3alarmer 

...I ride outdoors here, even in the heat, up to about 90* f. If I had to ride indoors on a stationary bike or on rollers, I'd find another form of exercise. It's too hard on an old guy like me. Admittedly, the heat here is pretty dry, so not like Houston at all. Some days it doesn't even feel like I'm sweating outdoors.

Fredo76

I think that if you train hard enough, 30-mile rides can prepare your heart, lungs, and legs well enough for an 85-mile ride. The shorter rides are less effective in preparing your neck, shoulders, wrists, crotch, and feet. If you can do a pre-dawn start and get a 50 or 60 mile ride or two in, they might tell you a lot. Something as simple as a helmet visor that won't stay all the way up can turn into a real pain in the neck.

spelger

maybe i am that someone but i do think riding indoors in AC would be a cakewalk. my trainer is setup in the garage where yesterday it was 95F while i was sweating bullets doing VO2max. thought i'd die. i'd love to do that in an AC'd room.

spelger

i agree with most here that two shorts won't equal a long. start out before the sun rises if possible. never did this before but this morning i was out on the road at 3.40AM. was not able to sleep. got home at my normal wake up time. ride was interesting to say the least.

texas is quite flat i think where you are. what about where you will ride in UK? might need to be more concerned about that.

livedarklions

No it won't because it's just making his training unnecessarily difficult and he probably won't do it as a result. Or he might heat stroke if he does.

I acclimate myself to ride centuries in the mid-90s. It has nothing to do with how easy I find riding similar distances at moderate temperatures.

livedarklions

BS, because he already said in the OP that he can't do what you're proposing.

Save the no pain, no gain nonsense for yourself. There's no benefit to making something unendurable.

livedarklions

Be careful with this. I've learned the hard way that sleep deprivation and long rides don't mix well.

livedarklions

I'm finding that amazing. Were you doing any other kind of training? Were you riding every day?

wolfchild

He never said that he can't do it... He said that riding in the heat is giving him hard time.

livedarklions

It "really cripples" him. That's a lot more than a hard time.

I used to ride in New Orleans in the summer. It's not for everyone, and I don't get why you think it has anything to do with gearing up for a ride that almost certainly won't get above 70 degrees. Actually I do get it--you're completely ignorant on the subject.

WhyFi

I sweat bullets doing VO2max in a 68⁰ room in the winter time. Even so, my results are lower vs what I can do outside.

WhyFi

When I did my first century, it was based almost exclusively off of interval training indoors over the winter. None of my individual sessions was more than 90 minutes, either.

GhostRider62

Did it twice actually.

Last year I was hiking the AT on thru but got hurt on a descent in the snow and had to stop. Did next to nothing for 6-8 weeks healing. Legs have memory. I did not ride at all or essentially none. I did use a recumbent, so, my ass was ok.

terrymorse 

livedarklions is correct. Training in the heat provides no special benefit for performance at cooler temperatures.




— Mikkelsen et al, Prolonged Heat Acclimation and Aerobic Performance in Endurance Trained Athletes, Frontiers in Physiology, 2019

wolfchild

As a year round cyclist who has ridden a lot of miles in both extreme cold and extreme heat, I disagree with both of you.

terrymorse 

Thank you for sharing your personal opinion. That's worth something, I guess.

cyclezen

I agree,
do your 'training rides' however you can, within reason. Don;t elevate the 'Angst' level. You're not doubling Ventoux or the Galibier, or the Everest Challenge...
it's 85 miles in Britain.
The weather there can swing dramatically, although Sept there and on the Continent is relatively 'quiet' weather-ise, compared to the swings in Oct and later...
Here's a quick summary of weather in Britain in 2021.
I'm sure there's more real data available if you chose to search.
My main concern would be rain and wind, in relatively cold temps. Let's face it Houston is NOT gonna have weather in the 50's or lower in July or August or even Sept.
SO you're coming from High Temps and High Humidity to potentially quite 'cold', windy could be a great shock.
ANyone who's ridden long time/long distance in low temps, constant wet and possible wind will confirm this could easily deplete body reserves quickly from dealing with body temp loss.
You'll have plenty enough miles in the legs - given that you plan to ride consistently before, it's not the miles.
It's the TIME - even at a crushing 20 mph - 4+ hours in driving rain can bury you. If you're able to do 17-18 mph avg (alone that's a v-strong effort) that means 5 ish hours of riding, not counting the stopping time.
Plan your KIT, so that you are well prepared for 'conditions' over time.
If you have it, it will be beautiful !!! LOL!
I might also 'poll' the UK riders who are on BF for their considerations on the event, timing and prep. (You'll prolly get a slew of posts from us Californians, Floridians and the Canucks of course... LOL!)
Ride on, comfy
Yuri
There is a UK Forum...

Random11

I first heard this on BF several years ago, and have repeated it a few times myself. My typical ride is 15-20 miles, but I rarely miss a day and consistently ride more than 100 miles in a week. I decided I wanted to ride a century, so tried it and had no trouble doing 100 miles. (I've done it twice.) If you're consistently riding 85+ miles a week, you should be able to cover that in a day.

koala logs

The stationary bike the OP has would be suitable for getting strength for hills.

He can insert "climbing intervals" during stationary bike training. The key is for the climbing intervals to feel hard. Target a cadence rate of around 80 rpm during a climbing interval then keep increasing the wheel resistance of your stationary bike (more pressure to the wheel brake or higher setting to the magnetic resistance) to raise your heart rate to around 85% Max Heart Rate (MHR) and hold it for a long as you can, maxing out at 30 minutes. It can be quite difficult at first so you may start the climbing intervals 5 minutes at a time. Eventually, you'll get fit enough to easily do it continuously well beyond 30 minutes. However, IMO, it's better to break it up to multiple intervals (instead of one hour of continuous "climbing", split it into two 30 mins each with an easy 20mins to 1 hr of easy interval in between) to also train your cardio system to cope with varying power demands faster.

The key takeaway here is you're likely not going to be doing any 85 - 90% MHR efforts on your first century ride. I'd even recommend to avoid doing it to avoid onset of fatigue too early. And don't forget to put easy gears for your UK ride and on your first century ride with hill, it won't hurt to over-do the small gears, even put dinnerplate size cassette, you get the idea.

rsbob 

you are sooooo right. Boy do I feel like a total idiot now. Thanks for pointing out my grave error.

Eds0123

I think you might need more conditioning than 30 mile flat rides effort in 80-90°F in Huston, to be strong enough for 85 mile ride facing head winds, uphill climbs and in possibly cold rains, You might encounter all 3 undesirable conditions all there at the same time all that day there But all very good luck to You.

adami_99

I live in Rice Military area.