HELP!!! Training for a HUGE ride

[Brandy]

It's a charity ride for cancer from Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. I know that sounds , but all of the past teams have made it, including people who had never been on road bikes before. There's two routes, and I'm doing the one that would go through the Rockies. I've heard that the Sierra/Coastal route has more steep uphills than Rockies does, though.

Our bike has a Shimano 10-Speed Cassette, 11-25T. I have no idea what that means...

And from what our fitness directors have been saying, they are thinking about having a 10-hour time limit on the century test. And it'll be through the Texas hill country.

Okay...that qualifies as huge.

As for your cassette...get yourself a 12-28. Call up your local bike shop, tell them what components you have and that you need either a 27 or 28. SRAM also makes a 11-28. That will make a good difference in your ability to spin a higher cadence and not be mashing up the hills. With the compact crank (what you have) I've never felt the need for more bailout gears in that combination.

My guess is that they want to see where you're at NOW, a month ahead of time so they can help you work on your weaknesses. It wouldn't make much sense to find out a week before you leave that you aren't capable of making the time cutoffs.

Honestly...even 10 hours is generous for a century, I think you will be fine. Keep your stops short, this is where people often make mistakes in distance riding. Finish your bottles as you get into your stops so you can refill and have two fresh bottles. Before your rest stops, have a plan. Pee, refill, eat and stretch if needed, back on the bike. Sitting down on these longer rides, filling up on rest stop food, yacking away with people...all fun things...have you out there and exposed to the elements longer than is necessary. The less time you're off the bike, the less time you're out there overall and the sooner (on the actual HUGE ride) you can start your recovery, which will be key to your overall success.

There are some tips on Ultradistance Riding here... http://epictrain.com/ultradistance.html

You might want to look into some compression tights (Skins, 2XU and Zoot make them) for the actual ride, changing into them each night after you finish your ride and sleeping in them will really aid in recovery.

Congratulations on taking on this HUGE challenge. I'm totally envious!