lootcorp

Well, I took down my first century this past Saturday. Left Norwalk, CT a little late @ 7am, rode along the coastline to New Haven, CT, and then back west to Stamford.

Man oh man, it was a bit of a challenge finishing the last 30 miles or so! Prior to this my longest ride was only around 50-ish miles. I'm doing a long charity ride in 2 weeks and the first day is a 100 miler, so even though it was a push I wanted to see if I could do the 100 and how my body would react afterwards.

For nutrition, I used a Perpetuem paste that I sipped every 15 min or so. I also had a bunch of snacks, Hammer Gels, jellybeans, pretzel bites, etc... that I snacked on, making sure to eat every 30 min or so.

My original goal was to make it to Yale's campus, since the charity ride I am doing is in honor of a family member who passed away @ Yale this year. I got lost a few times on the way there and stopped a bit more frequently, so by the time I got to New Haven I decided to turn around instead of heading to the campus. I wanted to make sure I'd make it home, so I'll save the campus trip for another day.

On the way home, I took a more direct route and rode in moderate traffic for most of the way. Definitely not as scenic as the beaches and back roads I took on the way out, but much easier to navigate. At mile 70 I came across a brewpub and took it as a sign to stop for a meal. I had two beers and a cheeseburger and that fueled me up for the last 30 miles home.

Total mileage was 100.08, time on bike was 7.5 hours, average was 13.3mph, which is definitely on the slow side for me. Recovery has been fine, my right calf/hamstring is a bit sore and tweaky, but knees feel fine. Butt is a bit sore, and it appears my bike shorts are causing a scratch on my inside thigh/buttock, so I might need some different shorts...

Sunday, I couldn't imagine getting back on that bike seat! Does anyone have any advice for back-to-back long distance rides, where you are sore but have to jump back on the saddle the next day? Are there any tips to reduce soreness or recovery time? Eventually I think I'm going to get a more comfortable saddle (right now using a stock Selle San Marco Ponza) but don't want to make any big changes before my charity ride weekend...

-Jim

oneofpr

100 miles its a lot of stress, your body is just giving you signs to watch out.

It is normal all the symptoms, in fact it seems you did pretty good, congratulations!
The saddle does not seem to be bad at all, because a very bad saddle would destroy your lower back. That your butt is sore, c'mmon dude what do you expect?

If anything put some chamois lotion/cream (just a little bit) to minimize the friction.

For recovery time would be EPO, but that is not a good thing, I would say rest, some massage and plenty of liquids.

About the shorts, you might take a look a the detergent and how much you are using, and how old are the shorts.

Take it easy, most injuries occur when you over-train, your body is giving signals to not self destruct, lol.

salesman

Congrats!

Richard Cranium

Yeah - you should understand that you were probably very lucky. And just because you completed this ride doesn't mean you could do it again without a problem.

Still, in your self analysis comes the experience to raise the probability that your next ride will be just as successful - if not more comfortable.

One thing that stands out as a warning - at least to me - is that you think you can go ahead and "eat and drink whatever you want" when you are still 25 miles out. This was truly poor judgement on your part. And if you expect to perform multi-day rides at distance you should be sure to refuel your engine with the "good stuff" before indulging the soul. in other words -save the beer and burgers until after the ride.......

lootcorp

Thanks for the advice. I guess I was so intent on just getting some solid food (as opposed to gels and such) that I just went with my cravings as opposed to thinking it through...

I hope this was the first of many centuries, and I will eventually get a handle on all of the nutrition/hydration/training best practices.

drmweaver2

Congrats on your ride.

FWIW, I have a cast-iron stomach and can eat fast food/greasy spoon meals while riding with little detrimental effect thus far - at least on distances up to a century. While "nutritionally better" foods might be smarter for me, if I need a burger at some point on a ride, I get one. Everyone's different. Find what works for you and use it. The heck with what others say. It's your ride.

lootcorp

@drmweaver2 - thanks, and I agree - everyone is going to react to things differently.

Well, for what it's worth, I didn't notice any ill effects from the burger and beers...I made sure to drink extra water (ie, was not using the beer for hydration) and it gave me enough energy, along with a few Perpetuem Solids chews, to make it through the end of the ride. Of course, who knows - maybe if I had eaten a few bananas and a PB&J I would've had a lot more energy and been flying up the hills, but I don't think it hurt my performance at all... Of course, it was probably stupid to make that particular nutrition choice while still far from home without testing it on a shorter ride first, but my wife was a phone call away and was ready to come pick me up if I bailed.

Today, I feel pretty good and will do an easy recovery ride tonight (took yesterday off). Then, back to training hard this week - the charity event is the following weekend (July 22) so I plan to taper after this weekend. All in all, except for the fear of climbing back on the bike with a sore ass, I didn't feel like anything would have stopped me from riding the next day...now, how far I'd actually get, that's the question!

Also - thanks to everyone who's replying... I always appreciate reading advice and viewpoints from those with more experience than I have (which, right now, is almost everyone here).

phodges0921

Hi,
I just wanted to say congrats on your century ride. That is still a goal of mine. I have done 71 miles once but that is my longest ride so far. Do you have any advice to pass along from lessons learned in this first one?

fixed_but_free

I did my first century on July 9, after training for 8 weeks (riding 4-5 times per week, about 135 miles per week). Frequency of training rides will actually go a long way towards compensating for duration. What I mean is that doing 150 miles per week over 4 or 5 rides will help you a lot, probably as much as doing 2 75 mile rides. If you don't have the time for multiple long training rides in a week, do as many shorter ones as you can, and really try to ratchet up the intensity. Work in intervals, so that you're spending increasing large chunks of time in your 80-90% max HR zone. Spending 15 minutes at 90% can often translate into 1 hour at 70% on ride day. Another strategy is to ride in groups: share the work of drafting and climbing to spare yourself the energy expenditure.

As far as nutrition goes, mid-ride beers aren't particularly advisable, as alcohol is dehydrating. But hey, if it works for you then do it. Personally I found that I couldn't tolerate solid food of ANY kind after about mile 60. All I wanted was Gu Chomps and Gatorade (and I still probably only took in about 800 calories during my entire century, which I completed in just over 6 hours). I wouldn't have been able to choke down a burger, no matter how badly I might have needed the calories.

In terms of saddle soreness, some of it is probably just you building up your butt-chops. But maybe you need better shorts or a new saddle. I went for a new professional bike fitting right before my century: swapping my stem, making some saddle position adjustments, and tweaking my cleat position not only helped me overcome a ton of pain but also improved my average pace by over 1 mph!

rogerstg

I suppose the difficulty with the last 30 miles could have been from many things, but I'd go with the obvious first.

Congrats on your accomplishment , I'm sure you'll do fine at the charity ride.

skiffrun

After 70 miles, you took a long stop so that your legs and everything else could stiffen up. And you ate food -- a cheeseburger and two beers.

And then the last 30 miles was a bit of a challenge.

You don't suppose there is any correlation there, do you?

threecarjam

The lesson is: burger and beers while ON the bike, not while off the bike.

I'm only half kidding. A water bottle cage holds a tall boy very nicely. And what with all of these big "porteur" racks available these days, you could have a whole place setting in front of you.

RichardGlover

porteur rack, porterhouse steak.

Coincidence?

Hairy Hands

I guess everyone's stomach is different. Around here, most convenience stores have a section where they fry food such as Egg Rolls, burritos, etc... On long rides I stop every 3 hours or so, and get fluid and 2 fried egg rolls. I may eat 10 on a 300k. My stomach never felt better