Newbie - Help needed training for a charity century ride

jeremybarker

I've not ridden a bike for 18 years however after wanting to improve my fitness I now have further motivation to pick up the pace so to speak. I am joining in on three rides to raise money for a friends 10 year old who is terminally ill. So far out of the blocks I have been out three times, first ride was 20 miles , second 15 and on Saturday did a 45 mile ride. Legs were hurting a little after the 45 mile run but i felt generally fine afterwards and no residual pain since doing the ride on Saturday.

The 45 mile ride took me 2 hours 35 minutes which was an average speed of 16 mph.

Is this a reasonable time for a newbie and are there any preffered methods of training as one of the rides will be just over the 100 mile mark, should i carry on increasing my distance or is there a better way.

Thanks in advance

nickel

I'd say an average of 16mph for someone so new to cycling is really good! As for the century ride, how long have you got to train for it? Otherwise I'd say just steadily increase the distance, try doing 60 miles, then say 75 and once you're ok with that distance I think you should be ok with 100, just make sure you eat and drink enough over the course of the ride- and eat real food such as flapjack, malt loaf, cereal bars etc rather than energy gels. One more point, how hilly in the 100? 100 miles without any hills is a completely different ball game to riding 100 miles say in the Peak District.

SpecialBrew

Cycling Active magazine has an article in the March edition 'Get fit for 100 miles'. Might be worth a read.