50 Miles ADVICE NEEDED!!!

Since 2001, over 90,000 cyclist's have joined Cycling Forums to discuss topics from general cycling to equipment, training, racing and travel or vacation destinations (especially in europe during the tour de france). We also feature an great deals in our online store, 100's of articles, classifieds and product reviews.

Jake here

I'm from Bucks County PA I teach high school & middle school (also coach wrestling) Picked up a bike again about a year ago. Im looking for a "cruising bike".

I was thinking of riding the MS 50 in Lancaster PA which is mostly flat terrain. The race is in July so I have months to train. Do you think an exjock in good shape in his 30s can ride 50 miles without big problems?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Jake

Build up slow and take it at your own pace. You will be there in no time

Also try and find a nice local cycling group to go out with, its much nicer to cycle with some others than on your own.

Jake here

I'm from Bucks County PA I teach high school & middle school (also coach wrestling) Picked up a bike again about a year ago. Im looking for a "cruising bike".

I was thinking of riding the MS 50 in Lancaster PA which is mostly flat terrain. The race is in July so I have months to train. Do you think an exjock in good shape in his 30s can ride 50 miles without big problems?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Jake
Absolutely no problem. If you are already in decent general condition, it would take less than a month to ramp up to fifty, and that seems pretty slow to me. An experienced rider might go from zero to fifty in a week by riding 15, 30 then 50 with a day or two rest in between.

You will easily be able to build the endurance to ride fifty, so you will have a lot of time to work on getting faster.

Good grief yes!!! The issue for you is not fitness, but comfort. If the bike fits, you have decent cycling shorts, don't overdo the early pace, it is easy.

If you ride in tighty-whities under denim cut-offs, you will feel the pain! :)

Absolutely no problem. If you are already in decent general condition, it would take less than a month to ramp up to fifty, and that seems pretty slow to me. An experienced rider might go from zero to fifty in a week by riding 15, 30 then 50 with a day or two rest in between.

You will easily be able to build the endurance to ride fifty, so you will have a lot of time to work on getting faster.
It's taken me about 3 weeks to go from being a somewhat unfit 56 year old non-rider to riding the 50+ miles I did yesterday. If a reasonably fit bloke in his 30s worked it up in that period of time he should already be riding quite a bit faster than I am :)

Jake here

I'm from Bucks County PA I teach high school & middle school (also coach wrestling) Picked up a bike again about a year ago. Im looking for a "cruising bike".

I was thinking of riding the MS 50 in Lancaster PA which is mostly flat terrain. The race is in July so I have months to train. Do you think an exjock in good shape in his 30s can ride 50 miles without big problems?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Jake

You are looking for a "cruising bike" to race? Not sure what you mean there but cruisers are slow. Aside from that, a road bike will be the easiest to hammer out 50 miles on, then a hybrid, mountain bike, comfort/cruiser, in that order.

As far as being in shape 50 miles is pretty do'able for someone in shape. A 100 miles would present a bigger challenge but the biggest challenge is making sure your body is acclimated to your bike before you try it. IOW, make sure you have logged a good deal of saddle time.