BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

That sounds like fun, but I definately are not ready for something like that...

Now, may I ask some questions? I'm still a newbie cyclist in here:

How does one get around to 'build up' to be able to ride 90-100 miles in one day/adventure? I know that with practice, a good bike, good gear, good physical condition, and determination; one can do it... but what else is there? I would love to get to that point eventually, and right now I can ride comfortably 30 or so at the drop of a hat in my crappy bike with little preparation.

But really, besides a better bike (which I am in the process of getting), a good physical condition (which I think I have -I ran a marathon!), and determination (I'm a very persistant person).... what else do I need to get to that level?

Do you take energy gels and/or other energy supplements?

How often do you take breaks?

What is the average speed?

What kind of bike do you ride?

How much of a difference in a ride would make if is hilly versus mostly flat?

Are you pretty beaten/tired afterwards? Meaning can you walk the next day?

What is a good sequel of 'training' rides to get to that mileague?

Sorry if this is alot of questions! Just very curious!

Thanks

i'm gunna call high water personally... anyone want to wager on hell i'll take you up on it.

i wish i could intelligently answer any of those questions but i can't... i just go out and ride till it hurts, then stop... never make any goals (except getting to work) and often will just stop and take a nap if i'm not feeling well... there are lots of people on here who will have lots of good advice though...but also know you can just wing it and probably be just fine if you stop riding if you feel any pain (and then find out why there is pain and fix that)

@Bikeygirl

You sound like you're on your way. If you can 'ride comfortably for 30 miles on a crappy bike' 'have determination and good physical condition' then I think you already have the basic requirements. It's just a matter of getting ok with being in the saddle and turning the cranks for 5 to 10 hours (depending on your speed).

Do you take energy gels and/or other energy supplements? Yes, but it doesn't have to be super high tech space food. Just easy to digest carbs (fruits are good) and things that your body is already comfortable eating while riding (best not to experiment with new and exciting things while doing long distance)

How often do you take breaks? Often as you need. Sometimes it's best to break a century down into 3 to 5 pieces of 20-30 mile chunks. Listen to your body.

What is the average speed? Depends on your fitness level and if you're riding with a group to share the wind breaking duties with. The slower you ride the longer you're in the saddle, so it's about finding the balance. Pace yourself.

What kind of bike do you ride? I personally have done centuries on heavy/lightish hybrids, road bikes go faster, bents are more comfy. If a mountain bike is all you have I would suggest slick tires.

How much of a difference in a ride would make if is hilly versus mostly flat? Well....flatter is easier obviously so to start with I'd go for less hills till you get comfy with the distance.

Are you pretty beaten/tired afterwards? Meaning can you walk the next day? Tired, maybe a little stiff, but back on the bike the next day.

What is a good sequel of 'training' rides to get to that mileague? Depends on your schedule. I say pick a day, get some rest the day before (do bike prep this day) and just go for it and see how far you get. I bet you would be surprised at what you can do if you set a goal and pace yourself. This first attempt will give you some ideas on what works for you and how far you have yet to go to reach your goals. Then you can plan a schedule that works for you for building up to a century (or farther).

Rain is supposed to stop at around noon and I'm planning on getting some miles in. Lemmee know if you want a riding buddy, (I've got slick 26 inch and 700cm that I can let you borrow if you need). Everybody's welcome.

Happy trails

I rode a lot of informal/unsupported centuries when I lived out in CA. So I will relate my experience since it is far from the pro biker one.

Do you take energy gels and/or other energy supplements?

I carried a couple cliff/power bars, lots of water.

How often do you take breaks?

Gas station/coffee shop/restaurant every 20-30 miles or so? Take a cliff bar breather at the tops of big hills.

What is the average speed?

Average moving speed maybe 14 mph? Plan on spending a good part of your day riding.

What kind of bike do you ride?

I rode a heavy mountain bike with big ass slicks. Every single time I rolled up to a meeting place people said, "you are going to ride that?" I did, and I kept up just fine.

How much of a difference in a ride would make if is hilly versus mostly flat?

A big difference? I don't know about anyone else, but climbing 1000s of feet makes the ride a lot longer, and I consume way more food/water.

Are you pretty beaten/tired afterwards? Meaning can you walk the next day?

Walking, yea, wanting to ride another 100 miles, not so much.

What is a good sequel of 'training' rides to get to that mileague?

