack my body for a few days but i might try and push myself over the next few days/weeks see what i'm capable of, if all goes well who knows day off tomorrow and wednesday so gonna try and push myself, go for nearer to 25/30 miles hopefully.

But im still young so see no hurry in entering before i feel personally ready, which I dont think is now, unless next few days go really well.

Want to do it properly when I do do it, not feel like i've rushed it, I wanna train myself, get a better bike, raise money for charity and hopefully a decent finish, and most of all have fun

When do you think those sparrow legs last saw the gym? I'm seen more meat of a chicken leg but the lad rides damned fast and with his increased endurance training he's gone from damned fast over 4km to fast for many many miles...

You've probably guessed I'm not a sit around on my hands kinda guy when it comes to a ride. I find it's better to go out and give it whatever you can now and see what happens so when it comes to d-day next year you know what you're up against. Plus... you'll probably finish this year anyway and you'll wonder what all the fuss is about.

Personally, I feel your topic should have been, 1 year training plan to help me work upto a 150 mile event. You're still young so goals are much easier to achieve...

 

[u1bd2005]

You know what, ur right, gonna see if i can get the day off work to do it this year, lifes short why the hell not xD.

 

[swampy1970]

That's the spirit.

 

[danfoz]

Excellent! 50 miles is not 100 and is certainly easily doable with just a few weeks of regular rides 1-2 hours in length (3x or 4x/week). As sombody above indicated someone young and in good health could probably wrangle it without much training and just be sore for a few days after. Don't psyche yourself out. I personally like the saying (from a pretty bad movie with Hopkins and Baldwin) "If one man can do it, another man can do it". Good luck!

 

[jpr95]

In 2010, I got back on the bike after many years of hiatus, and when I was in the worst shape of my life. I've always been fairly slim, but when I look at photos from Christmas of 2009, I think, "where the heck did that gut come from"? I was 6' tall and weighed in at about 190 with about a 35" waist. I probably couldn't run 2 blocks without risk of passing out.

For February and March I rode the exercise bike, starting with 20 min every other day, working my way up to 60 min, using its hardest programs (doubling them to get 40 or 60 minutes). Then, when the weather got a little warmer, I got my old bike out and started riding 15 miles or so a couple times a week (all I had time for, except for 30 miles once on a weekend).

I rode a total of less than 200 miles before early May, when I went on a 7-day, 360-mile tour. The first day was 55 miles, and I had never ridden more than 30 miles in a day at that point. I got it done, not fast, and I hurt like heck that night--didn't sleep at all. Day 2 was 71 miles, but after a good meal that night and a solid 8 hours of sleep, I didn't care that it rained for the first 1.5 hours of riding the next day. By the end of the week, I was definitely tired and my legs were jelly, but I felt like I could do anything at that point.

Just ride at a pace you can handle. Once you're warmed up (half-hour or so), if you're breathing heavy or you can feel your heart rate is pretty high, you won't be able to maintain that pace for long. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids, and make sure you're taking in 200-300 calories per hour also (I drink Gatorade while I ride, which gets me close to that--it's 50 calories per 8 oz.--32 oz per hour is 200 calories).