How long between longer rides???

[caligurl]

i've done several hilly centuries (and over 100 miles) rides already this "season".... 3 VERY hilly ones in 3 weeks! then a "rest" with a less hilly century... then another hilly one.... etc etc etc!

if you are conditioned (speed means nothing IMO... i'm slow and i still do the harder, longer rides! just takes me longer!) then you can do centuries a week (or day) apart if you want!

[mimitabby]

I have never heard of a "need" to space centuries that far apart either. we're doing two in a row in August, and 10,000 people are doing the Seattle to Portland bikeride in a few weeks, and that's 2 days of 100 miles each.
and most of them are NOT in that good of a condition!

[SadieKate]

I'm reading the responses from everyone who rides centuries seemingly every weekend, did you do this when you first started riding these distances?

TrekHawk just rode her first century. She's been building up to the distance. What did you do at the same point in your cycling career?

Or did you start riding centuries every weekend after building up a consistent base over a period of time? Personally? I would have risked an overuse injury if I ramped up the work load that fast.

It takes one level of conditioning to ride one century. It takes another to ride back to back centuries.

[RoadRaven]

I think Nanci hit the nail on the head... its about your base... as well as how quickly your body recovers.

If I did a metric century - I'd probably be up for another in a couple of weeks... thats because I have not ridden many long rides, my longest being a fortnight ago when I rode 83km.
A imperial century... a few more weeks again I am guessing... either way, my centuries would not be at my race-pace... I just don't have the endurance for that.

However, my son (17) and my partner (44) train 3-4 days on week days (50-90km), then ride a race on Saturday(30-45km), and then on Sunday they join a group of other likely lads (there are two females that join them occasionally) and they set off for a recovery/training ride. By the time they get back to the house Sunday lunch time, they have clocked up anywhere between 90km and 140km. Occasionally my partner has left my son at home and ridden extra on the Sunday to get in 160-190km...

So they would be fine to do one every week... as long as it wasn't at race pace. If it was race pace I think it would be every 2-3 weeks (by race pace I mean my partner would average somewhere between 38-42km at least, depending on hills and wind).

You really need to be aware of what your body has done, and ask it to perform accordingly.

Ah... Velo posted as I was... good advice too, Velo