newbie looking for training schedule

swmccon said:

I'm brand new to cycling. I'm trying to get ready for a 56 mile race in the fall. Can someone point me to some good sites for training programs for beginners?

thanks

Really, the best thing you can do to get ready for a 56 mile race would be to just start riding now and build up your base and then in the summer do some moderate to hard paced group rides so your legs know how to handle the speed and just keep riding. Honestly, a 56 mile ride (unsure if you're talking about a charity event or an actual USCF race) is small potatoes compared to trying to do an USCF race which is usually pretty hard and fast. With a USCF race, unless you have a good reservoir of talent, you probably will get shelled out the back on the first hill whereas in a charity ride, you probably will be able to finish top 10 with good training and some competitive desire.

You know, I did a ride for the National MS Society two years ago, did a 20 mile ride across the Tappan Zee Bridge here in NYS, and I did that easily, probably one of the first 50 back out of I think some several hundred, I did that on a Trek 4300 mountain bike, and only worked out over the summer doing a 30 mile ride once a week. Of course, I played some football with friends as well, and skipped rainy weekends, but I did just fine on that. If you do a couple shorter rides during the weekdays when you get home or something, plus general workouts and a nice long ride or two on the weekends, you'll do fine. If it's an endurance ride, I'd suggest much more agressive workouts.

swmccon said:

I'm brand new to cycling. I'm trying to get ready for a 56 mile race in the fall. Can someone point me to some good sites for training programs for beginners?

thanks

Depends on whether the race will be a one-off, or something you will continue doing. Also depends on what your objectives are for the race (ie. do you just want to finish, or do you want to compete for the title, which obviously also depends on the competition).

If you want to be serious, get Joe Friel's Cyclist Training Bible.
If not, you only need to ride a few times per week, slowly building up your mileage.

Also, if you are serious, you should enter other races prior to the fall, so that you can learn racing tactics.

Good luck