Active Community : Thread List - Century Ride Training

Looking to start a cycling group in or near Victoria Grove in Riverside Ca

motorcop47 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:29:52 GMT

I am looking to start a cycling group preferably on the weekends near Victoria Grove Ca. If interested contact me via e-mail at motorcop47@yahoo.com.

Tour de Palm Springs is it always sunny?

Jeff3434 — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 06:22:23 GMT

I am a little burned out on rain and century rides. I was told it has never rained during a Tour de Palm Springs.

If this is true it's worth the 850 miles to get there. Can anyone tell me about the elevations, I looked at Google map

and can't tell, it looks flat with lots of mountains surounding the city.

Thanks,

paul

Century ride training plan

KirkDCO — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:20:33 GMT

I found this century ride training plan on this site: http://training.active.com//TransactionManager/viewPlan.do?tpId=5635 and it appears to be exactly what I want. I did my first century last year with in 8 hours and want to improve upon that. The question I have about the plan is related to the various workout times. In the first two weeks the overall workout times seem really short or don't make a lot of sense given the workout.

Day 1 is an efficiency training day with 4-5 sets of up to 1 minute of 1 leg pedalling, then 1-3 minutes easy spinning. this translates to only 20 minutes of work in a 1 hour schedule.

Day 2 is intervals with 4-5 sets of 4 minute intervals with 1 minute rest = 25 minutes for a 1 hour workout.

Day 3 is an endurance day of up to 1.5 hours in Z1-Z2.

Day 4 is another endurace day of up to 2.5 hours in Z1-Z3.

My questions are:

For days 1 and 2, I assume the extra time is spent in warm-up (Z1-Z2?) and cool down (Z1?), correct? If I end up going for an hour and a half or two hours in these, am I risking overtraining?

For days 3 and 4, this still seems like a low level of exertion. I'm reasonably confident I can go longer - should I hold back for now?

I haven't bought the training plan on this site yet as I have the book or pre-order but it is already a month overdue. Perhaps I'm chomping at the bit too much and the real work is yet to come? Are these weeks percevably low exertion specifically as early preparation training?

Thanks for any tips!

-Kirk

Century training plus triathlon

KirkDCO — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:52:06 GMT

I rode my first century ride last year and this season I want to train to improve my time on that same route. My training last year consisted of a few months of building up distances, but no speed work whatsoever. I ended up with an 8 hour finishing time. I found Gale Bernhadt's Level II century training plan (http://training.active.com//TransactionManager/viewPlan.do?tpId=5635) and it seems exactly right for me. The complication is that I'm also doing a few triathlons during the course of the year so I'll need to include some running and swimming. I'm only doing sprint distance and maybe an olympic if I feel spry.

Am I asking too much of myself, or can I reasonably combine the century training plan with some triathlon training??

-Kirk

BTW - here's a link to the ride profile of my target - http://wellsleyarts.com/bike/profile.html

NYC 5 Borough Bike Tour..Advice for a rookie??

spamela28 — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:47:38 GMT

Hi everyone... I have always enjoyed cycling but am new to something organized- like the NYC bike tour on May 3, 2009. The ride is 42 miles. I have been working out (cardio) 3 or 4 times a week -- cycling/elliptical/running for at least 40-50 minutes. Also doing some ab work, and using weights periodically. I should use weights more but having trouble finding the time. I am 29 and at a normal weight. What advice would you give to someone like me? What do I need to be doing now to prepare, and what things should I keep in mind for the day of? What do you recommend I eat? It is a not race, it's just a bike ride, so I am not concerned about the amount of time it takes- I just want to make it to the finish! Thanks.

SF Bay Area (Peninsula): Century Training Program

BikerGirlSJ — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:27:21 GMT

I apologize in advance for the long post. The net of this posting is

that there is a great training program starting in March, 2009 in Mt.

View / Los Altos CA area to help people learn skills, gain strength and

endurance to complete a century ride between Jun 1 - Jul 12. See the

last pargagraph for details. But, here's why I think this program is

great:

In March of 2008 I did not own a bike, and had not ridden any two

wheeled vehicle for more than 10 years and had not been very athletic.

