jade408

My city is launching its first ever Gran Fondo in October! I decided to sign up for the shortest race, which would be more miles than I have ridden in one day ever - a little over 18 miles.

About my riding style: I pretty much am a utility rider, I just ride to errands. 5-6 miles one way max (most of the time), typically it is more like 2 miles.

So it'll be a good challenge. But there are some caveats.

1. I'll be adding on 6-7 extra miles. I plan to bike there. There is not really a shorter way to get there without biking, and driving seems silly. The 3ish miles home is a gradual incline. So my legs can't be too tired as I'll be going uphill. The closer I get to home is the steepest part.
2. The ride is fairly flat, I've ridden most parts of the whole thing. But in the middle, there is about 3-4 miles with a gradual incline and a persistent headwind the whole way. When I rode that part last, I found it tiring. But leaving that part was a fun and easy coast.

So really, I need to train for 25 miles. With a few breaks. And being in the saddle for 2ish hours.

My longest day so far was something like 16 miles. Broken up into a could of spurts: 3.5 miles to coffee, 4 miles (this is the uphill path of the ride) to the end of the trail where we took a 10 minute break and some pics. Then about 6 miles to brunch. Then we ate, walked around. Then about 2.5 miles home. By the last 2 miles my legs were tired. The next day my legs were somewhat tired. Want to have the energy for another few miles the next day.

Currently I am not commuting by bike so I don't get in much riding these days. So my "training plan" is to fit in some rides after or before work (can be hard) with a goal of 3-4 days a week. The plan is to gradually increase my saddle time and distance on a longer ride on the weekends. Then following the longer ride with a shorter one the next day.

Hopefully I can get to 2.5 hours of saddle time before the race! Then I think I'll feel "trained" enough to do it and have energy for the ride home! I have to figure out some routes besides the regular city streets where I typically ride. Wish me luck!

I also saw a winery ride/tour thing in November that sounds fun, but logistics might be tough! That feels like my speed.

10 Wheels

Race or Ride?

This one?

https://www.levisgranfondo.com/ride

PhotoJoe 

Congratulations. This is an EXCELLENT way to increase your miles and have a ton of fun doing it! Please make sure you give us a full report on the ride!

jade408

Mine is deemed a ride! They aren't even timing it - well at least for the short one!
Oakland Gran Fondo

Racing is not really my speed, but I am definitely game for riding somewhere fun!

*** Strange! They changed the route and distance since I signed up. That is tricky. The "mini" ride is now 13 miles. It was the "petite" and 18 miles. Hmm, what should I do now......

10 Wheels

Enjoy it..Have a Safe Fun Ride.

https://www.oaklandgranfondo.com/wp-c...-Mile-Ride.jpg

obed7

a rose by any other name...
who cares what they call it...
13 or 18, you will handle it just fine...
go have fun

1nterceptor

You have 7 weeks to prepare; you can do it! Maybe even go for the 28 mile route.
Organized rides are fun; the camaraderie, the scenery, etc. I've volunteered for a
bunch of charity rides over the years; ranging in mileage from 20 miles to 100 miles.
I always(and still do) have a blast. Good luck and let us know how your training is
progressing.

NYSteve

I have ridden in the Finger Lakes Tour De Cure for two years in a row now. This was my fourth year.

My first two years I volunteered and the last two years I would volunteer from 430am till ride time at 930 and I did the 20 miles.

that is so right, it is 100% fun. Great people, everyone is so frienly. Everyone looking out for each other.

memebag

Excellent! I bet you'll have a blast.

My experience:

3.5 years ago I started riding a bike, a lovely little cruiser from Electra. The guy at the bike shop saw where I lived and said hey, you can ride to the shop, it's only 5 miles from your house. I thought he was crazy. 5 miles? I'm not an athlete, I thought. Nuts to that.