I went on 30 mile rides twice a week. We would bike 14 miles to the next city, have dinner, and ride back. Other than commuting and grocery store runs, thats all the training I did. My best tip would be to learn to suck someone's wheel. If you tuck up behind someone else, it gets a lot easier to pedal and pack on the miles.

I'd suggest you find a supported century, on a relatively flat route if you want to get into it. It really isn't as intimidating as it sounds. I roped my significant other into doing a metric century without a lot of training beforehand. We finished with only a minimal amount of pain and suffering.

Bikeygirl, were you on a mtn bike at the "ride of silence", by any chance? If that was you, you were crushing the hills just fine. If you put some 26 x 1.5 or so slick tires on your bike for road rides, you'll be embarrassing some roadies.

If you're knocking off 30 miles comfortably now, you can push a little and try about 50, and when you're comfortable with that, jump to 70 - 80, then you're ready for just about anything.

Also, if you want to try to work up to a century, there are some nice supported rides over in Ohio that are only like a couple of hrs away. And the miles are somehow different in Ohio, 100 miles in Ohio is about like 60 miles over here in the Pennslvania hills. Unless there's wind. Oh, the wind.

http://www.ohiocycling.info/

gels vs real food....

Very little difference if you have the time/energy

to eat real food. Fig newtons or a snickers bar

tastes way better... Natures Path organ pop tarts

have tons of calories and arent full of gross...

I took in 1200 calories of gel yesterday. not awesome on your belly or mind.

+1 on real food. For longer rides, I usually have lots of fig newtons and a candy bar. For really long rides (100+ miles), it's good to mix in some salty stuff, too.

As for riding a mountain bike--just get some non-knobby tires and perhaps a handlebar that offers different hand positions (like a North Road/Albatross style bar), and you'll be set for now. I've done over 90 miles on an MTB set up that way and had no issues. Just be sure you are comfortable on the bike--your back or hands may give out long before your legs do.

Wow!!!!! I feel like I woke up on Christmas Day to find all sorts of great presents/advice in here!!!

First of all, thank you for all of the support and words of encouragement from everyone! I really appreciate it!

Second, all of this is very helpful, and more than answers my questions. Being a runner, to -run- and get better at mileague is a very different experience. I know what 26.2 miles feel on your feet, so when I see people saying about riding 90-100 miles a day, while very different, it does invoque in me the hibbijibis, haha.

I'm comfortable with gels since I use them for running, which are really a necesity because I'm a svelte person and don't wan't to shrink more. In terms on how to break the century down, other types of real food to eat, et all -specially how my bike (mtb) should be able to handle it with some adjustments & upgrades, is pretty awesome! And will be definitely put to practice!

While I love my 'biky' since it has seriously given me alot of fun for the buc I spent on it 10 years ago, I do feel like I'm ready to move on-to my next bike... but, now that I've been learning about different types of bike makers, frames, handle bars, breaks, etc.... my next 'dream' bike keeps increasing in price, haha! When doing long-term purchases I'm not someone who will just buy anything, so I'm taking my time (and saving my pennies!).

Anyhow, all good to know!! I'll start working on my 'century' then!! My moves will be slow but soon you'll know!!

@88S88 -thank you for the offer! But I have already other commitments for today, otherwise I would definitely take you on the offer!

@edmonds59 -yes that was me at the ride of silence... Haha! Was I really crushing the hills? I was just trying to keep up, haha!!! (still, I'm gonna be all giddy thinking about that today)!

@bjanaszek -thanks on the bike recommendation upgrades! I have been indeed thinking a lot about changing my handlebar

@dwillen -trying to practice centuries in Ohio, which is flatter, does sound like a good idea.... but Ohio sucks!! I would rather learn the hilly-PA way!!

@mark and steevo -thank you you too!! The most gels I've consummed in one -run- is 8 and my stomach seems to groove ok with them.

Ok ok.... I always talk/write too much... thank you all once again! As I dabble at the century I'll let you know!

But I like Mark's take..... ride until it hurts!

No prob bikeygirl, offer's open any time. Ride on sister!

Haha, i feel like i'm in the same boat for the most part..I think i could ride a century, just haven't tried or rode with a group going on one.Are there any more weekend/century rides planned for the Summer? I'm up for a challenge..May need some wider/thicker tires on my road bike but i wanna see what i can do.Not to mention all the people i've ridden with in Pitt. since i've moved here have been more than friendly and helpful.

