From beginner to century rider
 

Hello everyone!! Im A bmx rider that turned to road biking a few days ago. I want to attempt HNH in august. Not to race, but rather to finish. I know that this is a lot to ask but I was wondering if people could give me tips for doing a century, and also for road riding in general. I would love any help that people could give. Also if people could help me understand all of the steps towards training and completing a century that would be great. I’m so eager to learn and excited to start training. Thank you all!!

About 6 years I went from a zero mile a week couch potato to a monthly century ride in 10-months. My quick list advice:

• Get a bike that you're comfortable on (financially as well)
• Commit to weekly and monthly goals that are obtainable. I started at ~50 miles a week (minimum of 3 rides). At 6-months in I was doing ~125 miles a week (minimum of 4 rides).
• Figure out a nutrition plan that works and is maintainable. I, for example, couldn't mentally give up soda. But I reduced my intake from 40+ ounces a day to 12 ounces a day.
• Find a riding buddy that is either on the same level or willing to ride at your level at least twice a month.
• Find a riding buddy that is of a higher level of fitness to ride with at least once a month to push you (I introduced this at month 6) but not crush your spirit.

thanks so much for the advice. Where should I ride? I’m kind of confused on where to ride since I am in the city and there are not much open roads.

On where to ride- we can't help with that without knowing your area, which we likely don't.
But check what you can find for nearby bike shops and for nearby bike clubs, see if you can find out where they ride.
I believe on Strava (which I don't use), they have features showing high-ridership routes.
"In the city" can vary a lot, and there are places to ride in downtown Dallas, Fort Worth, etc. Maybe your area is especially sucky, so hard to say without knowing where that is.

On general strategy, go ride two or three times a week, 20-30 miles, work your way up to longer rides.
If you're young and athletic, it probably won't be that hard to do a century.
If you're old and fat, it's more of a challenge.
If you're serious about training, look into that, but be aware that a lot of the training is relating to racing, not to just riding around. So yeah, to perform your best, maybe you ought to sit in your garage for months on some computerized torture device. If you want to have fun, I'd advise a different route, though.
It is actually possible to ride a 100 miles (and longer) eating regular food. So you can get into all the nutritional drinks and stuff, but that's not a requirement.

I assume by HNH, you mean "Hotter'nHell" in Wichita Falls, Texas? Of if you mean some other event, clue us in.
It's a fairly flat course usually with lots of wind. Temperatures vary. I've done it three times, and it wasn't just super-hot any of those three times. But ride in the wind, ride in the heat, and it won't be a lot different.
The first two times I rode it, I was on my Worksman cruiser and took about 9.5 hours, so the bar is not real high. I had done a couple of 100k rides prior to that.
If you try to go fast, you'll have 10,000 people in the way, so to do a faster century, do a different location, or do that route at a different time.

The Strava Heat Map is here: https://www.strava.com/heatmap#6.65/....88917/hot/all

im in Richardson and by HNH I do mean Hotter n’ Hell. Thanks for the advice and I will use it during my training.

~
One general thing I've found to be true over the decades is that once I'm in good enough condition to ride 40 or 50 miles in relative comfort, riding 100+ miles is just becomes a matter of fuel and hydration, the specifics of which I have found out by trial and error.

Is this meant to discourage people from using the forum to ask question? Anyone can Google anything. I thought this was a forum for discussions with real people.

Not at all. He wants a training plan, the link gives him numerous choices. Nobody here is going to type in a multi-week training plan for him. Or maybe you'd like to offer him something beyond "trial and error?"

I assume in a few days you have not considered equipment yet. But, you probably have a bike.

You may find that you need to spend some quality time with a bicycle saddle to decide if that is the right one for you for distance. There is no generic answer, everyone has different preferences. For example, I have tried some saddles that other long distance riders really like, but I found them to be medieval torture devices.

And good cycling shoes are also important. If your foot starts to hurt when you are half way there, you might have trouble finishing. And if you use cleated type shoes, then the pedals to go with them is another expense. (If you buy pedals and install them your self, one side is left hand thread.)

Clothing, like bike shorts, jersey, etc.

I assume you have a helmet and good glasses to wear already.

Go to several bike shops, talk to several sales people before you spend a dime, then think about what they said as you start riding, If you suspect that a bike shop salesperson is not very knowledgeable, and many are not, ask his or her experience with long distance riding to see if they have anything useful to say. And you could ask if anyone at that store has ridden the ride you want to ride to see if they have any specific input.

RideWithGPS has a heat map you can toggle on and off on their maps. With RideWithGPS you can also search for rides others have done in your area. You should look into a local bike club. It's fun to do club rides and you can also find good rides in your area.

