Last year was my first year really getting into cycling and I did 2500 miles and 2 centuries. I’m planning 8 centuries so far this year and have a goal of a 5 hour solo century. I’m currently 250ish lbs (slowly working on that!) with an FTP of 278W giving about 2.46 W/kg. With those numbers I didn’t expect anything close to my goal this early in the season, but my first one is the flattest and makes me wonder if I should try to get as close to that 5 hour mark as I can! The ride is May 3rd with less than 2500 ft of elevation.
I should mention I have a Canyon Endurace with 50mm carbon wheels and 28mm GP5000s. It should be a quick and comfy bike for this ride. A rough estimate though Best Bike Split says I could do the route in just under 5 hours with average power of 202 and NP of 207.
I’m working through SSBMV1 now and have been doing anywhere from 2-6 rides weekly over the past few months. I’m on track for 10 hours this week and think I can maintain that over the next 2.5 months. Any tips on how I should train? I’m thinking about finishing SSBMV 1/2 substituting the weekend rides (as weather permits) with increasingly long outdoor rides. I have routes locally that are close to the elevation changes I’d expect, so I was thinking of riding those close to the BBS estimates and seeing if I can hold that for longer rides. Any advice is welcome!!
I’ll give that a shot. The ride in question wasn’t really a priority before until I realized it was so flat! Thanks for the help!
Edit: I just used plan builder and it’s awesome. Even in HV though it has 2 hour rides on Sat/Sun. I know in the podcasts they say you don’t have to do a 5 hour training ride for a 5 hour event…but I think pacing is going to be key for such a long ride. Do you think it makes sense to swap a weekend ride for a longer one outside, or do the prescribed workouts then maybe add some extra time at an easy pace to get the volume up? Thank you!!!
In calendar view, there are weekly notes that give possible longer and less intense rides with similar TSS. I usually do those, just to get more bike time and burn more calories.
I would definitely recommend swapping in the long outdoor rides. These will serve multiple purposes.
They will help you work on your nutrition strategy so you can get things really dialed for your long events. They will also help you continue to get more comfortable on the bike during long rides and tweak anything related to your set up.
In addition the long rides will bring some different aerobic adaptations compared to the shorter indoor sweet spot workouts. You can study your power output on the longer rides and see how you maintained things over the time. This will give you some insight if you are on track for your sub-5 Century effort.
Finally, the long rides are going to help you burn off a lot of calories too. As long as you are mindful of diet at other times, you will likely get some weight loss benefit if you do them consistently.
Gratz on the goal of the eight centuries this year - that’s fantastic.