My first century ride

Dave1441

Me and my mum are planning on doing a century ride next year sometime in may or June. I have found a training plan and I will stick to it but the thing is on the longer rides I do for the training I do not know how I should go about measuring the training rides, I know the obvious suggestion would be a cycling computer or a map so can sone people suggest computers to me under £50 that are good value for money. Also I would like to know if any people know of any century routes in north yorkshire.
Thanks

ALaPlage

There are quite a number of century rides around North Yorks.... its a big County Depends where you want to start from and finish and what terrain you want to include. Flatter rides available through the NY Moors and York Wolds Valley with just a few smaller hills to conquer - Back roads from Scarborough out to Hunmanby, Burton Fleming, Wold Newton, Malton, York. If you want climbs you can head up into the Wolds or into the Moors taking in any number of climbs including the infamous Rosedale Chimney.

Bike Computer is a good way of measuring distance and plenty of decent ones available from local bike shops. If you have a smart phone there are some that will take a GPS app that will track your ride. You can also plot your route on the internet to measure distance on sites such as biketoaster. They also show the altitude to measure hills.

Finally there are a number of Sportives you could go for that have planned and marshalled routes covering 100 miles. The York 100 is one such ride usually done in August so will give you time to train for the distance. Google Action Medical Research for details and there are others such as the Ryedale Rumble. Hope that helps.

Dave1441

Thanks for that were probably looking for a flatter route... Is there a link by any chance for the route of one in the moors.

jgsi

There are alternatives to the rather wearisome ' do a sportive' etc etc....
Try http://www.ctcnorthyorkshire.org.uk/

A CTC group or a local cycling club might be the best answer for you and your mum.
They will certainly be a better source of route and ride information to help you get to your goal.

ALaPlage

JGSI wrote:

There are alternatives to the rather wearisome ' do a sportive' etc etc....
Try http://www.ctcnorthyorkshire.org.uk/

A CTC group or a local cycling club might be the best answer for you and your mum.
They will certainly be a better source of route and ride information to help you get to your goal.

I agree a cycling club is a good source for local route info and most clubs have weekend club rides that cover beginners to experienced riders and is worth looking into. I have to disagree with the comment on wearisome "do a Sportive" as they can be a good goal to work for. Signing up to a Sportive later in the year will give you an organised ride with water stops and food and lots of other riders to encourage you on the day. As a target to train towards and complete your goal of a century ride it is an option to consider. A good start into distance riding for any beginner although some events are getting quite pricey for what they offer in return. As a goal for 2012 it is an option to consider although you can easily plan your own route and do your own thing.

Dave1441

@alaplage when I go onto the biketoaster website you mentioned in the pm it just comes up with lots of sponsored links, do you know of any other sites where you can map the route and find out the distance?

blackhands

http://ridewithgps.com/

pease

Good luck on the century ! I too have ser a centry as a goal in 2012. What training plan are you working from?

With regards to a computer check ebay. I sourced a second hand cat eye with cadence for peanuts , just needed a couple of magnets that again are avaliable on ebay.

Dave1441

I'm not totally sure on the name of the plan but our total distance covered each week goes up 5 miles

CiB

Dave1441 wrote:

I'm not totally sure on the name of the plan but our total distance covered each week goes up 5 miles

Not being funny but what's the point of 5 mile per week increments? The best way to learn to ride distances is to ride distances; if 30 miles is easily achievable go out and do a 50 - it's not much further and then 30 is suddenly easy. Do more miles, and you'll be able to do more miles. Having a 'plan' that increments 5 miles per week sounds pointless to me tbh. 5 miles = ~20 minutes. That's not going to give you much of a benefit as a weekly increment.

100 miles is hard work but easily doable; it's just a matter of pacing it. Don't aim for a sub 6 hours on your first one, do it when the days are long enough to take it your own comfortable pace and if that's ~15mph avg so be it; 7½ hours saddle time will see it done with a couple of cake stops thrown in so allow 9 hours and you're laughing.

Computer? Best thing you can own. The Topeak Comp 140 has most things - max speed, curr speed, avg speed, cadence, avg cadence, elapsed time, curr time, countdown by time and distance. Halfords were knocking em out for £30 not so long ago.

