Things you wish you knew when training/riding your first century

[ny biker]

I break up long rides by distance to the next reststop, which is generally 15-25 miles, sometimes as little as 10 or 11. There have been times when just focusing on the next reststop was the only thing that kept me from quitting. I've also been known to cry during the last 20 miles -- sometimes due to happiness (at reaching a milestone that meant I was almost done) and sometimes due to frustration.

[skywalkerbeth]

Hi everyone!

I have a Garmin watch that tracks miles and pace, is that good enough?

My friends who did it last year (and are doing it again) said they thought of it as 5, 20 mile rides. And what she did was break it down more into: every 5 miles, half a bottle of water. Every ten miles, a small snack. Every 20 was the rest stop. In 20 miles she had two bottles of water and two snack stops and a pee stop.

5 miles goes by pretty quickly so that's a good way to get your mind off of it (if you need to).

Not sure I am ready for weekly ten mile increases. Maybe? I did an 8 mile increase despite two full weeks off training, so maybe I could. Let's see how the next few weeks go.

What time of the day did you all ride? I'm leaving at 7 AM and when I get up to 40 miles I'm going to start at 6 AM.

[AppleTree]

I break up long rides by distance to the next reststop, which is generally 15-25 miles, sometimes as little as 10 or 11. There have been times when just focusing on the next reststop was the only thing that kept me from quitting. I've also been known to cry during the last 20 miles -- sometimes due to happiness (at reaching a milestone that meant I was almost done) and sometimes due to frustration.

I wanted to cry, but there was no one around who would have seen me anyway, so I didn't bother. I had to try as hard as I could to keep from crying like a baby at the finish line in Portland. From relief mostly I think.

I think the earlier start you can get the better, for so many reasons. Weather is cooler, less wind to deal with, less traffic on the roads.