Due to an injury I decided to try cylcing by borrowing a friends road

bike. By May of 2008 I bought my Trek Madone 4.5 WSD and was hooked. I

ended up joining Team in Training to complete the Solvang Century in

November 2008. I finished the 100 very tough, hot miles and did so

strongly. Most of that is due to the strength, conditioning and hill

repeats done by one of the volunteer coaches for our Team in Training

season, Al Painter of INTEGRATE Peformance Fitness (www.integratefitness.com). He is now putting

on a century training program in the spring. The goal will be to get

riders ready for any century event between June 1 - July 12, which

happens to cover the following events near the SF Bay Area: Tahoe

Century, Aids LifeCycle, Sequoia Century, Diabetes Tour de Cure and the LiveStrong Challenge,

to name a few.

I highly recommend the work done by INTEGRATE as I participated in all

of the training sessions put on by INTEGRATE during the Team in

Training series, and it was the only reason I was able to go from not

owning a bike in May to successfully completing a very tough Solvang

century in November. If you know of people who are interested in a

structured program to train for an endurance cycling event, this will

be a great program to get them over the finish line strong. Please

forward this to any of your friends who might be interested.

The training program being set up by this team will be a 12 -16 week

program aimed at building skills, strength and endurance. There will be

an informational meeting on Wednesday January 21, 2009 at 7:30pm at INTEGRATE PERFORMANCE FITNESS, located at 2624 Fayette Dr, Suite D in Mountain View, 94040.

If you're interested or want more information, send an email to Al Painter at weliketobike@integratefitness.com.

Cheers,

BikerGirlSJ

Riders Needed

Robgil — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:26:58 GMT

I am presently looking for cyclist who are REALLY interested in continued century training. The new season begins shortly and it would be great to compeate as a group in the century rides in our area. If anyone in the Los Angeles area is interested reply and we can work out the details. Hopefully, we could get from 5 to 10 interested riders and start training before the first of the year?

I need help!

Linda Borgmeyer — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:04:54 GMT

Hi, I am training for the MS ride in St. Augustine on Sept. 20,21st . I am on the fence as to which distance I should do. I REALLY want to do the 172 miles (two days) but I am not sure how to best train for it. This is what I can do currently. I ride 52 miles Sat, 52 miles Sunday at a 18-20 mph pace. I do shorter rides during the week. 10 miles weds., 15 Thursday and 22 Friday. I am comfortable at the 18-20 mph for each distance. I ride with a group on Saturdays and alone the rest of the week. I don't want to blow out and not be able to complete the ride so picking the correct distance for my level of performance is key I think. Any suggestions? Thanks Linda G

Know of any Century Training routines?

animegmrgrl — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:50:17 GMT

Hi there,

I'm hoping someone can help me out here. I'm looking for a Cycling program that can help my husband, Jason, train for a Century in October. He's done 2 centuries before and went into them stone cold and wants to do it right this time. I've looked all over the net and I've found a few...big thing is I don't want to have to pay $40.00 just to get a training schedule. Can anyone help me out or point me in some direction? Thanks!

Century Ride Question

Anthony_All3 — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:24:05 GMT

Hello,

Has anyone participated in a century ride and used a time trial bike? Is this typically frowned upon or even dis-allowed?

-Anthony

Lessons from your first century?

FinAddict — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 03:26:12 GMT

I just had to know I could do it before I had to next month, so I found a nice 15 mile loop and struck out on my 1st self-SAGged century.

A saddle sore finally ended the agony in my feet, hips, sholders and neck at 75 miles, so I "faild" this time.

A few lessons learned-

Don't rush off at 22 just because the wind is at your back and you CAN. Pace yourself from the start because you may need the energy later.

I didn't need saddle lotion where I put most of it. I needed it on my sit bones and vicinity, NOT on front where it actually oozed thru my shorts a bit. Next time I'll remember to put it on the pad first instead of slathering it on wherever I can reach while after suiting up.

Gels seemed to do little for my endurance and I really got tired after 3. Bars were better... but NO more chocolate, ever lol.

Water is best for me with a little sports drink at about 3 to 1 ratio.

Not sure what I can do about the hip, neck & shoulder pain in 3 weeks, but I'll at least be aware of my posture.

Otherwise I was strong enough to have continued. I did 20 this morning slow and felt great except for the saddle sore (no broken skin yet). I'l rest 3 days and continue my preparation routine as planned.

How about your lessons learned from the first big mile rides?