Newbie-ish looking to do 300+ mile charity ride
dazza12
Posts: 20
I say newbie-ish, as I used to cycle a lot when much younger, but ended up working too far away to cycle, so ended up being a member of the XXL club.
I recently got back into cycling, started again in July through a Cycle 2 Work scheme and have been commuting into work at least twice a week. It's only a 2 mile each way journey, however despite this I've seen my fitness improve considerably to the point where I'm getting KOM's and best times on Strava for parts of my route. Still in the XXL club but the weight is going the right way now.
My local football club, Yeovil Town are doing a charity cycle ride next May for the local hospice and Prostate Cancer (http://www.ytcst.net/?page_id=5184). For the last game of the season we're hosting Middlesborough, and the idea is that they're cycling from the Riverside stadium to Huish Park - 334 miles in total over 4-5 days. I may be totally mad, but I'm seriously considering going for it. They did something similar last year, rode from Crewe to Yeovil and it went very well. It's professionally organised, marshalled and insured.
The reason I'm posting is for two reasons:
Firstly I'd like to ask if I'm completely bonkers. Am I aiming for something completely unrealistic and something that's likely to finish me off? I've got no medical problems that affect my health, I'm 41, slightly unfit but getting much better with every ride.
Secondly, what training should I be looking to do? I'm aiming to increase distance and I'm looking to regularly try to do longer distances on Sunday mornings, aiming to do 10 or 20 miles without effort and gradually increasing distance. Looking to buddy up with other riders, take part in smaller events between now and then and try my best to build up core strength.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
I recently got back into cycling, started again in July through a Cycle 2 Work scheme and have been commuting into work at least twice a week. It's only a 2 mile each way journey, however despite this I've seen my fitness improve considerably to the point where I'm getting KOM's and best times on Strava for parts of my route. Still in the XXL club but the weight is going the right way now.
My local football club, Yeovil Town are doing a charity cycle ride next May for the local hospice and Prostate Cancer (http://www.ytcst.net/?page_id=5184). For the last game of the season we're hosting Middlesborough, and the idea is that they're cycling from the Riverside stadium to Huish Park - 334 miles in total over 4-5 days. I may be totally mad, but I'm seriously considering going for it. They did something similar last year, rode from Crewe to Yeovil and it went very well. It's professionally organised, marshalled and insured.
The reason I'm posting is for two reasons:
Firstly I'd like to ask if I'm completely bonkers. Am I aiming for something completely unrealistic and something that's likely to finish me off? I've got no medical problems that affect my health, I'm 41, slightly unfit but getting much better with every ride.
Secondly, what training should I be looking to do? I'm aiming to increase distance and I'm looking to regularly try to do longer distances on Sunday mornings, aiming to do 10 or 20 miles without effort and gradually increasing distance. Looking to buddy up with other riders, take part in smaller events between now and then and try my best to build up core strength.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
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Comments
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Between 65-80 miles per day. It's certainly doable and you have plenty of time to train for it properly. However 2 miles is going to do pretty much nothing for your fitness to do that sort of distance, of course it means you won't be sitting on the couch all day, with zero fitness, but not a lot more - relatively speaking.
The simple answer is, you need to ride for further and for longer, try just lengthening your ride to or from work, instead of 2 miles make it 5 miles and some days push it to 10 miles.
On the weekends or when you have time, try pushing it up so you're regularly doing 20-30 mile rides every weekend. Once you can do a 40 mile ride and get home still feeling ok and not completely destroyed, then you're about ready.
The winter is a problem, you could look at turbo trainers to keep your winter training up, but there's no substitute for time in the saddle.0 -
No - you're not bonkers. Go for it.
The key with multi-day events isn't totally about fitness - you'll be riding at a steady pace and not putting yourself under lots of stress. More important is comfort and mental fortitude.
Keep getting the miles in over winter - mix it up a little and do some hill repeats etc.
Make that commute longer - especially in spring.
But focus on that comfort - work out what hurts at the end of each longer ride and then take steps to make it not hurt next time.
Best of luck.0 -
Pedal slowlyI'm sorry you don't believe in miracles0
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marcusjb wrote:No - you're not bonkers. Go for it.
The key with multi-day events isn't totally about fitness - you'll be riding at a steady pace and not putting yourself under lots of stress. More important is comfort and mental fortitude.
Keep getting the miles in over winter - mix it up a little and do some hill repeats etc.
Make that commute longer - especially in spring.
But focus on that comfort - work out what hurts at the end of each longer ride and then take steps to make it not hurt next time.
Best of luck.
This is exactly the right advice. Also a well before try emulating the distance per day locally to see how you get on. That way you can learn from experience about pacing, eating, drinking , resting etc.0 -
Just ride more. AS much as you can.
You don't need to go fast. But you need to ride a lot.
Getting the miles in is the right thing to do.0
