A century ride (100 miles) is a major accomplishment for a cyclist. Below is a week-by-week training plan that will help you reach that goal of riding your bike a hundred miles in one day.
Training Concepts
The main principle of training for a century is to increase your milage gradually over a number of weeks. By doing it that way, you help avoid injury, burnout and over-fatigue. Plus you will also be able to detect any issues with your body or your bike that you want to discover before the big day.
To set in motion your training plan, pick a known date for your century ride and count back from there to determine your start point. This ten-week training plan below assumes you are in shape at the start to be able to ride 20 miles comfortably. That's a two-hour ride at a very easy 10-12 mph pace. If this is more than where you are, consider a metric century (100 km/62 miles) as another potential goal.
The best way to learn training, hydration and eating tips is to ride with people who have done it before, but you can certainly do it on your own.
As you prepare, aim for the targets as laid out in the table below to get you ready. It shows the distance of your longest ride each week(typically on a Saturday or Sunday) plus a cumulative milage total for the week that you reach with your other riding.
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