should i ride a century 2 weeks before ironman

That's a tough one...part of it depends on what your training will have
looked like to that point, part of it depends on what your goals are
for IMFL (see you there, by the way)...sounds like the Ride for the
Roses will most likely be an easy ride, but it's still 100 miles and
lots of time in the saddle.

Question is: what will serve you better, a real long training ride or
continuing with your planned taper for your goal race?

Good luck either way...while it would be a cool thing to do I would
probably pass on it, but that's just me...

Mike C

RAS said:

i'm doing ironmann florida nov 5th. i am looking at joining lance for his
100 mile ride for the roses october 23rd. should i not consider this because
i should be tapering at this time for ironman? thanks for any advice.

On 7/23/05 1:20 PM, in article [email hidden],

RAS said:

i'm doing ironmann florida nov 5th. i am looking at joining lance for his
100 mile ride for the roses october 23rd. should i not consider this because
i should be tapering at this time for ironman? thanks for any advice.

My $.02: if your goal for the IM is just to finish, then go for it, but take
it easy.

I rode my last long training ride (a slow 112 miles on the race's actual
course) 13 days before my IM and did just fine.

John

I personally have always done at least a 100 mile ride 10 days out from IM
distance. For me it is a necessary thing.

Ken

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

Quoted message said:

i'm doing ironmann florida nov 5th. i am looking at joining lance for his
100 mile ride for the roses october 23rd. should i not consider this
because
i should be tapering at this time for ironman? thanks for any advice.

Everyone has given good advice. The question is do you need this to improve
your fitness? In most cases it is not necessary. When in doubt, rest. It's
hard to make a difference in a good way two weeks out from an ironman.
andy
"IMKen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I personally have always done at least a 100 mile ride 10 days out from IM
distance. For me it is a necessary thing.

Ken

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

Quoted message said:

i'm doing ironmann florida nov 5th. i am looking at joining lance for his
100 mile ride for the roses october 23rd. should i not consider this
because
i should be tapering at this time for ironman? thanks for any advice.

thanks very much for the great advice. i really would love to ride with
lance and support his cause. actually there are shorter rides on the ride
for the roses. maybe i can do the 70 mile ride. regardless, thanks for some
great advice!!!!

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

Quoted message said:

I personally have always done at least a 100 mile ride 10 days out from IM
distance. For me it is a necessary thing.

Ken

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

Quoted message said:

i'm doing ironmann florida nov 5th. i am looking at joining lance for

his

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

100 mile ride for the roses october 23rd. should i not consider this
because
i should be tapering at this time for ironman? thanks for any advice.

I always do pretty much a full (but slow) run through of the distance 2
weeks before big races. Only done half IMs so far (first full in 4
weeks...) but mentally it gives me a boost to know that if I can cruise
the distance at the end of a training cycle then by the end of the
taper it will be a walk in the park. Obviously not going to do full IM
distance in 2 weeks time but planning to get in a decent swim and a
gentle century ride with a meaningful (5 miles?) run off the back of
it.

IMKen said:

I personally have always done at least a 100 mile ride 10 days out from IM
distance. For me it is a necessary thing.

Ken

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

Quoted message said:

i'm doing ironmann florida nov 5th. i am looking at joining lance for his
100 mile ride for the roses october 23rd. should i not consider this
because
i should be tapering at this time for ironman? thanks for any advice.

well it depends on what you want to get from both. I did both last year
but only as crew at IMFL.

unless u are a seriously fast cyclist or raise a significant amount of
money will you ride with or potentially even see lance in the flesh
based on my experience. however I'm going back to both this year. I
suspect this years ride for the roses will attract more 7000!

Lots of what you do prior to a race is dependent on your race goal.
Generally my goal is winning the age group. Fitness level is not likely to
show major positive gain with a long ride two weeks prior but your current
level will maintain rather than decline. I would never advise that you go
all out to fatigue but I would recommend that a good effort be applied if
you have set high goals for yourself. If an easy century ride is fatiguing
then you are not ready to be competitive in an IM distance.
Go have fun and enjoy your century.

Ken

"andy" <trifox13atcovaddotnet> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Everyone has given good advice. The question is do you need this to
improve your fitness? In most cases it is not necessary. When in doubt,
rest. It's hard to make a difference in a good way two weeks out from an
ironman.
andy
"IMKen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I personally have always done at least a 100 mile ride 10 days out from IM
distance. For me it is a necessary thing.

Ken

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

Quoted message said:

i'm doing ironmann florida nov 5th. i am looking at joining lance for
his
100 mile ride for the roses october 23rd. should i not consider this
because
i should be tapering at this time for ironman? thanks for any advice.

