My Third Century
When I started cycling almost five years ago, a Century seemed like a "bucket list" accomplishment--something I'd like to do, but wasn't sure I'd ever be able to. Someone had posted on BF (and I've repeated it many times) that you should be able to ride as far in a day as you typically ride in a week. Two years ago I was riding more than 100 miles a week, so decided I'd try to complete a Century. I made it as easy as possible--Solo ride on a completely flat MUP with a route that allowed me to return to my car several times to replenish food and Gatorade. I had no problem doing the miles (actually 107 miles) and repeated the next two years, most recently last week-end.
It appears I"m making this an annual event, and am now thinking I'll do three more. I'm 72, so if I follow through on that, I'll ride my last Centruy when I'm 75. We'll see if I'm still interested in doing that when the time comes, or even if I'm able. I'm well aware that health issues can crop up in us senior citizens that could keep me out of the saddle.
I might also comment on the recent thread on what constitutes a Century. I rode 107 miles all in one outing on the same day, with several stops to eat and drink, none more than 15 minutes, so I'm calling that a Century.
My biggest take-away on this goes back to my first paragraph. If you're contemplating a long ride, you should be able to ride as far in a day as you typically ride in a week. My typical ride is 15-20 miles, but I ride almost every day and cover 100-125 miles almost every week. I do occasional longer rides, but it's rare that I will ride more than 50 miles. So from my experience, if your weekly mileage is as much as the long ride you're contemplating, you should be able to do it. My riding 15-20 miles a day was sufficient for me to complete my Century with no problems. I you're interested in doing longer rides, you could do this too.
I'll mention that I was feeling fairly fatigued after 50-60 miles, but I kept riding and actually felt better at 85-90 miles than I did around mile 60, and felt like I could have gone further when I finished. Maybe my second wind came because I knew I was nearing the end of my ride. I'm passing this along to suggest that you don't have to do long rides to build up to longer rides. 15-20 miles a day was sufficient for me to do a Century without any problems. That was two days ago and I've cycled my typical distances in the past two days. A good night's sleep was all I needed to recover.