Hey, that was edmonds59 that tried to send you to Ohio! I only suggested that a flatter ride would be better for your first century. Though, I bet you would have a little trouble with finding that around these parts.

200 laps around the oval?

This discussion made me realize, I need to find a VERY tall person to draft off of for the MS150.

@dwillen -sorries!

Do you take energy gels and/or other energy supplements?

No. Junk food, sports drinks, and coke. Seriously, fig newtons, rice krispie treats, hostess fruit pies. Stuff that is high in carbs and low in fat. Learning to eat on the bike is good because you don't ever get your belly full of food, and you don't have to take long breaks off the bike.

How often do you take breaks?

About once an hour for 5 minutes, and once every three hours for 15.

What is the average speed?

16mph average including breaks. YMMV.

What kind of bike do you ride?

An archaic road bike.

How much of a difference in a ride would make if is hilly versus mostly flat?

Huge difference. The typical century around here is about 20-30 percent harder than a flat century around a lake.

Are you pretty beaten/tired afterwards? Meaning can you walk the next day?

Depends on what shape I was in to begin with. I'm able to walk, but sometimes I just don't want to.

What is a good sequel of 'training' rides to get to that mileague?

Just like running - if you keep your time/distance increments reasonable, you can work your way up to it without injury. Yeah, you can ride 60 miles a week and then go out and do a century one weekend, but that's asking for trouble. Would you run a marathon with your longest distance previously ever being only 10 miles? That's asking to learn a lot about your body at an inconvenient time.

Take it easy on yourself. I would recommend not increasing the distance of your long ride by more than 20% over the previous week, and increasing your weekly mileage by not more than 15% a week. Depending on age and gender.

Bicycling magazine always runs a sample training schedule for "your first century" in the spring. It's not a bad standard, though I personally think if you do as little training as they suggest, you'll be hurting.

@bikeygirl, I find that having a destination or planned route is always the easiest way for me to go long distances. I google map routes and try stick to the plan but always throw in a couple new roads to check out to add to future routes. 150mi from Pittsburgh to Cleveland was the longest 1 day ride I have done. I'm doing it again on July 2nd without as much gear. The furthest I had ridden prior to this was 30 miles, but I was commuting 28mi/day 3 days a week, so I knew I would be okay. If you have that kind of athletic mentality, then long distance rides shouldn't be an issue.

I always look at people like this for my inspiration... Sam Williams (www.pedallingalltheway.com) and Katie Spotz (www.rowforwater.com), both ocean rowers and long-distance fanatics. Sam rowed across the Atlantic then got on his bicycle and road 6000 miles from London to Kenya. Riding a couple hundred miles feels like nothing when I follow their adventures.

While we're on the Century topic. Has anyone participated in the Seagull Century in Salisbury, MD? I've heard it's a good time, especially since it's all on the flat Eastern Maryland Shore. But have also heard that things can get dicey at times, since their ridership increases each year (8,400 last year)

One thing not mentioned here is that I've found on long rides, 100 miles or so, that it's pretty important that at no point during the ride are you truly pushing at 100%, or even 90%. Surely your heart rate will be elevated, but if you step off your bike breathing hard at a rest stop you might be in trouble.

@Lyle ... Would you run a marathon with your longest distance previously ever being only 10 miles?

Hrm... yes, been there done that. After a hard winter, moving, and being down on a knee injury not able to run for almost two months, I only got (1) practice run of 8miles the weekend before the marathon. Before that I had done a half-marathon in september.... most of my training was on the bike, and all the running I did the previous summer, so not a good analogy for me, haha (I know -I was lucky! ). I had really prepared for it, but all 2010 was crap and accidents that I couldn't train before May, BUT I really wanted to run that sucker, so I gambled, and did it. But yeah, that's why I'm trying to wise-up for this one.....

@Brad ... very good point. I've experienced that a couple of times when I started to successfully climb Brereton St on one shot without stopping. After I got used to it I was ok, but very good point/reminder.

I will definitely put everything that was posted in here to good use -promise! I'm very excited about tackling my first century!

Many thanks

BradQ's comment is a very good one. It takes most people a long time to learn this one, and to learn to listen to their bodies. As a marathoner you've probably heard about glycogen depletion. When you're going all out, you're using up glycogen stores at a very high rate. Once you're out, you bonk, and the rest of the day is going to suck big time.

Around here, it's easy to over-do it on hills. *Especially* early in the ride, take it just a little easier than you think you should.

