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Reply to Tips for Training for Katy Trail?

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Anonymous from Austin on 5/19/2014 6:41:09 PM:

Hi all. I just signed up for the Katy group ride in June (one month from now) and am so excited. I haven't ridden much in the last year and am green enough that a 16 mile ride to day pooped me out and made my butt sore.

I talked to some folks at the local bike shop and they said that I would be fine as long as I trained almost every day from now until the ride.

Has anyone on this forum had the experience from going from a slow 12 MPH rider to completing the trail in 5 days? Can you provide any tips on training in the next month to get me up to speed?

Thank you for your time!

Don from Ellisville, MO on 5/19/2014 9:38:34 PM:

If you're riding 12MPH average for 16 miles on flat roads, you will have no trouble getting ready for the Katy. It rides a little slower because of the crushed limestone, but it is very flat. The most important thing is time in the saddle. At 12MPH, your 16-mile ride would take 1 hour and 20 minutes. On the Katy you might average 10MPH, so you will need to work up to 5-6 hours a day on your seat.

kevin from Jeff City on 5/20/2014 12:20:12 PM:

The best thing you can do is just ride as long and as far as you can. Don't worry about speed, worry about endurance.
The KATY is flat, so you will be pedalling the entire way. No coasting! As long as you are ready for that, you'll be fine. Try commuting to work or taking evening rides, with some longer rides on the weekends. If you can do some back-to-back 30 mile days, you'll be fine for the KATY.

ben from colorado on 5/20/2014 12:29:19 PM:

But- you also need to rest some. You don't want to get to your ride exhausted and blisters on your butt.

Jim from St Thomas on 5/20/2014 4:14:07 PM:

If you did 12 mph for 16 miles for your first ride you deserve to be pooped. Seat time is the most important thing. You can stop anytime you get tired during the ride and your legs etc. will recover. Unfortunately your butt keeps track of every minute you're in the saddle and it knows if you haven't put in the pre-ride time.

ArkyKenny on 5/20/2014 7:23:48 PM:

Once upon a time, when I first started doing longer rides, I was told that a person can ride about 3x as far as they train if they go a little slower than than they train, drink before they are thirsty, and eat before they are hungry. I have found those words of advice to be right on the money. If you can ride 20 miles, eat, and drink, I'd bet you are good to go.

Doug from Bluffton on 5/20/2014 7:32:11 PM:

As Jim and others have said, you need saddle time. Butt pain not muscle, is what stops most people. Try at least once a mile to stand up for a peddle stroke or two. It takes the pressure off your sit bones and gives the blood a chance to circulate.

Pseudio on 5/21/2014 10:18:23 PM:

Arky, I believe that is what Forrest said when he was runin?

ArkyKenny on 5/22/2014 9:08:31 AM:

Pseudio, I'd like another Dr. Pepper.....a chocolate..... Have a Nice Day. Boiled shrimp for dinner please.

Anonymous from Austin on 5/24/2014 7:39:17 AM:

Thank you all for the advice and encouragement! I feel much better about it now. I keep thinking that it might be a good idea to get a Brooks saddle and see if I can break it in in time. Some sites say that if you soak them, 200 miles will break them in. That may elevate the butt pain:)

ArkyKenny on 5/24/2014 4:22:57 PM:

I have 3 brooks b17 aged saddles. They are the same as the standard (I have one of those too, but I took a really long time to break in) but they come with raw softer leather. I like them a lot. About $100 on eBay. I broke mine in by wetting the tail section with water, then pounding the part where my sit bones come I contact with the seat with a rubber mallett to make a dimple. Got it wet again, then rode about 15 miles. After I rode it a few times, I sealed it with leather dye (not polish). Realize that a brooks is not a pad, it is a perch, or a hammock to sit on. Don't make it too taught with the nose nut, and repeatedly adjust the tilt of the saddle until it feels right (mine are all very close to level). Keep it dry, treat it with a leather coniditioner a couple times a year, and enjoy. I doubt I'll ever use anything else.

Jim from St Thomas on 5/24/2014 7:55:05 PM:

I rode Clinton to St Charles a couple of weeks ago on a Walmart Bell seat with a total of 10.6 training miles. Is that a glowing endorsement of cheap seats from Walmart? No, but it might be anecdotal evidence that you really don't need to have expensive equipment to ride the Katy.

Pseudio on 5/25/2014 5:43:39 AM:

Austin, here's a good bit of advice.. don't spend too much time at the bars during the ride or the sweepers will give you trouble.

Darrell from Jeff City, Mo. on 5/26/2014 6:38:46 AM:

'but it might be anecdotal evidence that you really don't need to have expensive equipment to ride the Katy.'

Right on to that, Jim. But I'm wondering if your success with the seat on your tour of the Katy may have had more to do with a conditioned posterior than the saddle it was on. I mean that is a long ride, congrats by the way, but if you had not already made the investment in saddle time it would have been pretty rough on any saddle at any price.

I don't ride as much as I use to, but a couple of years ago I could ride all day on the Katy if I wanted to, or most of the day for several continuous days. I was in reasonably good condition for riding. Here's my point with that, I could do that on my touring bike, saddle is a Brooks Flyer, but at the same time with my most comfortable saddle, a Cloud Nine that is on my hybrid 3.5 or 4 hours and I was done. I know from past experience, if I rode today it wouldn't matter what saddle or bike was used, my butt would be spent in 2.5 or 3 hours. Could spread it out over several more hours with beer breaks and fits of walking, but the max would probably be about 30 miles.

Jim from St Thomas on 5/26/2014 5:00:02 PM:

Sadly Darrel I wouldn't call my ride a success butt-wise. I did have only 10 miles in the saddle before the ride and I was a sore puppy the first two days. But I would have been in the same shape with a $100.00 saddle. I'm not knocking good equipment......it almost always pays to buy good stuff......but like you implied a high dollar saddle isn't going to make up for seat time.

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