Beginner to 100km
Discussion
Hi PH PP,
I'm new to cycling. Bought a road bike about 6 weeks ago, and have gone from nothing to 60 - 80km per week in that time (with my average speed increasing from 15km/h at the start to about 22km/h now). I have found that I really enjoy it, and feel massively better in my self for it, but I want something to focus on over the winter to keep me at it.
I think I want to do that IOW Radonnee in May next year as my folks live on the Island, but I'm not really sure how to train for it. I currently do one longer ride (about 35km) and two shorter rides (15-20km) per week, but don't really have much time to get out for longer with family commitments. Work is about 30 miles each way from home and I have no showers at work, so cycling to work is not really an option right now.
What would be collective advice for getting my fitness level up to be able to complete the 100km Radonnee? Do I need to complete 100km rides in the lead up? Or can I work on the distance level I have but increase my speed? What would be a good short term target to aim for?
Any advice is welcome!
I'm new to cycling. Bought a road bike about 6 weeks ago, and have gone from nothing to 60 - 80km per week in that time (with my average speed increasing from 15km/h at the start to about 22km/h now). I have found that I really enjoy it, and feel massively better in my self for it, but I want something to focus on over the winter to keep me at it.
I think I want to do that IOW Radonnee in May next year as my folks live on the Island, but I'm not really sure how to train for it. I currently do one longer ride (about 35km) and two shorter rides (15-20km) per week, but don't really have much time to get out for longer with family commitments. Work is about 30 miles each way from home and I have no showers at work, so cycling to work is not really an option right now.
What would be collective advice for getting my fitness level up to be able to complete the 100km Radonnee? Do I need to complete 100km rides in the lead up? Or can I work on the distance level I have but increase my speed? What would be a good short term target to aim for?
Any advice is welcome!
okgo said:
Nearly anyone could ride 100km now, today, with no training at all.
Maybe in an ideal world...but not really, maybe a switched on person who had existing fitness and mentality, for example if a keen runner switched to cycling from running and was wearing decent gear on a bike that fits them. I think they could, but someone on a halfrauds special £99 road bike, with the saddle too low and jeans on, they'd be battered after 20 miles. Most people wouldn't have the gear setup correctly/wrong clothes/ simply not fit enough
Ive seen people progress real quick though with the support of our club, from being 60 , really unfit and never ridden a bike nor exercised to joining the "fast" group a few months later from putting in the miles and setting up the bike correctly and wearing proper cycling gear
One (slightly mad but workable) option:
Friday. Go to work with bike in boot. Ride home (30 mi)
Weekend ride - ride a different route ending at work (build it up). Drive home.
Gives you an extra day's long ride.
It's the longer rides at the weekend that'll add long endurance, but don't overlook the vast gains you can make using interval training on your shorter rides. This could be in the form of sprints every so often, but the easiest way is to chuck some hills, or hill repeats in. I had v. limited time earlier this year, and was falling behind the fitness of my ride buddies. I just did a lot of repeats, beacuse I only had max 2 hrs in an evening, often less. I was noticably flaster the next month..
Friday. Go to work with bike in boot. Ride home (30 mi)
Weekend ride - ride a different route ending at work (build it up). Drive home.
Gives you an extra day's long ride.
It's the longer rides at the weekend that'll add long endurance, but don't overlook the vast gains you can make using interval training on your shorter rides. This could be in the form of sprints every so often, but the easiest way is to chuck some hills, or hill repeats in. I had v. limited time earlier this year, and was falling behind the fitness of my ride buddies. I just did a lot of repeats, beacuse I only had max 2 hrs in an evening, often less. I was noticably flaster the next month..
TwistingMyMelon said:
okgo said:
Nearly anyone could ride 100km now, today, with no training at all.
Maybe in an ideal world...but not really, maybe a switched on person who had existing fitness and mentality, for example if a keen runner switched to cycling from running and was wearing decent gear on a bike that fits them. I think they could, but someone on a halfrauds special £99 road bike, with the saddle too low and jeans on, they'd be battered after 20 miles. Most people wouldn't have the gear setup correctly/wrong clothes/ simply not fit enough
Ive seen people progress real quick though with the support of our club, from being 60 , really unfit and never ridden a bike nor exercised to joining the "fast" group a few months later from putting in the miles and setting up the bike correctly and wearing proper cycling gear
It's easy to forget how difficult it is for people who are new to riding.