Almost anyone, even with very little training, can ride at an easy pace all day as long as they're comfortable.

Glycogen depletion, hitting the wall...... most definitely know all about it. I never hit the wall during the marathon by doing proper carboloading the days before, plus being properly hydrated and taking gels to ease-me-up if I got to glycogen depletion, but thank God it didn't happened. At the end I was hurting more about my knee injury and the atrophy I developed during convalescing with it, than about the effort..... I could have pushed myself harder for better time, but it was about finishing in one piece, not in pieces.

@bikeygirl: "Before that I had done a half-marathon in september...."

So you had in fact done something a little longer than 10 miles, and you had some idea what to anticipate. Had you really never run more than 13 miles ever, prior to your first marathon? That's a pretty big jump. Did you end up walking? What did you learn about yourself as a result of that jump?

johnwheffner: "an easy pace all day as long as they're comfortable."

Ditto that, with particular emphasis on "comfortable".

@bikeygirl I went with 6-7 clif bars, 4 gels, 3 bottles of water. Grabbed 2 quarts of gatoraide during the ride, plus probably 2 more bottles of water. I eat a clif bar every 45 mins to an hour.

Breaks: roughly every 25 mi, stop for a stretch. Several short stops to check radar or the map.

My avg speed yesterday was 14.1 mph. That was with the wicked effin headwinds.

Bike: specialized roubaix. Relaxed geometry, but road racer at heart.

How much of a difference in a ride would make if is hilly versus mostly flat? Big. Even without trying you'll likely run into 6000 or 7000 ft of ascent per 100 mi around here.

Are you pretty beaten/tired afterwards? Meaning can you walk the next day? It would be very easy to take a nap about 2 hrs afterward. The first hour or so you're just kind of dazed. A little stiff & sore overnight & first thing in the am. Now, feeling like I could go do an easy 50 (but I'm not)!

What is a good sequel of 'training' rides to get to that mileague?I commute 10 mi a day, plus one or two rides between an hour & two in length during the week with some intervals. I was doing 40 - 50 mi weekend rides in March, 50 - 70 in April, 60 - 75 in May, then went on my 1st century on Memorial Day. 2nd century for the year yesterday. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35946756

Definitely want to know what's harder - a century or marathon- from someone who's done both. Guessing a marathon, since your body really takes a pounding unlike a smooth ride on the bike.

@ Lyle:"... Had you really never run more than 13 miles ever, prior to your first marathon? That's a pretty big jump. Did you end up walking? What did you learn about yourself as a result of that jump?..."

Yup.... 13.1 is the most I had ever run, once in May 09 (my first half-marathon), and in September 09 (my second half-marathon). In between I ran twice a week during the week 2miles, a 6-8mile over the weekends, and also did (2)5ks, (2)10ks competitively. Starting July 09 I started commuting to work on my bike, which from September 09 to March 10 was my only way of 'exercising'. March-April I was mostly injured, in crutches, and convalescing on my knee (open it up, got 6 stitches), but was able to get back on my bike after 2-weeks with caution... running wasn't possible, but biking was less impact on my injured knee and good therapy. I didn't want to mess it up, so that's why I only did (1) 8mile run until the weekend before the marathon as a test, and felt good, but hurting on my atrophy-leg. So I got some high-performance capris from CX-W to help my muscle-atrophy leg... and I did it.

I only walked twice for a couple of minutes, but proved to be painful -pushing/running/jogging was better. From Mile 0 to mile 20 I was rather comfy and just generally aching as time went by, from mile 20 to mile 24 my atrophy-right leg was aching pretty bad, from mile 24 to 25.8 I was in real pain and slowing down, but pulled through, and sprinted the last half-mile.

Finish time 5hr: 10min: 06sec. I was running with a buddy, so we stopped 3-times for bathroom breaks which took a total of 15 min. from our time.. so, yeah. Less than 5 hrs.

At the end yes, I was hurting overall; mostly my right-atrophy leg, then both feet, then my healing knee. I did have difficulty walking for the first 2-hours, but I took a 1/2hr 'freezing' bath on my legs to detox the acidosis from my leg muscles, and afterwards -I swear! I was dancing at the after-marathon-party..... and that was it. I waited (3) days to get back on my bike, and did had some overall soreness that only lasted a week or so.

