Hit the road with these tips, and cycle your first century

By Joe Ritchie

In my last two columns, I promised to give tips on preparing for your first “century” – that hundred-mile ride, which for many recreational cyclists is a rite of passage akin to running a marathon. I figured I’d be a good person for the job, since this fall, I completed my first century in over 30 years: At my age I felt pretty much like a beginner!

One important first tip: Start with a well-organized, supported ride like the Livestrong Challenge I did in Austin to raise money for cancer research. Don’t do what I did back in the 1970s when I took off solo from Columbus, Ohio, and headed south to West Virginia. All that got me was a permanent reputation among my kinfolk in the mountains for eccentricity and questionable judgment!

If you aren’t involved in a charity fundraiser like the Challenge or an MS 150 ride, you don’t have to look far. The local Capital City Cyclists organize the Spaghetti 100 every fall, and in the spring there is the TOSRV South, or the Tour of Springtime Rural Vistas, not to be confused with the venerable Tour of Scioto River Valley in Ohio.

The Gainesville Cycling Club hosts the acclaimed Horse Farm Hundred every fall, and local hard-core riders swear by the annual Six Gap 100-mile ride that tackles some tough mountains starting in Dahlonega, Ga. But if you have never done a century, you might stick with a “flat” one.

If you’d like to do a century next fall, though, consider joining me in next year’s Livestrong Challenge. I expect to do that again, and I’d love to put together a team of Tallahasseans to join me. I’ll write more about this in future columns. But if you just want to find out about centuries in your area, the best thing to do is to connect with your local cycling club. So I’ll repeat my earlier advice to go to www.cccyclists.org and join Capital City Cyclists; their Web site and regular newsletters are full of excellent information.

Once you have selected an event, you can start preparing for it. You will need to get your body ready, get your bike ready, and plan for the day before and day of the ride.

Anyone who is in reasonably good health and can ride a bike for a couple of hours is capable of riding a century. It’s not unheard of for someone to do what I did as a younger man, namely to just go out and ride 100 miles. But you will feel a lot better at the end of the ride if you do prepare for a day in the saddle that may take anywhere from five to eight hours.

It’s a good idea to keep a log of the miles you ride while training for the century. Try to build up the distance you ride every week up to the main event. I had been commuting to work regularly enough and taking a longer ride or two each week, but I got systematic about my preparations 10 weeks ahead of the century.

I found several good articles about training for a century online, and one of them had a helpful 10-week log, which I put on an Excel spreadsheet. (See the graphic above.) I then made blank columns for each day and used the log to keep track of my training progress and compare it to the program suggested in the article, which was at http://www.geocities.com/ne_century_rides/training.html. While I didn’t follow the program precisely, it was a great broad outline for my training program. I aimed to build my weekly mileage gradually and to do between 100 and 150 miles a week during the five weeks before the century.

Most experts also suggest building up your longest individual ride gradually and doing at least one ride of about 70 miles prior to your 100-miler. I did a “metric” century — 100 kilometers or a shade over 62 miles — with some of the Capital City Cyclists on Labor Day, about a month before my century.

Besides building your endurance, it is extremely important to build your fluid intake starting a week to 10 days before the ride. This is called “pre-hydrating” yourself. Hydration is critical during a long ride, and the failure to take in enough fluids during the ride and in advance is probably the main reason some people do not finish.

Getting your body ready is important, but you also need to attend to your equipment. As a mechanic, I have two left thumbs, so a few days before a big ride, I take my bike to my favorite mechanic. Make sure your bike shop knows you’re about to do a big ride, and the bike techs will know what to do: Check the tires, brakes, your crank, and derailleur and make sure the bike is properly lubricated.

It also is a good idea to make sure you know a few basics, especially how to fix a flat. Even on a supported ride, you could be stuck in the middle of nowhere for quite some time if you can’t patch a tube and change a tire. Sunshine Cycles has started another round of its popular series of maintenance seminars, which you might want to check out.

On the eve and day of the ride itself, make a checklist. Double-check the bike to make sure everything is still in order, and lay out your cycling clothes: jersey with pockets, rain gear if the weather calls for it, cycling shoes and padded shorts or tights if the weather is cool. Carry a little toolkit and tube patching gear, as well as either a spare inner tube and a pump or CO2 cartridges to inflate your tire in case of a flat. Bring a couple of full water bottles; fill one of them with your favorite sports drink to replace electrolytes. Even on a supported ride with rest stops and food, carry a couple of energy bars and gels or other snacks in your jersey pockets. Many organized centuries will have a big pasta dinner the night before, and it’s a good idea to go and load up on carbs: You will need the stored energy when you ride.

During your ride, drink a lot of fluids and eat a lot of small snacks. I’m told you ought to drink 20 ounces an hour and take in fluids at least every 15 minutes.

At the end of the column I have some links to a few more articles about prepping for a century, but what I really enjoyed were two podcasts in a series called “The FredCast Cycling Podcast,” which you can download free from the iTunes store, or link to from the Web site: http://www.thefredcast.com/ .Go back to programs 5 and 7 for excellent century tips. I’ve summarized many of them in this column, but listening to the FredCast really helped me remember important stuff, like how to know if I’m really pre-hydrating enough.

So now you’re ready for that first century. You can start getting ready for the next TOSRV or maybe I’ll see you in Austin next year! Meanwhile, don’t forget to Keep the Rubber Side Down.