Raminal

I am looking to do some longer rides in the future (probably next year ish around 100km +) and wondering if there are any tip for training to do so. I will post some things that I record from my rides at the bottom of this. I am fairly new to road biking. I am 6ft around 210 lbs, I carry 2 water bottles and a camelback backpack usually without the bladder. I bring and eat 1 yogurt bar on my ride and drink 2x 591ml bottles of gatorade. Here are some stats from my rides. The rides that are around 31km have a stretch of a lot hill for about 10km of it, a lot of the rest is somewhat flat.
Date---------Km---------Time---------Average spd-----Max Spd
07/19/18 - 17.4km - 00:47:39 - 22.0 km/h avg - 54.0 km/h max
07/23/18 - 15.2km - 00:40:15 - 22.7 km/h avg - 44.2 km/h max
07/25/18 - 30.8km - 01:23:36 - 22.1 km/h avg - 57.2 km/h max
07/29/18 - 11.7km - 00:29:23 - 24.0 km/h avg - 40.5 km/h max
07/30/18 - 31.2km - 01:21:32 - 23.0 km/h avg - 51.2 km/h max
07/31/18 - 31.2km - 01:23:01 - 22.5 km/h avg - 54.0 km/h max
​​​​​​​08/02/18 - 31.2km - 01:19:28 - 23.6 km/h avg - 57.2 km/h max
​​​​​​​08/04/18 - 44.2km - 01:49:27 - 24.2 km/h avg - 55.0 km/h max
​​​​​​​08/05/18 - 15.4km - 00:38:45 - 24.0 km/h avg - 40.5 km/h max
​​​​​​​08/11/18 - 30.8km - 01:13:26 - 25.2 km/h avg - 57.2 km/h max
​​​​​​​08/13/18 - 31.1km - 01:16:29 - 24.4 km/h avg - 57.2 km/h max
​​​​​​​08/14/18 - 31.2km - 01:16:57 - 24.4 km/h avg - 57.2 km/h max
​​​​​​​08/16/18 - 31.1km - 01:14:45 - 24.7 km/h avg - 57.2 km/h max

Machka 

There's a whole forum for long distance cycling ...

https://www.bikeforums.net/long-dist...rance-cycling/

Brian25

I would recommend that you try to get advice from somewhere else, where the responders actually know something and are actually helpful. This forum is full of totally clueless trolls.

rubiksoval

Just ride longer. My first ride was about 5 miles. Second was 10 miles. Kept increasing from there. Within a few months I did my first 100 miler. All it took was some extra food and water.

But you absolutely do not need the food and stuff you're carrying and consuming for 1.5 hour rides. That's massive overkill. For a 1.5 hour ride I'd take one bottle of water if it's cool, two if it's hot. No food unless getting to 2+ hours.

wolfchild

Keep increasing the length of your rides. Start adding 5 miles then 10 miles then 15 miles then 20 miles until you become more comfortable riding longer distances. Once you're comfortable doing 60 mile rides you shouldn't have a problem doing a 100 miler...Nutrition and hydration is a personal thing, so eat and drink whatever works for you.

OBoile

As rubiksoval and woflchild said: just gradually increase the length of your rides. If you do a long one each week, just make it 5-10 km more each time. One thing to add: you may want to consider joining a cycling club in your area and riding with them. Having people around can make the longer rides far more fun. Plus, there's likely several knowledgeable cyclists in the group that you can learn from.

DrIsotope

Ride more, longer. If you're very new to cycling, then the food/liquid intake makes sense-- but once you get more conditioned, it's likely too much. For 100km, I generally won't eat anything, and when I do, it's 200-300kcal about mid-ride. Two 20oz bottles of Gatorade for 30-40km is quite a lot, unless you live someplace tropical.

I see that 31.2km ride happen a lot-- I assume it's the same route? One day, just ride the loop twice. Once that's comfortable, ride it three times. I personally feel the 30-50km loop is the best way to bridge to longer distances, because if on that day you're not feeling it, just don't ride that 2nd/3rd loop. If you're feeling strong, do another loop. I have 10+ loops from 25-50km that I've done dozens, if not hundreds of times-- some never get further than 5km from my house.

OldTryGuy

Plenty of insightful words of wisdom given.

my thought -------- Happy Butt = Happy Ride

.......One can do lots of things to build muscles and stamina and have great nutrition and hydration for long rides, butt if the butt isn't happy, might as well flush the whole idea of a long ride down the toilet. Gong out at 5mph for hours on end will not achieve record setting distances butt it sure will harden one in the end.

Carbonfiberboy 

Gradually and consistently increase miles/week. Every 4th week, reduce miles by 30%-50%, then go back to the mileage you did the week before. Ride hills: "see hill, ride up it" is the motto.

I might point out that 100k is well below the threshold for "long distance cycling". That really starts at ~200k. You could probably ride 100k right now. Just go and do it, see what happens. That's how you learn. Another motto is: "endurance starts when you start enduring." Not before.