4 Tips to Help You Cycle 100 Miles

1. 4 Tips to Help You Cycle 100 Miles

2. Tip 1: The 80:20 rule
The mistake most people make is simply going out
and riding hard all the time. What can happen is you
do not allow your body enough time to recover.
Instead you simply slowly wear yourself out over a
period of time, causing a negative effect on your
performance. To avoid overtraining aim to spend
80% of your ride time at a low intensity, one where
you can easily maintain a conversation. Only spend
up to 20% of your ride time riding at what you would
consider a high intensity.

3. Tip 2: Vary your rides
When training for a century you will be riding a lot of
miles. To avoid boredom it is essential you mix you
your rides. Doing this will also let you improve
different facets of your riding. For example you can
tailor different rides to improve your hill climbing,
increase you average speed, improve your pedalling
efficiency or even increase your power output.

4. Tip 3: Eat
When you start to ride distances further than 25 miles
eating the right foods is essential. On longer rides
you will be burning huge amounts of calories and so
it is crucial to eat while riding. Little and often is the
rule. Shop bought energy bars are great but can
taste a bit artificial. A cheaper and tastier alternative
is the trusty jam and peanut butter sandwich (even
the pros have been using these for years!).

5. Tip 4: Mental preparation
As with all endurance events when riding a century
you are very likely to hit bad patches when you
simply want to give up. Knowing how you will cope
and what you will do in these situations is a great
help. Techniques such as visualization can help you
prepare for these situations.

6. Resources:
http://www.estevebikeshop.com/
http://ezinearticles.com/?Century-Ride-
Training-Tips---4-Tips-to-Help-You-Cycle-
100-Miles&id=1816430

7. Thanks for reading!