Originally Posted by
StephenH
Go ride a bunch. If there's 100 mile century rides in your area, ride some of them.
One bit of advice I got early on was to select the bike to make finishing the course as easy as possible. Leave it to people that are very accomplished cyclists to use oddball bikes that make it more challenging. If you do so many 200k's that they lack challenge, then go with the vintage bike or the fixed gear or whatever.
I know the local club will usually have some century rides they plan as the days get longer and the temperatures get warmer. I'll see what I can do to get hooked up on some of those rides, for sure.
As far as the bike to ride, I have a mid- to late-80's Alpine but it's not as comfortable as the Norman and is only marginally lighter. The Alpine offers a little more gear range, but is geared higher overall. For this particular ride, I thought it would be geared too high for the hills. I have an early-80's Mike Appel I keep promising to build that might work for some century rides. Another concern I have with both the Alpine and Appel are that with their more aggressive geometry, they might actually be more challenging to ride over longer distances. I know the Alpine feels downright twitchy compared to the Norman.
Thanks for the great advice.
