Advice on training for 70 mile charity ride

FreeSpirit99

Hi,
After a search I could not find any posts that quite hit the spot, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I`m a newbie, and have set myself a challenge of riding a 70mile road cycle in aid of charity in May 2010. :shock:

How would I best go about training for this?!

I don’t plan on smashing any records and would like to finish and not be completely last!

About me: I am a 30(ish!) male, low grade gym member - 3 times a week and 30 to 40 mins cardio work a session (running, x-trainer and cycling)..

My bike: At the moment a bog standard Subway-2 hybrid... However I feel for 70 miles a road bike would be much more suitable?

Thanks in advance!
Steve...

John C.

Hi welcome on board. Training for a 70 miler. My advice would be to ride often and ride easy, if you can't hold a conversation at the speed you're ridding then you're going too fast. Get lots of miles in and increase your time in the saddle, get to know what works for you, what to eat what not to drink ( coke blows me right up ) what clothing to take. Basically ride, ride and enjoy. The trouble will be when you've done 70 you'll want to do 100

sicknote

Do as above but as long as you dont try to push to hard and if you dont get as much training in as you would like ( not recommend, do try to get in as much as you can as you will enjoy it more ).

I did London to Cambridge last year after 10 years off the bike, granted it did take me 7 hours ( it was also 32c that day ) and when back to work the next day ( unlike most of my friends that did it too ), this was also on a 18 year old hybrid.

Did it this year in 3 1/2 hours ( 4 hour 8 minutes with stops ) but that was on a road bike and a lot more training, so with the ride to the start it worked out about 63 miles.

By the way I am 42 in jan.

Good luck with it.

carl_p

Well you've got plenty of time to rack up some miles between now and May. If you really want to be prepared gradually increase your mileage so that by 2 to 3 three weeks before the event you can comfortably ride for 50 or 60 miles. You can easily wing an extra 10 miles say on the day and doesn't take away from the sense of achievement. March and April, when the weather improves, is when you really need to get stuck in.

My first long ride was a 50 mile charity run which I completed on a mountain bike with slightly less chunky tyres, so a hybrid will be well up for the task. HOWEVER on the ride you'll will see more racing/road bikes then you have ever seen in your life and you will want one. I'd get one now and enjoy it on the ride!!

Either way before the ride make sure your bike is well serviced, has decent tyres and you know to change a puncture.

Above all, enjoy. Charity rides are absolutely fantastic.

Bobbinogs

Hi there, try this link since the pdf on training looks to be pretty good. I was planning to do a 100M next year and follow this...but then again I am already halfway through the training programme because I couldn't wait!

http://www.action.org.uk/downloads/225886

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I cannot offer advice on the training, but I can offer a my experiences...

I did ~45 miles sponsered ride on the weekend near St. Georges Day this year, with no true preparation, besides my 11 commute each day. Until that day, the longest ride I can recall doing was ~30 miles on the same organised event in 2006.

My leg strength vanished on the return leg of the journey, after ~30 miles, despite drinking water and eating (albeit bbq food) at the half way point. This was after ~2 hours cycling time (with another hour at the bbq). For the rest of the journey, I was reduced to my lowest gears (36-21/23), in order to get home!

My back injury from summer 2008 raised its ugly head again and haunted me for the following six months. My guess is that it was a combination of my tiredness towards the end of my mission, exaggerating my poor core muscle strength, plus the way the Felt F5C was setup. A long ride is almost bound to show up any weaknesses in the fitting/ fettling of your normal "sprint" setup.

Other than that, enjoy the challenge!

John C.

Just out of intrest wich 70 mile charity ride are you doing ? If it's the Great Yorkshire Bikeride make sure you do a bit of hill work too.

MichaelW

The greatest difficulty in a 70 mile ride is remaining comfortable for the duration.
Riding smaller distances every day will condition your body to the stresses of riding. You will learnt what position is most comfortable.
Once you have a base of a month or two of daily riding, (and spring is around the corner) you can start to build up longer distances gradually.
I suggest that you try commuting to work or using the bike for local errands.
A subway 2 should be adaquate for a 70mile ride

gregster10217

Cannot offer you specific advice, but I did a 50 mile sportive in September after returning to cycling in June this year. I basically just got out there as much as I could and gradually built up my distances. Started out at 10 mile rides and worked up to a max of 33miles before the big 50. Struggled with the last hill mind you and had to walk some of it, but only realised that the front chainrings were 52/42, no where near a compact set up. I'll be doing it again next year, on a new bike and I intend to flatten that hill!!!
Just get out and ride as much as you can.

mattward1979

After being a complete amature cyclist for 6 months (10 mile round trips to work and uni), I signed up for the London to Brighton ride and completed the 50ish mile ride in just over 4 hours, having been a wuss and walked ditchling beacon.

