A lot of websites about bike century training, pretty much all have the same training advice in one area. You work up to about 90% of the total mileage, little by little. Would this also make sense for a Uni-century?
The breakdown below, it seems, would assume that the rider didn’t have much prior long distance training.
<<On the weekends, do your longer ride. Here’s a breakdown:
Weeks 1 & 2: 25 miles
Weeks 3 & 4: 35 miles
Week 4: 45 miles
Week 5: 50 miles
Week 6: 50 to 55 miles
Week 7: 55 to 60 miles
Week 8: 65 miles
Week 9: 70 miles
Week 10: 75 miles
Week 11: 80 to 85 miles
Week 12: The Century, 100 miles!>>[LEFT]
I’ve not done a Uni century, but I have done a bike century (easy) and a Marathon (not easy, the word brutal comes to mind)
I think there is a time when you are supposed to have done your ‘long’ ride. And I believe (and that training schedule supports) that your max ride is supposed to be two weeks out.
Yeah, the date is 7-11-10. Again, I think that the training breakdown (in post #40) is assuming the rider has not done any previous “long” rides, and has not built up a “base” of distance riding. And I think the max ride (80-85) is one week prior, on that breakdown.
But I’ve been riding 5-7 days per week since 1/2006, mostly hard-tech MUni, which is quite a bit more demanding, mile for mile, than any distance riding on smooth pavement, imo. I have done several 50+ rides on my 36er, on the very same paths that I’ll be riding for the century.
On those rides I felt quite worked, but felt I could have kept going. And on my last one, I even did a challenging MUni ride immediately after! So I’m pretty confident that I can do the whole century…even if it takes me all day…which it probably will, haha!
I almost put that in my post that you have a fitness base, based on the amount you ride and the difficulty of those rides.
And multiple 50+ mile rides seems like it puts you in a good place to complete the longer ride. Might have to gut it out a bit toward the end but you have plenty of experience with that based on the your videos I have seen.
Thanks, I think the hardest part will be the saddle! Mainly umbness and general discomfort kicks in on the super long rides, but I’ve heard some people who say they wear TWO pairs of bike shorts during century rides! At the least, I’ll be bringing an extra pair of bike shorts, extra shirt and socks, so I can have a fresh dry start at the second half. :o
Also, I was planning on doing an 80 miler this Saturday, for my last long training ride before the real thing. I just don’t know if it’s necessary, and if I should just conserve as much energy as possible by just riding enough to stay loose.
I’ve worn two pairs of riding pants (one long, one short) on both of my centuries. I highly recommend it. I had the benefit of cooler weather, though.
A good set of handlebars will also make all the difference in taking weight of the seat. Aerobars with elbow rests are perfect.
I can’t help you with what ride to do on Saturday. I can see pros and cons. For you six days is a lot of rest. Just make sure you don’t pick up a saddle sore or something dumb like that.
My last advice is start hydrating 48 hours out. Don’t drown yourself but make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids.
Thanks Geoff. I tried profile aero bars with the elbow cups, and they fit perfectly on my existing KH touring bar at the T. It just didn’t seem to work well for me, no matter how they were adjusted. The KH bar by itself is very comfy for me, so I think I’ll stick with that.
They say you shouldn’t try new stuff that you’re not fully used to, for your first century, and that makes sense to me. But I still might try the double shorts thing.
I plan to still be doing light training rides up to 3 days out. The last 2-3 days I will rest, and let myself fully recover for the big ride. And as Bungeejoe suggested, I will also do a very short 5 minute ride, the day before, to get my legs loose.
After a shorter min-week 25 mile ride yesterday, using 110mm cranks, my most comfortable average speed seemed to be hovering between 11-12mph, with short sprints of 13-14mph as maximums. When I checked my cateye cycle computer after the ride, it showed the average at 11.6mph. I stopped only twice for less than 3 minutes each time just to stretch and “adjust”. :o
I was trying to get in the habit of pacing myself to stay within a comfortable speed range, rather than try to push my speed too much, especially for my first-an maybe only uni-century. I figure even if my overall average is 10 mph for the whole hundred, that’s not too bad. Although that’s 10 hours saddle time, I know the actual finishing time would be closer to 11 with all the breaks added up.
