First Century Ride

On 30 Aug 2004 10:03:00 -0700, [email hidden] (SlowRider)

Quoted message said:

I just did my first century ride a week ago (shameless solicitation
for compliments 🙂 and I learned what people mean when they say a
century changes you as a cyclist. I learned a lot about how much my
body can take, learned about different kinds of interval training, and
I made some improvements to my pedaling style. Prior to that, the
longest ride I'd ever done was about 65 miles -- long enough, but
still different.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

SNIP<<

Well JR, please allow me to be the first to tip my helmet to you!

All the best,
--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

(SlowRider) said:

I just did my first century ride a week ago (shameless solicitation
for compliments 🙂 and I learned what people mean when they say a
century changes you as a cyclist. I learned a lot about how much my
body can take, learned about different kinds of interval training, and
I made some improvements to my pedaling style. Prior to that, the
longest ride I'd ever done was about 65 miles -- long enough, but
still different.

I've become a lot more relaxed on the bike, and that translates into
significantly more comfort while I ride -- tension equals pain. I
used to get anxious at the bottom of steep or long hills and after a
series of rollers my butt would be _killing_ me. But after doing lots
and lots and lots of miles, one more hill doesn't bother me. I'm more
relaxed and my butt is a lot happier afterwards.

My situational awareness has also improved. Again - lots and lots of
miles have gotten me used to switching focus quickly between road
debris, traffic, time, speed, shifting, etc.

I usually average 15-16MPH for my long rides, so I just hoped to do
the century in about 6 1/2 hours. Between my taper and a little bit
of carbo-loading, I actually wound up coming in at 6:13 with plenty of
energy to spare. I was pretty stoked!

But the real treat came this weekend - a week after the event. I
didn't get to do much riding during the week, and I thought I'd put in
40 miles or so on Sunday. To tell the truth, I felt a little burned
out after all the training and then the century, but I wanted to keep
the fitness I worked so hard to achieve.

I set out on a reasonably challenging course with a few hills and one
long false-flat. After I did the first 9 1/2 miles in half an hour, I
worried that I was pushing too hard, but I felt fine. I thought maybe
I'd had a wind at my back. But when I hit the false flat in the
opposite direction and found myself going 5-6 MPH faster than ever
before - without feeling like I was overdoing it - I knew something
was up!

For the rest of the ride, I found myself going anywhere from 10% to
40% faster than ever before on many sections. I finally finished 43
miles in 2:21, averaging 18.3MPH - fully 2MPH faster than I've ever
recorded for such a distance. I simply couldn't believe it! (Whose
legs are these, anyway?)

So for those of you who have never done a century, I encourage you to
try it. I've been riding for about 8 years, since I was about 36. I
have done long rides before, but never have I experienced the kind of
improvement I've seen in the last few weeks.

JR

Great report. If you keep daily records, I would urge you to look back on
the last month or two of training and see if you can identify anything that
allowed you to catch such a 'peak'.

As you know the kind of training and dedication it takes to cause you to
have a great peak like this is like an iceberg, with only the last part
showing, as it were.

Typically I have a few days of really slogging it and feeling sluggish, and
then suddenly peak. Every 4-6 months I have an additional peak that's
greater than the smaller peaks.

However if you don't see any changes in training, you might look for diet
or weight loss breakthroughs, or effects of cross training. Sometimes you
can spot a forced layoff the previous end of the week and you get an
unplanned peak like on Mon or Tuesday.

You seem to be one of those trainers that likes to be slightly
over-prepared for a ride and this is the best way, b/c you can pretty much
count on a breakthrough, imo. ;-)

At any rate, thanks for the report. Great job proving that the whole of
training is often greater than the sum of the parts.

