Getting a fat bike has derailed my winter goals a bit, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t come up with a new target. Just took a break from pursuing it, and didn’t mention it to anyone ;). As should be obvious from the title, I’m going to try to do a [virtual] century in four hours, or less.
This might seem like an impossible, or easy goal, depending on how you look at it. In a group, especially a large group, sub-4 is a very achievable target. But, that’s not the plan. I want to do it solo, without stopping.
I’ve already completed a couple solo virtual centuries around the 4:15 mark. One without any breaks, the second I did have to make a bathroom stop after three hours. So from a time-on-the-bike perspective, a bit more discipline with the water intake will sort that out. The bigger challenge is around pacing.
Pushing 2.7-2.8W/kg isn’t a challenging pace for me, but doing it for four hours definitely raises the bar. Having done it twice, it’s obviously a very achievable target though. Stepping that up to the 3.1-3.2+W/kg (guessing) that it would take to go from 23.5 to 25mph average will be much, much harder. But, that’s the point right? Pick something within the realm of possibility, but not easily achievable, and aim for it.
From a training plan perspective, I don’t think it will have a massive impact. Still need to do the FTP work, but will definitely need to step up the long duration base (the area I’ve been slacking). After-all, you can only ever rent your fitness. Neglect it, and it goes away pretty fast.