4 weeks to train for 67 mile ride...is it enough?

SteelRider said:

My wife and I have been riding for about 6 weeks now. Anywhere from 5 miles per day up to about 15. This past weekend we did 37 miles in about 2hr45mins. There is a 67 mile road ride on the 18th of September (about 4 weeks from now).

If we really put our heads to it, will we be able to successfully train AND somewhat comfortable ride the 67 miler? Any training suggestions for us?

Thank you!

Yes. Suggest you take one progressively-longer ride each weekend until the 18th, along with a couple of shorter rides during the week. EG: 45, 50, 55 and then 60 the week before your event. Forget about time; just ride at a comfortable pace while you're building up your endurance.

For the big ride, make short stops to drink, eat and stretch often, and resist the temptation to go out fast due to the excitment of a big group. Above all, enjoy....and don't forget the chamois lube!

Yes, this is doable. I'd offer a couple of suggestions. One is to get in as many miles per week as you can between now and the event at ~65%-75%MHR. It doesn't matter a lot whether you do your miles daily or in a few longer rides, but I agree with the previous post that recommended a long ride of increasing duration once a week. At the recommended intensity, you won't hurt yourself beyond a sore seat. Two is to learn what I call a gravity-drop pedaling stroke. This stroke is basically using the weight of your leg alone on the downstroke and at most unweighting your leg on the upstroke. This stroke is no more effort than walking and will give you ~100w and a bike speed ~15mph. I still go to this stroke when I need to "limp in" at the end a long ride. Three, pace is key for your long ride. If you back off to ~90% of the pace on your previous longest ride, you should finish and be comfortable.

RapDaddyo said:

... learn what I call a gravity-drop pedaling stroke. This stroke is basically using the weight of your leg alone on the downstroke and at most unweighting your leg on the upstroke. This stroke is no more effort than walking and will give you ~100w and a bike speed ~15mph.

Using this online wattage calculator...
http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

I have to generate 145 watts with zero slope and zero wind in order to ride 15 MPH on the hoods. 300 watts only gets me up to 20.3 MPH.

Feel free to plug in some of your own personal data and verify how "off" this thing is, but in my case it seems like 18.0 MPH or 223 watts is a lot of work.

Doctor Morbius said:

Using this online wattage calculator...
kreuzotter.deespeed.htmOpen ↗

I have to generate 145 watts with zero slope and zero wind in order to ride 15 MPH on the hoods. 300 watts only gets me up to 20.3 MPH.

Feel free to plug in some of your own personal data and verify how "off" this thing is, but in my case it seems like 18.0 MPH or 223 watts is a lot of work.

Have you put in your numbers at AnalyticCycling.com? 300w=20mph seems off to me. If I'm on the flat with no wind and not trying to be aero at all, I get a lot more than 20mph with 300w.

RapDaddyo said:

Have you put in your numbers at AnalyticCycling.com? 300w=20mph seems off to me. If I'm on the flat with no wind and not trying to be aero at all, I get a lot more than 20mph with 300w.

Analytic Cycling requires everything to be metric. I'd spend 30 minutes making all of the conversions. Besides, I don't know my frontal area and nobody deals in M/S.

I weigh 250 lbs and have a 23 lb bike so it could be that 300w is 20 MPH in my case. Few people who ride weigh that much. They will instead find an activity that suits them better, such as lifting weights or watching TV.

The only tools I have are online calculators. You have the real McCoy so you could do a comparison.

Doctor Morbius said:

Analytic Cycling requires everything to be metric. I'd spend 30 minutes making all of the conversions. Besides, I don't know my frontal area and nobody deals in M/S.

I weigh 250 lbs and have a 23 lb bike so it could be that 300w is 20 MPH in my case. Few people who ride weigh that much. They will instead find an activity that suits them better, such as lifting weights or watching TV.

The only tools I have are online calculators. You have the real McCoy so you could do a comparison.

My problem is that I rarely ride at 100w. But, I checked some of my recent recovery rides and it seems that my average speed on the flat is ~14mph at 100w. Anyway, the exact speed is a function of a cyclist's weight, bike, grade and wind. My main point is that there is a pedaling stroke that requires very little energy and generates ~100w. That'll move a bike along at a reasonable speed on the flat.

RapDaddyo said:

My problem is that I rarely ride at 100w. But, I checked some of my recent recovery rides and it seems that my average speed on the flat is ~14mph at 100w. Anyway, the exact speed is a function of a cyclist's weight, bike, grade and wind. My main point is that there is a pedaling stroke that requires very little energy and generates ~100w. That'll move a bike along at a reasonable speed on the flat.

