BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I imagine 30 mins 2x a day is more than most people do for training (it is more than what I do... I have a 10 mins ride in the morning, 30 mins ride on the way home - yay hills). You should be just fine, especially if you have the endurance to do the long weekend rides.

As far as I can see, if your main training is a distance on the weekend, an important thing is to do some riding during the week.

Now, Forest Hills to Oakland isn't that much of a workout- but Oakland to Forest Hills is. If maybe 2 days a week, you hammer it on the way home, that will solidify whatever gains you make during the weekend rides.

Rides up Forbes from Oakland to Squirrel Hill, and up Maple/Brinton from Edgewood to Forest Hills both kick my butt so I'll continue to keep those on my route in the evening.

Your weekly training is probably fine, twice a day may be better than getting it in one shot. Just make sure you get those long weekend rides in, there is no substitute for saddle time.

I haven't done the 150 (yet), but I did do a century last year... and for that I trained much like you are describing.

3-4 times a week commuting from Edgewood to Mt Washington and back (abt 22 miles total), and then one day a week going out for increasing long rides. I think the progression was something like: 36, 40 48, 56, 65, 75, and then it was supposed to be 90 or 95 miles the week before my ride. Although, I missed that last one because I'd hurt my back.

And with that, I did fine. My goal was to finish in 8hrs in saddle, and beat that by about 40 min.

I will say that there will be 3 important things to concentrate on: 1) Make sure you drink and eat on your long rides. I think the rule of thumb is an energy bar and 16oz of water every hour. (Someone correct me if this is wrong... I haven't had to think about it for a while.)

2) if Forbes is giving you an issue, work on hills. The best thing that I did to train for my first century was to go up Mt Washington several different ways. Greenfield Ave is also your friend in this.

It is not only important to condition your body to know what to expect, but also through experience you'll learn how to tackle ascents intelligently within your limitations as a cyclist. And for me, learning how to stop for a rest and then restart when part way up a steep hill was a blessing.

3) Give yourself at least 1 day of rest every 8 days or at a minimum listen to your body and give it the chance to recuperate when it needs it. (Again, if I'm wrong on this, someone jump in and correct me.)

Myddrin, thanks for the tips.

The training plan at trainingpeaks looks like it isn't too crazy, and it does have increasing long rides just about every weekend. I plan to use the GAP for a lot of those.

Forbes and Brinton are both hard but I can ride the whole way up them without stopping. Slowly -- I get passed by jogging college students once in a while -- but I do ride them.

I appreciate the Mt. Washington and Greenfield Ave suggestions -- I will incorporate those.

The plan that I have gives me Mondays as a rest day.

As per Lyle's suggestion, I took Hazelwood instead of Greenfield this weekend, and it was much nicer. Straight, nice pavement, wide, and low traffic, though there was at least a couple hundred more feet of climbing going this way to my house, but if hills are your goal...

Since your long rides are going to be on the GAP (no hills), you may want to add a little speed into the ride. Say ten minutes of fast 20 minutes normal, ten fast, etc. I know this works for running, but I'm not sure what the intervals should be though.

Intervals are a great idea, thanks. And I'll try Hazelwood, too.

Are there paths as safe (from auto traffic) as the GAP but which have hills I can train on? I'm all ears.

If you signed up, you should be getting something in the mail that outlines mileage and pace in the 8 weeks leading up to the ride.

If you have a hybrid, there are some pretty decent (but very short) hills in Frick Park. (The fire lane extension is the primary one that comes to mind).

However, while steep they are pretty short... and the strategy for 'short and steep' and 'long and not-quite-gentle' are pretty different...as I learned on my first day in my tour of Wales. (Yikes! Don't try to sprint up the mountain! Of course there they call them small hills, but that's another story.)

You are a great candidate for some single speed lovin' on the rail-trail. My long slow distance rides are about 50% road/trail and I ride a 48x16. The beauty is that you are either pedaling, or you're not. No shifting, no worries. I'm not a fixie fan, but some others may suggest that too.

Just remember not to rush yourself on a distance ride. Give yourself plenty of time to ride, and also to recover. In theory you could do 3 times your average long distance ride on the event day (day 1) and then slog along day 2. But why not invest now and watch everyone else suffer? Because they will.

My heart goes out to those that prepare 3 weeks and then do the MS150 on a mountain bike with 26" knobby tires. But I am still thinking that they are not too smart. And they probably lacked the support of a forum such as this.

As the weather turns, I will start to post my Saturday AM Long Slow Distance (LSD) rides. I start around 4 hours and then work up to a 6 hour session. Not hard to do when it is mostly flat. Usually build up to 80 miles on the 6 hour rides. Maybe more this year.

On your shorter rides, the more hills the better. Greenfield Ave is doable on the 48x16 but I still recommend gears so one doesn't think that it sucks all the time.

I vote for Hazelwood Avenue as wide with low traffic. Second Avenue on the way is sketchy because it is straight, long, and wide. Just pedal faster.

Check out Walnut St on your way home too. It runs parallel to Maple and is a pretty mean hill.

