Training guidance

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

just4fun

New Member
Hi again and hope you've all been keeping well. I know that this is a personal thing but i will be doing my first 50m cycle and just wanted to know what frequency of ride and lengths i should be trying to do in preperation. I have a couple of months till the ride and up until now my furthest has been just shy of 30m and a couple of 20-25's but those were a year ago. This year i did 17m in the new forest which was beautiful but all of those rides are a long way from 50miles. All advice is welcome. at present im cycling about 40miles/week to and from work but they are only little 3-4 milers and i consider myself generally unfit.
 

montage

God Almighty
Location
Bethlehem
Do a long ride on a weekend (you could try joining a club? where are you based?)....when is your 50 miler?

50 miles really isnt as far as you think...if you can manage 30 with little drama than 50 is possible.

Each weekend, extend your route until you hit the magical 50 - how long until this 50?

Apart from this long weekend ride, you want to be getting in a medium ride somewhere else during the week - keep it low intensity but I guess somewhere around the 15-25 miles mark would be ok, depending on your time constraints.

Three rules to beginning training:
1. Build the base
2. Build the base
3. Take it easy - make sure you get your rest.

Feel free to add in a few efforts during your commute, up the pace here, sprint a little there, but don't overdo it. A long ride, a medium ride + your commuting is plenty enough training for now.
 

Sittingduck

Legendary Member
Location
Somewhere flat
Try to go out at the weekend and do a 20-25 miler consecutive weekends. The next weekend try for 30-35, then a 40+ the following week. Gradually building up time in the saddle. You will then easily be able to complete a 50.

I am very unfit and a blob but have built up in this fashion over the past few months. Longest ride 67 miles (with 3 BIG hills). Next weekend I will be attempting my first 100 miler. For me they key was gradual build up of distances and rest when the legs were tired or feeling strained.

Best of luck with it and let us know how you get on. Also might be worth recording your rides, so you can track progress. Checkout Cyclogs (link is on my sig).

Cheers,
SD
 
OP
OP
J

just4fun

New Member
Thanks very much montage, im based in south harrow and the ride isn't until september so i have a long time to get ready and find a beginners club. I was somewhat embarrassed when making the post as many people on this forum do 50m in their sleep.

I really like your idea of extending bit by bit. I've got a fair idea for the long and medium rides, whilst the weather is nice i can take advantage of being near grand union. its 14miles to uxbridge where i can either get the train or cycle home via roads, which ups it too 25m or even on to watford for extra milage which will envolve using my heavy mtb. Road wise i can cycle to watford which is 7.5miles with some hard hills and then just go to the next town and back so there are some options to play with. I guess i'll need to sit down with a map and try to find a visualy stimulating route. Thanks again because you've got me thinking and given me an idea of how to go about getting to the point i need to be at.
Gary

edit: thank you also SD, it sounds like i can incorporate your method in with the longer ride. Also good luck with the magic 100
 
OP
OP
J

just4fun

New Member
cheers stoofer i wasnt aware of that thread, im on night shifts right now so i'll be checking it on.
 
RE Bikehike - use of the elevation function is the key.

Using it you could, with a little planning plan a route around any massive hills.

It would be cool though if there were an app that plotted the lowest incline for a given journey.
 
OP
OP
J

just4fun

New Member
I did have a look at it this morning but found it really hard to use, hopefully that was soething to do with being up all night but i manged to plot a course and get some really strange milage, and the elevation chart put me right off it. atm my legs are too weak for my new bike so will have to avoid it. On the plus side i have found a 35 mile local route which i will try on tues/weds depends when i recover from nights. the beauty is it can be doubled for when i try for my 1st 100 which hopefully i can do next year at some point.
 
Top Bottom