I'm pretty new to the cycling world (at least road bike wise, I've been riding bmx for a little while now), and I'm looking into participating in the ms150 in September. I realize it's still a long ways off, and I've got a lot of training and conditioning to do, but I'm already starting to panic and think that perhaps doing a 150 mile ride over the course of two days on a single speed is a bad idea. I've currently got an '06 Langster, and I love it. I don't really have a desire to get rid of it, but I don't exactly have the money to seek out another road bike as well. I'm curious as to whether or not I should look at getting a multi-speed to complete this ride. I know this won't be the only ride I do like this, but I'm worried that I'm going to absolutely die on the hills. Any advice anyone has would be great, as right now I'm quite confused. I love the simplicity of my SS, but I'm afraid it's going to lead to the death of me in September. I'm already intimidated by the hills, and I have no idea how hilly the terrain will or won't be. Please help me out, thanks in advance everyone.

Welcome to the wonderful world of roadies.

(1) What's the particular route look like? I googled MS 150 and there are several tours.

(2) If you're really deadset on doing a 150 mile tour in September, and if there are any hills at all, and if you really don't have a lot of miles in your legs up to this point, you really should find a bike with gears. One hundred fifty miles is a long ways, even on gears and if you're fit. I've been riding a lot, for years, and a lot on a fixie in the hills, and this sounds intimidating to me. Considering that you're pretty new to the sport, I'd recommend doing it with gears and some supporting friends first.

(3) If you're deadset on riding it fixed, set up a training regime and give yourself an added year to build fitness and find your climbing legs and gearing.

(4) One last thing, hill are all a mental game. You simply pace yourself up them just like you pace yourself across any flat surface. Of course, fitness doesn't hurt.

Are you riding fixed or SS? Single speed is a lot easier since you can coast down the hills..


Which MS150 are you planning on doing? The terrain makes a big difference.

For what it's worth, you will see all types of cycists on an MS ride. There are people that will take 12 hours to ride 70-80 miles per day so even if you have a hard time, there will be others out there suffering with you.

Make the ride your reward. Even on a fixie, 80 miles isn't all that much and the excitement of the first day will carry you through the early part of the second day. After that, you're too far in to quit.

I saw Karen Smyers give a talk encouraging people to try centuries, marathons and triathlons. She made the point that the biggest barrier to completing these events is the fear that prevents people from starting. If you can ride 20 miles comfortably today, do a long ride each weekend. Every other weekend add 5 miles to your long ride. By September you'll have more than enough in your legs to do the ride and you can try back to back long rides 3 or 4 weeks before the event. Ride to places that interest you and learn to minimize your effort on the bike to comfortably complete your long ride. If you want to gain speed, ride fast on your short rides not on your long ones. Some days will be hard to get out there, but overall the challenge should make play more exciting, not add stress or make it feel like work.

It really depends on the terrain.
If it's not hilly there's no problem - I rode a metric a couple of weekends ago on my SS and loved it! Granted there was only 2000 ft of climbing.
This coming weekend I'll do my first SS century. To be honest, I think my SS is more comfortable than my geared bike so I ride it more often.
Of course if it's really hilly, then you'll want gears

Well, the route still isn't finalized. I'll be doing the ms150 based out of Topeka, KS. Everyone says, "KS is flat", but really, it's not all that flat. The first day will be 85 miles or so, and will head into the Flint Hills. The second day will take us from Topeka to Lawrence and back, which will be closer to a 70 mile route. The way I've been doing things now is I've got a 6 mile loop that circles the area around the town I live in. The 6 mile loop is extremely flat though. I've planned to add an extra lap every week, and will be trying to ride 3-4 times per week, weather permitting. Adding 6 miles every week would bring me to a point in September where I would be riding more than 100 miles every time I went out, the problem with that is the time to dedicate to riding that distance, so I'll be upping the frequency of my rides to more along the lines of 5-6 times a week. So I feel like it could be acheivable, but I do feel as though it's still more than a little intimidating. It will be SS as opposed to fixed; however, I'll probably do a fair amount of training fixed as well as SS.

here's a site that has some info on training for long rides
http://www.ultracycling.com/training/endurance_training.html

Piece of cake.

If you have all day to ride 70-80 miles really isn't much. Even at 10mph that is only 7 or 8 hours of riding. since MS rides usually have pretty good support so ride a little slower and stop a whole lot less than you would in training.

Since you already own a bike and enjoy riding it you are way ahead of most of the folks you will be riding with. Increase your riding a bit till then and you are going to be studlike compared to most MS riders.

Go for it.

I'm pretty new to the cycling world (at least road bike wise, I've been riding bmx for a little while now), and I'm looking into participating in the ms150 in September. I realize it's still a long ways off, and I've got a lot of training and conditioning to do, but I'm already starting to panic and think that perhaps doing a 150 mile ride over the course of two days on a single speed is a bad idea. I've currently got an '06 Langster, and I love it. I don't really have a desire to get rid of it, but I don't exactly have the money to seek out another road bike as well. I'm curious as to whether or not I should look at getting a multi-speed to complete this ride. I know this won't be the only ride I do like this, but I'm worried that I'm going to absolutely die on the hills. Any advice anyone has would be great, as right now I'm quite confused. I love the simplicity of my SS, but I'm afraid it's going to lead to the death of me in September. I'm already intimidated by the hills, and I have no idea how hilly the terrain will or won't be. Please help me out, thanks in advance everyone.

My wife and I were out on a 50 mile ride. I was on my 1973 Gitane Tour de France single speed and she was riding her Cannodale touring bike. There was a pretty good climb near the end of the ride. She dropped down into her granny gear. I stood up and pedaled at about 20 rpm and effortlessly made the climb. At the top of the hill she looked at me and said "It's not really much of a disadvantage for you to only have one gear, is it?" I had to confess that it really wasn't much of a disadvantge, and I was no stud for doing it.

If you train on your single speed (a freewheel makes riding much easier and more fun for me--I love to coat downhills) you will develop a efficient power range that will let you climb hills with ease and cruise at 25 mph (downhill or with a strong backwind for me). For training I do recommend that once a week or so you go find some hills to climb.

You can do 150 miles in 2 days, no problem. Find a comfortable setup with a seat that's all day comfortable. Start slowly. Take breaks even if you aren't tired. Stand up and pedal every once in awhile.

If you train on your single speed (a freewheel makes riding much easier and more fun for me--I love to coat downhills) you will develop a efficient power range that will let you climb hills with ease and cruise at 25 mph (downhill or with a strong backwind for me). For training I do recommend that once a week or so you go find some hills to climb.

You can do 150 miles in 2 days, no problem. Find a comfortable setup with a seat that's all day comfortable. Start slowly. Take breaks even if you aren't tired. Stand up and pedal every once in awhile.

excellent advice and also don't be afraid to walk the really steep bits. They can blow your legs up if youre like me and not a masher.