Was I wise? Nope -bad, bad....... my doctor didn't think I should do it, but after seriously training for a year, I could NOT not do it. I listened to my body and kept pace as it felt comfortable, and most important.... had ALOT of fun! Except for the last (2) miles or so, I enjoyed every minute of it...

What did I learn about my jump? Well.... seriously, that I'm lucky. That while it is a real physical struggle, your mind and perseverance play a huge part on what you achieve. That listening to one's body is key. And that it would have been easier/less painful at the end, had I hadn't had my bike-knee accident.

So... once again, I'm trying to not run out-of-luck and prepare for my next challenge, which now it has become reaching my 'century' during this summer.

Also.... here on the forum someone posted Radiolab's podcast titled 'Limits"... I listened to it some days before the marathon, and it was a great inspiration.

http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2010/04/05/limits/

@quizbot: TRUST ME anyone can do a marathon.... if I can do a marathon, anyone can do a marathon -specially cyclists with good heart conditions and athletic bodies.

I am curious now too what a 'century' feels like versus a marathon. Personally I didn't really have a 'horrible' marathon experience, but super-fun.... so..... something tells me that THAT will be repeated when I get to those golden 100-miles

I've never completed a marathon, but I was training for one before a stress fracture put an end to that. I was running 13 miles 2x a week, 8 miles 3x a week at that point, and it took me a few months to get to there. I started out in excellent shape cardio-wise, but I can promise, the muscles you use for biking are not the same as you use for running!

I'd say a century is way easier. I can make it through a century at various levels of fitness, but it took a lot of sustained training for me to get ready for a marathon, and apparently that wasn't even enough to prevent injury. Though, I suppose I could run/walk a marathon and it would be equivalent to "hobbling" through a century at 8 mph.

@dwillen -sounds like you over trained.... I've heard similar tales of people over-training for them.

(3)Runs a week are good... (2) easier 4 to 8 mile runs during the week, (1) 13 mile long run during the weekend. Build up the 13 mile on weekends until 20-22miles max -no more while leading to the marathon. Always rest every-other day, or combine with cycling (cross-training).

I improved my pace by over 3-minutes between May and September of last year following this routine. If I had been able to continue my training properly late winter/spring, I would have improved my time even more, but c'est la vie.

I had a professional coach and a structured training schedule. I was training along with more than 60 other people who were on the same schedule. I obviously overtrained for what my bones could handle, but I don't think I was doing anything crazy.

Century's way easier than a marathon. I used to knock out centuries left and right, but I've never been able to run more than about 100 feet at a time no matter what shape I've been in. Just not built for it.

I actually think you might have to go double century to even get close to marathon conditions.

This is a fascinating discussion for me. I'm doing my first century at the end of this month (TourDeCure) and am debating what my next goal should be.

My training so far as been pretty simple... commuting to work 3 or 4 days a week by bike and then 1 ever-increasingly long weekend ride. (Sunday was 68 miles.) Not saying it's going to be easy, but it definitely seems like not that big a deal now. I'm not going to break any speed records, but the job'll get done. (If I finish in less than 9 hours, I'll be happy.)

I'd often thought that running a marathon by 2012 (my 40th) would be a good goal...but the fact of the matter is that I simply don't enjoy running. Well, ok, sometimes it can be fun with my dog, but other than that I just find it un-fun.

So the idea of doing any more than 6 or 7 miles is just asking for me to lose interest quickly. (That's a projection, longest I've ever run was about 3... although, that time I the only reason I stopped was my dog sat down and gave me the "i'm done" look.)

@bikeygirl - what kind of a knee injury was that, and how did you get it?

@Lyle

An ass-whipe racing down the northside trail was coming super-fast toward me in a narrow area of the trail. I tried to avoid him by veering more to the right, where my friend in front of me also started hitting her brakes all of the sudden... trying to avoid both of them, I chose the lesser-evil and tapped her back-tire, lost control of my bike, and wiped out.... better than a head-of collision with the bat-outta-hell.

There was a lot of lose gravel on the trail, so my skin on my left knee was flap-open in one area where you could see the cartilage/bone, while in another the skin was torn-apart in various places. Plus some lesser roadrash on my elbows and other knee.

Got 6 stitches total, and a super-infection that had me on an ivy. I was bed-ridden for 2-weeks since I could barely walk..... It actually took 2 1/2 weeks to properly scab. After (2)ER visits and (5)regular doctor visits, just recently I was deemed a.o.k. My knee, kneecap & ligaments were all right, just everything else got ripped. My DR said that I actually healed faster than anticipated, but what hurt at the end was that, since I was on crutches and limping, my healthy non-injured knee/leg got over-worked and had some atrophy develop. Plus, since it took so long to scab properly, for the first month my knee bleed and oozed.