This year with a road bike, I intend the beacon to be my bitch and to be drinking a massively homoerotic drink within 3.5 hours!

for a 70 miler, I doubt you would need a specific training regimen, other than getting used to being in your saddle for long periods without bits of you going numb or getting sore... Your leg muscles seem to adapt pretty fast and go a nice tingly cold kind of numb once you settle into a rhythym, and only wake up to scream abuse at you when a hill turns up on the course.

Eat well the night before, and take plenty of fluids.

And most of all, good luck with the fund raising

dru

I can only say what I've done.

31, over weight, had a gym membership - lost a stone over 6 months used to do 30-60min cardio on a bike in the gym

Bought a bike went out for 10 miles. tweeked my positioning from what my body was telling me.
Next weekend went out 20 miles. tweeked my positioning from what my body still told me.
Next week rode 60 miles. no problems.

You'll do it easily - no worries

FreeSpirit99

Hi everyone - thanks for the great advice and reassurance..

I`ll be attempting the Pilgrims Hospice, tri Hospice Cycle Challenge in Kent... So thankfully flat!

It seems to be no easy way of doing it but getting lots and lots saddle time in... Which I`m actually looking forward to - when the weather picks up!

Once again - thanks for the great advice you've given me the confidence to get training and undertake this challenge!

I have a sneaky suspicion I`ll be here again asking more advice - especially on setup and maybe the right road bike for me!

Cheers,
Steve...

Lou_m

I did a training camp in Majorca this year. The furthest I had ridden before was 60 miles with 3 days off the bike before any more exertion. The first day was 65 miles, second was 75, third was 100. The ex pro who led the group said cycling is easy. He gave us 3 words of wisdom. Endurance, Endurance, Endurance. Just get out and ride your bike. Try and find a local club or shop ride, its so much easier going out with a group and the help and advice will be invaluable. I go out through the winter with the local group and it is great motivation to get out when its a bit cold and damp. With the amount that you have been doing in the gym, I'm sure just spending some time on the bike will bring you up to scratch in no time.

FreeSpirit99

Hello!!
Many thanks for your help back in December on this topic. The snow earlier in the year put a stop to any ideas of early training.

My first training session - a measly 15 mile ride on the Subway II was a killer. From then on it got easier, longer rides and a few cheeky days off work to do some long runs...

Last week I did a 74 mile ride with a nice few hills and the actual charity ride is next weekend and I`m confident it'll be no worries.

Some thing I learnt on this brilliant few months, from experience and your tips, which may be of some use to someone else looking to prepare:
1) Tyres... I use Schwabble City Jet tyres, and they seem to be 3 to 4 mph 'better' than the stock semi-nobly tyres.

2) Clip in pedals: Great but falling off the first time you forget you're clipped in is priceless.

3) 1 hour breaks: Quick drink and a munch worked a treat for me. I liked GoAhead yogurt bars.

4) Breakfast... It was a real killer if I headed out without fuelling up first.

5) Energy drinks – amazingly effective towards the end of a long run to wake the legs up if they are fading… However the fix doesn’t seem to last too long.

Thank you all once again for your hints and tips…

bianchi bates

Not being funny mate its only 70 miles, i would have done that on a chopper for a cheap pint and even cheaper woman when I was 20. Now i would do it for a cheap cardigan and a comfy pair of slippers.

look i will help you out with some of my top training tips.

1. Get a bit drunk, ( i walked 17 miles home drunk)
2. Convince your self that you will get a million quid after 70 miles
3. Whilst riding imagin your riding in the tour de france
4. Convince your self Cheral Cole is waiting for you at the other end
5. Drink 18 cans of redbull (let it go flat or it will blow your belly up)
6. Just tell people you did it, post a couple of photos on face book setting out and a few at the finish, deleat the ones of you driving between these two photo shoots.

Just stick to my training plan, failing that bung me a tenner and i will knock out 70 for you after work next thursday. ok good luck.

Corporate Ascents

Just build up your miles and time spent on the bike. If you new to cycling start by doing 20 miles at a steady pace on the flat and build up to 40 or so, then move it up again, when you can do 50 without in bothering you - you will be able to do a 70 mile charity ride.

Keep hydrated and if you don't plan on stopping some energy gels are a good idea.