I use Stanton Ave for hill intervals... low traffic volume, nice & wide on the Morningside of it. Good surface. Steeper from the Larryville side but the surface needs help. Long enough to feel like you're working. Kittaning Pike out of Sharpsburg is a good long local climb. The shoulder is wide but the surface is a bit wavy... doesn't matter too much tho at 6 mph.

+1 on stanton... Only from the larryville end

I like to ride my single speed (I believe it is a 46x18) because it makes my road bike much more enjoyable, with all of the gears and stuff

Last year was my first MS150 and I did no special training for it at all. My commute at the time was Bloomfield to Oakland, and once or twice a week I'd ride for a few hours like i usually would do anyway. I was completely fine for the 150. Its much, much easier than it sounds to ride that kind of distance when you're with 2,000 other people doing it.

And you can take breaks every 10-15 miles for however long you want.

just consider that "no special training at all" around here corresponds to a level of effort that is a life change for some of those other participants. Riding once or twice a week for hours is awesome compared to what some are not doing. Because this is a bikey place, then perhaps it is moot to point that out. Not trying to be a jagoff, just highlighting the comparison. I'm often a jagoff with no special training at all.

Yeah -- I am not in the kind of shape where I could do this ride with no special training at all. I'm not planning on overhauling my entire life, but I have a plan in hand and I'll be spending a lot more time in the saddle between now and June.

Thanks for the recommendations of Stanton Ave and Walnut in Edgewood -- I have gone up Walnut before but not recently and it was pretty beastly when I did do it.

I wasn't trying to tell anyone not to prepare and that its no big deal. Perhaps I wasn't quite clear. Basically, I wanted to say that its not as big of a challenge as most people think. I'm no amazing cyclist, I probably wouldn't even consider myself a good cyclist. There are so many out of shape people on the MS150 who make it somehow, people who probably only ride their bike once a year for it. In fact I know a guy whose only preparation was 20 miles on a beach cruiser the week before.

But, I guess all of my comments were worthless and not constructive. It's probably best to get some miles in to prepare.

@RickyTickyTac you are making a good, but hard to make point. The psychology of something like this is just as hard as the physical aspect.

I always remind myself 'Hills look steeper from a distance,' when I'm approaching something that looks difficult whether it be a physical hill, assembling Ikea furniture or solving a tough bug at work. Its a lesson that I wouldn't have learned until I did my first few long rides.

So it wasn't a worthless comment. But following a training regimen prior to your first big ride is a good idea. @jamesk needs to both get in shape (from her/his own statements) and learn how to endure (when to eat/drink, how much, etc).

"Then your mind goes, 'shut up body and do what I tell you'" - Jens Voigt

The range of people who do (and complete) the ms150 are pretty vast. No matter who you are and how much training you did or did not do, barring any physical injury or mechanical break down, you will finish.

I know I can't speak for everyone, but after the first time you get to experience it, the ride is a lot more relaxing. Remember, its not a race, and you're surrounded by a thousand of your closest friends. You'll be fine.

Yes the mental aspect is a biiiig part of it. I was in no shape to do a century last year, especially in 90+ degree weather, but i told myself to not give up. And i did swear at every hill i saw. But i finished. It just hurt to sit down on day two. Always does.

I'm not trying to be critical or make anyone's contribution seem worthless. The written word is a struggle at times.

When I started doing the MS150 I did so with commuting 5 days a week from Forest Hills to Oakland. I didn't do any additional training and had no particular problem for the ride.

The best part for me was that I would get up first thing sunday, eat breakfast as soon as the doors opened, and hit the road 2 hours before the official start. That would give me about 2 hours of quiet, by-myself riding through cool, fog shrouded countryside before the racers started passing me and the road became crowded.

I was no racer.

The easiest way to view it is as a series of 15 mile rides (roughly the distance between rest stops). While some training for the physical preparation is a good idea it may help with the mental aspects as much. Knowing that you can do a 50+ mile ride makes it easier to relax which is important as being tense uses lots of energy. The wide diversity of riders, the friendly rest stops, and the volunteers at intersections make it easier to relax as well.

My training plan has me doing a 50-miler flat steady ride this weekend. It's going to rain, of course, and in the rain I would prefer to stay off major roads and stay on paved trails as much as possible. I had good success this past weekend doing about 30 miles of flat riding on the various riverfront trails.

Is this a pipe dream for me or are there some good routes I can take beyond going from the Glenwood Bridge down to the Point and up to Washington's Landing and back... twice?

Getting to Duquesne is a little rough as far as traffic and there is one hill, but not too bad. After that, the GAP path is pretty clear for 320 miles or so.

@Mick -- The GAP beyond Boston isn't crap in the rain? (serious question, I have not been on it in six months and that was during glorious sunny warm weather the likes of which I cannot wait to see again)

The GAP crap? I have 700 X 38 tire and awesomely effective fenders.

I've been OK on the GAP in the rain, a little slower than when it's dry. The slow down between blacktop and crushed limestone is bigger than that between dry and wet limestone, IMO.

On the other hand, this is a serious "in my opinion," "your milage may vary" thing.

If your don't have fenders and you take the 700X23 vs 700X25 debate seriously, I'm guessing the GAP in the rain would be pain.