Ride to Conquer Cancer

[chasem]

So, I've just signed up for this bicycle ride, a charity ride for cancer, in late September. It's a weekend ride from Louisville to Lexington one day, then back the next, a total of 150-160 miles over two days.

There is a lady in my church right now having a hard time with cancer, and a good friend's grandfather has also struggled with cancer for much of his life. So, he and I are doing this for them, mainly.

All that being said, I haven't done a ride like this in... ever Anyone else trained for anything like this? I have six months and some change to get ready, so I figure start out riding about 2-3 times during the week, and then longer rides on the weekend, gradually building up mileage until I can take on 70+ mile rides. I figure I'd need to reach that goal at least by mid-august, so that I can do it without it being a major struggle. Fortunately, I'll be around Santa Fe, NM for much of the summer (at a higher altitude, about 7000 ft), so I figure it'll be good to train in that altitude with the less oxygen, all that.

Aside from that, I don't have much of a game plan for training... Any further advice there would be appreciated.