# STP Training, 1 day VS 2 day...



## choppedsled

I'm looking for some advise on the STP training schedules.

http://www.cascade.org/EandR/stp/pdf/stp_preride_guide_2009.pdf

I'm 49 and just started training on Jan 31st after hearing about the STP. I haven't been on a road bike since the 80's, raced a ton of BMX up until Aug 06, and have been sedate since. Thats a little background on me. 

I've got 275 mi in the saddle since starting Jan 29th with a 50 and 60 mi ride the last 2 Saturdays, 15 - 15.5 avg mph. Rolling to flat with some small hills. I know, I know, so much for the 10% rule, but it was real windy, cold and pissed me off. I've just been trying to sneak in a small ride or two during the week with a long ride on the weekend, and will add more structure and miles when life and weather permits. 30's and rain etc. Also down to 200 lbs even from 213 a month ago..:thumbsup: 

My initial goal was to just finish the STP. But I've got a type"A" mentality, which can be a curse at times, so I'm quite driven to lofty goals. I'm happy with doing the 2 day, but not at 100 mi both days. I'd prefer to go as far as I can the first and have an easy 2nd day or dare I say 1 day? Given decent weather conditions is a one day STP possible for a 49 year old in my situation? So my question is, what are the pros and cons of both training schedules? What should I strive for?

Thanks in advance for the advise...


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## rcnute

Check out bigbill's STP training thread.


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## choppedsled

I did a search and couldn't find anything related to the pros or cons of the two training schedules. My main question would be what training schedule would be the better choice for me to follow. My goal is to ride as far as possible the first day, and possiby finish in one day if everything falls into place, vs two 102 mi days in the saddle. I also plan on doing as many centuries as I can this spring / summer.


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## rcnute

choppedsled said:


> I did a search and couldn't find anything related to the pros or cons of the two training schedules. My main question would be what training schedule would be the better choice for me to follow. My goal is to ride as far as possible the first day, and possiby finish in one day if everything falls into place, vs two 102 mi days in the saddle. I also plan on doing as many centuries as I can this spring / summer.


The Cascade Bicycle Club site may have something.

I think if you get in a few longer rides a couple months ahead of time and ride a couple times during the week you'll be fine. Flying Wheels is a good prep ride if you add fifty miles.


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## danielc

I followed Ed Burke's Guide to Long Distance Cycling. There are a couple of training schedules in the book for centuries and double centuries. I remember signing up for a few centuries as training rides as I was planning to do STP in a day. One of the training rides I did was Reach the Beach which is in the middle of May. But most importantly, find people to ride with. Riding tons of miles by yourself isn't as much fun and you don't ride as hard.

Good luck


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## choppedsled

Thanks for the advise guys. I'll do a post over on the Cascade site and see what turns up. I'm leaning toward the one day schedule as it seems to apply to my overall focus on riding long one day events. Maybe I'm over thinking the whole thing this early in the year.

DanielC, Ya know I actually love training and riding by myself. I can just focus on my speed, cadence, HR and the task at hand. And I have no trouble pushing myself to ride hard, I really have to work to make my easy days easy. At least this early in my learning/training curve. I do look forward to riding events with a lot of other riders, but I need to learn some pace line skills before I need them. Ultimately I want to stick to my own pace and plan.


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## danielc

choppedsled said:


> DanielC, Ya know I actually love training and riding by myself. I can just focus on my speed, cadence, HR and the task at hand. And I have no trouble pushing myself to ride hard, I really have to work to make my easy days easy. At least this early in my learning/training curve. I do look forward to riding events with a lot of other riders, but I need to learn some pace line skills before I need them. Ultimately I want to stick to my own pace and plan.


