General Cycling Discussion - Is it a "century"?

I just returned from the ride on the trail. I've cycled 9 laps, each lap - 11 km.

When I returned home the odometer showed 102 km.

Now I am thinking: Is 100 km a century, or only 100 miles can be called a century.

that's a metric century... kinda ilke a metric ton :-D ok not like a metric ton at all but still an accomplishment

I believe most people believe that a "century" is 100 miles, not KMs.

I've never heard someone refer to a metric century without using the adjective "metric".

A metric is a good distance for me. I can do more of them than centuries given the time I can devote to training. It's almost like a half-marathon is to a marathon: a more easily accomplished task but still a serious effort.

BTW, I'm training for a century in early November.

I've heard both 100 km and 100 mi referred to as "a century." The formers, as Andy points out, is usually qialified as a "metric" century, and among my crowd, the latter is usually referred to as a "standard" century, a 160 century or just a "160."

Considering the state of the Canadian dollar these days, I'm inclined to refer to a metric century as a Canadian century... :D

yup, its a metric century and is an acknowleged term.
but then that just my $.02 worth.
Alexey, congrats on marking this one up, keep
up the good work.

Marty

A Metric Century is 62.13 miles
A Standard Century is 100 miles or 160.93 Km

Both require serious seat time and effort.
Congrats on the Metric Century!!! :beer:

Jeez I am always impressed when people talk about centuries. I fall asleep at the wheel after around 40k. I have said this before but I think I represent the 'add' of cycling. I need technical and very complicated mountain biking in order the keep me interested.

How do you stay interested? Keep going? Motivated? for that long a ride. (I am not talking time because a 20k hard mtbike ride can take 3 or 4 hours) :) Just a curiosity I have always wondered about roading and xc guys.

Originally posted by Maelstrom
How do you stay interested? Keep going? Motivated? for that long a ride.

First, I am preparing for my next ultra-long tour next summer.

My previous 2 tours were 980 km (Austria, Germany) and 1500 km (USA, D.C.- Pittsburgh, PA, - D.C.)

Next summer I plan to cycle from Austria to Norway, via Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. I did not do the exact calculation, but it should be about 2000 km.

I ride on the GIANT ALULIGHT BOULDER hybrid, with 26 x 2.1 tires.

I tried to cycle the metric century on 29SEP, but failed, because after 50 km I bonked out.

So on 30SEP I took with me my very small kettle and propane-stove in the pannier. I also took couple of sandwiches. After 60 km I stopped and drank some tea.

Nevertheless after the 7th lap I was very near to surrender again. However a fellow cyclist gave me a good inspirational idea on that day: "Even if it is very difficult psychologically to reach such a difficult target, the reaching it will give a psychological preparedness to other difficulties in life."

Surprisingly the 8th and 9th laps were not difficult at all. I rode altogether 6 hours (including lunch break).

Generally, my longest distance for one day so far was 119 km. I rode it while on tour in the USA.

I plan to increase the average daily distance on the next tour to about 150 km. So I plan to cycle centuries on my days off as part of the training process.

How do you stay interested? Keep going? Motivated? for that long a ride.

I would say that most people that ride centuries are doing them with other cyclists. This make it a lot easier, especially toward the end when your body starts to hurt. The other cyclists give you motivation to keep riding.

Doing a century solo is a different story. Not only do you have no psychological support, there is no drafting to help and no food stations along the way.

Doing a solo century is the real test for a cyclist.

Even though I use metric, I'll say that a century is 161km/100miles otherwise it is only a metric century.

CHEERS.

Mark

Originally posted by Maelstrom
Just a curiosity I have always wondered about roading and xc guys.

I recently (last year) just crossed over to road after having ridden primarily XC since I was in my early teens (that's almost 20 years). And to answer your question: enjoy the scenery. Seriously, I keep from getting bored by looking around and enjoying the sights... stopping in some small towns and visiting curiosity spots. I don't ride to just turn the crank or twist the handlebar around some rocks and ruts. I ride to go places and see things. And yes you can do these things on a MTB too. You just need to find the right area. There are plenty of places in the country where towns are connected by bikable offroad trails and roads albiet they may be tough to find. I've done an offroad century on my MTB... it was tougher than on my RB and took me a lot longer but it was equally gratifying.

Originally posted by Maelstrom
How do you stay interested? Keep going? Motivated? for that long a ride.

Besides just watching what is going on around me I have always enjoyed paying attention to the "process". I used to be a regular runner, often doing 20+ miles, including one formal marathon. Both as a runner and now a cyclist I just enjoy longer rides, the longer the better, within my recognized capabilities at the time. I have never been able to understand those who listen to music while running or cycling. To me that distracts from the process.

Sunday I did 65. Not my first metric, but as only my third day back on the bike after almost 4 weeks off due to injury it was my biggest challenge. I would not normally push the envelope that much, but I am committed to the local MS 150 this coming weekend and felt I had to do a 60 plus Sunday to allow recovery time. I was never bored even though 50 miles were solo. I guess I am often thinking about position, pedal stroke, cadence, etc., trying to be more efficient, effective or comfortable.

I would suggest riding a road bike instead of a hybrid on long distance rides.

Road bikes are just more efficient. They are lighter. They have lighter wheels. And the handlebars allow a more aerodynamic position and give you more hand positions for less hand fatigue.

Now you probably would not want an aggressive racing machine. But a bike with a "relaxed geometry" for greater comfort would be good. I would also suggest triple chain rings for a wider gear selection and reasonably large tires - 25 mm for comfort and puncture resistance.

If you are riding on pavement, I think that a hybrid (shudder) is not the way to go. I mean, you can, but I think if you could make the switch you would be far happier on a road bike.

The time goes by so fast you wonder if you really rode that far. At least in a group.....Solo can be a painful experience.

On my long rides, I like to do navigation, look for wildlife and ancient or historical sites. You can learn to read the landscape to understand its geology, geography and human settlement.
I look for scenes to photograph, maybe not on that ride but at another time of day or year, and I try make sure I return to local sites to get the photo.

There are always bad stretches of busy monotonous road, with no nice scenery, but with careful navigation you can minimise them.

Having an efficient bike makes alot of difference. I make sure I use tyres of appropriate pattern, thickness and pressure for the road. Alexi, those 26x2.1" ones seem a bit wide and soft for road riding. Go down to 1.5" and you will fly.

I know that on a bike with larger than 26 wheels I will ride faster. However I consider my GIANT very suitable for me.

When I fly with the bike I can pack it very compactly. Secondly, wide tires allow me to cycle on any surface, to cross rails, etc.

I pump the pressure up to 3.5 Bar in the tires. We can not have more than 1 bike per 1 person, as we live in a relatively small apartment in the city.

That is how my bike looks on an ultra-long distance tour:

And that is how our 3 packed bikes looked like in the Dulles International Airport, Washington D.C., before the flight home:

Congrats. Yes, it is a metric century. In Germany, they don't use the term at all and I got some funny looks the first time I referred to "ein metrisches Jahrhundert." They thought I was talking about metric time (which the French Revolutionaries did have, by the way).

But, the Europeans (or the Germans at least) do use the term "Marathon." But, alas it means anything over 200 Km. So, you've done a half-marathon. I'll leave it to you to decide whether you think that sounds better than a metric century.

Cheers,
Jamie

P.S. for those metric speakers around, I have to point out that 160 km is not quite a 100 mile. Ya gotta do just a tad under 161 km.