First Century (almost)

FindYourGozo

I am building up in miles getting ready for Fatty's 100 Miles of Nowhere on June 4th (fatcyclist.com). Saturday I went out for what I planned to be a ride between 80 and 90 miles. According to mapmyride.com I actually completed 95 miles (my furthest distance ever). I am just two weeks away from my first official century and looking for some advice.

In an earlier topic I menetioned that I do not have cycling shoes and/or pedals. I will not be able to buy any before the ride so are there any suggestions on how to make pedaling in tenis shoes on clipped pedals any more comfortable? I had pain in the ball of the foot and numbness in the toes.

How much riding should I do in the next two weeks? How often and for how long. I want to give some time for recovery but don't want to ruin the momentum.

I am sure I will think of other questions as the day gets closer. For now I will take any advice you have to offer related to the above two questions or anthing else you can think to offer.

Thanks

Omar Little

I'm not sure if there will be anything to make it more comfortable on the balls of your feet because tennis shoes are going to have pretty flexibile soles and you cant really do much to fix that without going down the cycling shoe route. Perhaps an insole/insert would help a bit, i dont know. Numb toes might be partly due to the shoes being tied too tight - your feet will swell a bit while riding so what felt fine at the start might then become too restrictive as the day goes on.

Congrats on the 95 miles, although must be a bit frustrating knowing that a few more times round the block would have been enough to make it a century!

ForumNewbie

Even if it's too late to move to clip-in pedals for your official century, I would defintely either buy mountain bike/leisure cycling shoes with much firmer sole than tennis shoes, or wear any shoes firmer than tennis shoes for your century.

I've only started using clipless pedals, but up till then wore my mountain bike/leisure cycling shoes with reasonably stiff soles which I just used with flat pedals. Much better than the trainers I used to wear.

BelgianBeerGeek

Good point FN. Lidl were selling mtb-type shoes for £15 at the weekend. Cheap enough to try them and if you can't get on with them then bin 'em. If you can do 90-95 then you're there pretty much, maybe a few shorter, quicker rides to build on strength? Don't forget, 100 miles is a fair distance, some discomfort is likely but won't last.

Bobbinogs

If you can do 95 now and are really looking forward to doing the century, I would think about backing off a bit on the training with a view to tapering for the last week. I always get a bit jittery about injuries (thigh strain, tightening hamstring, calf pain) in the final few weeks of training where I have done all the hard work training but haven't got enough time to recover if needed.

General Wisdom (as opposed to Major Cockup) says your final week should be just a few even paced spins (on the turbo, for example). That way you will be champing at the bit for your big ride and all muscles will be fully recovered from your training.

I seriously recommend something with stiffer soles but don't be tempted to try anything new on the ride itself.

rolf_f

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

Good point FN. Lidl were selling mtb-type shoes for £15 at the weekend. Cheap enough to try them and if you can't get on with them then bin 'em. If you can do 90-95 then you're there pretty much, maybe a few shorter, quicker rides to build on strength? Don't forget, 100 miles is a fair distance, some discomfort is likely but won't last.

The Lidl shoes are excellent. A little heavy but tough and last for ever.

Add to that a pair of M520 pedals for £20 from High on Bikes and you are sorted for £35.

Pigtail

I did my first sportive (81 miles) two weeks ago. I planned to do a longish ride, about 60 miles, the weekend before, but had a bit of a cold and some things on which meant I couldn't get out. I did a fairly hard interval session on the Tuesday, a 20 mile ride over part of the route on Saturday and then the event on the Sunday. I usually train 4 times a week, so that was about half what I normally do. It worked very well for me.

FindYourGozo

Since Saturday I have gone to one spin class and will go to another tomorrow. I decided before the big ride next week that I would take my bike in for its firts tune up. The LBS wont get the bike back to me until Saturday. I am going to be out of town though and wont get it until Monday. With those changes in mind, what should Monday - Friday look like in preperation for my first century on Saturday?

Thanks for all your thoughts so far.