Ride 100 Training want to do myself justice

make mine a triple

Hi all, so many questions so hope I don’t ramble on too much, but as per title,
This year I got a place on the Ride 100 ballot and want to do myself justice, If anyone has any
comments on my ‘training strategy’

I am a relative newbie (first road bike purchased Nov 11) just the wrong side of 40
and last year probably averaged 2 rides a week (one longish at the weekend and one say 15miles on an evening).
Previous to that just knocked about on a hybrid once a week for an hour or so for general fitness.

Last summer, I got roped in to a 2 day 200K charity ride, we all took it steady, long lunch etc
(+it was in Cambridgeshire!) managed that o.k, so was on the whole happy with year 1 progress

I am now not wanting to just ‘get round’ this London ride in August, so I started what I loosely call a structured training programme at the beginning of Feb, Including using an underused turbo trainer I bought some years ago

Currently my plan has been running as follows
(note any wattages are off a Tacx I-magic, but I am confident they are consistent, if not real world watts)

2 nights a week Turbo intervals ‘sweetspot?’ 2 x 20 : 10min warm up 2 x 20min at 200w
with 5 min at 160w in between and at the end

Saturday is a long ride started at 30mi and am now comfortably up to 60mi I have been roughly aiming
to up it 5mi a week & approx every 4 weeks I have dropped down a bit but chosen a hillier
route to build up mileage from.

Obvious target is the 100 mile sportive in Aug, but in the interim
I did my first ever sportive of 37 miles (but cycled 20miles to the start!) Last month
& I have a 77miler (3700ft elev gain) slated for 23rd June

I have lots of questions, but a couple that spring to mind are….

Recently, and particularly last nights 2 x 20 was getting relatively easy, from praying for the seconds to tick down back in feb,
to last night upping it to 220 for the last 5 mins
I clearly need to make it harder, do I try and link up the 20mins to an eventual 40?
Do 3 x 20? Or do I just increase the watts?

I am rubbish at climbing hills, so am looking to ditch one of the turbo sessions now the summer is here, & assuming this session should involve hills!
what is a good hill session? Short & steep repeats, long lower gradient drags, standing? Sitting?

Was wondering if anyone had any comments / tips to keep progressing?

Thanks!!

drlodge

I'm doing the Ride 100 too, and have done the climbs on a training ride (Newlands, Leith Hill & Box Hill). Leith Hill is the hardest but its not that bad, except that its at the 60 mile mark. Therefore I would try and do longer rides at the weekend say up to 80 miles, with some hills thrown hill. Add more hills, and later in the ride, as you get fitter. If you can do that, then the Ride 100 should be quite doable.

The course is pretty flat except Leith Hill. Box Hill really is more of a long slope then its flat to the finish.

I'm not into turbo traiing or "proper" intervals, I just get out there and find some hills.

thegreatdivide

You don’t need to do any ‘special’ training with intervals and all that jargon. You just need to ride your bike as much as possible, build up the miles and go up and down hills a lot. Yes hills hurt and I’m afraid they will ALWAYS hurt, but weight will come off (if you need to loses weight that is) and your legs will get stronger. It’s a simple as that.

London 100 is a closed road mass participation event so on the day you just need to get into a bunch and draft. You can safely add 2mph to your current solo average speed.

brindlescoops

I'm in the same boat, I did a solo 64 miles yesterday with 4600 feet of climing averaging 14.8mph which is a little slower than I normally do on shorter rides (15.5 ish). Its the longest ride I have done so far and the last 10 were hard work, though mostly all uphill. In the experiance of the established century riders, am I going to be a million miles away at my current distance / fitness level or do I really need to get the miles in?

carrock

That seems perfectly respectable. I have just entered the Caldbeck Killa which is a similar distance with similar ascents and the time limit is 8 hours, with I think, 3 to 5 hours the anticipated finish time of the bulk of the riders

frodosfeet

BrindleScoops wrote:

I'm in the same boat, I did a solo 64 miles yesterday with 4600 feet of climing averaging 14.8mph which is a little slower than I normally do on shorter rides (15.5 ish). Its the longest ride I have done so far and the last 10 were hard work, though mostly all uphill. In the experiance of the established century riders, am I going to be a million miles away at my current distance / fitness level or do I really need to get the miles in?

Did my first 100 yesterday ... Longest ride before hand was 56 miles. You'll be fine

racingcondor

Ride progressively longer distances up to it (if you can do 60 in reasonable comfort then you should be fine) and eat plenty on the day.

I doubt you'll be able to break any personal records at Ride100 because there are just too many riders (which of course, should also be why it's fun and a bit different).

junglist_matty

Ride 1000 miles then the ride100 will be 10x easier than your training