I took pictures of my healing process.... they are gross, but you're welcome to look!

@myddrin -Just like anything in life, if you enjoy it, it will feel easy and fun to do. I do like running alot.... what I enjoy the best is listening to my body and how it feels 'different' everytime I run, and how if I change my routine, how I step, how I keep my arms, breathing, etc, I perform differently. I never use headphones when I run..... I like the quietness of it.

But yes, for me my first 'century' is next..... that and doing a triathlon. Triathlon will wait until next year, but on the meantime a century sounds like fun... I already started looking into the Mon Valley Century on August 10th (thanks Mayhew)

Bedridden for two weeks, yuk. Now the stats nerd in me is wondering if the er recorded that as a bike-bike crash or a single-bike crash. Or neither.

Neither I believe.. I got the 'poor little Girl fell off her Bike' treatment, when unfortunately it was another cyclist who made me fall.

RE: the century vs. marathon comparison. I've talked to a couple of folks who say a marathon is roughly equivalent to a 300K or a double century, in terms of overall effort, recovery time, etc.

As far as my distance stuff goes:

Do you take energy gels and/or other energy supplements? Yep. I've been using Perpetuem (Caffe Latte...tastes sorta like watery chocolate milk, has a bit of caffeine, lots of carbs and protein) for on-bike nutrition, Camelbak Elixir tablets in the water for electrolyte replenishment, and occasionally some Jelly Belly sport beans. Plus, I try to make a point of some form of "real food" (PBnJ, turkey sandwich, or whatever appeals at Sheetz) at least every 100 miles.

The supplements are nice and easy, but pricey, and it's a good idea to make sure you don't train yourself to depend on them. Chocolate milk, peanut butter crackers, and tomato juice will get you through an awful lot if necessary.

How often do you take breaks? Depends. If I'm riding solo or with other randos, usually every 40-60 miles. Social/club rides, usually every 25.

What is the average speed? Tends to drop based on length of ride, but rolling average for anything > 65 miles and < 250 miles is in the 14-16 range. That assumes reasonably hilly terrain, like we have around here.

What kind of bike do you ride?La-Z-Boy. I haven't spent enough quality fit and training time on my Bianchi to be comfortable over about 35-40 miles.

How much of a difference in a ride would make if is hilly versus mostly flat? Big difference, especially in strategy. I'm in the habit of hammering the hills as hard as is feasible, chilling on the descents, and keeping it moderate on the flats.

Are you pretty beaten/tired afterwards? Meaning can you walk the next day? If we're talking century, unless I'm out for a personal best or something, I'm usually fine the next day. Legs may not be snappy, but can still ride my usual commute to work. The aftermath of a 600 or 1000K is a different story...

What is a good sequel of 'training' rides to get to that mileague?IME, once you can comfortably ride 50-60, you're golden for quite a while...things don't seem to get much worse until sleep deprivation starts kicking in. I'd suggest a couple of shorter, fast-paced rides during the week where you push your limits (if ya can integrate those with a commute, it's easier), plus a steady-paced distance ride on the weekend. Take a couple rides to work out the bugs in eating and drinking on the bike; avoiding stops to eat/drink/mess around saves you all sorts of time that you'd otherwise have to make up by pushing harder.

Lots of good advice above as well. All I can really add is "ride your own ride" when it comes to the long miles; pay attention to your body, relax when it needs to relax, push a bit when you're feeling good. Oh, yeah...and most of all, remember that bad patches happen, and you can ride through them; no matter how crappy you feel, if you just keep the pedals turning over, it usually gets better.

I've run a bunch of marathons (13 if you count the one at the end of the ironman). And I've ridden a bunch of centuries too. You are comparing two totally different things, and it depends a lot on how you run or ride each.

Running a marathon to qualify for Boston is a lot different than running a 5-ish hour marathon. Also, riding a century to hang out and enjoy it is a lot harder than riding it hard. So it depends on what you are good at, what you prefer, and how hard you go at it.

The worst thing about biking long distances is the saddle, IMO. I ride on a Terry Butterfly saddle and I don't wear overly-padded shorts (typically tri shorts). This helps. Also, a little body glide on the bootie and some vaseline in your lady-junk goes a long way to making your ride a lot better. All of the gels, bars, and supplements in the world aren't going to help you if you have a blister the size of texas on your ass.

