I had a goal this year: to ride my bike and have fun doing it. That may sound simple, even silly, but life is busy. Things pile up, and next thing you know, it's been two weeks or more, and you haven't gone for a single ride.
It took a bit of doing, and I had to get creative to pull it off, but I came up with a system that worked for me. Today, I want to share what I did to consistently get out, ride more, and have fun doing it.
The Century Ride Goal
Until recently, I had never completed a century ride—100 miles or 160 kilometers. It was a challenge for me but also a stepping stone to more challenging rides I planned for later in the year.
It took months of preparation. Here’s what helped me.
Building a Big Base
Cycling is a sport based on endurance—the ability to work over an extended period. Your base is the combination of your physical and mental ability to endure that work.
Building a physical base is pretty straightforward: it’s about consistency and progression. One to two rides per week, focused on riding for a set time at a moderate effort.
Here's what it looked like for me: I started with a 2-hour ride once per week, aiming for a Zone 2 Power Range. I like to use a power meter for training, and Zone 2 is 56-75% of my FTP. You could also use heart rate (69-83%) or Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE), aiming for an "easy-ish”.
I prefer a power meter because it provides a precise measure of actual work. RPE is less effective for me since I tend to misjudge my effort, either overdoing it or taking it too easy.
I found extended flat sections of road ideal for focused Zone 2 efforts. Hills add challenges when you run out of uphill and have to descend, but flat roads were easiest for this type of training ride
No matter how you monitor yourself, the key is to stay disciplined and keep pedaling. Stick to your power target, and avoid distractions. Focus on pedaling for the entire ride time. It might seem boring, or tempting to speed ahead when people pass by, but that's where the mental side comes in.
The Mental Component
Zone 2 can feel easy—until it doesn’t. Your goal is to keep going, adjust as needed, and stay on target. Trust me Zone 2 gets challenging for a few reasons after an hour or so. You will want to coast, or pull over and take a selfie with that cow on the side of the road. But don’t do it, come back for the cow pic later. You're busy pedaling now.
Months of practice later, four-hour rides became doable, and eventually, the 5.5 hours it took to ride my first century felt manageable. I actually felt great afterward and would definitely do it again.
Feed me: Fueling the Ride
After a tough lesson during an ultra-long MTB endurance race I did last year. This year I practiced eating while riding. Initially, I ate chews or jelly beans and supplemented them with a hydration mix in my bottle. This evolved into consuming gels every 30 minutes and using high-carb drink mixes to get more carbs in.
Proper fueling prevented me from hitting a wall during the rides and sped up my recovery, allowing me to ride again sooner.
Post-Ride Recovery
Recovery is crucial. For me, this meant consistently stretching, foam rolling, and using a massage gun on both ride days and rest days.
A game-changer for me has been my post-ride routine. TMI alert, but after rides, I shower and apply moisturizer to the areas where I contact the seat. Basically my under-carrige. Post-ride aloe works best for me; it’s non-greasy and calms any irritation. Pre-ride I use a good quality chamois cream. These two have really helped me increase my ride frequency and minimize the skin irritation from the increasing saddle time.
Top tip: Juice up your bits after the ride.
The Big Day: My Century Ride
When the 100-mile ride day came, it took me about 5.5 hours. And despite the record heat, I had a good time.
Here’s the plan I used:
- Pace: I aimed to ride mostly at the top of my Zone 2 power range. Trying to minimize peaks and spikes in effort. I missed out on drafting benefits from riding with bigger groups, but maintaining a steady pace worked out well in the end. Funny enough, I kept catching the big groups that would leave me in the dust.
- Nutrition: I consumed a gel every 30 minutes, aiming for 90 grams of carbs per hour—60 from gels and the rest from my drink mix. This kept my energy up throughout the ride.
- Mental Toughness: The mental demons always appear. "What are we doing here? Let's get a ride back to the car." When these came up during this ride I leaned on my "why" to push through. My why is the reason I’m doing this. It’s my superpower, allowing me to keep going, no matter how hard things seem. “It will get better” as pro rider and supreme bad-ass Hannah Otto says on tough rides.
- Having Fun: Call me a glutton for punishment, but I love pushing myself. I enjoy improving, doing things I once thought impossible, and sharing my journey with others. Biking is a blank canvas for your adventure. It offers countless benefits, all it takes is to ride more and have fun.
Thanks for reading! Drop in the comments other tips you have for riding more or conquering that first century ride.
Don’t forget to follow me on Strava and join the El Roo Bike Club. Keep on pedaling!