BikeHike.co.uk --> Course Creator is a good site to plot routes and check the route elevation.

rolf_f

ALaPlage wrote:

There are quite a number of century rides around North Yorks.... its a big County

+1 - just go and look at a map. There are no such things as "century routes" - a bike ride is wherever you choose to make it go; use a mapping site and plot up a route that looks interesting and see how it goes! However, you might be best sticking to the flatter bits. I've done a few rides from the Boroughbridge area to Darlington and back - normally out on the back roads East of the A1 (flat as a pancake) to Darlington via Topcliffe and Northallerton and then back by Aukland, Richmond, Bedale and Ripon; again a choice of backroads. A bit more up and down on the way back but don't want to make it too easy. Once you start mucking around with the NY Moors, the Dales and, to a lesser extent, the Wolds you start to add some hard climbs into the pot.

bianchimoon

Hi whereabouts in north Yorkshire are you? There is a nice easy century route from Northallerton to York and back. If you're planning that Area. Let me know and I'll post a link to that route cheers

kayakerchris

Not being funny but what's the point of 5 mile per week increments? The best way to learn to ride distances is to ride distances; if 30 miles is easily achievable go out and do a 50 - it's not much further and then 30 is suddenly easy. Do more miles, and you'll be able to do more miles. Having a 'plan' that increments 5 miles per week sounds pointless to me tbh. 5 miles = ~20 minutes. That's not going to give you much of a benefit as a weekly increment.

I think this small increment is the whole point. For many people who have never cycled far at all, 30 miles seems an unbelievable distance, but 5 miles is realistic. Upping the distance by 5 miles each week gives them a plan, a time scale and is still achievable every week. Even if you miss a week you only up it by 10 miles the next week.

If "failing to plan" is "planning to fail" then this seems to me very much to be planning for success!

In terms of where to ride, I would suggest heading out into the countryside and doing a big loop. It is often nice when training like this if you finish on the same 5 miles of road. You then have the reassurance that you managed the trip the last time and that you know where you are as you get tireder.

Good luck

CiB

It may seem an unbelievable distance but it isn't. 30 miles is some people's daily commute; these people aren't superfit ex-Pro ex-TdF riders, they're slightly overweight middle-aged blokes (me) who've got to the point where 30 miles is just a bike ride and can be done without pocketfuls of gels & food + two full drinks bottles. Road Beginners is where beginners come to discover things, and a massive thing to discover is that once you've got your cycling legs sorted 30 miles really isn't a challenge; it's the beginnings, not something to aspire to. OP is right - aspire to do a 100. That's the spirit.

Adding 5 miles per week isn't any improvement at all, it's a margin of difference between one ride & another. I stand by it - do 30, then do 50 and 30 is a doddle. Then do 60 and 50 isn't so bad. By the time you can do 70+ without keeling over in a heap 100 is achievable if for no other reason than the adrenalin carries you for the final few miles.

Ouija

Dave1441 wrote:

Thanks for that were probably looking for a flatter route... Is there a link by any chance for the route of one in the moors.

A flatter route is to go round the outside of the neolithic lake bed that separates the moors from the Wolds. Starting off at scarborough, simply ride through to Ayton, Wykeham, Brompton, Snainton (detour left at Snainton to cut out the hills and rejoin at Wilton/Allerston) out to Thornton Le Dale. Grab the obligatory ice cream at Thornton Le Dale (it's the law) and then through to Pickering (10mins). Ride all the way out past Kirbymoorside and out to Helmsley (50/60min).

At this point your at the end of the lake bed curving back around. Take a left at Sproxton and head towards Malton (1hour). You could actually cut across the valley floor from Helmsley if you want but once you've climbed up from Helmsley to Sproxton your pretty much on a lot of downward slopes where you pick up a lot of speed (with a few small hills to climb back up). At Malton have a break and a cream bun from Cooplands/Thomas the Bakers and then head out back onto the main road riding out towards Staxton.

There's a dedicated cycling path all the way there so you can stay off the road and pick up a bit of speed. This side of the valley is much flatter than the road you took on the opposite side, being more on the valley floor than the edge, so you can really bomb along it (wind is usually behind you going this way). Once you get to Staxton, ride through to Flixton/Folkton and out to Muston and on to the main road and into Filey back on the coast. It's about 80/90ish miles. If your ride back from Filey upto Scarborough along the coast road your probably hitting the 100mile mark.

rolf_f

Dave1441 wrote:

Thanks for that were probably looking for a flatter route... Is there a link by any chance for the route of one in the moors.

The climbs in the moors tend to be much harder than the Dales ones IMO. They are brutal. If you want a flatter route, the moors are not a good idea.