@sarah_q "... All of the gels, bars, and supplements in the world aren't going to help you if you have a blister the size of texas on your ass ..."

Very true!!! If you get a blister, no matter if you are running or riding -it's gonna suck. That is a very practical advice that will make a huge difference, haha!

Also, thank you for clarifying the difference between being a competitive-athlete doing a Marathon, versus an amateur runner doing a marathon. My marathon experience is misleading versus someone who wants to do his best time possible competitively. It is true that running a 5hr marathon is very different to the individuals running it competively, with a 3-4hr time. My philosophy is that, yeah, push yourself at what you are good at; improve yourself within your sphere of training and capabilities, and most important: HAVE FUN!!! Trying to challenge oneself at something, finishing it in one piece, and accomplishing it with minimal injury, is still an achievement, I think

An ironman... respect!!! That really looks daunting. I enjoy watching the X-Terra Thriathlon on TV for inspiration.... THAT is a real feat of endurance!!

And as for me, over the weekend I made a bet with a friend who's run 7 marathons (1 a year), that I will run the same number of marathons -or more, under the same amount time -or better!!

Keep the good advice coming!!! Perhaps other females who have done a century too? I've definitely been taking notes.

bikeygirl, to me it sounds like if you had to, you could jump on a bike tomorrow and ride a century, and be happy to ride the next day.

my experience is as someone who foolishly took the road less traveled by. as of two years ago, i had never kept track of mileage, but i commuted a few miles every day, and would maybe do 15ish on the weekends. then that summer, i did a 35 mile ride right out. the next longer ride i did was 72. then, with a few 50ish rides thrown in between, i rode 140 miles to erie, then 100 miles the next day to buffalo. so i doubled my mileage every time.

the first day was by far the most difficult, physically (hills plus 40 extra miles), but the second day was far worse for me. echoing sara_q's sentiments, it was the backside that felt it all. my legs were great the whole time, keeping at about 16 mph on-bike average. though when i woke up in the middle of the night in erie and put weight on my legs, they nearly gave out. but when i got up in the morning, they were fine.

my diet tends to consist of sugary beverage (gatorade/kool-aid), water, and junk food, with occasional real food meals thrown in. i've always used junk food for glycogen recovery, since an early age, and my body seems to do well with it. little debbie nutty bars are a particular favorite.

the biggest difficulties for me were a) my backside was hurting a lot (though i never got any blisters), and 2) i was alone and over 100 miles away from anyone i knew, and only had myself to tell me i should keep going. it took a lot of mental energy, especially at the ends of each day.

but it really sounds like you've already got the stuff. you know what your body is telling you (and enjoy listening! i do this too), you know what it needs to keep going (diet-wise), and you've already built up plenty of miles. though i don't recommend making the jump from 70 to 140.

i think the worst part about a ride like the MS this weekend is your ass/taint/you know what area. you don't notice it as much the first day, but when you sit down on the saddle the day after doing a lot of miles, you feel it. t

here are lots of breaks on the ride, and i think that's important also. I think that there is a lot written about how to optimize for long rides. just as others have said: take a break, eat something that isn't total crap. get a good bike that fits. the stem on my new bike turned out to be too long just as i thought. the 60 mile course on pedal pittsburgh hurt my back so badly that it brought down my avg speed. also make sure that you always get enough sleep as much as you can always. I'm always running on little sleep

Re your 7 marathons in one year bet: I did 6 last year and then topped it off with a 50-miler in the fall. Not a great idea; I was so sick of running by the time the ultra rolled around.

Re biking: I am planning to ride the June 19th 200k but my longest ride this season is 75 miles and most of my training rides are 25-35 miles. But I've run a couple of marathons and done some swimming this year, so I think I can make the ride given my base fitness and general level of determination. I bet the same is true for you too.

The only piece of advice I can give on long distance riding (only having ridden between 60 - 70 miles in a day) is that you should definitely listen to your body and particularly your hands... After day 4 or 5 on the GAP/C&O trail towards DC, I started to feel pain in my left hand...and a numb sensation in my left pinky: which I found out later to be handlebar palsy, an overuse injury.

While improper bike fit can cause this injury, for me it was most likely because I wasn't paying attention to my hands while riding.