I totally know what you mean. I am that way too; focused on HR, cadence and all that, but I met a bunch of guys out riding one time and 6 years later we're still organizing group rides. It's not like we ride around and talk the whole time..no it's pretty hard riding most of the way. Plus when you ride with guys who are stronger/more experienced than you, you'll only get stronger while getting some pack riding skills too . It's also fun to charge up hills and try to drop your buddies! From my experience, you will always ride harder when some one is in front of you! You also learned new routes that you can go back and do on your own.
So much so that I felt much stronger on the bike that I started to cheat on my training schedule and mainly did big weekend group rides and solo recovery rides on the week days. On the other hand, my brother who was training alone in SF would do 7-8hr solo rides and was getting sick of it! When we met up for STP, I was shocked at his lack of common group riding skills, like keeping a line and not swerving unexpectedly. He almost caused me to crash twice! I have to admit though that STP was probably the most dangerous organized ride that I've ever done. Just the shear number of riders and those long long pace lines were scary.
In the end it was a good experience and great to be able to ride it with my brother.


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## choppedsled

danielc said:


> I totally know what you mean. I am that way too; focused on HR, cadence and all that, but I met a bunch of guys out riding one time and 6 years later we're still organizing group rides. It's not like we ride around and talk the whole time..no it's pretty hard riding most of the way. Plus when you ride with guys who are stronger/more experienced than you, you'll only get stronger while getting some pack riding skills too . It's also fun to charge up hills and try to drop your buddies! From my experience, you will always ride harder when some one is in front of you! You also learned new routes that you can go back and do on your own.
> So much so that I felt much stronger on the bike that I started to cheat on my training schedule and mainly did big weekend group rides and solo recovery rides on the week days. On the other hand, my brother who was training alone in SF would do 7-8hr solo rides and was getting sick of it! When we met up for STP, I was shocked at his lack of common group riding skills, like keeping a line and not swerving unexpectedly. He almost caused me to crash twice! I have to admit though that STP was probably the most dangerous organized ride that I've ever done. Just the shear number of riders and those long long pace lines were scary.
> In the end it was a good experience and great to be able to ride it with my brother.


It's great hearing your perspective on riding alone, and with a group. I'm sure at some point I'll meet up with some guys and start hanging together on the road. I haven't done any pace line riding, but I know the skills will come quick for me. I've raced motocross, karts, sailboats, and bmx. I have a total respect for speed and close quarters, coupled with the injuries that come with the risk. Yea, I've read a lot about the crowds at STP, and the potential for less than skilled riders causing accidents. I'll take it in stride though as I'm just glad so many people choose to get on a bike and give it a shot. I hope to start just behind the one day riders and ride long enough without stopping to get clear of the masses, if thats possible.

Cool you did the STP with your brother. At age 49 I'm the only active one out of my family, but then again I'm the one with all the injuries  

Ya doing STP this year?


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## danielc

choppedsled said:


> Ya doing STP this year?


You know, I haven't thought about it. It all depends on the shape I'm in this summer! A double century is a long way..for now I'm sticking with shorter harder rides..like the Tour de Blast and one day maybe I'll try RAMROD.


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## lonesomesteve

A year ago I was in pretty much the same place you are now. In February '08 a friend talked me into riding the STP with him. I was 47 at the time and although I had been commuting by bike 2 - 3 days a week, I hadn't done a ride of more than 20 miles in many years. I followed Cascade's recommended one day training schedule. I missed a few rides along the way due to being sick or family trips, but otherwise was pretty religious about my training. It seemed to work. I rolled into Portland about 5:45 Saturday. I can't say it was easy, but I think the training schedule prepared me pretty well.

I also did most of my training by myself which I actually really enjoy. Riding alone is sort of like meditation for me. It's a great opportunity to clear my mind and get more in touch with the world around me. However, it is also good to do at least one other big group ride like maybe the Flying Wheels to get a sense for what it's like to ride in those massive crowds. It sounds like you'll pick it up quickly with your other racing experience, but it's nice to know the signals and conventions before you get there.

Good luck and have a great STP.


