The Lounge of Terrestrial Wheelmen

I'm still pretty out of shape, but approached 30 miles on my ride on Saturday. What's an appropriate time for a century? At first I thought it was the cycling equivalent of a marathon, but considering I'm averaging 12 mph, I realized that 100 miles is an 8 hour ride.

I really have no idea how to approach this level of mileage. But my girlfriend is doing a half marathon, and running is too much for my knees. I feel like I need to do something equivalent on the bike, which I really enjoy. But I'd rather not die.

30 miles is not bad but it's not really adequate preparation for 100 miles. I did several 80 milers in the weeks before my first century. I couldn't believe how much harder that last 20 miles was.

You want to at least be doing 50-60 milers every weekend for a few weeks before attempting a century.

Keep in mind also that at around 60-70 miles, your muscles will start running out of glycogen. Hydration also becomes critically important. You can get away with some dehydration on a 50-60 miler. Not so much on a century. On the actual century, drink ridiculous amounts of water and carry some energy gels or some other energy replenishment and use them. I can't remember how many gels I used on my last century. It was something like 10-12 I think. They helped a lot.

Also, go your own speed. Don't try to make an unrealistic time. You will bonk, bad.

Got my first century planned :D http://app.strava.com/routes/124130

Jan 24th

You've come pretty close already. I think you already have a pretty good idea of what you're getting into.

I haven't ridden a bike since October 30. :( Looking forward to getting back into it.

Overcoming Ignorance And Fear - First My Own, Then That Of Others

Bicycle Tracks and Lanes: a Before-After Study from Copenhagen Denmark (PDF)

The longest i've gone recently (in the last few years) was 41 miles and that was HARD.
I just fixed my flat rear tire from a few months ago and rode 15 miles yesterday. I'm terribly, terribly out of shape. I think my goal will be to do a century by the end of the year.

That's going to require me being able to do my 30 mile circuit regularly, with ease. I had better get on it.

My target/ resolution is 250 miles a month.

The Aussie guys I'm riding with in NZ are ha4rdc0r3311!!1!1!!1!1 indeed. Oh, what I'd give to be in my early 20s again.

The guideline I've heard is that you should keep trying to add 10% to your distance. Right now, my longest is about 70 miles, so I should aim for 77 next. I definitely wouldn't make the leap from 30 to 100.