I’d be very happy with anything under 12! Like runners, some specialize sprinting, and others are better at long distance. One thing’s for sure…after this 100 mile ride, I will very likely feel like a “century” old!
"For 27 years, from 1966 until 1993, Stack persisted in covering a set training route. His highly visible training routine made him a San Francisco institution. Starting on his bike, he would ride six hilly miles from his Potrero Hill home to Fisherman’s Wharf. Once there, he’d strip off his shirt, displaying tattoos of peacocks, wild horses, and bathing beauties across his broad chest, and then proceed to run a 17 mile route over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and back, after which he would take a one-mile swim in the currents of the San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island
In 1982 he participated in the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, and he holds the event record for most time taken to finish, in dead last place. Surviving the ocean swim rather effortlessly, Stack commenced the 112 mile long bike ride on his single speed granny-basket bike, and finished the 26.2 mile marathon run early the next morning, but not before stopping in for a full waffle breakfast prior to finishing.
Stack also was an unofficial finisher of the hundred mile long Western States Endurance Run, not making the cut-off time.
A notorious drinker, Stack was known to be seen at marathons running with a six pack and he’d invariably finish the six pack well into the race"
Note: For those who have not seen it with their own eyes; calling San Francisco “hilly” is kind of like saying it gets a little chilly in Minnesota.
MuniAddict
That should be inspirational for you. Any chance you would put a “granny-basket” on your Uni and carry a six pack?
Haha, thanks for the good chuckle. That guy sounds totally cool! But I don’t drink alcohol. Quit cold turkey in 11/87. Quit 2-pack a day smoking in 1976. I won’t be quite as casual about my century; I plan to take it seriously, but with a smile. Training, eating well, getting enough sleep and all that good stuff. The one thing I won’t be doing is racing or trying to ride faster than my comfort zone.
Try a 100 mile century ride on this! There’s no saddle, so you have to stand for the entire ride! According to the end creds, this guy averaged about 15mph on this thing, but watching the video, it sure doesn’t look like he’s moving anywhere near that speed. And like a uni, I don’t think you can coast on it.
Seems to me it would be even more of a workout than unicycling over that distance, especially given the tiny wheels! Plus, he’s shown “passing” the people on bikes; they sure seem to be riding extra slow to give the impression that the “elliptigo” contraption is going fast. Highly dubious to me.
Edit: It does appear that you could probably move your feet off to either side, allowing this thing to “coast”.
Not sure if there is any actual empirical data on this, but what would you estimate the amount of calories burned would be doing a uni-century. I know the numbers would vary a lot, depending on many factors, but in general, I’m wondering how many calories would be used up per hour.
I’d be doing about 11 mph average, on mostly smooth flat pavement. I found a few sites that estimated 500 calories per hour for a bike century. I’m guessing if riding conditions were equal, it would be greater for a unicylist?
With just one week left before my century, I did my last long training ride today at 75 solid miles! Started at dawn, about 15 minutes before actual sunrise, to get a good start on the day. I averaged about 11 mph, and finished the first 50 miles in 4.5 hours! The remaining 25 was a bit slower due to riding in traffic for about 12 miles, and the rest on crowded beach bike path.
This was my longest ride to date; I really wanted to do a good percentage of the whole ride so there wouldn’t be any surprises, and also to know that I can do it! My longest previous ride was 50 miles, about a year ago.
On this ride I fought pretty strong head winds for 14 miles at the very beginning of my ride, then again on the final 12 miles back. I felt better than expected and tried to do everything right like eating about 200 calories every hour, and drinking regularly, whether I felt thirsty or not.
I did have two pretty scary falls; one early on after hitting a dip that I didn’t see, and scraped up my elbow a bit. So now with just one week remaining before my official uni-century, I feel much more confident that I can do it, having done 75 without too much problem. Based on the diameter of the 36er wheel, I pedaled about 42,000 revolutions! (and now that I’m back home, my legs are feeling the result! But it’s the “good” kind of pain, lol!)
Went out for a 10 mile MUni after just one day rest from my 75 mile training ride. My legs felt good but overall I felt “shaky” and a bit not-all-there kindof feeling. After about 30 minutes I started to feel better, but not totally there.
I’ll taper off this week with short 36er rides just to keep my legs limber, and do a lot of stretching and carb loading. I will probably refrain from any riding at least two days prior to the big ride, with the exception of about a 10 minute ride the day before.
