klepto1

Hi Everyone.

I am doing the NYC 5 boro bike tour on May 4th. It is a 40 mile ride. It will be my first organized ride. I had hoped to start riding earlier in the season but we have had a crappy winter. I just started riding again this week (10m on Thurs & 12 on Sat). To give you context of where I am as a cyclist. I did about 1000 miles last year (March-Dec). I was on pace to do about 1300-1400, but I had a second baby mid summer and it became really hard to find the time to ride. I rode inconsistently in the fall with my longest ride at about 37 miles. Anyway, I created a training plan below to try to be ready for the ride on May 4th. Sunday will be my long day. Monday recovery ride. Wednesday speed/interval. Friday moderate pace. I am skipping the last Friday to get 3 days off and come in with my legs fresh. Does this seem like a reasonable plan? I'm slightly nervous because I have never done more that 200 miles in a month. I was usually averaging about 50 miles a week on a good week and my riding wasn't structured other than the fact that i would do my longer rides on the weekends.

One additional question. To keep up with my training I want to be able to use the exercise bike at the gym if there are days that the weather is too crappy to ride (snow again? thunderstorms). Is there any rough estimate to how much the mileage on an exercise bike would calculate to on a real bike? Or should I just stick to doing it for the same amount of time as it would take me to do my planned distance on my real bike?


Week Date S M T W R F S Total
1 30-Mar 15 7 10 15 47
2 6-Apr 20 10 15 17 62
3 13-Apr 25 12 15 17 69
4 20-Apr 30 15 15 20 80
5 27-Apr 35 10 25 70

klepto1

The formatting on my ride calendar didn't quite come out how I planned. Hopefully you can make it out based on the description above. If you can't I take a screenshot and add a picture of my riding calendar.

Spld cyclist

I would say that what you're proposing may work fine. You are ramping up the miles pretty quickly after not cycling for 3 months or so. I did the same thing a few years ago and I got knee tendonitis that turned into a chronic condition. I had done this for years each spring and it was fine, but I think that was the year in my life where adding the new stress finally exceeded my body's capacity to heal quickly. I'm not saying that will happen to you, but you should listen to your body and be mentally prepared to dial back your effort if something isn't feeling right.

ftwelder

When substituting indoor for outdoor "hours" the amount of time in each effort zone is what you are hoping to replicate since you don't coast indoors. . You may want to do your ride at or near the end of a week of very light effort and rest. You not only need to rest the muscles but rebuild your energy reserves.

Do you have a heart rate monitor? they are an inexpensive tool that works well to measure fatigue.

klepto1

Thanks you both for the replies. I appreciate the feedback. I am really anxious and excited to get back on the bike. Not just because of the event, but I just enjoy riding and like the work out.

I do try to listen to my body. I am in my mid 30s. Not terribly old, but past the point of recovering quickly without rest and a good diet. Didn't do alot of conditioning in my 20s so I suffered a few injuries that I learned from in my late 20s/ early 30s. If I have to rest I will likely sacrifice the weds and/or friday ride and try to keep up with the increase in my long rides each week. My diet has improved dramatically in the last few months and its my hope that it results in better training for me.

And yes I do have a heart rate monitor that I use every ride. It came with my garmin edge. I typically try to use it to see trends over time and not obsess during a ride. Although I have used it on occasion after a tough ride to make sure my recovery ride is truly a recovery ride. And based what on you are saying I would take away that I should more actively keep a pulse on my heart rate to make sure I am working in the ride zone for my intended ride. And in the event that I have to take it indoors I can use that for reference and try to replicate the effort.

Thanks again!

bmontgomery87

I really think you shouldn't have to spend a lot of time planning out a template for a 40 mile ride. Overthinking things tends to make them suck.

As long as you don't go from 0 miles to 100 miles in a week, you should be okay. Get enough rest and take ibuprofen if you have to.

Get out on the weekends and log 20, 25, 30, etc building up a bit each week. Over the winter a lot of people only get 1-2 days on the road, but doing 30 miles on a Saturday isn't a big deal. Just ramp up the mileage by 5 a week and you should be doing 40 comfortably by the time the ride gets here.