Riding A Century 1-2-3

Terrain – Cadence – Shift

Riding a century can be accomplished in three easy steps; read the Terrain, maintain a steady Cadence, and Shift gears to avoid riding yourself into exhaustion. There’s no doubt that riding at times take on an intimidating factor; especially when an avid cyclist zooms past you. Have no more fear, it’s as easy as 1-2-3 and with time you will understand exactly what we are saying.

As you go out on your ride, you will encounter three types of terrain; flat, incline (hill), and decline (down-hill). Start out by getting use to recognizing these factors as you ride. There are two ways to read the terrain; visually or through the feeling in your legs. While visually seems to be the easiest, your eyes sometimes play tricks on you. You see, by looking on the black asphalt for a long time, your eyes will sometimes get lost in the coloring and then it is hard to tell if you’re on an incline or decline. That’s when you will switch to your sense of feeling in your legs. If you find that your cadence has become a little harder, then that is a sign that you’re going up. On the other hand, if you find that you’re spinning a little faster, that is a sign that you’re going down, and lastly, if there are no change in your spinning action, then your terrain is pancake flat. Completing a century successfully will require for you to maintain a steady and even cadence.

Zoning in on your preferred cadence or spinning rate is very important. If you have the big bucks to spend, you can equip yourself with some high tech machinery to figure this out for you. However, if you’re like most, you will have to rely on your sense of feeling and breathing. Your preferred cadence is your cycling action that you can maintain for a long period of time without riding yourself into oxygen deprivation. If you ride regularly, the sooner you will figure this out. Here is the trick. As you are riding along with your buddies and you are chatting it up as you go on a flat terrain, glance at your cyclometer every now and then and your preferred cadence will reveal itself. Once you have establish this fact, try and register that feeling both mentally, physically, and visually because this is the rate you want to maintain most of the time. Of course once the speed picks up, you may want to venture into a higher spin rate but it should not be too much more than your preferred cadence. To complete your century a steady speed matched with a steady will be your best ally. Don’t forget hydration and nutrition. Plan to eat and/or drink every 12-15 minutes.

Ok, so you have zoned in on your preferred cadence and now you are wondering how in the world will I go faster; that’s where your shifting mechanism comes into play. To hammer down your shifting action will call for you to have a good understanding of your gearing system. On most bikes today, there are two chain rings at the front (sometimes three) and on the rear wheel there is a cassette that has a varying gear ratio. The chain rings on the front (connected to the pedal) have an inner (the small ring) and an outer (the big ring). The small ring is primarily used for a quicker spin (higher cadence) and for climbing. While the big ring is for a slower spin (lower cadence) but produces more power (wattage) for higher speeds and sprinting. The gear ratio for these two comes in both compact (big ring 50 teeth count, small ring 34 teeth count) and standard (big ring 53 teeth count, small ring 39 teeth count). As you may suspect, the more the teeth count on your chain ring the more power output must be generated to produce cadence.

On the rear wheel cassette the ratios vary from 11-23 (smallest ring to largest ring) to 12-27 and so on. The primary thing to know about your rear wheel cassette is that the smaller your gear ratio the stiffer the pedal action. For example, an 11-23 will give you a stiffer Cadence action which lends itself better to speed which makes it a sprinters rolling choice. On the other hand, a 12-27 is not as stiff and will give more flexibility as far as climbing is concerned but does not give you as stiff a cadence action on the rolling flat which would make it more ideal for climbing.

Here is the general rule, regardless of a compact/standard chain ring and your rear wheel cassette gear ratio, follow these general rule;

As you go from a flat to an incline, your ideal gear ratio should be on the outer front chain ring and somewhere in the middle gear ratio on the rear cassette. As you read the terrain and you realize that an incline is coming up, prepare to shift gears before you get to the hill to ensure a smooth transition. About 75 meters away from the start of the incline, switch your front chain ring to the inner and focus on maintaining your cadence. As you start the hill, you will find the more you climb or the steeper the climb, there will be stiffness in your cadence action. As a result, don’t pedal harder, make the adjustment in shifting into a higher gear ratio on the rear cassette (shift chain closer to bike frame one at a time). Continue this action until you find that you do not need to go up any further in gears to get over the hill base on your comfort cadence action. Keep shifting up only if needed, if you find that the hill is not getting any steeper and you can maintain a comfortable cadence, just work on maintaining. However, if the hill keeps getting steeper, keep shifting. If you run out of gears and cannot go up anymore on your rear cassette because the hill is just too long or steep, then remain in your highest gear while still on your front inner chain ring and as best as you can just grind your way over the top. Stand in your saddle only if need be or to give your legs a break. In this case, focus on breathing and a steady cadence action. Such perseverance is needed to complete a century.

Now that you have the 1-2-3 most important things to maneuver and complete a century, here are some other essentials. Hydration and nutrition is important. Eat and drink every chance you get, don’t over-do-it though. Take your bike to the local technician a few days before; make sure your bike is just as ready for the task your body. While you are at the bike shop, pick up a couple of spear tubes and a couple of canisters of CO2s. If you prefer a pump, that is fine too. Be sure to have a means of communication in your jersey pockets as well some sort of identification. You never know when you will need one or the other. Lastly, develop a strategy for how you will cover the hundred miles. For example, will you stop at every S.A.G stop or will you skip a few. The general rule of thumb is to skip the first S.A.G which is usually within the first 10-15 miles. The next one should be about mile 25. If you cannot skip the first stop, stop by all means. However, if you plan on skipping the first S.A.G stop, be sure to have enough sustenance on board to last you. Most importantly, if you can do all this with friends, it will be like icing on a cake.

Follow these simple rules and you should be just fine. Have a great century at your next Bike MS.