The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling: Build the Strength, Skills, and Confidence to Ride as Far as You Want

by Edmund R. Burke, Ed Pavelka, Ben Hewitt

Ride Strong, Ride Long ... Whether Your Goal Is 30 Miles or 3,000

From Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D., and Ed Pavelka - two of the country's top cycling experts - comes the most comprehensive guide ever to achieving the strength, skills, and strategies you need for long-distance riding. Whether you're training for day rides, centuries, or cross-country trips, The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling helps you choose the right equipment, train step-by-step, and map out your riding strategy so that you can go the distance.

Discover how
* Make the most of every hour on your bike
* Build your mileage base efficiently
* Customize your training to suit your personality and physical capabilities
* Build extra training time into your hectic schedule
* Avoid injuries and the dangers of overtraining
* Achieve the mental edge you need to ride farther and faster
* Train for both road and off-road touring
* Choose cycling gear that goes and goes
* Eat for the long haul-- nutrition before, during, and after your rides

To help you achieve your riding goals, The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling gives you complete, step-by-step training programs for riding a half-century, century, double century, and beyond. You'll also find strategies and techniques for special situations, such as riding in bed weather and riding at night. Published by the world's leading authority on bicycling, this informative guide is a must-have for all cycling enthusiasts.

Genres: Cycling, Sports, Nonfiction, Fitness, Health, Bicycles, Reference

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2000

Reviews

[John Brentlinger]

Some decent training tips, somewhat out of date (like referencing Lance Armstrong as the pinnacle of cycling, oof), but still worthwhile when thinking of 100+ mi rides

[Ryan]

This book is very good for a person who is interested in getting a bit more "scientific" about their workout strategy, nutrition, and bike posture. And when you think about it, if you're planning on doing a lot of biking and really want to see improvement you probably should be focusing on all these things. Additionally, the book has its primary focus on "building up to that big event that you've been planning for" as opposed simply increasing your fitness in general or building up for a multiple week/month tour (of course much of the knowledge goes hand in hand but this book has a focus on single day and multiple day rides where one is never off the bike for more than a few minutes).

On the whole I learned a lot from the book and would recommend it to anyone who is serious about getting better at bicycling. At the same time, I would have liked to have seen a few alternatives approaches where one doesn't have to constantly measure his heart-rate and then analyze the data to determine future workouts. Additionally on the nutrition front many of us won't be able to or won't want to be calculating things like the percentage of our diet from carbohydrate, protein etc. Instead we might want a more generalized outline of what foods to eat when and a few meal suggestions. While there is some of this in the book it's not as much as I would like (although a very helpful and realistic section mentions things that you can get at a convenience store when you're out on a long ride).

[Marcus Goncalves]

This is an excellent resource for any cyclist wanting to go long, for endurance or ultra-endurance rides. The only drawback (not the authors' fault) is the outdated cycling nutrition and biometrics technology referenced, as this book is pretty old (2000). But all the experience and wisdom that is shared was worthwhile even 25 years later.

[Jacob]

This book was good for reference, I think I was looking for something ✨inspirational✨ so I could get off my ass and this wasn’t it but that’s cool ya know

[Craig Cunningham]

An oldie, but a goodie.

[Brian Batchelor]

LOTS of helpful information. It reinforced many lessons that I have learned through experience and provided some suggestions that I had not considered yet.

[Ben De Bono]

This was a really helpful book, especially for someone who, like me, is new to the sport. The authors cover the gamut of cycling topics - training plans, equipment, nutrition, winter riding. That and more is all here. There are several parts that, while not immediately applicable (such as training in winter), I was grateful the book covered as I now know where to go to find good information on those topics when I need to.

The one major complaint I have is the chapter on stretching and maintaining comfort while riding. As nearly any long distance rider knows, comfort more than fitness is what prevents you from being able to sustain a high speed or go a longer distance. The authors describe several stretches - including several to do on the bike - but only a small handful include diagrams. That made one of the essential chapters in the book considerably less helpful.

That complaint aside, I highly recommend this to any and all cyclists looking to learn more about their sport

[Josh]

There is a lot of good information on things like nutrition and body maintenance. However, the authors are very quick to suggest solutions that require buying products advertised in their magazine, so take the product recommendations with a grain of salt. You don't need to spend tons of money on special food and drink and special equipment in order to be a successful long distance cyclist. A little bit of ingenuity and knowledge is far better than a bunch of chemical laden garbage in your stomach and a lot of electronic (i.e. expensive, breakable, non-sustainable) gadgets on your bike. It was an interesting read and I did learn some things, but I'm glad I got it used and didn't pay list price.

[Jordan McPeek]

Good reference book for all aspects of longer rides. As one who's interested in attempting longer rides as opposed to one with that experience, it opened my eyes to various problems that might come up. If I wasn't already committed to pushing my endurance, chapter after chapter of problems one might come across could've frightened me off the idea. Still, I'd rather be aware of the possibilities and dangers now rather than through painful hindsight. I don't plan on doing the extreme rides often referenced (eg. race across America) so I doubt I'll feel many of these ailments but it's still good to know about. And just hearing many of the tales cyclists have gone through is itself a bit inspiring. It's a keeper I'll be dipping into again and again.

[Benjamin Plume]

There's a lot of useful information here, and it's relatively well-written. This isn't for beginners, though... the exercise concepts and regimens suggested require a significant outlay of cash and commitment to calorie and carb counting. That isn't to say it's a bad strategy - it sounds extremely effective. It's just a little beyond what casual cyclists are looking for, and the book doesn't really offer a less hardcore alternative.

[Jillian]

Solid training book that covers physical and mental preparation, health issues, nutrition, and more. Even if you don't want to get up to a double century or beyond (I'm certainly content with centuries) you can read that chapter for the insane stories of cyclists hallucinating and taping pillows to their uncomfortable saddles.

[Erik]

A great guide to cycling. While this book is not as comprehensive as Joe Friel's Cycling Bible, it is a very complete book, and will take you to your first century. It is a great read for the avid cyclist or the triathlete looking to increase his or her cycling endurance.

[Risa]

For anyone who who even consider doing an AIDS or MS ride, this is the book that allowed to ride 545 miles in 7 days without any problems. Except for the painful a**. One can't train for that, it's just an added bonus.

[Ross]

A more general overview of the topic without the specific training programs outlined in the other books.

[John]

I need to get back on the bike. I long for the day when I can eat whatever I want after a 60 miler.

[Franziska Gonzalez]

Very informative.

[Ted]

This book made me tired by just reading it. However, it has some good tips on building endurance and how to avoid getting a sore ass from being on a bike so much.

[Mike]

Great information and resource for the long distance rider

[Dawn]

A great resource for those looking to ride 50, 75, 100 miles and longer.

[Shea]

I saw this described as a sort of Couch to 5K program for cyclists but it's really for people who are already experienced and want to ride centuries and beyond.

[Amy]

Really informative - I have a lot of work to do!!

[Larry Staton jr.]

An excellent primer to long distance cycling.