So I entered the Dragon Ride....

JesseD

Hi all,

In a moment of madness I entered this years Dragon Ride! and to make matters worse I entered the long version too!!! This is where my problem starts, it's now halfway through March and the longest ride I have done is about 40 miles, the long Dragon Ride is 115 miles!

To add to my woes I am not exactly the best climber in the world and weigh in at approx 16stone at the moment, I am dieting and would like to be closer to 14stone by the event. I have also been without a bike since December and only have been back on the road for a wekk or so, so I don't particulary have a great base fitness either.

At present I am limited to riding solely on a Saturday and a Sunday and doing spin classes and trying to run during the week, but I am now worried that I have bitten off more than I could chew, so my question is do I have a hope in hell in getting fit enough to complete this ride and hopefully in a reasonable time??

What do you guys think is this a bridge to far, can I get fit enough with just weekend rides and some gym work, spin classes and runs during the week? any advices or training tips you can suggest?

All help welcome.

Cheers

JesseD

softlad

Time on the bike is key, so if you can drop some of your gym, running or spinning sessions and get out on the roads instead, I would do so. All I can suggest is getting in as many 3-5 hour rides as you can, combined with some steady hill work. If it comes to the worst, you can always bail out and take the shorter 78m route if necessary...

JesseD

I'd love to get out more in the week if I could, I can't commute to work by bike as my other half works at the same place as me and needs a lift in (she doesn't drive and doesn't ride a bike). When the nights get a bit lighter I will try and get out in the evening more but it is a pain as I don't get home till 6.00pm-6.30pm.

I was considering getting some half tidy lights and doing hills reps 2 times a week in the evenings, there's some pretty decent well lit hills near work so I could drag my sorry backside up them 5 or 6 times a session. I am not confident rising around in the dark in the lanes round by me (Bristol) as it's like a rac track sometimes.

I could probably do something like this:

Monday : 45 min spin class at lunchtime
Tuesday : Hill reps for 1.5 hours
Wednesday : Rest
Thursday : Hill reps for 14.5 hours
Friday : 1 hour run or rest (as I feel)
Saturday : 3-4 hour bike (longer as I get fitter)
Sunday : 3-4 hour bike (longer as I get fitter)

softlad

'14.5 hours' of hill reps should do the trick..

richa

Jesse,

Do that from now 'til June and you will breeze it. That programme looks great. As we get into May I would reduce one of Sat/Sun and increase the other so that you have done a couple of 5 hour rides. The adrenalin, the atmosphere, riding in a pack will also contribute to you getting round.

Last year my training didn't go to plan. I effectively didn't start until 1st week in May, at which point I weighed 15.5 St. Anyway, managed to complete the Dragon Ride (120 miles) in a respectable 7ish hrs.

It's a great event to do so, go for it. If you had been planning to lose a little weight for a while then what better way to motivate yourself. I'll be on the start line myself for the 3rd year in a row (and like you I intend to have shed 1.5 stone before then).

[By the way, you can always decide on the day to do the shorter route. The route splits after the first two major climbs and you don't have to decide until you get to this point.]

stjohnswell

The light nights will soon be here and if you can get out for a 2-3hr ride at a pretty honest pace during the week it'll be a useful addition to your plan.

You're training, you're taking it seriously, you're going to do fine.

chrisw12

Wow We've got some optimism on this forum!

Loose 2st in how many months?

Ride 14.5 hours after work?

Complete 120mile ride on a training plan initially consisting of weekend rides.

Anyway my very constructive advice, I'd ditch the other half or tell her to walk to work, it'll probably do her good. It's obvious she's holding you back


I'm only joking, go for it, what's the worse that can happen?

dave milne

You've got loads of time.

I went from almost being sick at the top of a steep hill in mid april last year to finding the dragon ride + another 8 miles through missing a turn almost easy, I had enerygy to burn at the end. I've always been skinny so weight's not a problem for me but you have plenty of time. Just build up the miles slowly, you need endurance first, lots of riding within that zone will give you a great base.

I didn't think the hills in the dragon ride were hard at all, apart from one short bit they rarely went over 7% so it was very easy to get in a good rhythm

JesseD

Right I have ditched the OH and quit my job so I can train full time (if I did that I would be writing this from the grave).

My OH has joined weight watchers (or aft fighters as I call it) so by default so have I as no fatty foods are allowed in the house now, the benifit of this is she actually makes me a packed lunch every day which is great! I'll be climbing like Contador by the summer

I have also negotiated 1 day where I can ride to work which is 10 miles each way, however if I am clever I can extend this by some margin either way to about 25 miles each way with some hills included.

My week in training shoudl look like this:

Monday : Spin class and core work at lunchtime
Tuesday : Hill reps
Wednesday : Cycle to and from work
Thursday : Spin class and core work at lunchtime, hill reps in the evening
Friday : Rest
Saturday: 2-3 hour ride
Sunday : 3-4 hour ride (building time and distance as I get fitter)

I think that should do it (unless anyone has any recommendations for stuff I could do better)

JesseD

double post

Poulsy

To go from what you currently to your new workout, where you only have 1 day of rest and no easy days is a big jump, so add stuff gradually or you will risk burning out.

JesseD

Poulsy wrote:

To go from what you currently to your new workout, where you only have 1 day of rest and no easy days is a big jump, so add stuff gradually or you will risk burning out.

Good call, didn't think of that, probably best to wipe out the Monday session and give my legs time to recover after the weekend