Riding it around the block left me a little winded, but I really enjoyed it. I started riding every day, just to exploring my neighborhood. Each week I found I could go a little farther. I never really pushed myself, but soon found I could go 15 or 20 miles at a time without too much trouble. The key was increasing the distance very gradually. Soon I was riding 100 miles each week. I lost a bunch of weight and cured my sedentary diseases (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, back aches, acid reflux, sleep apnia, etc.).

A year later I did the MS 150 from Houston to Austin. One of the most enjoyable things I've ever done. I'm getting ready for the 170 mile Bike Around the Bay right now.

PhotoJoe 

This sums up MANY people's experience, other than maybe the specific rides that you have done or will do. What used to seem impossible is now the warmup for the day's ride. It's amazing how if you keep at it, the distance will come!

ypsetihw

If you aren't worried about doing it fast, you probably won't have to train at all. At rides this big, there is ALWAYS somebody slower than you lol. If you want to finish fast and fresh, then you are going to have to up the miles, and try to do at least a couple rides the length of your total miles for the day (25-30 miles is a good number for a 2 hour ride). Technically you have enough time to train to hammer this thing (18 miles is really short in grand scheme of things), but it doesn't sound like that's your goal. Just go out and have fun! Remember to spin! Keep your cadence up to keep fatigue out of your legs.

jade408

Well I am pretty slow, so 30 miles in 2 hours is pretty aggressive! Particularly on the city streets with traffic lights (though it looks like they will be closed for the ride.)

I scanned the 28 mile right, I think it is really steep! I'll have to look more closely, there are plenty of hills I skip already so it seems unimaginable if they are the roads I am thinking!

But if I can crank out some of the hills I currently skip more easily, maybe I can put that on my list for soon! I know the current route pretty well, and I typically take parts of it on almost every ride!

TrojanHorse

Roads are not typically closed for rides of this nature so don't be surprised if they're open.

cyclist2000

Well have fun. train a bit and ride a comfortable pace. After this ride, next year, your going say to yourself that you can do the 30 mile ride in 2 hours.

jade408

Well to keep up,with my goal of riding a few more days a week, my outline was longer ride on Saturday, shorter on Sunday.

But I was foiled by some afternoon plans so I aimed for "medium."

I planned a route: 7 miles. Stop for breakfast and coffee. Check out the part of the ride I have never done before. Then go the 3-4 miles home after coffee and food.

Things were all going good, I saw parts of town I haven't been to (or more accurately streets). Per google maps there was a bike path to the park that is on the ride. I have seen a bike route sign coming from the north, so I assumed there would be a sign and infrastructure from the east which is how I headed. But the signage sucked. And I checked the map again. And it told me to take a route, but it looked sketchy. I thought I must be missing something. I decided to pedal per the map. I saw a sign for "future Bay trail route."

*this street has a bunch of concrete, freeway on ramps and most infamously used for one of the car chase scenes in the matrix. It is way too open, and too many trucks and the streets are too wide for me to be safe on my bicycle. I think the official speed limit is 35mph - I try to avoid any street with cars that fast. But this street design looks like a freeway and while there are few cars, it is easy to go 80mph in this stretch.

And I turned around and went to the coffee place. I must have missed some secret bike path. But I didn't want to get run over while trying to find it.

Got my coffee and took a new route home!

I ended up a 2 miles short of my 10 mile plan. And I don't think I'll do this route till the group ride. Maybe someone else knows how to get there. Or I'll try from the other direction which is way calmer.

And I'll have to come up with something new to see tomorrow. And plan where I'll have a snack break.

cyclist2000

Since you have signed up for the Oakland Gran Fondo was this ride in Oakland? and have you looked at the Oakland Bikeways Map?

Oakland Bikeways map

It may help finding good routes for you.

jade408

I have checked out the bike map! That ride was a fail because there is a huge gap in the 7th street pathway. I'll probably try the alternate route to the bridge trail via middle harbor before the ride.

But I did see parts of West Oakland I hadn't checked out before, it wasn't a total bust, but I just needed to get back home!