So switch up your hand grip every 15 minutes or so...lean back sometimes if you feel yourself putting too much weight on your handlebars...and try not to use a death grip. The reason I held on so tightly was because I was going downhill on the really rutty and rooty C&O on a bike with no shocks to speak of...I didn't realize how hard I was gripping the bars until I started to feel the pain.

@sarah_q. No no no no!!!!!!!

7 marathons in 7 years (one a year). Not 7 marathons in 1 year....

Something that gimpPAC touched on is the rail-trails in my opinion are way different than riding on the road. For starters the gravel sucks up speed because of the high rolling resistance, and if you don't do it on purpose you never need to get up out of the saddle. Road riding you naturally get out of the saddle to climb and you move your hands around while braking, etc. You also get to coast on the down hills which doesn’t happen on the trails. At least that’s my experience with day trips on the trail. Anyone tips from multi-day trippers?

On my ride this a.m. I thought about the saddle issue. You want to make sure your sit bone is the primary contact point with the back of the saddle. Do not ride on the nose of the saddle! There should be no pressure on your bits and pieces.

Also, I probably sound a lot more studly than I really am. I'm neither skinny nor particularly talented at swimming, biking or running (truth). But I have a decent sense of humor and enough determination to get the job done. Most long-distance stuff requires more psychological wherewithal than anything else.

Ok, I feel I need to weigh in here.

First, word on the street is that sarah_q is a true studette, or whatever term you want to use.

I agree that bikeygirl is ready to do a century this weekend if she wants with the provisions of having a good fitting bike and listening to her self.

Having run a few marathons and having cycled between 60 and 100 in a day with no special precautions (other than running up to 60 a week and cycling at least for commuting every day)cycling a 100 is way easier on your body (well, not your butt) than a marathon.

In coaching distance runners and having them sometimes try to maintain fitness while injured on a bike, they had difficulty duplicating the effort on a bike in the same period of time.

It is possible to exert the same effort on a bike that you would while running. The problem is that when tunnel vision sets in and you get woozy, instead of just collapsing, you fall over and get hurt. Or worse. Also, if you hurl while riding a bike its a lot messier than on foot. And you would probably fall down. So if you really want to make yourself hurt while biking, you should do it on a trainer.

@ Helen Hrm... I'm hard-headed enough to try to do a century in one shot, but I already ran out of sick-time this year at work, so can't have any more accidents/health issues until 2011, so I will veer in the side of precaution.... I wanna enjoy those miles

This weekend and the next I have plans/visitors in town, but the weekend after that, I'm gonna see for how long I can ride here in the city.... that way if I start to fade, I'm close enough to get home or call a friend..... The longest I've been riding on my bike is 5hrs with stops on-and-off, here around the city, at a decent speed. I don't know how many miles they were, but I'll count this time.

Note I said in the same time period- If you ride (and this was done on trainers) for 3 minutes at 80% of your vo2 max, it would not be the same at 3 minutes of running at 80%.

I think you can work hard, but seems it would take harder efforts for longer periods of time than running. Being a non-weight bearing activity, like swimming also, makes a difference.

So you're saying that 80% of VO2max on the bike is less effort than 80% of VO2max on foot?

I guess I thought that by "effort" you meant "power output". Did you mean something different?

perceived effort and power output aren't the same thing, though for a given activity, there is a pretty strong correlation. comparing across activities, though, is difficult. for example, when considering perceived effort of running versus biking, you must add in the pain associated with your entire body being accelerated up and down with each step.

@bikeygirl -- Funny your description of why you love running is both similar to how I feel about cycling _and_ running. Running doesn't give me much room to hide from the remaining weight I need to lose and the side effects of my overall weight loss. All that impact is really unforgiving.

Perhaps when I've lost that last 20 pounds, I'll feel differently.

I have to admit, I'd be much more tempted to attempt a tri than a marathon... although, I'm about as good of a swimmer as I am a runner!

@myddrin: Doing a triathlon is my goal.... I technically drowned when I was a child, and since then I get slightly paranoid in the water. Regardless, only recently (last year) I took professional swimming classes to learn how to swim properly, and hopefully next year I'll be very comfortable in my 'water legs' to do my first triathlon.

And about cycling my first 'century', I'm planing a bike ride to Ohiopyle with some friends in the coming months... that's only about 70 miles or so, but figured is a start

If that goes well, I wanna do a ride to eastern PA to a project I worked on which is over a 100 miles away.... beautiful ride, country road.... should be good