An interesting rule of thumb I heard a while back was that you can probably manage a single ride as long as your recent weekly average. I doubt that's been scientifically tested but it sounds plausible. Adding distance to your weekly long rides is obviously not a bad idea but consistency (regular training) is going to be more helpful than just smashing out big rides at the weekend, so don't sacrifice the mid-week stuff in favour of going too hard at the weekend.
If you can add 5km to your big ride each month until the end of the year, and then 10km each month from January, you'll be at 100km by May anyway. But even if you can get to 3/4 distance by April you'll be fine for the big day. There's no trick to riding long. It's as simple keeping the food and water coming and riding at a pace you can sustain. Conditioning is the last element (getting your body familiar with being on the bike for longer) but you get that by gradually upping your saddle time.
If you can add 5km to your big ride each month until the end of the year, and then 10km each month from January, you'll be at 100km by May anyway. But even if you can get to 3/4 distance by April you'll be fine for the big day. There's no trick to riding long. It's as simple keeping the food and water coming and riding at a pace you can sustain. Conditioning is the last element (getting your body familiar with being on the bike for longer) but you get that by gradually upping your saddle time.
TwistingMyMelon said:
Maybe in an ideal world...but not really, maybe a switched on person who had existing fitness and mentality, for example if a keen runner switched to cycling from running and was wearing decent gear on a bike that fits them. I think they could, but someone on a halfrauds special £99 road bike, with the saddle too low and jeans on, they'd be battered after 20 miles.
Most people wouldn't have the gear setup correctly/wrong clothes/ simply not fit enough
Ive seen people progress real quick though with the support of our club, from being 60 , really unfit and never ridden a bike nor exercised to joining the "fast" group a few months later from putting in the miles and setting up the bike correctly and wearing proper cycling gear
London to Brighton is about 60 miles, its done by many people who do not ride bikes much if at all in some cases - I know as I did it with 2 people that do not ride bikes a few years back, both completed it without issue. One in his late 50's, the other in his 20's.Most people wouldn't have the gear setup correctly/wrong clothes/ simply not fit enough
Ive seen people progress real quick though with the support of our club, from being 60 , really unfit and never ridden a bike nor exercised to joining the "fast" group a few months later from putting in the miles and setting up the bike correctly and wearing proper cycling gear
Obviously its not optimum, but I think much of the worrying about riding a bike a certain distance is just that, needless worrying. Riding a bike really isn't that difficult. I would imagine many people on the Dunwich Dynamo have never got close to riding 100 miles before taking part in it.
Actually I know full well that they haven't, I know a few who've done that without ever doing more than 30 odd miles as a single ride prior.
Edited by okgo on Monday 10th October 17:06
okgo said:
TwistingMyMelon said:
Maybe in an ideal world...but not really, maybe a switched on person who had existing fitness and mentality, for example if a keen runner switched to cycling from running and was wearing decent gear on a bike that fits them. I think they could, but someone on a halfrauds special £99 road bike, with the saddle too low and jeans on, they'd be battered after 20 miles.
Most people wouldn't have the gear setup correctly/wrong clothes/ simply not fit enough
Ive seen people progress real quick though with the support of our club, from being 60 , really unfit and never ridden a bike nor exercised to joining the "fast" group a few months later from putting in the miles and setting up the bike correctly and wearing proper cycling gear
London to Brighton is about 60 miles, its done by many people who do not ride bikes much if at all in some cases - I know as I did it with 2 people that do not ride bikes a few years back, both completed it without issue. One in his late 50's, the other in his 20's.Most people wouldn't have the gear setup correctly/wrong clothes/ simply not fit enough
Ive seen people progress real quick though with the support of our club, from being 60 , really unfit and never ridden a bike nor exercised to joining the "fast" group a few months later from putting in the miles and setting up the bike correctly and wearing proper cycling gear
Im not knocking them, as we all have to start somewhere and I always encourage new riders, but unless you have a good base fitness with a helping hand/advice most people really cant do 100km straight out I think once you get fit you take it for granted and don't realise the difference
okgo said:
London to Brighton is about 60 miles, its done by many people who do not ride bikes much if at all in some cases - I know as I did it with 2 people that do not ride bikes a few years back, both completed it without issue. One in his late 50's, the other in his 20's.
The OP is asking for training advice. Saying that anyone could ride that distance and giving examples isn't particularly constructive. RicharDC5 said:
Re-reading the OP I agree. Apologies.
My point, and there is one, is that I think many people overthink these things, and that actually the body is more capable than you think if you push it. Of course doing it with more gusto, or being in less of a wreck by the end is as simple as riding more often, and further, over mixed terrain. Getting better at cycling at most levels is just a mixture of those 3 things. 
