century ride

[SIDIscarpe4]

Hello all,

I've been a member of this site for awhile but rarely have posted since I'm a student athlete and between practices and classes I don't have a ton of time.

Anyway, with swimming just ending I like to look towards the summer for cycling and my offseason conditioning (coach puts us on a summer weight lifting regimen). This summer I would really like to do some century rides, but I don't know how to take up training for such a thing, and was just curious for some input from some of the more experienced riders from this website.

The end of last summer was when i started to get more into riding, the longest i had gone was 35 miles averaging right around 20mph. So to do 100miles is kind of a big step for me but it's something i'd really like to accomplish.

So any information you can provide me with is greatly appreciated.

Thanks ahead of time,
Josh

 

[dhk]

To build endurance, the usual formula is to do a longer ride every week, adding about 5 miles a week until you're doing 80-85 miles in training. If you start now, you should be ready for a century in mid-May. Don't worry about keeping a 20 mph pace as you build up the miles; 15-17 mph is a good pace for endurance. It may feel like a slow and easy pace for the first 50 miles, but I'm pretty sure it won't by mile 80 of your first century.

With the speed you've got already, you could probably shortcut this schedule a good bit and still finish the 100 miles. But steady endurance training will definitely reduce the pain involved. If you enjoy your first century, you may want to do it again.