I didn't know that about RWGPS, have to look for it.

I always said if you can ride 60 miles in good form you can ride as far as you want. It does take a little food for me to make it to 60 miles except in the height of the season.

Well, 60 hilly miles! It's a button in Route Planner. It has a lot of really peculiar dead ends though. Locally, I maybe know why, but folks looking for new routes might be mystified.

Is it possibly a feature only available to paid accounts?

i actually worked at a bike shop so I bought all my gear for Christmas. I have the bibs, the shoes/pedals, and jersey. Thanks for the advice.

The DFW area and specifically Dallas is a great city for cyclists.
Many excellent bike trails and around White Rock Lake is one of the more popular spots.
See: https://www.alltrails.com/us/texas/dallas/road-biking
Start building up the time you can spend riding on your rode bike so that by the summer you are more comfortable with putting in 4..6 hour rides, especially in the TX heat. Will see if HTH happens for 2021 year.

Thanks I’ll definitely check that out.

Check into the rides and routes out of Richardson Bike Mart and those used by Plano Bicycling Association; also Greater Dallas Bicyclists. I've heard good things about the Shawnee Trail Cycling Club in Frisco, but haven't actually ridden with them.
I'm on the south side of Garland. The local Greater Dallas Bicyclists routes start at Poteet High School in Mesquite, and go down into Sunnyvale. I ride up into Richardson some. If you pick the right route, traffic isn't too bad, but you can hit some long or non-changing lights, too.
Some of the bike trails work pretty well, some are a little too crowded (Katy Trail) or have at-grade intersections.
One reason the routes down White Rock Creek and around White Rock Lake are popular is that you seldom have to stop at intersections. There are places where it's better to use the roads when going around the lake, due to pedestrian traffic or rough trails.

thank you. I actually worked at the Richardson bike mart. I will for sure do some rides from around there.

In modern times - with all the high tech equipment available - the Century Ride has become more of a mental exercise than a physical accomplishment.

Get a real good bike, a real good route and an accomplished riding partner and you can do it. But maybe the real question is: Can I ride a 100 miles without hurting real bad?

The answer to that question depends on your ability to maintain a manageable pace early in the ride - paying enough attention to your body to keep the engine stoked and all bicycle/body contact points lubed and pain free.

Good luck!

Hello. I've enjoyed reading this thread. Everyone seems to be very helpful with regard to the question posed. I've never entered a 100-mile biking event, but I have participated in many rides longer than 100 miles. One of my problems on long HOT bike rides is staying hydrated and not falling pray to heat stroke. Once the heat gets the best of me, it's really difficult to continue. And rest out of the sun is really the only way to recover. You cannot just drink a lot and cool down. This issue seems to have been ignored in this thread.

My advice for long hot rides is that you must be very regular and timely on ingesting liquids. Also, you must be knowledgeable about electrolytes (salt, etc) so your body can use the hydration that you are ingesting. Salt tablets (sea salt) are good. But if you find yourself at at a rest stop on the ride and you forgot your salt (or ran out of it), then consider getting a bag of potato chips sprinkled with sea salt. If you don't stay hydrated during a very hot ride you are destined for failure. This holds true regardless of your fitness level and preparation for the ride. Good luck!

I just thought of one other thing not mentioned in this string. Preparing for your first 100-mile cycling event is much like preparing for your first running marathon. You'll train for the event, but probably not go the full distance until the event. I recommend that you actually do one or two 100-mile rides PRIOR to participating in your HNH event. Cycling is so much easier on the body that doing sample pre-rides does not wipe you out like doing an actual 26-mile run. So definitely do one or two 100-milers on your own terms (preferably in a riding group of friends) so you will not be too psyched out when actually riding the HNH.

In 2017 I took up randonneuring, that's bike riding that involves events as long as 750 miles and longer. The event distance that had me a little psyched out was the 400k event (250 miles). For me it was one thing to do a ride longer than 100 miles. Not a big deal. I did not have a problem at all with that. But when I was expecting myself to ride 250 miles in a day, then I was a little freaked out THE FIRST TIME. And there was no reasonable way to do a "test ride" for a 250-mile ride. That one is more like the 26-mile running marathon example I mention above.

Might give Jeff at Hilltop Bicycle Center in Mansfield a call. They have a group that used to do (and I think still does) 70 miles rides on Sunday mornings. It's a short hop from the store to light traffic country roads. They also organized an alternative to the HNH last year when it was cancelled. If you don't mind the drive, it might give you a way to get the practice.