Hopefully the OP can perfect the gravity-drop pedaling stroke in time for the event. His average speed for 37 miles was ~13.5 MPH. To complete 67 miles at that pace it will take almost 5 hours sans rest breaks. Although we can't know how hard he's working at that pace or if it was on the flats or hills, saddle time & nutrution tactics for this event will be critical.

Doctor Morbius said:

Hopefully the OP can perfect the gravity-drop pedaling stroke in time for the event. His average speed for 37 miles was ~13.5 MPH. To complete 67 miles at that pace it will take almost 5 hours sans rest breaks. Although we can't know how hard he's working at that pace or if it was on the flats or hills, saddle time & nutrution tactics for this event will be critical.

I agree. Sort of like a 5-hour walk with rest stops -- doable.

Bicycle Magazine has this training chart which is meant to get you to a century in 8 weeks. if you do the first 4 weeks of it, and you already have a base, you will be at the 67 mile (metric century?) mark, so it is definitely doable.

To the others who have posted: do you think distance/intensity on the shorter training rides matters (besides working up by 5% weekly on 1 long ride)? that chart goes basically on a 3 day cycle of easy, pace and intense, increasing as you go both distance and intensity. I am reluctant to cut distance (going 15-20 miles 5 times per week, plus 1 longer ride on weekend) on a daily training ride, but do vary how many hills, and how hard I attack them.

I'm trying to get ready for my first century on 9/25.

li rider said:

Bicycle Magazine has this training chart which is meant to get you to a century in 8 weeks. if you do the first 4 weeks of it, and you already have a base, you will be at the 67 mile (metric century?) mark, so it is definitely doable.

To the others who have posted: do you think distance/intensity on the shorter training rides matters (besides working up by 5% weekly on 1 long ride)? that chart goes basically on a 3 day cycle of easy, pace and intense, increasing as you go both distance and intensity. I am reluctant to cut distance (going 15-20 miles 5 times per week, plus 1 longer ride on weekend) on a daily training ride, but do vary how many hills, and how hard I attack them.

I'm trying to get ready for my first century on 9/25.

Saw that training schedule in the book "Long Distance Cycling" by Burke and Pavelka. They stated that the progressively-longer weekend rides are key, and I agree.

15-20 miles, 5 days a week, plus your weekend ride could be too much volume. Just as you ramp up your longest ride, you need to be careful in ramping up your weekly mileage to prevent injury and fatigue. Unless you've been doing 100 mile weeks all season, riding 2 or 3 days during the week, for 15-20 miles should be plenty.

I like the idea of varying intensity at bit around your goal pace also.....but make sure your goal pace is realistic. On your intense day, you don't need to do sprints either, just raise your speed and effort by 1-2 mph over the goal pace. Work harder, but back off before you're at max effort.

As the old cliche says, better to go into an event 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained. Make sure you taper that last week, cutting your volume and intensity significantly. Get plenty of rest, and do a little warm-up ride the day before the event....early morning is best, assuming that's when the century starts. Good luck.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I should have noted in the original post that I was pulling my 35# son in his Burley Solo trailer for the 37 miles. Most of it was flat, a few rolling hills - nothing major though.

The century will be done sans trailer.

I am fairly new to cycling and did 93 miles to the beach in seven hours easily back in July because the topography to the beach was fairly flat. I rode the trainer or bicycle about 4 to 5 days a week did a long 73 mile ride 2 weeks before and then kept rides under 30 miles until the big day. On that day I brought three peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches, some trail mix and 5 bottles of water. I pulled a sandwich out of my handle bar bag every 1.5 hours and never got bonked. Since then I have gone on a ride of 77 miles heading north into the NH hills that took me 7 hours and left me lame in the hamstrings topography makes a big difference. I will not take that hilly route again unless I get a smaller granny gear or get in better shape.🙂

SteelRider said:

My wife and I have been riding for about 6 weeks now. Anywhere from 5 miles per day up to about 15. This past weekend we did 37 miles in about 2hr45mins. There is a 67 mile road ride on the 18th of September (about 4 weeks from now).

If we really put our heads to it, will we be able to successfully train AND somewhat comfortable ride the 67 miler? Any training suggestions for us?

Thank you!

SteelRider said:

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I should have noted in the original post that I was pulling my 35# son in his Burley Solo trailer for the 37 miles. Most of it was flat, a few rolling hills - nothing major though.

The century will be done sans trailer.

Well that's certainly going to make a big difference. I keep hearing that weight doesn't make any difference on flat terrain but I hear that mostly from people who weigh under 230 lbs!! I wonder why that is? 😉

You can 100% do it, if you loose the tailer!!!! It will seem easier. Just don't "burn out" the legs on hills or spints with buddies early on. The last 10 will be a push, but you can do. Good luck