-B

SlowRider wrote:
|| I just did my first century ride a week ago (shameless solicitation
|| for compliments 🙂 and I learned what people mean when they say a
|| century changes you as a cyclist. I learned a lot about how much my
|| body can take, learned about different kinds of interval training,
|| and I made some improvements to my pedaling style. Prior to that,
|| the longest ride I'd ever done was about 65 miles -- long enough, but
|| still different.
||
|| I've become a lot more relaxed on the bike, and that translates into
|| significantly more comfort while I ride -- tension equals pain. I
|| used to get anxious at the bottom of steep or long hills and after a
|| series of rollers my butt would be _killing_ me. But after doing
|| lots and lots and lots of miles, one more hill doesn't bother me.
|| I'm more relaxed and my butt is a lot happier afterwards.
||
|| My situational awareness has also improved. Again - lots and lots of
|| miles have gotten me used to switching focus quickly between road
|| debris, traffic, time, speed, shifting, etc.
||
|| I usually average 15-16MPH for my long rides, so I just hoped to do
|| the century in about 6 1/2 hours. Between my taper and a little bit
|| of carbo-loading, I actually wound up coming in at 6:13 with plenty
|| of energy to spare. I was pretty stoked!
||
|| But the real treat came this weekend - a week after the event. I
|| didn't get to do much riding during the week, and I thought I'd put
|| in 40 miles or so on Sunday. To tell the truth, I felt a little
|| burned out after all the training and then the century, but I wanted
|| to keep the fitness I worked so hard to achieve.
||
|| I set out on a reasonably challenging course with a few hills and one
|| long false-flat. After I did the first 9 1/2 miles in half an hour,
|| I worried that I was pushing too hard, but I felt fine. I thought
|| maybe I'd had a wind at my back. But when I hit the false flat in
|| the opposite direction and found myself going 5-6 MPH faster than
|| ever before - without feeling like I was overdoing it - I knew
|| something was up!
||
|| For the rest of the ride, I found myself going anywhere from 10% to
|| 40% faster than ever before on many sections. I finally finished 43
|| miles in 2:21, averaging 18.3MPH - fully 2MPH faster than I've ever
|| recorded for such a distance. I simply couldn't believe it! (Whose
|| legs are these, anyway?)
||
|| So for those of you who have never done a century, I encourage you to
|| try it. I've been riding for about 8 years, since I was about 36. I
|| have done long rides before, but never have I experienced the kind of
|| improvement I've seen in the last few weeks.

That's some interesting stuff. I'd really like to know the reason for your
sudden improvement. I can't help but wonder if you had been pushing so hard
training before -- and then taking a bit of time off after the century
before your next ride -- that you just didn't notice the improvement.

No matter the reason: good show!

well this is awesome and what a coinicidence (spell). i just did the samething this past weekend. i rode from my naval base to the 5th station of mt fuji. wasn't really a century because it was only a 125km (77mile) ride but the final leg brought us to 6500 feet. like you i learned a lot about my body and my cycling style. also the last 5 months of endurance training that i had been doing paid off because when i got to the hills/mountains i based my pace off my HR and cadence and peak every hill with no problems. i have not been able to get on the bike since due to a typhoon that is rolling through, but can't wait to see how it feels. anyhow good job to you.

"SlowRider" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just did my first century ride a week ago

Congradulations! The first century is a big step, but they get psychologically
easier after you know you can do it. Many happy returns.

Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Great report. If you keep daily records, I would urge you to look back on
the last month or two of training and see if you can identify anything that
allowed you to catch such a 'peak'.

I'll have to look. I don't keep many details, just distance and
overall time. If anything, I saw only modest improvement in my
overall ride times: from about 14.8MPH to 15MPH for long rides (40+
miles). For 20-30 miles, I could manage 16MPH, which is about what
I've done in the past for a ~60-mile charity ride (after preparation,
tapering, etc.).

Quoted message said:

As you know the kind of training and dedication it takes to cause you to
have a great peak like this is like an iceberg, with only the last part
showing, as it were.

I had kind of hoped it was more than just a peak, but perhaps you're
right. I've never actually worked toward a peak before, so I wouldn't
know what one is like. I'll see how things go this weekend. I'm
doing a 50-mile charity ride and I'm shooting for ~17MPH avg. (A
great thing about doing a century is that all other rides are now
"only's", as in, it's "only" a 50-miler!)