I've ridden most of the bikeways in North and Central Oakland (below the hills). Things are pretty disconnected in east Oakland, and the traffic is a lot faster, so I don't like to go too far past the lake! The vast majority of these "bike ways" are striped lanes, occasionally buffered and some sharrows on bike boulevards. These are my regular pathways for errands and socializing!

This weekend, I decided to hop through the tunnel and take the Iron Horse trail! This has a ton of uninterrupted separated bike path!

It was nice to have lots of stress free / traffic light free miles. Not very much of that on my side of the hills.

There is a proper MUP along the Bay, with some disconnected parts along the way. Some time soon I'll try my luck taking the Bay Trail up to Richmond some time soon, perhaps that will be this weekend's route. The annoying thing about the Bay trail is that I have 3 miles of city streets to navigate to get to the stress free part of the trail!

Inpd

Hi Jade,

Your near my part of town.

If you drive a bit south of Oakland to Fremont there is a really nice MUP called the Alameda Creek Trail. One side is gravel but the other is paved road and runs all the way from the Coyote Hills Preserve to down town Fremont. I often ride the 13 miles to downtown Fremont, have a coffee and ride back. Its completely flat so an easy ride.

jade408

I took a haphazard ride for an hour today. On a mission to find a good transition from Oakland to Berkeley via a bike path. Sad to say I am still looking.

I fit in an hour. Of indeterminate distance. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 miles.

I cut my ride a mile short and took a detour to the train station. To claim a bike locker and save some time tomorrow morning. I no longer take the train regularly to work because it takes longer than the bus and is more crowded. But on days I know I will be out later it is nice to bike home va waiting for the bus. Now my bike will be waiting for me tomorrow and I can take a scenic route home if I wish! And not have to wake up earlier to get to work.

Still figuring out a route for this weekend's long ride!

landesb

The Iron Horse is phenomenal if you're looking to get a lot of miles in without too many lights and stops. Moreover, San Ramon Valley Blvd/Danville Blvd has wide and wonderful bike lanes. Between Walnut Creek and Dublin it's like a bike freeway on weekends.

jade408

I think biking from Walnut Creek-ish to Dublin is a good goal for the next couple of weeks! It'll get me to just about 20 miles!

MikeRides

Awesome OP, I did my first organized ride of 50 miles back in April. I had so much fun that I've already signed up for a second ride, on September 24th. Only doing 35 miles this time, since I haven't been on my bike much since April due to work and family obligations.

jade408

Today I did ~15 miles so far. I stopped a few times because I saw some interesting stuff.

I decided to check an MUP I had no idea existed: the Ohlone Greenway. It is a rails to trails conversion. I took the train a few stops to shorten my ride some. I grabbed some breakfast, rode to the trail, rode 4.5 miles, did a short errand, and started to head the 9 miles home. About halfway home there was a bike shop on path and I wanted a bag. I stopped and lucked out - scoring a pair of really well priced Ostrich Panniers. Then back towards home. Grabbed lunch. And finished up. (The other 2 miles were for the trip to the train and breakfast.)

My legs feel fine and I am adding another 4 miles or so for a travel to a party. Seems like the 13 + transit miles will be a breeze, so I am just going to add more for practice. Today's ride will be a lot like ride day.

amchef

In organized/charitable rides the miles go by much more quickly, and you're not adding appreciable mileage so that rush will easily see your through. Earlier this year my wife went 30+ when her previous longest rides were a 19 and a few 15s. Of course she felt it, but she pedaled all the way through and gained a wad of confidence and even more satisfaction. Good luck and just go out and enjoy it.

Jean3n16

I agree with what others are sayng.. riding in a group is different than on your own. You have more drive to go and keep going! Unless they "schedule" breaks, i would see about cutting those down too. We only stop at certain points and its only long enough to get water. Sometimes we stop to grab a bite but its planned in advance.

I didnt train for going 20+ mi, i just joined the group and went. You could do that but training seems like its a better path!