Training tips

dsmiff

Thought I'd add on here as well:

Last year me and my son (who was 10 at the time) rode a 100 mile charity ride (with about 2000m of climbs).

They have asked my son to do some PR for the event and are planning to set-up a website with some hints and tips for training.

We plan to do a couple of road rides but to be honest don't really have a specific plan, other than the fact we ride daily (or if not riding do some form of sporting activity, football, running etc.), we ride on both Saturday and Sunday on a 1 hr 40min MTB ride (no stops), he rode the ride comfortably last year, having to wait for me most of the time, and only struggled with about 5 miles to go (not that I was with him at this point).

I guess my hints and tips would be around regular excises, good eating and also mental attitude, in fact I've always told my kids that the brain is the most impartant part of cycling. I guess this is the reason they never give up when going up hills and stuff (in fact I remember one of them going back down a hill when the back wheel slipped and he had to stop, just so he could say he'd ridden it!)

Think they want a top 10 tips, I think it will be aimed a casual cyclists as they have a 15 mile and 50 mile option.

Please has anyone any ideas.

THANKS

Mike Healey

Is the training for you?

Since he seems to have coped without any specific training last year, he's obviously got the "right stuff". However:

1. Get regular and gradually increasing longer rides in (only 1 per weekend)
2. Include some harder efforts within the rides (he can wait for you at the tops of hills) once he's used to each increased distance
3. Watch carefully for signs of having overdone it a bit (more than usual irritability, poor sleep patterns, unwillingnes to go out on the bike with you - never had kids, so I assume that you can tell the difference between this and normal childhood ups and downs
4 Pursuant (love that word) to (3) make sure he has sufficient time for fun and recovery and favourite mtb ride routes
5. Make sure he does other normal kids physical activities/other sports
6. Do some secret turbo training yourself in order to avoid public humiliation

Good luck

dsmiff

Thanks Mike, to be honest he could do the ride now if he wanted, we didn't do anything specfic last year, other than a REALLY hilly 100km route that was actually harder than the 100 mille ride we did a couple of months later!!

Found a few tips to do with bike set-up, suitable clothing which I think would be useful for other riders.
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4014

I guess the reason he is able to do this is regular exercise (not just cycling - only do that at the weekend!), we ride early in the mornings at the weekends so he still get's chance to play out with his mates, he still seems keen to come with me. (you can see on his video he is more of a MTB rider than a roadie!!)

Pokerface

Don't forget that rest is as important as training! Whether it's a day off the bike - or just a good night's sleep.

dsmiff

Website not up yet, but this appeared in the local paper today!

simon_e

Carlton Reid wrote an article for the current CTC mag describing how his young lad rode the Phil Liggett CTC event, which IIRC is in the Peak District and far from flat. Perhaps he could help you.

http://twitter.com/carltonreid
http://quickrelease.tv/