General Cycling Discussion - How early will you century this season?

Assuming you slowed down this winter (further assuming it was winter in your hemisphere), when are you going to take your first century ride?

I would like to have one finished in 5 or 6 weeks from now, but weather/time/miles are all factors.

I've already done several centuries and 3 double centuries.

I have one on the radar for April 5th. My goal is to do 10 centurys this year :)

How do you pull off double centuries?? I've pedaled lots of 30 mile days, many 40 mile, a few 50, but 200??? I couldn't imagine hitting the 100 mark and saying, "alright, I'm halfway there"
:)
Doug

Doug, I have a 200+ mile ride coming up in Sept, the 10 centurys is training... :)

well, i did my first real tour of the year yesterday and i rode 114km, so a metric century. (although no major hills as the mountains are still snow-covered, so only 500m vertical)

as to an actual century... i have no real plans for one as i like to ride vertical instead of miles, so i rarely ride more than 120km per day - last year i rode only 10,000km, but with 65,000m of vertical climbing (215,000 vertical feet of climbing) --- a hard ride for me is 3000m vertical and 120km!

my first major ride will probably be the end of this month as i am hoping to make a trip to the mountains in northern Italy.

I just completed Wheels O' Fire (http://www.harriscountychamber.org/CycleTour/index.htm) I did 103 miles because I left my glasses at one of the rest stops and had to back track one mile. This was a well put together ride that was very well sagged. :)

I accomplished my first century several years back. Now the next century could be this century, but most likely around June. :beer:

Hey there Iowa, I've got Tosrv as my first century this year, as it normally is each year, so God willing, I'll have that done the evening of May the 10th.


Benjamin

I am putting my first one to bed April 5th. I hope it goes well. I just did a big climb (4 or so miles at ~ 7 % grade). It was a 50 mile ride total (with other rolling hills) and I was beat. I hope it was just a bad day. :O

I have done 1 every 2 weeks so far this year, it's been cold, wet and sometimes painful but I've enjoyed every one of them. Last Saturday was my first nice day on the bike, 42 degrees F and sunny in mass. 107 miles in 7 hours and 3 minutes on the commuter pushing Nokian studded tire. oh baby
Just ride the bike.

The first weekend in May. Tour de Lake around Clarks Hill Lake, Georgia. :beer:

I will likely ride the tour de Phoenix on April 12 and may ride to and from it which would likely bring it up to 100 miles. I'll have to see how I am feeling at that point! :)

Never.I can't do one in a week of riding.

My first official will be the Assault on Mt Mitchell in May. My buddies and I will get several under our belt as we train for that ride, probably by the middle of April.

March 16, Dublin, Ga. will be the first for this season (hopefully).

My first century of the year (and first century ever) will be April 12 The first day of the Houston - Austin MS 150. To date my longest ride is 85 miles.

:beer:

Joe, is the ride in September you're planning on doing the race from Logan, UT to Jackson Hole? I was thinking about doing it but 200 miles is a LONG way. I've ridden quite a bit but have never done a century. I plan on doing my first century this year.
-Steve

Steve, Thats the ride, the "LOTOJA". This will be my first year for this ride, my goal is 10hrs :)

Geez.......i go 40 miles when i ride street and i feel like i just circled the globe !:lol:
Are you guys who do the 200 milers saying you do this all in one shot w/o stopping?:eek:

I dont know about danka, but i plan on taking a few breaks... 10hrs riding time, 11hrs start to stop.

Keep riding dazco & shokhead.. You'll get there! I just hope I come through with flying colors. Or at least finish with sore legs :P

.
01/09/2003 MALF Century NC Sandhills 105.6 miles, 6:32
02/01/2003 Solo Century Eastern NC 100.3 miles, 6:10
03/01/2003 Solo Century Eastern NC 100.4 miles, 6:15


And then there was the day in Feb. when I blew out my rear tire on mile 91...

Next attempt is March 23 in Dublin, GA, my first suported ride of the year.

Peace,
Lou

May 3rd and then another one on May 24th. I want to get two in before summer break but I may have to cancel the one I have planned for the 24th as I may be busy. I want to do atleast 5 centuries this summer but I still have a lot of training to do. I have a 45 miler planned for tomorrow, another 45 on thursday and a 50 on saturday. I hope the weather is nice and I hope the wind isn't too bad. Is it me or is the wind ten times worse in the winter?

did a 184 mile ride 2nd week of january and froze my b.. err hands...:D have done two more since... darn signed onto prolog too late for 2 of them...lol

Already had my first at Death Valley. Like to do 3-4 this season. No big deal to do lots ; because I do 70 milers almost once a week..Many weeks I get in a minimum of 200 miles

Did a 230km ride in January on a balmy day and right at the height of the drought. I had to refill my water bottles by actually buying bottled water it was so dry (that gets expensive when you drink as much water as I do). Had to can the February century because of illness :mad: . Got in 188km on Sunday, and planning another big one before the end of this month.

I stop every 50 miles or so for 3 or 4 minutes to take care of business, that's about it.

jucilici you can always backdate entries into prolog. Get them in there! Use the Journal aspect, and go back and find your date.

I just did this my first of the year on Saturday along with about 2,000 others at the Solvang Century just north of Santa Barbara. Temp was about 70 to 75, didn't use enough sunscreen and got my first burn of the year also. 4,000ft climb, we kept a moderate pace and crused in at just over 6 hours. Monady did 50 miles on the mtb 4,800ft climb, 5.5 hrs. finished off the rest of the sunburn, tep was stillin the mid to upper 70's. Gotta ride now before it gets too hot this summer, besides the wildflowers are just comming out.

thank you sailguy.... i joined bprolog just for fubars challenge.. on the 10th of feb.. normally i don't care how far i ride... :) sometimes i do check just how fast i went on a ride but i just love being on my bike... and seeing where it takes me............ :D

Just completed my first century (ever) this past Saturday at the Solvang Century. 103.2 miles in 6:40. My furthest previous distance was 55 miles.

Congrats Kings!!! Do you know what the total climb of the ride was?

Unless I race this weekend, I will be doing a century..I may do a century instead of racing in the interest of miles..:p

You do have a long row to hoe.

kings.. How was the Solvang Century. I have toured through this area. Some pretty steep grades coming into Solvang from Santa Marie. Were the climbs challenging? I have wanted to do the Solvang Century.

Since I am new to this I will forward what I was told. Other riders said that we had 3500+ feet of vertical gain. The Bicycle Ride Directors Assoc chart shows the ride to be difficult which means 60-80+ miles and 2000-4000 feet vertical gain. The biggest or toughest climbs were in the second half of the 100 miles. I think some of these climbs are challenging by themselves but we had already ridden 60+ miles. I hope this helps.

I hope to have one in before June. Got (4) 50 mile days in row next month in Louisiana. That should prime me up enough as I need to get past that marker.

Typically I ride a hybrid on rail-trails so 70 miles are pretty tough let alone an additional 30.