Considering A Distance Ride.
 

25-100 miles or so, no real distance training. What's your take on your first distance ride? Purely for fun nothing serious, but reading some of the articles on distance rides says that its pretty serious so I was wondering what some peoples first distance ride was like.

Which ride/event? How many miles/kilometers?

Just by myself, 25-100 miles.

What's your experience with them? If i leave in about an hour or two. I can't avoid really long stretches of road without any places to stop. I can probably average a decent pace.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/731911845

Mine from Saturday. First brevet of the season. Windy with snow squalls.
15 riders. Flat course provided no shelter from the wind from the lakes.

25-100 not so comparable. What are you used to? Don't concern yourself with speed at first. If you want to ride long distances you have to learn how to pace yourself and take care of yourself with food and drink.

have fun!

I agree with this. 25 is just a bike ride, but much after that, you have to start concerning yourself with hydration and nutrition. Conservation of energy becomes crucial. Ride for distance or speed - but not both, at least at first.

Somewhere in the 25-100 mile range is where having actual bike shorts and being used to your saddle actually make a difference. Also, if you don't plan for flats you're gonna have a bad time.

Also, past 25 miles I would seriously consider investing in chamois cream.

Funny you mention that, I just got a new saddle, and was concerned about not being broken into it.

I have some kind of lycra like polyester shorts, (No padding) will vaseline or something similar work for leg butter?

The chamois in cycling shorts/bibs is to prevent saddle sores rather than as padding. The lycra is unlikely to help for this although it may prevent chaffing. Different people have different rears so you may be fine but I wouldn't do it.

I'd pick a destination. Pick someplace you want to go. Figure on an average speed about 12 mph. Can you take public transport home?

I wouldn't worry about the bike. It may be good; it may be not so good; you'll figure that out. Bring the tools you need to fix anything that can normally go wrong; especially a patch kit and pump. Oh, and some money. Money is fun to have on bike rides.

Discounting terrain or variables like strong headwinds, most riders can fairly easily ride about half again the longest distance they can ride comfortably. Yoy moight be crapped out by the end, but worst case won't be suffering unreasonably before finishing.

Fixed wheel riding is a bit trickier because terrain can be more important than with a geared bike, and if there's hard descents it can be hard on the knees.

So, think about what you KNOW you can handle, add half again to it, and go for it.

One of the things I like to do when expanding my range, or pushing the envelope is to ride parallel to a railroad line, where I can go until I'm toast, then hop a train home. Or ride what I call a ladder route, by which I mean heading out on one route with a planned parallel route to come home. I call it a ladder route, where there are plenty of rungs and I can cut the ride off at any point and still end up with a nice circular ride.

If you live in the foothills or coast, ride out uphill (generally) so the return rides are easier.

For me, polyester actually causes rashes, even without sweating.

Training for Your First Fixed-Gear Century

Read and profit.

Doing RAGBRAI single-speed this summer, thanks for this.

Pace yourself, get your gearing right, start slow and speed up at the end if you feel you have the energy. Don't underestimate the importance of hydration and nutritional intake, improper intake has beaten me many times.

My first long fixed gear ride was an attempt at a 100mile ride 2 years ago. I made it 65 miles before I gave up. Prior to that 65 miles I only did 30 mile ride. So I doubled my distance in one attempt, probably not wise.

Listen to your body and know your limitations.

Get on your bike, even if you don't get the distance you want in training, get your body used to the time on the bike.

Be aware of the GEO of your bike, aggressive track geo will not be fun to ride long distance. If you do have an aggressive geo you might want to raise your bars up a bit and get an a more upright position for comfort. Aggressive riding position can put excess strain on your back, etc.

I still remember the all the pain and suffering I went through when I training for my first brevet, having never done a solo century prior. Sometimes I get too confident and forget to eat and drink enough for 50milers :lol: :(

https://www.strava.com/activities/272342196

my first long ride with FG. 44X15, one bottle cage and ZERO stops. Felt horrible at the end. With a little food on me, the last hills would be damn easier.

Also, the worst part where the descents. Damn! But in the end, I was really happy, and will not return to geared bikes so soon. Sunday I will try a bit harder ride, but with 46X16.

Thk for tip

sadly my only attempt at 100 miles turned out to be only 88. this was before I had a bike computer and was going by anecdotal commentary about distances. I thought I was doing 4 25 mile legs on a mup but I would later discover the legs were only 22 miles long. funny and sad at the same time.

If there was another hour of daylight, you certainly could have ridden the other 12 miles, so credit yourself with a century ride (to the extent that it matters) un til you decide to do another.

Every day I ride I do 22-25 miles. I consider these casual rides. My longest ride was 44 miles and with frequent stops for refreshments it was not difficult. It's all about staying hydrated and riding at a comfortable pace.

I mainly only commute, but am building up a bike to do El Tour de Tucson this November. Actually, the longest distance I've ridden was around 35 miles or so on my old bike, a Phat Phixie (lol) 44x16. There were some steep climbs, but those were really short. Honestly, my legs hurt because I was (and still am) out of shape, but the only other thing that really hurt all that much was my butt because I didn't have proper shorts at the time. Everything before that was only around 12 miles or so. If it's around 25-30, just go for it and bring some water and a snack, you'll be fine.

I can't give you advice for anything above that though, but hopefully I will be able to soon once this crazy semester is over.