F=ma said:I am a distance runner who runs for a Div 1 college in california. I have taken up cycling as a form of cross training during injury, but I have grown to enjoy it more and more as a second sport to running.
Thanks a lot!
My brother has the same background, a former D1 runner at a then world class program (Villanova). I switched from rowing to cycling after college and ran cross country on the high school level. You are starting off with a phenomenal base and should progress quickly.
Books are great but your big issue is going to be that your fitness will way exceed your riding ability. You already know how to train in zones and probably at least have experience with a Heart Rate monitor. A power meter may exceed your budget as a college student, but if you have the extra $$, then more information is always better than less. 3-4 times per week is more than enough time to train to be "decent", unless by decent you are really seeking to become a national class cyclist.
When my brother and then I made the transition to cycling, fitness and training issues were not the issue, riding skill and smoothness were the issues. Most club level riders don't start out with national or world class fitness levels. You will be able to hang with the local riding group quickly. But riding in pacelines, standing smoothly in a climb, spinning in circles and bike handling are not necessarily intuitive activities. This is where you will drive everyone else crazy.
For a guy with your base fitness, your best investment might be a pair of rollers. They are cheap and most are sitting in someone's basement gathering dust so they are easy to pick up used if you ask around. It will teach smoothness and group riding skills. Check out a good local bike shop and find out when the group rides are in your area. Avoid the temptation to jump right into the most hard core rides. Instead find the rides populated by older more experienced riders who are willing to help teach you how to ride in a pack. Watch how they ride and how little effort they expend. After a few weeks ease in with the hard core rides.
You will find that most hard core riders, unlike runners, can come off initially as d****. The reason is that group riding at high speeds requires a tremendous amount of trust and faith that your fellow group members will not do something unpredictable and bring the whole group down. A new guy, particularly a young buck who just can't be dropped, can disrupt the whole group and make the ride scary. Anyone who has ridden for a few years has a broken collar bone or some other significant injury from a newbie mistake, which is not true in running.
All your questions are good and a 170 mile ride is doable, particulalry if it is a well supported charity type ride. If it is a race, you probably should do some local crits and events before you take on something like that. Cross training is great and if you hook up with a group of triathletes or duatheletes, they will be better than cycling specific athletes in giving you particular training advice since more of them started off as distance runners. I eased into competing with duathalons awhere the cross country background was great, and then chronic hip bursitis setting in in my late 30s just made me hate running. Anything under six minute pace is smoking fast for most local duathalons and even the good cyclists just can't catch up as long as you don't fall completely apart on the ride portion. You can't draft so you can be a crappy bike handler and still be a "decent" duathelete, IMHO it is easier to learn to ride in an aero position by yourself, then to ride in a paceline in a dynamic situation involving traffic, road irregularities, etc. It takes a lot of miles before you can start to feel that there is something not right with the pack and avoid accidents.
