How much time to prepare for century ride

bigharj

I'm thinking of entering the Wiggle New Forest 100 Sportive to be held on 5/6 Oct 2013 but I'm not sure whether I'm ready for it or if I am running before I can walk.

My first 50 miler was 2 months ago and climbed 2600ft and last weekend I managed 61 miles and climbed 1800 ft.

With 5 or so weeks to go, am I ready to cycle 100 miles and climb 4000ft?

My concerns are I get saddle discomfort and a knee pain about 3/4 through long rides. Should I get some quality Assos bib shorts or book myself in for a Specialized Bike Fit, both are the same money.

Your comments appreciated.

ETreeson

With 60 miles under your belt, you should be fine. Take a look at the link below - you can probably start from week 4/5.

http://static.garmincdn.com/shared/emea ... NGLISH.pdf

I'd say of the two, you'll be better off with a bike fit to address the knee pain - but see who the best is in your area, don't just go for the Specialized fit because it's there.

hatch87

both ;-)

Bike fit is probably better, makes you as efficient and as comfortable as possible which makes a huge difference on a long ride. If there are major changes it may take a couple of weeks to get use to the different muscles getting used so make sure you book it in soon.

As for ready, sure, just keep getting out, you'll be surprised how easy it becomes. Get up to 80 miles or so. No point in going beyond that as you won't be achieving much on the day.

On the ride try and tag along to a group, makes your life a bit easier, and above all else, pace yourself and enjoy it, its not a race

Calpol

You can do 100 miles if you keep riding regularly. How often and how far are you riding? Its normal as you increase time in the saddle for you to feel uncomfortable as you body is getting used to it. Fortunately if you are reasonably lithe this happens quite quickly. I remember my first 40 miler, feeling that I was shifting around the saddle looking for comfort for the last ten miles! Now I can do 40 miles in 2 hours pretty much without incident.

Shorts are important over a longer distance. I much prefer my Castelli ones over my Dhbs for anything over 4 hours. Whether or not they are a better investment than a Spesh bike fit is a question that you will get many views on. I guess it depends on the nature of your knee pain. There isnt enough information in you post to offer much meaningful advice on that matter.

With regard the 100 miles - there is loads of information available on the net regarding prep for sportives. If you objective is just to complete then you will be fine. Go steady on your pace and eat something every 45 mins or so. Keep drinking especially if its hot and don't be afraid to get off the bike avery 2 hours and stretch/rest ofr a few minutes.

hatch87

Oh I forgot to say, on some of my harder hillier rides, a bag of jelly babies was very helpful, popping one in every mile or so kept a nice steady stream of sugar, and an excuse to eat a family sized bag of jelly babies :-D

IanREmery

hatch87 wrote:

Oh I forgot to say, on some of my harder hillier rides, a bag of jelly babies was very helpful, popping one in every mile or so kept a nice steady stream of sugar, and an excuse to eat a family sized bag of jelly babies :-D

+1 for Jelly babies. 6 of those little beauties provide the same level of sugar as one energy gel. Taste nicer too. I always have a family size bag in my jersey for long rides.

Grill

How on earth can you eat a family size bag of Jelly Babies in one ride? Ya'lls doing triple centuries or something?

@OP- You'll be fine. Go for a bike fit and take it easy.

Stedman

bigharj wrote:

My concerns are I get saddle discomfort and a knee pain about 3/4 through long rides. Should I get some quality Assos bib shorts or book myself in for a Specialized Bike Fit, both are the same money.

Your comments appreciated.

I am assuming that you are using modern clipless pedals and when I first started using these for long distance rides, I also got knee pain.

The simple solution I found which worked for me was to look down at my feet and the natural angle they were when I walked, which was pointing outwards. I then replicated this angle with the cleats so that this was the centre point and initially maximised the float around that.

I have never had any knee pain since discovering that my natural peddling action is with the right heal in more than the left.

meesterbond

100 miles is perfectly doable provided you pace yourself. Keep things nice and steady, try and get into a group you can ride with comfortably and don't get too excited too early on. If you use a HRM then sticking to 70-75% of threshold HR (your average HR during a really nasty 45-60 min session) then that can help remind you not to go out too fast.

If you're feeling good with 20 miles to go, then up the effort a bit and start passing people who screwed up their own pacing!

t4tomo

Grill wrote:

How on earth can you eat a family size bag of Jelly Babies in one ride? Ya'lls doing triple centuries or something?

I can eat that in one car journey

drlodge

My 3 tips:
1. Pace yourself especially up the hills - use a low gear and don't stress your legs. They will last longer that way.
2. Eat and drink regularly, little and often (flapjacks, jelly babies, fig rolls, some zero tabs or isotonic in your drink).
3. Make sure you are comfortable. On long rides I find my bum and hands will hurt due to the pressue so a good saddle, shorts and mitts are important as is a good fit on the bike of course - you don't want your back aching after 50 miles.

Wirral_paul

I'd suggest a trip up to Adrian Timmis (Burton Upon Trent) rather then Specialized myself. If you have 5 weeks then you really want to be getting to see a fitter asap.

http://www.cadencesport.co.uk/contact/

Grill

t4tomo wrote:

Grill wrote:

How on earth can you eat a family size bag of Jelly Babies in one ride? Ya'lls doing triple centuries or something?

I can eat that in one car journey

I'm not even mad, I'm impressed!

bigharj

Thanks for the replies, lot of useful info.

I've decided I will enter it and get 'fitted' for the bike though Adrian Timmis (Burton Upon Trent) is expensive at £180, I'll stick to the Spezialised purely down to cost.

TheSmithers

I just did my first century ride in the new forest on Sunday, the New Forest Rattler 102 miles! Probably very similar to the route you'll be doing!

I did a reccy ride in the new forest a couple of weeks earlier, which was 77 miles. I'm so glad I did as it highlighted just how ill-prepared I was for a ride of this distance, having only done 30/40 milers recently. I strongly recommend doing something like this, not necessarily 77 miles, but a good distance to give you some idea of what to expect. I'm not sure how far you live from the new forest, or how often you've ridden there, but the terrain it has to offer, whilst not the hilliest on paper, is challenging! Wind is always a factor, even on calm days, which can make flats feel like inclines. On the subject of inclines, whoever says the new forest is flat clearly hasn't ridden it! Ok, it's not exactly the outer Hebrides, but it does have it's share of climbs, some short and sharp, others much longer that wear you down.

From the sound of it, you sound pretty prepared, and I reckon you'll have no problem. Common sense really; don't go too hard too soon, get into a chain gang wherever you can. And use plenty of chamois cream!! Seriously, slap it on! I've been suffering terrible saddle soreness recently and started getting problems after only 10 miles! Wish I'd have put more on.

Good luck!

nickponty

You'll be fine, that's about the same prep I did.

One tip though, chamois creme. Used it for the first time ever on my first century (RL100) and it was a real help, and delightfully cool!