Biking 100 Miles without training on a bike before...possible or not?

Question

I asked this before but I dont really know how this works so I think I messed it up. I wanted it to stay up a few weeks so I could get back to all with the results.

Here it is though:

In 2 weeks I will be doing this!

It is not uphill! For the most part it is all flat.

I am in decent shape because of training for the Navy Seals...but of course lack good bike experience.

Answer 1

It is possible you will finish but you will end the century a jibbering wreck!!

No matter how fit you are, unless you have spent time on a bike you will not perform.

Take a look at the sort of rides I do in the UK.

http://www.tourofexmoor.com/route.html

Without 'doing the miles' you just as well reserve a seat on the broom wagon!

Best of luck anyhow.

.

Answer 2

No. There are way too many variables here. Even if you're in good general shape, you're not conditioned for long periods in the saddle. You don't know what to eat, when to eat, what to use for hydration, how much fluid you'll need. Your behind will chafe to raw meat.

You won't have any clue about correct riding position and you'll stuff your back up for the next 6 months.

My wife and I did the Rainbow Rage ride last year. We trained for a year and just made it inside the 9 hour limit. The weather was against us with sleet and 40kt winds as well as the altitude. This was a 106 km race (75mi) on gravel over 3 mountain passes, so it would be equivalent to 160km road ride. Even after a year's training we were still chafed, stiff, dehydrated and sore. Still, it was good fun.

Answer 3

First, let me say that it is possible.

Now, here are the provisos:

1)  Ride with someone who has done this before.

2)  Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

3)  Go slooooowly in the first twenty miles.  You will feel good, even great, and you'll play.  Baaaad idea.  It's like spending your paycheck in the first week of the month.  You starve the next three weeks.  Pace, pace, pace.

4)  Learn how to draft, i.e. how to ride behind someone within two feet.  That's how Lance Armstrong won 7 Tours.  Teamwork.

5)  Eat during the ride.  Eat something like a peanut butter sandwich or powerbar early on.  Take some gel packs for the second half of the century.

6)  You're a SEAL.  According to Richard Marcinko, that makes you a major bad@$$.  You've got the strength.  And you can get through pain.  And I think you have patience.  A century is a very mental exercise.

Sing every song you've ever heard.  After mile 60 (I hope not after mile 20), you might be absolutely bored to tears.  Laugh.  Cry.  Talk to the cows along the route.  Count the cracks in the road.  Make f**t jokes.  Whatever.  Just keep turning those cranks.  You can feel physically good and want to say "enough".  Don't give in to that idea.  Again, you're a SEAL.  Use every mental trick you have in order to keep going.

If you need to stop for a couple of minutes, okay.  Let's say every fifteen to twenty-five miles.  But not just when you feel like it.

So, you make up for your lack of experience by riding with a buddy.  That's how I did my first century within six months of my getting back on my bike.  I suffered like a dog for the last 35 miles.  But I did it.  And we were the first ones back to the parking lot.

You can do this.

Answer 4

I rode 25 miles this morning and it was fairly taxing. I am a novice triathlete an have ran a marathon in the last 12 months.It will be easier on you in a group if possible draft along with the other cyclists. Pa ce yourself , take plenty of fluids. You should already know how to rehydrate before your body tells you to. Wouldnt plan anything for the day after. The main point here is to start slow and stay slow until your confident that you can go the distance which will be around mile99. I f your still feeling good at mile 99 give it all ya got.

Answer 5

Possible.....ofcourse it's possible....

but not very smart.

Navy seal or not...in the heat of summer,

with no long-ride bike experience,

training or basic daily riding to prepare

yourself...I'm not sure it's a wise thing to do.

As long as you take your time...you didn't say

it was a race...or even a group event...at least

I hope your not going to do this all by yourself.

I'm worried for you.

You sound determined.

Safe trip my friend.

Answer 6

When I was in college, a professor organized a group ride to the beach, a distance of 100 miles.

A group of about 15 people showed up to do the ride.  Of the 15, there were three of us who had been doing some riding.  Another three, or so, were fairly fit but weren't cyclists.  Most of the rest hadn't ridden a bicycle since middle school, and did nothing more physical than walking to class.

To make a long story short, all 15 of us, plus the good professor finished the ride.  We took it easy.  Roughly every 10 miles we stopped for 5-10 minutes and the good professor made as eat and drink.  

As I recall, it took about 10, or so hours.  Those of us in good shape could have done the ride much quicker, but it turned out to be a great experience as we watched even the biggest couch potatoes bear down to acheive their goal of finishing.

So, to answer your question: yes, you can do it.

That said, expect to go slow and be really sore at the end.  Eat a couple hundred calories per hour and drink a bottle of water each hour and I am sure you'll be fine.

Hope this helps and I hope you have a great time.

Answer 7

If you are talking about doing this in one day, then...Nope.   Not very probable at all for someone who hasnt trained on a bike at all.   And heres why:

The first 5 miles will be so easy you'll be laughing.  At about 10 miles your bum will not be up to the task and will hurt like h**l.   At 20 miles you will hit the wall and your legs will start to fail and your smoothe cadence will become a labored, inefficient pedalling exercise characterized by a wandering path.    At 30 miles your back and every other part of your body will ache due to your poor form and lack of trainng.   Your Will to continue will be gone if you make it 40 miles and every little pain will be magnified because of it.   By then you'll be resting every few miles and making very poor time.  If you make 50, you'll wonder why you even thought for a second you could do this..........and you're only half way there.   The next 50 will be ten times as hard and take 3 times as long if not more.

Every serious biker knows its a real step up to increase a daily ride from 60 to 70 miles.   Every additional 10 miles above that is murder unless you do it regularly.  To pedal 80 miles in a day, you have to be a very serious, accomplished biker.  I have worked up to about 5000 miles a season over the past few years, and I have just gotten to the point where 80 doesnt wipe me out.   I have done 90 a couple times this year and 100 once, and those trips took every ounce of passion I have for the sport to make it.  One day I was bucking 25mph winds on the way out on relatively level ground, so flat terrain is not automatically easy.    

But you have 2 weeks; you could train in that time to increase the odds you can make half of the trip....good luck to ya.

Answer 8

If you're young, you'll make it. But your butt is going to be SOOOOORE!