I've been asked to do a cycle for charity. The bike ride is 120 miles on a very hilly course and I've got less than 2 weeks to train for it. My exercise background is that I run 30 miles a week, on most weeks. Some weeks I might skip a run and do a bike ride. That ride would normally be 25 miles. Today I went out on the bike and did 40 miles on a hilly course. I felt OK except for the worst hills, but I wouldn't fancy doing the distance twice more today. What kind of training schedule should I be looking at over the time I have left. I don't want to overtrain and be drained on the day but I do want to perform to my best.
Also, can anyone recommend a better setup, the one that is on my bike seems designed for going downhill on straight roads, at least that's what it felt like today 🙂. The current cassette has 15-20 teeth, 6 speed. On the front are 42 & 52 tooth chainrings.
"Iano" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I've been asked to do a cycle for charity. The bike ride is 120 miles on a very hilly course and I've got less than 2 weeks to train for it. My exercise background is that I run 30 miles a week, on most weeks. Some weeks I might skip a run and do a bike ride. That ride would normally be 25 miles. Today I went out on the bike and did 40 miles on a hilly course. I felt OK except for the worst hills, but I wouldn't fancy doing the distance twice more today. What kind of training schedule should I be looking at over the time I have left. I don't want to overtrain and be drained on the day but I do want to perform to my best.
Also, can anyone recommend a better setup, the one that is on my bike seems designed for going downhill on straight roads, at least that's what it felt like today 🙂. The current cassette has 15-20 teeth, 6 speed. On the front are 42 & 52 tooth chainrings.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Ian
eeeks...two weeks to get to a point that is triple the longest ride to date? Not sure how much training you could do to absorb the training and be ready in two weeks. I might suggest getting a cassette which is hill friendly. Could you perhaps rent a bike from a local bike shop that will give you some extra gears? 12 speeds isn't too hill friendly. Aside from that, I would suggest going long this weekend. Nice a slow, don't hammer the hills. I would personally bike 80 miles Saturday and then 30 on Sunday. Or split it up to be 70 40. But make sure you are rested for the charity day. And don't get caught up with anyone who wants to go hard and hammer at the beginning. Just take it nice and slow.
Yikes, two weeks is not much time to go from zero to 120 *hilly* miles. As has been posted, a more "hill friendly" cassette would be better...something along the lines of a 12-25 in the rear, and perhaps if it can be done switch from the 42 to a 39 up front. Probably not practical at this point, so the other best advice would be to take the ride itself very, very slow.
Good luck.
Mike C
Iano said:
I've been asked to do a cycle for charity. The bike ride is 120 miles on a very hilly course and I've got less than 2 weeks to train for it. My exercise background is that I run 30 miles a week, on most weeks. Some weeks I might skip a run and do a bike ride. That ride would normally be 25 miles. Today I went out on the bike and did 40 miles on a hilly course. I felt OK except for the worst hills, but I wouldn't fancy doing the distance twice more today. What kind of training schedule should I be looking at over the time I have left. I don't want to overtrain and be drained on the day but I do want to perform to my best.
Also, can anyone recommend a better setup, the one that is on my bike seems designed for going downhill on straight roads, at least that's what it felt like today 🙂. The current cassette has 15-20 teeth, 6 speed. On the front are 42 & 52 tooth chainrings.
If you have a heart rate monitor and are used to your training zones for running then suggest you use that to make sure you take it easy, both on your long training rides and the day. Also, stay in as easy a gear as you can and keep the legs turning quickly. Going in a hard gear and bashing away will wear you out a lot quicker. Trust me, however easy it feels at first you are going to hurt by 120 miles!
More general tips - you are going to burn a lot of calories (4000-5000+?) and do a lot of sweating so you will need to drink a lot of fluid and replace as many of those calories as you can on the go - don't know what support is available on the ride but if it's hot you may need to drink >1 litre of fluid every hour. Have a big carbohydrate meal the night before as well - lots of pasta or something.
Thanks for the advice guys. I got a new chainring which has made all the difference on the climbs. Since my original post I've clocked over 200 miles so I'm actually feeling quietly confident. The only worry is that longest ride to date is still only 70 miles, 50 miles short of target ! Less than a week to go and I'm looking forward to it.
Well, don't try to make up for that in the next few days...sounds like you're on track to finish----just remember to take it very easy in the early miles, fight that urge to go hard because you might feel good and strong. Save the effort for the last few hours!
Very good luck to you.
Mike C
Iano said:
Thanks for the advice guys. I got a new chainring which has made all the difference on the climbs. Since my original post I've clocked over 200 miles so I'm actually feeling quietly confident. The only worry is that longest ride to date is still only 70 miles, 50 miles short of target ! Less than a week to go and I'm looking forward to it.
