Year ago decided to dive into TR, set the goal to do a century. Today, I did it (172 km, 6h48 in zone 2, FTP 212, avg watts 148; avg HR 138).
It was surprisingly easy. Set my pacing conservative for first 2 hours, started eating after 3h30 (having trained for fat metabolism), started accelerating after 4 hours (160-180 watts).
Couldn’t have done it without TR trainings and the amazing people on the forum. Thank you all guys for the constructive discussions on this forum!
Where to go next? Longer distances, more build to increase power in zone 2, some bike changes (gear ratios).
If that was solo that’s a super good effort for your first century. I’d guess if you wanted to go further OR faster the biggest challenges for you would be logistics, not fitness!
True, like half my prep time now for longer rides is how much and what food to bring and where on my route I might stop to get more water/food. Especially if it’s a new route and I don’t know where all the convenience stores are.
Congratulations to you (and well done TR) you must have done a lot of consistent training.
For my part. Maybe give it a month and try the same ride again and see if you can go a bit faster?
With Covid/Lockdown restrictions it isn’t always going to be easy to plan where an open cafe/shop might be so I’d stick to the same kind of route.
Once you’re a bit more free to explore, quite literally I would have a look at Explorer Tiles on Veloviewer which records (amongst many many other things) which places you’ve visited and can get quite addictive… https://blog.veloviewer.com/category/explorer/
Well done buddy! Can I ask what plan you followed and how your Ftp/kg progressed please?
I was on a similar goal but my 100 in London has just been cancelled but still have a plan to get a century this year having not ridden more then 300 miles a year for the last 5 years.
True, especially water. I had 7 rice cakes with me, that was perfectly fine (40-45 carbs each). Fortunately, after 100km I could refill at my parents in law. But getting enough liquids is the most challenging part. And I think if I go even farther (200km), I need to think about how to carry more food. I hate bike bags…
In the meantime I upgraded my hardware, so my initial FTP estimates probably are not really accurate, but here it goes.
Feb 2019: Tacx Vortex, only Strave for FTP estimates. FTP was 140. Just started structured cycling then (3-4 rides a week).
Mar 2019-Aug 2019: did a lot of outdoor rides based on HR alone. Bought Wahoo Element Bolt so I have GPS and could see HR for zones. Nutrition strategy was off, so I bonked a couple of times. Later, I discovered I only ate 15-20 carbs every half hour, so my rides were limited at around 90-100km. Did a lot of 90-100km rides. FTP increased as estimated by Strave up to 176.
Aug 2019: bought Tacx Neo 2, started TR with SSB1 (5 rides a week). Changed my lifestyle to fit around 5 rides a week. Became an early riser, became very careful about my nutrition. Basically, oats for breakfast. Salad, soup, bread and eggs for lunch. On training days, coconot yoghurt + muesli + banana in between lunch and ride. And after very hard rides, protein smoothie (hennep seed).
After SSB1, FTP was 196.
2020 FEB after SSB2, FTP was 212. Bought a power meter (s4 iiii)
Then feverish period around corona (not sure whether I had COVID-19 myself). Lost some FTP, gained some. Started build slightly lower with FTP 210, then upped it to 215.
I used to feel the same. But I bought the REI branded handlebar bag just to try it out cause it was cheaper. I really do like it. It was super useful in the spring when you might leave the house at 50° and it could get up to 65°+ and you could stash arm warmers and stuff. So longer rides I would put half my food in the bag and then use the small pocket for trash. Then when I refilled my bottles I would put the rest of the food in my jersey.
Well done! And a great confidence builder. The fact that you’re already thinking about the next big ride is a good sign! Give yourself permission to rest a little after this one
I’ve been asking the same question to myself. 2 months ago, I hadn’t ridden a century since 2012.
With a bunch of free time on my hands, I gradually increased my weekend mileage and have been riding a solo century every Saturday for 6 weeks now. I’ve been seeing gains every single week, whether it’s a power gain or simply less fatigue going into the final hour.
I’m sticking to this as my new normal as long as races aren’t going on. Some additional goals moving forward:
I do my indoor Z2 rides with minimal fueling to train the same thing, but on my centuries, I’m fueling from the get go, and consistently throughout the entire ride.
My dream is to go on a “cycling holiday” where its’ beautiful and ride a century 5 days in a row and enjoy the scenery (since you are mostly in zone 2-3 anyways I can look around).
