4 Tips to Help You Cycle 100 Miles
Tip 1: The 80:20 rule The mistake most people make is simply going out and riding hard all the time. What can happen is you do not allow your body enough time to recover. Instead you simply slowly wear yourself out over a period of time, causing a negative effect on your performance. To avoid overtraining aim to spend 80% of your ride time at a low intensity, one where you can easily maintain a conversation. Only spend up to 20% of your ride time riding at what you would consider a high intensity.
Tip 2: Vary your rides When training for a century you will be riding a lot of miles. To avoid boredom it is essential you mix you your rides. Doing this will also let you improve different facets of your riding. For example you can tailor different rides to improve your hill climbing, increase you average speed, improve your pedalling efficiency or even increase your power output.
Tip 3: Eat When you start to ride distances further than 25 miles eating the right foods is essential. On longer rides you will be burning huge amounts of calories and so it is crucial to eat while riding. Little and often is the rule. Shop bought energy bars are great but can taste a bit artificial. A cheaper and tastier alternative is the trusty jam and peanut butter sandwich (even the pros have been using these for years!).
Tip 4: Mental preparation As with all endurance events when riding a century you are very likely to hit bad patches when you simply want to give up. Knowing how you will cope and what you will do in these situations is a great help. Techniques such as visualization can help you prepare for these situations.
Resources: http://www.estevebikeshop.com/ http://ezinearticles.com/?Century-RideTraining-Tips---4-Tips-to-Help-You-Cycle100-Miles&id=1816430
Thanks for reading!