Distance Ride Training
There’s just something about being able to tell people you just rode 100 (or more) miles in a day, or that you climbed 5,000+ vertical feet, or both in the same ride. And, when you cover that much ground you can have some extreme experiences (good or bad, depending on how prepared you are). It’s very rewarding, but unless you are a genetically-gifted twenty something it takes a lot of preparation to reach that kind of single-day distance.
First, start many months in advance. Give yourself time to work up to 100 miles or whatever your goal is, and to experience how your body reacts to a long bicycle ride.
Second, ride frequently when you’re in training. Don’t stop doing the short rides just because you’re doing longer rides. For me, I want to be riding a (real or stationary) bike at least 4x per week. More often if I want to accelerate my progress.
Third, if you take a week off for whatever reason, get right back on the bike as soon as you can. We all get busy or have other things going on, and often it can’t be helped. But it does not take long at all to undo months of training, and the longer you go without riding, the more the undoing accelerates. Even if all you have time for is 30 minutes on a stationary bike, that’s better than nothing. You want to keep your muscle memory, your calluses and your recovery rates alive and well.
Fourth, invest in a couple pairs of really good chamois shorts. Don’t cheap out; most of the good ones cost a lot but are worth it. Wear the cheap ones if you’re riding less than 50-60 miles, and the good ones for longer rides. You will think you’re fine just riding through the pain, and maybe you are that day. But days later you’ll be in a crazy amount of groin/butt pain, and it’ll hurt to even think about getting on a bike for a week or longer. You can’t afford to lose that much training time, so do your butt a huge favor and buy the good shorts (or pants if your legs get cold).
Fifth and finally, push yourself but don’t go too far too soon. Every ride should be at least a little challenging, and you should feel it for a couple days afterward. But if you find yourself needing four or more recovery days after each ride, you’re probably reaching a little further than you can grasp (at the time). For me, I can probably reasonably add 10-15 miles to my rides each month that I’m training. If I can do 60 miles right now without hurting myself, it will take me 4 months of training to get to 100 miles reasonably. Mind you, I could grind out 100 miles right now on willpower alone, but I would pay dearly for it because I wouldn’t be reasonably ready.
In short, being ready for long rides will make all the difference between a pleasant, rewarding ride (even if challenging) and a miserable, agonizing ride.
Here endeth the lesson on distance ride training.
Bike Newbie 