How to train for 50k in two weeks - Road biking

[patmahe]

Agreed to do a charity cycle a couple of weeks back, unfotunately my bike needed to go into the shop for repairs, to cut a long story short due to delays with parts etc...I've only just gotten my bike back.

Now I'm far from fit, did 8 miles on it this morning felt ok but have a few little aches and pains after it. Plan on going out again this evening to see how I get on.

So how does someone get from being relatively unfit to cycling 50k in a couple of weeks? I'd just like to feel comfortable trying to do it, not looking to break any records.

[patmahe]

PintOfKittens said:

8 -> 50 in a few weeks? Good luck Ideally you want a 10% increase per week otherwise you will injure yourself

Well 8 miles so 12.8k - 50k

I'm sure I could do more just ran out of time this morning, I'd say I could comfortably do about 20k but after that I'd struggle. I am wary of injuring myself but I have taken sponsorship money for this event so am committed to doing it. Luckily there is a compulsory rest stop at the half way point, so that should help

[patmahe]

Hi everyone thanks for the advice, looking at the route I think it should be ok, theres one 'climb' its about a 2% gradient that goes on for a couple of miles, I have very similar but shorter hills nearby at home so I should be able to use those to train my legs up a bit.

Other than that I don't think it'll be too bad just a matter of getting some distance under me. Thanks for the tips on hydration and nutrition too, I'm utterly clueless in that area.

[patmahe]

croyde said:

My longest trip before this one was 10 miles so OP you will be fine.

Excellent thanks, I'm probably just overthinking it.

[patmahe]

Cheers everybody for your help so far, just thought I'd provide you with an update. Am currently up to about 18 miles a day (split into two sessions due to time constraints). But today I'm hoping to cover 20 miles in a single session just to see how I get on. Its not so much distance but speed that is worrying me now, just don't want to be holding up the sweeper car at the back

The cycle itself is Sunday week, I'll let you know how I get on. Enjoying it at the minute.

[patmahe]

Hey there everyone, just said I'd update this, did the cycle on Sunday, trained pretty hard in the two weeks I had kept the advice I got on here in mind. Found the first few miles tough as it took ages for my muscles to warm and the surface we were on was very rutted and broken up, but once we got onto smoother roads I really started to enjoy it. No real aches and pains to speak of since, just the odd little twinge.

Anyway thanks all for the advice it really did help and I raised a few quid for charidee

[patmahe]

Pothole said:

patmahe said:

Hey there everyone, just said I'd update this, did the cycle on Sunday, trained pretty hard in the two weeks I had kept the advice I got on here in mind. Found the first few miles tough as it took ages for my muscles to warm and the surface we were on was very rutted and broken up, but once we got onto smoother roads I really started to enjoy it. No real aches and pains to speak of since, just the odd little twinge.

Anyway thanks all for the advice it really did help and I raised a few quid for charidee

well done.

Some friends of mine just finished this:

http://www.lifecyclechallenge.com/

Wow fair play sounds very tough, kind of puts my 50k into perspective, still I'm happy with my training, going from not cycling in years to doing 50k in two weeks isn't bad, might give it a couple more weeks before I try a 2000k though