Bruce,

Very much in agreement with the train hard on shorter distances for one shot
double. The people who go on to do the ultramarathon things, like several
centuries back to back or doubles back to back or triples would have to consider
the longer distance hard training. My riding group 25 years ago would use May
doubles (at 20mph averages hanging for dear life behind tandem trains)to train
for ultradistances in the summer, and back to back centuries on late March-April
weekends to prep for early May doubles.

That all said, your ramp up program is very well done for a mid June double and
a world where there's still snow on the ground in March.

Having ridden both B+ and B's (mostly the latter in recent years), I think that
the B's who want to do the double need a different type of ride schedule than
what gets posted on our ride calendar.

Thinking about being comfortable with 100+ milers by end of May, B riders should
leave April with being comfortable with metric centuries and in May work on
their ability to ride metric+ with minimal stops and with tempo. To do this,
the April rides posted for B's are about 10-15 miles short.

In planning the ride calendar next Spring, perhaps there could be two tracks of
B level rides - the current type with 40 milers and another track with 50+
milers leading to 60+ milers. That is, two B rides in the same day at the same
time aimed at two different rider objectives. By the time the double training
series 75 miler occurs, B's wanting to do the double could have a strong base of
50-60's under their belt, with the latter ones ridden at tempo with minimal or
no stops (first stop on the double is at 60 some miles, no?).

--- In NYDoubleCentury@yahoogroups.com, Bruce Wells <bkwells@...> wrote:
>
> Tom,
>
> Funny, your name come up riding with Aaron Sunday.
>
> Anyway, I would agree that you have to race distance to race distance, but
> for the double, I recommend race/train hard, take it easy for distance.
>
> And yes, US Pros don't do European distance racing. In fact it is hard to
> find long amateur races as well. Too bad.
>
> Bruce
>
> On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 11:01 AM, T. Nee <nee.t@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > There's a racing school of thought about distance training....you need to
> > race distance to race distance. And pros uses races to train for races. Go
> > down to the Philly International Championships (held two weekends ago) and
> > watch what happens after 90 miles into the 160 mile race --- you'll see the
> > US based riders get shelled out the back after the Manyunk Wall. They pop
> > off the back after 90-100 miles, which is the typical distance of US based
> > road races for Pro/1/2's. The Euro experienced riders have an "easier" time
> > of this distance, as they are used to the 130-150 mile races in Europe. Many
> > US teams go to the Montreal-Quebec race in August to get the chance to race
> > distance, over 180 miles. Belgium based pros will train in the rain/sleet
> > for 5+ hours in the late winter to get the saddle time needed to do the
> > Classics, which can be over 250km in length.
> >
> > More practically for the recreational rider, old school tourist thinking
> > once was that if you can peak for a single day event at distance of 50%
> > greater than your normal training distance. Thus, if you can ride with
> > relative ease a metric century on the weekends, then stretching to do a one
> > day century should be possible with special training. By that logic, Bruce's
> > pre-double training makes sense as if you are comfortable with the 125 miler
> > (which is hillier than the double) you should be able to stretch goal it to
> > the double a couple of weeks later (recovery time is very important in
> > distance goal obtainment).
> >
> >
>