To all the cyclists/fitness people......

Pretty much, i need to be able to ride my bike for 125 miles by the end of august (its a charity thing work are doing) currently i hardly ever cycle and wouldn't say im the fittest of people.

So i ask you, what would be the best way to build up to this distance in the time given?

Cheers!
Ash.

Erm....good luck matey. 125 miles is a very long time to be sat in the saddle. Last summer I was riding at least 35miles offroad every saturday in attempt to build up for a south downs way attempt. We did one 70mile ride and that killed me...and since then I've not done anything major...and got fat!

In all honesty just over 2 months isn't a lot of prep work. If you cycle at least 10miles per day offroad that will build you up fast. Off road is much more strenuous than on road.

[anna]

wow that is a long way and a very short time to train in.. perhaps get yourself to your local gymn and ask them to help you build a training program.

you need to start now, and just add 5-10 miles on each time,

you also need rest days, its do-able, but its not going to be easy.

see if you can do 20 miles then just keep adding to it

first you need to find out how fit you are, if you can only manage 5 miles, i would forget the idea

[fizzwheel]

As Hovis says start with short journeys and build up, ideally you'd be looking to increase milleage by 10% each week and also ideally you want to have done or be able to do 80% odd of the milleage in one go prior to the event.

I did 95 miles in one day last year and it killed me, not physically but emotionally it was really difficult to keep pushing myself along to get to the finish.

Prior to the big ride I was doing 20 miles per day and also fitting in 60 - 70 mile ride on a weekend and then using Sunday as a recovery ride.

You need a rough training plan and you need to eat sensibly and the right food. You also need to think about your bike and how you fuel yourself whilst during the ride.

I'd suggest you put a post up here

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=40011

and also have a read on there and you'll get more specific advise there.

What sort of level of fitness are you at now, whats the furthest you've ridden, its not unahievable, but your going to have to put a serious amount of effort and dedication in.

yeah, i realise how hard its going to be, im planning to go out tomorrow and see how far i can ride and they build on it each week, im guessing i will need lots of carbs in my diet then? although i do have abit of body fat to get rid of also.

Will check out that website, cheers, also the off road tip is something i hadnt thought of!

My bike is an mountain bike jobby but is fairly light, and tbh will have to make do as im not forking out for a road bike!

Target tommorow is 12 miles, ill let you know how it goes!

Yep, the only way is to get some miles covered.

Get out atleast 3 times a week and keep uping the mileage. Probably do a longer ride every other weekend and have a rest on the other one.

Eat well, sleep well and be fairly selfish about it. Dont forget to rest, two weeks of really hard work and then a week ill isnt good training.

hang on......... is this in one go, as i guesstimate thats 10 hours in the seat?

Get a turbo trainer.

You can train harder and longer on the bike you are going to be riding and not even need to leave home.

I train in one of the spare bedrooms with the Ipod on.
Theres no traffic to distract me and I dont have to worry about getting the bonk on the way home.

125 miles in one go what are they pro athletes at your company i could'nt do that and i cycle every day nearly.