Training for a Century (my FIRST!)

[Kano]

Madscott, I think Jen was asking about marked bike lanes, in the streets, rather than the multi-purpose type trails.

Last time we were in the Twin Cities, perhaps we were just not in the right places at all, but as relatively new bike riders, like commuting and such, we noticed what we thought was a stunning LACK of marked lanes for bikes!

(Here in Boise, they disappear at all kinds of nasty places, but we sure have lots of them!)

Karen in Boise

[motochick]

Jen, most of the riding I am doing right now is focused on distance and being able to DO the distance. I have always been a masher, so I am working towards spinning at a higher cadence than what feels comfortable. Just to give you an idea, 80 used to feel fast to me. I can comfortably do 90-100 now. I also do a lot of climbing because I live in a valley and have nowhere to go but up. My average speeds are very low because of all the uphills and because I ride them so slow. I rarely ride where I climb anything less than 1900-2000 feet. As of late I have really enjoyed my 4000 ft climbs. Slow and steady!

I think you will do just fine with so much time to prepare.

Brenda

[effy]

jehocu03, thank you for asking this question. I recently stared riding and looking to do some of the longer rides possibly a century this year also. I live in St Cloud, MN and I feel like I'm the only newbie rider in this city. I have found that doing the rails to trails and some of the rural hilly roads are helpful for me. I guess that doesn't help you in Minneapolis, good luck on the that one.

I've picked up really good information here for the endurance training part from all the responses that you recieved. Good deal.

As for the journal part of it, I've been using http://www.mapmyride.com This site keeps track of a lot of information in one place. I like it because you can actually keep track of your trips on a map and review them later. A little setup work but really easy to use and the information is always available.

Keep up the good work with the training and good luck with the century.

[madscot13]

Wish I was back in MN so I could train with you for my own century.

I'm not sure where you are in the TC's but I was based in St. Paul and so my ride sort of revolves around the river.
A nice starter loops is just around the Mississippi river. I would do loops of these for more distances and because it is easy to make it shorter if you need to. there are several bridges you can cross: the ford bridge, lakestreet bridge, franklin, and others further north but I'm not sure of the names. since the river is on one side and depending on the side of the road you ride on, traffic will not intercept you. the traffic tends to be pretty low anyways. I think this is a supersafe route.


the grand rounds extends that to more of minneapolis.
http://www.byways.org/explore/byways..._n_go_2243.pdf -

there is another route I really like that also follows the river. I only did the shorter 30 mile distances mostly due to traffic. this follows a lot of the mississippi river on the south and west side of st. paul. it is on a bike trail but I usually switch to road because part of the trail was really broken up with a lot of debris- judge for yourself. or maybe they fixed it.

http://www.bikeclassic.org/event/ind...ion=course_map

you can also bike the gateway trail for a real long ride.

m

along the river you can have both MUTs and bike lanes. summit is on the road bike lanes.

[Miranda]

That's my goal this season. To ride my first century. Great advice here (as always). Thx for posting... I'll be reading and riding right with you (in pedal spirit). M