Lots of what you do prior to a race is dependent on your race goal.
Generally my goal is winning the age group. Fitness level is not likely to
show major positive gain with a long ride two weeks prior but your current
level will maintain rather than decline. I would never advise that you go
all out to fatigue but I would recommend that a good effort be applied if
you have set high goals for yourself. If an easy century ride is fatiguing
then you are not ready to be competitive in an IM distance.
Go have fun and enjoy your century.

Ken

"andy" <trifox13atcovaddotnet> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Everyone has given good advice. The question is do you need this to
improve your fitness? In most cases it is not necessary. When in doubt,
rest. It's hard to make a difference in a good way two weeks out from an
ironman.
andy
"IMKen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I personally have always done at least a 100 mile ride 10 days out from IM
distance. For me it is a necessary thing.

Ken

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

Quoted message said:

i'm doing ironmann florida nov 5th. i am looking at joining lance for
his
100 mile ride for the roses october 23rd. should i not consider this
because
i should be tapering at this time for ironman? thanks for any advice.

Lots of what you do prior to a race is dependent on your race goal.
Generally my goal is winning the age group. Fitness level is not likely to
show major positive gain with a long ride two weeks prior but your current
level will maintain rather than decline. I would never advise that you go
all out to fatigue but I would recommend that a good effort be applied if
you have set high goals for yourself. If an easy century ride is fatiguing
then you are not ready to be competitive in an IM distance.
Go have fun and enjoy your century.

Ken

"andy" <trifox13atcovaddotnet> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Everyone has given good advice. The question is do you need this to
improve your fitness? In most cases it is not necessary. When in doubt,
rest. It's hard to make a difference in a good way two weeks out from an
ironman.
andy
"IMKen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I personally have always done at least a 100 mile ride 10 days out from IM
distance. For me it is a necessary thing.

Ken

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

Quoted message said:

i'm doing ironmann florida nov 5th. i am looking at joining lance for
his
100 mile ride for the roses october 23rd. should i not consider this
because
i should be tapering at this time for ironman? thanks for any advice.

Hi

Just a question - is 7000 considered a 'large' number for a ride / race
in the USA? (I'm South African)

What would an average number be?

I would have thought that any race involving Armstrong would attract
more than 7000, although i am aware that there are fundraising
implications etc for this ride.

Hi

Just a question - is 7000 considered a 'large' number for a ride / race
in the USA? (I'm South African)

What would an average number be?

I would have thought that any race involving Armstrong would attract
more than 7000, although i am aware that there are fundraising
implications etc for this ride.

Hi

Just a question - is 7000 considered a 'large' number for a ride / race
in the USA? (I'm South African)

What would an average number be?

I would have thought that any race involving Armstrong would attract
more than 7000, although i am aware that there are fundraising
implications etc for this ride.

nich said:

Just a question - is 7000 considered a 'large' number for a ride / race
in the USA? (I'm South African)

There are a number of rides that attract over 10,000, usually all
charity based. The MS150 from Huston to Austin for example is just down
the road from the LAF Ride for the Roses, goes double the distance(well
almost) and gets in the region of 12,000.

Quoted message said:

I would have thought that any race involving Armstrong would attract
more than 7000, although i am aware that there are fundraising
implications etc for this ride.

Actually I suspect its more to do with road closures, start/finish
location etc. I don't know if they have maximum size.

trimark said:

nich said:

Just a question - is 7000 considered a 'large' number for a ride / race
in the USA? (I'm South African)

There are a number of rides that attract over 10,000, usually all
charity based. The MS150 from Huston to Austin for example is just down
the road from the LAF Ride for the Roses, goes double the distance(well
almost) and gets in the region of 12,000.

Quoted message said:

I would have thought that any race involving Armstrong would attract
more than 7000, although i am aware that there are fundraising
implications etc for this ride.

Actually I suspect its more to do with road closures, start/finish
location etc. I don't know if they have maximum size.

We get 27,000 people cycling from London to Brighton in the UK every
year (about 60 miles). Not sure I'd describe it as a 'race' though,
given how many people stop at a few pubs on the way and there are
normally quite a few riders pushing their bikes up the last few hills!

I was just curious - our (South Africa's) biggest is the Argus (109
kms) which is limited now to 38 000. Cape Town is really just shut down
for the day! There are about 10 000 who also don't have their
applications accepted. johannesburg has the 94.7 race which has a field
approaching 30 000 I think and the next two big rides in Cape town: the
Burger sanlam (118 kms) has about 12000 - 14000 and the Construction du
Cap (+- 120 kms - i've never ridden it) has about 5000.
Virtually every weekend in Cape town there are rides on saturday and
sunday with a choice of 3 distances (ranging from 30kms to about 55kms
to the long routes around 100kms) so all in all we're pretty used to
riding in largeish groups.