Some interesting comments. I guess I probably could do 100km now, but realistically I suppose I want to do it well and in a respectable time, preferably without stopping and walking at all...
Interval training sounds interesting, there is a fairly large hill near home that I could just hit several times quite easily.
I have noticed that on the longer rides i'm pretty much ok at the end, and could certainly go further, but time is the main issue with lengthening the ride.
I had thought about getting the train half way to work and then cycling the rest. For a sense of perspective, I live in Basingstoke and work in Southampton, so I could get the train to Winchester.
Interval training sounds interesting, there is a fairly large hill near home that I could just hit several times quite easily.
I have noticed that on the longer rides i'm pretty much ok at the end, and could certainly go further, but time is the main issue with lengthening the ride.
I had thought about getting the train half way to work and then cycling the rest. For a sense of perspective, I live in Basingstoke and work in Southampton, so I could get the train to Winchester.
The only way to improve is train with others...I went from doing London 2 Brighton on a Hybrid in 2012 with minimal training to a level where I can do 100 milers regular...this year i did 162 miles in a day and rode the French Alps major climbs.
The only way I could have got this far is with the help of and assistance from a road bike club..When you join faster and better riders you naturally improve.
As a soloist I doubt I would have done it.
Good luck.
The only way I could have got this far is with the help of and assistance from a road bike club..When you join faster and better riders you naturally improve.
As a soloist I doubt I would have done it.
Good luck.
You can probably cycles 100km now, but if you want the simplest approach..
Buy a little cycling monitor and whenever you cycle, always try to keep your 'cadence' at 90+ rpm. You might at times hit 110, but it will take a while to get use to 90tbh.
Go out once a week for increasingly longer periods of time. e.g. Cycle for 30 mins first ride at 90rpm.. 1 hour next ride.. 1.5 hours.. 2 hours.. 2.5 hours.. 3 hours.. 3.5 hours.. 4 hours.. you can probably do 100km easy now.
Also, get use to drinking and eating on a bike. You won't need much for 100km, but its worth getting use to eating like a bit of a carby bagule mid way and about 1l of sugary s
t spready between the distance to along with whatever water you feel like. Some people will ride 100km without anything but a bottle or two of water.
Also Make sure you take a route where you encounter hills every so often. Hills are the biggest killer mentally, but you'd be surprised what you can cycle up. It's also twice as easy to cycle in a group due to motivation.
Buy a little cycling monitor and whenever you cycle, always try to keep your 'cadence' at 90+ rpm. You might at times hit 110, but it will take a while to get use to 90tbh.
Go out once a week for increasingly longer periods of time. e.g. Cycle for 30 mins first ride at 90rpm.. 1 hour next ride.. 1.5 hours.. 2 hours.. 2.5 hours.. 3 hours.. 3.5 hours.. 4 hours.. you can probably do 100km easy now.
Also, get use to drinking and eating on a bike. You won't need much for 100km, but its worth getting use to eating like a bit of a carby bagule mid way and about 1l of sugary s
t spready between the distance to along with whatever water you feel like. Some people will ride 100km without anything but a bottle or two of water.Also Make sure you take a route where you encounter hills every so often. Hills are the biggest killer mentally, but you'd be surprised what you can cycle up. It's also twice as easy to cycle in a group due to motivation.
Aaaarggh. Seriously, why did you have to bang on about cadence? Forget it. There's nothing magical about 90+ rpm, its populist nonsense.
Also eat when you want to, and err on the side of too much, and sugary easy to digest stuff. There's always someone who can ride 900 miles on a litre of water and a ham sandwich, but for most people they need more food, up to the point they're going seriously hard and can't digest enough. By that point you probably (should) know a lot more about what suits you.
Training with others will help motivate and push you, but it's certainly not the only way. Just get out and ride, riding will make you faster. Intervals will give you bang for your time, but you also need to put the base (long, steady) work in too.
Also eat when you want to, and err on the side of too much, and sugary easy to digest stuff. There's always someone who can ride 900 miles on a litre of water and a ham sandwich, but for most people they need more food, up to the point they're going seriously hard and can't digest enough. By that point you probably (should) know a lot more about what suits you.
Training with others will help motivate and push you, but it's certainly not the only way. Just get out and ride, riding will make you faster. Intervals will give you bang for your time, but you also need to put the base (long, steady) work in too.
Edited by upsidedownmark on Monday 10th October 20:30
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