Quoted message said:

However if you don't see any changes in training, you might look for diet
or weight loss breakthroughs, or effects of cross training. Sometimes you
can spot a forced layoff the previous end of the week and you get an
unplanned peak like on Mon or Tuesday.

One major change I added to my training was low-cadence intervals,
done on short climbs, which really worked out my leg muscles and
forced me to use my hamstrings more. I had never done any low-cadence
work before (always careful about my knees) but these were great. I
did them once a week as part of a ~1.5 hour ride. I always came back
feeling as if I'd really wasted my legs (in a good way).

Quoted message said:

You seem to be one of those trainers that likes to be slightly
over-prepared for a ride and this is the best way, b/c you can pretty much
count on a breakthrough, imo. ;-)

Yup. ("Does anal-retentive have a hyphen?"😉 :-)

Besides, training is fun -- just like planning and thinking about a
great vacation is nearly as much fun as the vacation itself.

Thanks for your comments!

JR

(SlowRider) said:

I had kind of hoped it was more than just a peak, but perhaps you're
right. I've never actually worked toward a peak before, so I wouldn't
know what one is like. I'll see how things go this weekend. I'm
doing a 50-mile charity ride and I'm shooting for ~17MPH avg. (A
great thing about doing a century is that all other rides are now
"only's", as in, it's "only" a 50-miler!)

One thing about biking is that improvement can really be noticeable and
happen in a series of small steps, with certain milestones. Progress in
jogging and swimming are harder to increment and 'stage' define.

Some early stages happen with an 'ah-ha' event, where in some technical
detail of biking kicks in and you leap from rides in the 30" mark to an
hour or more, fairly suddenly.

Other stages can be occurring in the background like leg and grip strength
and posture.

Even though in most sportive endeavors later gains come slowly and are
smaller, IMO, you can still have large gains in biking out to 10 years.

In the 2-5 year range I think there's vascularization and in some perhaps
conversion of muscle fibers, some hypertrophy, leverage, improvements in
strength, and increase in mitochondria. Since the bike is so comparatively
efficient, small physical gains and better energy production and perhaps
lactate, or lactic acid (2 dif systems) is improvements can give a big jump
in ability as they come together even after several years training.
Everyone talks about a rider getting better stamina with age, and that can
still be a plus even for older riders who've kept fit up till now. (heh,
maybe improved ability to suffer).

Out to 10 years and longer you may be still improving VO2max.

Along the road your body composition can change, less excess fat, equalling
bigger engine lighter frame.

The 'steps' in biking which requre these leaps could probably be defined in
watts. However my instinct tells me that below certain threshold watts, you
can't take advantage of some systems' synergy yet. Suddenly several systems
come together and you have a big breakthrough. In some riders I think the
core strength doesn't get developed easily if you only bike and if that's
improved you have improved riding and pedalling for sure.

Though possibly achieved as a 'peak', you're certainly not wrong, imo, in
thinking of it as a new breakthrough. Keep up the proper
training/recovery/diet and it will be the 'new you'.

One interesting thing about time improvements vs weight loss, is that even
though I lost 20lb recently I didn't notice improvements in time and power
output until a week or two after the new weight, (which I lost over the
course of 4-5 weeks). Don't know if the 'lag' is psychological or physical,
but both can be sources, I guess.

-B

Quoted message said:

That's some interesting stuff. I'd really like to know the reason for
your
sudden improvement. I can't help but wonder if you had been pushing so
hard
training before -- and then taking a bit of time off after the century
before your next ride -- that you just didn't notice the improvement.

No matter the reason: good show!

I'd guess glycogen supercompensation.

--
Bob in CT
Remove ".x" to reply

Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

In the 2-5 year range I think there's vascularization and in some perhaps
conversion of muscle fibers, some hypertrophy, leverage, improvements in
strength, and increase in mitochondria. Since the bike is so comparatively
efficient, small physical gains and better energy production and perhaps
lactate, or lactic acid (2 dif systems) is improvements can give a big jump
in ability as they come together even after several years training.
Everyone talks about a rider getting better stamina with age, and that can
still be a plus even for older riders who've kept fit up till now. (heh,
maybe improved ability to suffer).

