Where to start? At the bottom, of course
by Matt
Looking at a 170 mile loop, some riders think, “I’ve got to be able to ride…what? 40 miles a day. I’ve never done that in my life!”
And you won’t do it now, either, if your idea of training is to engage in a single 40-mile ride.
Oddly enough (I love that little clause!), the overall goal for this kind of riding doesn’t start with training your legs. It starts with training your bottom.
Yes, the buttocks, the seat-you-came-in-on … that’s the place to start. You need to acclimate yourself to sitting on your bicycle for long periods of time.
Delicate [t]issues
Legs can be conditioned relatively quickly — even the most dedicated “couch potato” still has to get from place to place (and the three-minute dash between classes in which most of you engage eight times a day helps, too!).
The butt is another matter. The human body is optimized for getting around on its own, and for resting on its haunches when it doesn’t have to do the transport work. Using both to locomote isn’t exactly natural to us.
I’ll talk in another article about the right saddle, but for now let’s just say that the wrong saddle can put pressure on all the wrong places. More importantly, even the best saddle in the world takes time to get used to.
My suggestion is that, once your bicycle is properly adjusted, you find a stretch of road near your home with known distances. Try a three-mile ride, then a six-mile ride, and work your way up to ten miles. Do that three times a week until you’re comfortable in the saddle.
Then work your way up to twenty.
Don’t overdo it at first, and don’t slack off, either. If you’re not a regular rider now, those first couple of rides will result in sore tissues.
It’s the repeated rides that will help you acclimate to long rides in the saddle, avoid soreness, and build your comfort level to a point where you’ll enjoy the journey.
How firm a foundation… 
