[Bluebeat007]

I'll be doing the Wilderness 101 as my first 100 miler. I live on Long Island and obviously I don't have 4 mile climbs to train on. Should I be training in a harder gear ratio then I would normally run or is it better to get my legs used to spinning in the gear I'll be using for the race?

 

[Window_shopper]

Since your training is serious I'l have to say I'm not a trainer and only a rookie trainee but an opinion can't hurt.You want to work on your body's ability to supply your muscles with oxygen(I guess we can't do much about your strength now).The more 'ease' your body takes on this supply per stroke the less it will fatigue.So you want to increase your body's max potential of supplying (think it's called maxVO2).The more you push your lungs/heart to the limits the more you urge them to become better and surpass those limits (resting is crucial here).For this reason I suggest working on a gear or two higher (judging from the acuteness of the uphills you're gonna do).And don't train too close to your maximum potential esp before the race.JMHO.Good luck.

 

[Window_shopper]

I took for given that you will run on flat.

 

[Ptor]

Should I be training in a harder gear ratio then I would normally run or is it better to get my legs used to spinning in the gear I'll be using for the race?

I recommend intervals on a road bike twice a week -- say, 2 minutes on/1 minute off, repeat 12 times (make it so the last one is hard enough so you feel like passing out/throwing-up/can barely roll back to the barn). Then ride your single speed as much as you can for fun to keep that bike "familiar". If you do that for a few weeks, you'll be able to handle pretty tough 4 mile climbs on a single speed. It's hard to replicate long climbs (if none are available) without a geared bike.

 

[sslos]

I second PeT's interval recommendation, which is also at the meat of Window_shopper's suggestion as well.
I'm training for the Shenandoah Mountain 100, and here in South Texas we don't have big climbs either. I do hill repeats on a local road (steep 1/2 mile up, gradual 3/4 mile down,) on my fixed gear. I also recommend core training, and general strength curcuit training. I do mine with this.

Los