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## rcnute

lonesomesteve said:


> A year ago I was in pretty much the same place you are now. In February '08 a friend talked me into riding the STP with him. I was 47 at the time and although I had been commuting by bike 2 - 3 days a week, I hadn't done a ride of more than 20 miles in many years. I followed Cascade's recommended one day training schedule. I missed a few rides along the way due to being sick or family trips, but otherwise was pretty religious about my training. It seemed to work. I rolled into Portland about 5:45 Saturday. I can't say it was easy, but I think the training schedule prepared me pretty well.
> 
> I also did most of my training by myself which I actually really enjoy. Riding alone is sort of like meditation for me. It's a great opportunity to clear my mind and get more in touch with the world around me. However, it is also good to do at least one other big group ride like maybe the Flying Wheels to get a sense for what it's like to ride in those massive crowds. It sounds like you'll pick it up quickly with your other racing experience, but it's nice to know the signals and conventions before you get there.
> 
> Good luck and have a great STP.


Holy cow, that's some fast time.


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## choppedsled

lonesomesteve said:


> A year ago I was in pretty much the same place you are now. In February '08 a friend talked me into riding the STP with him. I was 47 at the time and although I had been commuting by bike 2 - 3 days a week, I hadn't done a ride of more than 20 miles in many years. I followed Cascade's recommended one day training schedule. I missed a few rides along the way due to being sick or family trips, but otherwise was pretty religious about my training. It seemed to work. I rolled into Portland about 5:45 Saturday. I can't say it was easy, but I think the training schedule prepared me pretty well.
> 
> I also did most of my training by myself which I actually really enjoy. Riding alone is sort of like meditation for me. It's a great opportunity to clear my mind and get more in touch with the world around me. However, it is also good to do at least one other big group ride like maybe the Flying Wheels to get a sense for what it's like to ride in those massive crowds. It sounds like you'll pick it up quickly with your other racing experience, but it's nice to know the signals and conventions before you get there.
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck and have a great STP.



I like hearing positive stories like that, they keep me motivated. I doubt if I roll into Portland on Saturday it will be @ 5:45. That time is impressive! Did you do much pace line riding, or go solo much of the way?


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## lonesomesteve

rcnute said:


> Holy cow, that's some fast time.


You know, the funny thing is that I had never done a long ride before the STP, nor have I done one since, with an average speed anywhere near that fast. My average speed was a little over 19 mph (total rolling time was about 10:45). My typical average speed for a solo century is 16 - 17 mph. I guess the difference was riding with fast pace lines for the first half and a good tail wind for the second half. It also helps that the STP is also a lot flatter than my typical training ride.


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## lonesomesteve

choppedsled said:


> I like hearing positive stories like that, they keep me motivated. I doubt if I roll into Portland on Saturday it will be @ 5:45. That time is impressive! Did you do much pace line riding, or go solo much of the way?


Like I mentioned above, I was in fast pace lines for almost all of the first half. Generally we were moving 22 - 24 on the flats. The second half was all me and one friend and we shared pulling duties pretty equally.


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## kreger

heres my big question for people thinking 1 or 2 days for the stp. do you want to wake up and be sore with 50-100 miles left to ride; or do you want to wake up, be sore and know you dont have to ride and go to a brunch to close your calorie deficit you had yesterday?

its amazing what a big group can do. i did it once in one day (06), my first summer of real road riding. i was in a great group of 12 for the last 120 miles. i put out more effort in the first 80 than the 120. I arrived in portland fresh just shy of 6pm. 

read bills thread here
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=160191

and if you ever see him on a ride, dont piss him off =)


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## s2ktaxi

I lead some of the CTS/CATS training rides - it's a good training series that is set up to prepare riders for STP. We got snowed out last Sunday but have rides planned pretty much every weekend till STP. Based on your avg speed, you should be able to ride with the blue group and work up from there.


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## MisterAngular

I did my first and only STP in 2007 and we went 150 miles the first day, stopped in Kelso. I don't feel like I had enough training for it, to make it more fun rather than a "oh god, how am I going to make it" type of experience, so doing it in a day was out of the question. I'm registered for this year's STP but haven't decided on one day or two. Seems like if you're going to do it in a day, you need to be able to maintain a good clip, 17 MPH or better average, and have a group to ride with. If it's your first time riding the STP, and you're just getting into cycling (after years and years), I probably wouldn't recommend biting off the full 200+ miles in a single day. But it's a personal choice. Has a lot to do with determination and commitment, getting that seat time in, training, getting a few good century rides in under your belt in the next couple of months, etc.


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