Quote Originally Posted by Biciclista View Post
Maybe you will not be ready in time for this ride. It's not worth it to hurt yourself permanently just so you can reach a goal set by someone else.
Knees are fragile creatures and need to be taken care of. healing takes time. a 100 mile ride with hills (or a 60 mile ride with hills) might not be what your knee should be exposed to until it is ready . there's always next year.
I second this. If you are a brand-new rider, don't expect to be able to go out and pound out a 62- or 100-mile ride with hills, wind, the whole bit, let alone at a dazzling pace. (Also as a side note: On those long rides, eat before you're hungry! Drink before you're thirsty! I'm sure you've heard it before, but it's really true.)

Here's my knee-related long-distance experience, which I hope will give you some food for thought: I'm mostly a commuter, but last year I started expanding into longer weekend rides, and last May I did my first century: The King's Tour of the Quabbin, a ride with 7,000 feet of climbing. I trained for it and rode it alone, making a point of going MY pace and taking as long as I needed. Even so, by mile 75 my knees (which have been bad since I ran cross country in high school, but hadn't given me trouble since I got fitted on my bike) were really, really hurting. By the time I finished, my knees ached when I was sitting still, let alone walking or riding. I did three other long rides that season, and every time by mile 60 my knees had started hurting regardless of liberal doses of ibuprofen and ice.

And get this: My knees haven't completely stopped hurting since, even though all winter I only rode 13 miles at a stretch. I switched from a double to a triple and lowered the gearing on my cassette as well; I conscientiously spin, especially on hills; I take ibuprofen before and ice after; I go at my pace and don't kill myself to get there fast. But my knees still twinge and require babying, and who knows if that will ever go away.

The moral of this long story is not to hurt yourself to achieve a goal that is too big for you starting off at zero. A "huge ride" such as the one you're describing, especially with what sounds like a pretty killer training regimen, might just be too ambitious of a goal for a first-time rider. Don't burn yourself out by trying to keep up or do too many miles too soon, and especially take care of the knees.