Hammondc

So I have only been seriously cycling for about 8 months. Longest ride thus far was 42 miles, which I did fairly comfortably. Had my longest ride yet yesterday-- 68 miles--with my neighbor who is training for the Chattannooga IronMan in September. It all hurts. Legs, shoulders, hands, feet, tailbone. The wind kicked up to 15mph gusts in the last 15 miles and it was like torture.

I am glad I did it though, since now I have a metric century under my belt. Next is inching up the miles towards a full century.

How long did most of you folks on here talke to get your first century in?

Lazyass

I would have done two more to make it an even 70 just on principal haha

gregf83 

6 wks to my first metric century, a couple of years before I rode 100 miles. A century has never been a goal for me though.

Hammondc

I suppose it is more of a milestone than a goal. I doubt I'll ever get into rides over 100 miles. Honestly, I just get bored as hell on the bike after about 3 miles. I just want to get off and do something else.

Darth Steele

May I ask what is your regular riding routine?

on my mountain bike (with armadillo hybrid tires) I use to use head out early on a Saturday/Sunday with friends to a scenic area and just ride around, hitting 50-70 miles wasn't a big deal. Granted that we were "touring" with no real speed goal but more of just enjoying the outdoors.

Now that I have a road bike, my enjoyment of nature and scenic areas has gone down and my average speed has gone up.

I really need to get to "touring", I saw some many things that people while driving would just totally miss.

anyway, back to your thread, focus more on doing 20-30 miles with good/high intensity as your normal ride, that is a good launching pad for longer miles (40-70).

Once I was able to do 50 miles at a relative high pace, I felt like I had the legs to push beyond 70

Hammondc

Sure. I usually ride 4 times a week. One ride is always my personal TT ride of 17 miles. I always go as hard as I can on this route. 2 rides are 25-30 miles and one longer ride on the weekend of ~35 miles. One other day is crosstraining.

I really only started to feel the pain in the last 15 or so miles.

metz1295

I rode a lot in the early 90's, but got back into it this year. I knew I would hit long distances quickly. I hit my first metric after about a month. my first real century was about 2 month's in. I've had a couple 75 milers thrown in there too.

I think it's great that you're moving forward with your distances. keep pushing and map out new routes so you don't get bored. you're doing great so far.

Hammondc

Thanks a bunch! It helps that my area is so bike friendly. Mornings on Saturday/Sunday have cyclists everywhere. Some group rides have 40-50 bikes.

TexMac

Good for you and congrats.
I did my first 60miles last year after 5 months of cycling. This year, i've done 1 solo century and 3 group centuries.
If you are getting bored on the bike, you might want to find something to motivate you. Some folks get motivated by nice bike/nicer wheels/ friends/events/strava challenge/club fun races etc.

BoSoxYacht

It took 2 years for me, but I started road cycling at age 12. At 14 I rode a century with a friend, without my folks knowing about it beforehand.

linnefaulk

Well done.

I went from 50 miles to doing the MS150 which is done over 2 days. I still haven't done a century.

elephino

Hey! I am in the same position as you, recently finished a metric century with ambitions of a full century and maybe more. I've only had my road bike for a couple of weeks, but was doing 20-30 miles on my hybrid for a couple of months before that. (I'm a distance runner so a dirty rotten cheater.)

I don't tend to get bored, though. Maybe new routes like others suggested, or mixing in interval/speedwork? What about riding with a destination in mind? My goal for this and next summer is to determine the best ice cream shop in my region.

dvdslw

If you have the desire to do a century you can make it happen. I did my first just yesterday! I'm 43 and a few years ago I would have never thought I could ride a bike that far but I bought a road bike last November and it changed my life, almost as if I'm addicted? For me it was finding the motivation and diet to go the distance. I would go out for my usual 30-60mi ride with the intent to do a hundred but something would cut it short like rain, cramps, or just lack of motivation so last week I told all of my family and friends I was going to ride 100 miles and that added the pressure I needed to get it done. I'll admit it was tough, it was in the mid 90's yesterday and my butt was sore towards the end but I kept plugging away. It was a nice sense of accomplishment and I'm glad I did it. Just a week before I tried to go further than my 65mi best and my legs cramped up so bad I had to stop and stretch every 1/4mi or so and ended up only riding 67 miles. I came on the forum and asked about cramping which led to a wide array of responses but I ended up drinking much more water and Gatorade, adding Endurolytes to every other bottle of water, eating a peanut butter sandwich or cliff bar every 1.5hrs, and trying to pace myself at the beginning to keep some fuel in the tank at the end. Anyway, answer to your question is 9 months.

Heathpack 

11 months, which was last Feb Since then I've ridden 3 more, and 2 double metric centuries. I have two more centuries planned for the year and I will try for a double century in December.

gc3

We're supposed to actually ride these bike things? I only bought them to take pictures of them....

jwalther

I completed my first century earlier this year at age 50, in my first full season of riding with nothing longer than a metric century beforehand.

localroutes

It took about 6-9 months of regular riding to get the body ready for an extended effort like a century. Some advice to help along the way. If you're not already doing it, learn how to draft. It really cuts down on overall effort needed on long rides. When doing the organized century with rest stops, minimize time spent in the stops. If you can spend two minutes or less at each stop, your body won't shut down as much and you'll be able to sustain a more consistent flow.
localroutes

Fastfwd01

I guess I haven’t caught that a metric century was a thing. I rode my personal record of about 57.5 miles last weekend. If I had only known a few more would have been an universal goal I think I could have done it.

I’ve been riding about 4 months. Riding my old mountain bike with street tires currently, but a new road bike should be coming in this week. If it feels good riding it I might attempt a metric century my first real ride on it and see how it goes. That might be a tad ambitious. We’ll see.

Fastfwd01

Did it! Had to go out for a short ride last night to see what needed to be adjusted to fit better, but today I busted out 64.5 miles on the new bike. I’m a few days past 4 months of riding. As soon as it cools down I’ll be eying a full century.