Interesting. I don't understand everything you said, but I get the
gist. (A friend of mine has an exercise physiology book he's been
pushing me to read -- I suppose I'll have to take him up on it.)

Quoted message said:

Though possibly achieved as a 'peak', you're certainly not wrong, imo, in
thinking of it as a new breakthrough. Keep up the proper
training/recovery/diet and it will be the 'new you'.

That would be awesome. I agree with those people who say speed isn't
everything, but it's an easy way to measure fitness, strength and
cycling skills. A 3-mile false-flat which keeps you slogging along at
11MPH can be depressing. When you suddenly start flying up the same
road at 16-17, it's exhilirating, to say the least.

Thanks for your feedback.

JR

(SlowRider) said:

Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

In the 2-5 year range I think there's vascularization and in some perhaps
conversion of muscle fibers, some hypertrophy, leverage, improvements in
strength, and increase in mitochondria. Since the bike is so comparatively
efficient, small physical gains and better energy production and perhaps
lactate, or lactic acid (2 dif systems) is improvements can give a big jump
in ability as they come together even after several years training.
Everyone talks about a rider getting better stamina with age, and that can
still be a plus even for older riders who've kept fit up till now. (heh,
maybe improved ability to suffer).

Interesting. I don't understand everything you said, but I get the
gist. (A friend of mine has an exercise physiology book he's been
pushing me to read -- I suppose I'll have to take him up on it.)

If you have a Barnes&Nobel nearby, browse this book in the bike section:
Cycling Past 50. It talks all about the systems that improve with time.
Some of those, such as increase in the numbers of energy producing
organelles called mitochondria, and increase in the amount and degree of
blood vessels in the quads and major cycling muscles improve, allowing
byproducts to be more quickly removed can take a number of years (2-3?) to
ramp up. As you get more fit, IMO, you can have a big jump in your ability
as several of these systems have improvements.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Though possibly achieved as a 'peak', you're certainly not wrong, imo, in
thinking of it as a new breakthrough. Keep up the proper
training/recovery/diet and it will be the 'new you'.

That would be awesome. I agree with those people who say speed isn't
everything, but it's an easy way to measure fitness, strength and
cycling skills. A 3-mile false-flat which keeps you slogging along at
11MPH can be depressing. When you suddenly start flying up the same
road at 16-17, it's exhilirating, to say the least.

Well, yesterday, I got a big mental jump and just decided to kick it up
gear and spin and although there was a little feeling of tension and warmth
and stuff in the quads, I rode my route about 10% faster than usual, and it
was easy - I was hitting 21mph going up an incline that I usually struggle
to get 18. Part of it was due to just 'trying' and accepting a new level of
effort as 'normal. Cool.

Quoted message said:

Thanks for your feedback.

I just love talking about this stuff, especially since it's happening to me
too. I've always been a gym rat, but frequently had trouble with
consistency. With biking, it's easy for me to ride every day, and when
you're getting that kind of consistency, you can have adaptation and
improvement in your later years that is higher than in your youth
especially for the amateur, or week end athlete. I hope in a year or so to
be riding as well as I did as a teenager and college student, when I'd
knock off a hilly 25miler with ease (but no training whatsoever!). THis is
what is neat, and, for me, very strong motivation.

I'm now looking into doing a 50miler, or depending on the route, a century
ride in Harrisonburg on the 12th. It will be my first group ride if I can
swing it.

Best,
-B

Quoted message said:

JR

SlowRider said:

I agree with those people who say speed isn't
everything, but it's an easy way to measure fitness, strength and
cycling skills. A 3-mile false-flat which keeps you slogging along at
11MPH can be depressing. When you suddenly start flying up the same
road at 16-17, it's exhilirating, to say the least.

A good way to measure fitness is to chart average speed divided by
average heart rate over a given course. I've been charting
speed/heart rate for two seasons now. It varies daily, but my best
values this year are about 14% better than my best from last year.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/