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Training for a Century #1
For bicycle riders who have a desire to train for a century, to train to ride a faster century, and train to ride double centuries.
Choosing A Century
by Lisa Marie Dougherty
Lisa Marie Dougherty has been a serious bicycle racer since 1994 and century rider. She is a licensed USCF racer (Women's Category 2). As a ultra marathon cycling racer, she qualified for the Race Across America in 1996 after completing the Bicycle Across Missouri race in under 50 hours. She has won the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association's 24 Hour Championship race three times. She is married to Eugene Dougherty, also an accomplished racer himself.
The Century Pages: Training for Centuries
- Part 1: Choosing A Century to Ride
- Part 2: Riding Fast Century
- Part 3: Strength Training
- Part 4: Planning Workouts
- Part 5: Power on the Bike
- Part 5: Power on the Bike
- Part 6: Moving to Longer Rides
Only a week ago, you stirred long before the sun finished traversing the opposite hemisphere of the earth. Now sunbeams kiss your cheek as you sip your morning coffee and gaze at glistening droplets tumbling from tips of shrinking icicles. Your eyes come to rest on your bicycle, a neglected companion. Soft tires and a sprinkle of dust add to the appearance of disrepair. The spirit of the dawning spring fills you, though, and you attack the task with zeal. Within minutes, your bicycle is gleaming and begging to be taken for a ride.
A few days back in the bicycle saddle return to you a few years of your life. The exhilaration of the awakening world adds a snap to your legs. One mile ... two miles ... three miles. Hmmm ... maybe that's enough for the first day. As you cycle back home, an idea flashes in your mind.
What if I kept going? What if I rode 50-miles to Ohmygoodnesston ... or 70-miles to Youvegottabekiddingburg ... or century to Areyoucrazyville? What if I rode for 24-hours straight? How far could I go?
The ultra cycling bug has bitten you! A drive to explore your Id ... your Ego ... your very self consumes you. A limit that has always been there but never threatened has become a target. Perhaps you'll reach it. Perhaps you'll fall short. Perhaps you'll press up against it and shoulder it up a few notches.
The Century Pages are for the bicycle rider who has just discovered a desire to expand personal experience by bicycle riding greater distances. Riding a century in a single day may be quite challenging. Perhaps your goal is to ride acntury every month. Or perhaps compete in the Century Division of theUltra Marathon Cycling AssociationMileage Challenge. With careful preparation cycling a century can be fun and rewarding experiences. Each page concentrates on a different aspect of preparing for and completing a century. At the conclusion of the series, there will be a brief discussion on moving beyond a century to a double century. The leap isn't as large as you may fear. The key is simple: Get out there and ride your bicycle!
Let's start from the beginning. The first thing you must do is select a century. There are three types of century rides:
- a self-planned, unsupported century,
- a brevet and
- a fully-supported century.
ASelf-planned Century
A self-planned century has the advantages of freedom in scheduling and route planning. You don't have to wait two months for the century or drive halfway across the state to reach the century. However, you do have to anticipate route problems on your century. Unfamiliar roads may be gravel or under construction. You have to carry enough bicycle tools in case you have a mechanical mishaps with your bicycle. Unless you scrounged up a cycling partner, you will bicycle the century alone. Also, don't expect to save money by planning your own century ride! The fee for an organized bicycle century is generally minimal, often less than the cost of food for a long, solo century.
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A Brevet
A brevets requires a minimal fee but provides a map of the bicycle route which usually includes information on supply stops along the way. There is no mechanical or food support but there are other participants who can function as either companions or competitors. Brevets come in a variety of distances. Century riders should start with the shortest option, the 200 km (125-mile) brevet.
An Organized Century
The best type of bicycle ride for new long-distance cyclists is the organized century. This century has one fee that covers all food and mechanical assistance along the way. The route is well-established and a multitude of cyclists will participate, especially if the century has a good reputation and the weather is favorable. However, you are at the mercy of the century organizers. If you don't like the food, you have to eat it or starve. If you can't make it to the food stop in time, they will close it before you get there.
Now that you have selected the century or centuries you want to do, you need to plot a course of action and begin preparations. Mark your calendar! We have a lot to talk about before those rides!
Training for Centuries
- Part 1: Choosing A Century to Ride
- Part 2: Riding Fast Century
- Part 3: Strength Training
- Part 4: Planning Workouts
- Part 5: Power on the Bike
- Part 5: Power on the Bike
- Part 6: Moving to Longer Rides