In 43 days I’ll be riding my bike for 24 hours.
My goal? A 100 mile ride.
Last year at 24 Hours of Booty, I rode just over 50 miles. I was on a clunky bike and was only 2 months out from injuring my knee.
This year, I’ll be on a speedy bike, and a year and 2 months out from a knee injury. {Let’s ignore the fact that that’s still an issue at all.}
24 hours is plenty of time for a century ride– it’s just a matter of putting in the time on the bike. 24 Hours of Booty is unique since it’s a shorter loop that you ride continuously over the span of a full night and day. There’s time to stop and rest, and eat meals {my favorite part}. There’s even a little time to sleep.
100 miles still isn’t a short distance, even with plenty of stops in between. It definitely calls for a training plan. So here we go:
Century Training Plan
| Week | Sun | Mon | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| 6/12 | 12 | 36 | |||||
| 6/19 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 17 | 14 | 42 | |
| 6/26 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 19 | 15 | 48 | |
| 7/3 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 17 | 53 | ||
| 7/10 | 16 | 17 | 24 | 17 | 62 | ||
| 7/17 | 18 | 17 | 25 | 17 | 65 | ||
| 7/24 | 18 | 15 | 17 | 25 | 10 |
Traditionally when you train for a century or other length bike ride, you would mix up the workouts to include a variety of paces and drills, such as easy, pace, brisk, hill, etc. But since I’m a new rider and my goal is just to cover the distance, not time, I’m sticking with straight rides.
{For those of you used to looking at running training plans, it’s not as much mileage as it looks like- 12 miles on a bike is nothing like 12 miles on foot.}
As when making any training schedule, I’ll be rearranging rides to fit my schedule and account for weather. {i.e. I will not be riding 65 miles in 98 degrees. Call me a wimp if you feel the need to do so.}
Guess it’s time to get on that bike…
Want to learn more about biking? Check out these posts:
How to Switch to Clipless Pedals
Have you ever done a long distance bike ride or race? Any advice for training?
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