Great Lakes - June 3--Udder Century--Union, IL

Just watch another channel or go to another weather service, most say a chance of showers but not definite, I remember one of the rides we did last year we could see the rain and ended up riding in a big loop around it. We never got wet. That being said, if I wake up at 5:00 am and it is wet, I am going back to bed.

Kenal0
That was the Metro Metric last year out of Hampshire. Interesting note...that ride made it into this month's Bicycling Magazine.

I saw that, I believe it was described as a mostly flat ride with home baked goodies.
Kenal0

I'm registered and not thrilled about the weather forecast! I am in for the 100. I've done 1 official century so far this yeat (Joliet). That was not pleasant. The wind was so bad that a port a potty blew over. I wish I were kidding. There were 200 pound guys having trouble keeping their bikes upright when we got crosswinds. I was glad to finish that one. (I, by the way, am not a 200 pound guy -- I'm a girl, like Crystal) :)

I've done 1 official century so far this yeat (Joliet). That was not pleasant. The wind was so bad that a port a potty blew over. I wish I were kidding. There were 200 pound guys having trouble keeping their bikes upright when we got crosswinds. I was glad to finish that one.
Several of us suffered through that one, too. Read all about it here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=295325).

:o

The only reason I kept going was I figured what the hell. It had to get better. Unfortunately, that didn't happen until mile 75, and then "better" was very relative. Everyone at the finish agreed it was their slowest century ever. Speaking of which, I saw a range of paces mentioned for the 7 a.m. meetup Sunday. What is the general group pace? My Sunday group ride averages around 18, but 20 plus I'm not up for. Susan

^^^^ depending on the conditions and from past BFNIC group rides of 70 or more miles the pace will be around 17mph when all is said and done.

it was 17 for our first outing, the BFNIC Spring Classic, and 16 at the Windy, i mean Sudden.

later.

The only reason I kept going was I figured what the hell. It had to get better. Unfortunately, that didn't happen until mile 75, and then "better" was very relative. Everyone at the finish agreed it was their slowest century ever. Speaking of which, I saw a range of paces mentioned for the 7 a.m. meetup Sunday. What is the general group pace? My Sunday group ride averages around 18, but 20 plus I'm not up for. Susan
Our averages are more like 15-18ish. That of course means that we spend a lot of time in the 20 neighborhood, but a lot of time in the 13 neighborhood when the wind comes straight on.

There will be a lot of people that will ride at a lot of different paces. A lot of riders that will come on Sunday have not ridden with us before so it will be a learning experience for us all. With that in mind we usually "try" to take it easy for everyone at the very beginning. Usually after 40-50 miles or so the main group starts to split into a few groups that ends up regrouping at each rest stop.

Not always the same people in each group - more based on how everyone feels. General rule is that we try not to let anyone get completely dropped unless they just want us to let them go (even then I've stuck with some people who have told me to go on...lots of times). Also we physically can't hold anyone back from going their own way.

When there are a lot of new riders the pace seems to be very high early on. Usually comes from newer riders racing to the front to take a pull "while they still can" so that no one comes back and posts that so-and-so was a wheel-sucker. As the more experienced of you guys know that leads to frequent accelerations off the front and usually fragments the group.

Now that I've laid it out there maybe we can avoid some of that this time. :rolleyes: As I said though most of this goes away in the first 20-30 miles. After that people tend to work a little better together.

SO....basically if your fine with 18 you'll fit in just fine, and probably one of the ones egging on some of the guys at the front. For those of you thinking, "I only ride around 14-15 in this area," come along. You'll be amazed at how much faster you roll in a group.

If you don't like the main group's speed there will be others at a slower pace. We don't use these rides as record setting attempts, just good old fashioned social centuries.

Sounds reasonable. I have found if a critical mass is present it often works to split up earlier rather than later if the road conditions are narrow. A combination of too many people and lots of "newbies" can mean wrecks :(! I will definitely be leaving by 7 (had planned on 6:30) but I may try to meet up with you. I love to meet new people to ride with. Part of the fun of cycling is the community.

As for the people who race the first 20 miles, that would be very comparable to marathons (my love before 5 stress fractures turned me into a cyclist 3 years ago!). It is very hard to hold back at the beginning, but I was always amused by people running the first miles in 6:30s only to finish in 4:30!

Hope we don't get the rain.

Susan

I have yet to finish anything over 50 miles with this group and average over 17 actual riding time. It is ALWAYS in the 16's. I have also never finished alone either. So if you even ride with a group regularly, you are way ahead of some of us that ride solo dodging potholes up and down Sheridan road all summer plodding along at 16-17mph.
If it rains I will average ZERO!!!!
Kenal0

Usually not enough riders for "critical mass". Most we have had is probably something between 10-15, and is usually more like 5-10. Can't get in too much trouble with those sizes.

I have yet to finish anything over 50 miles with this group and average over 17 actual riding time. It is ALWAYS in the 16's. I have also never finished alone either. So if you even ride with a group regularly, you are way ahead of some of us that ride solo dodging potholes up and down Sheridan road all summer plodding along at 16-17mph.
If it rains I will average ZERO!!!!
Kenal0

:rolleyes:

North Shore 9/17/06 = 17.0 mph 106.8 miles
BFNIC Century 9/28/06 = 17.6 mph 106.27 miles
BFNIC Spring Classic 4/21/07 = 17.1 mph 69.36 miles

i'm not sayin, i'm just sayin. later.

:rolleyes:

North Shore 9/17/06 = 17.0 mph 106.8 miles
BFNIC Century 9/28/06 = 17.6 mph 106.27 miles
BFNIC Spring Classic 4/21/07 = 17.1 mph 69.36 miles

i'm not sayin, i'm just sayin. later.
Kenal0 didn't finish the North Shore with you speed demons.
He wasn't at the BFNIC.
He was only on one leg of the Spring ride.

Just sayin', indeed!

:p

^^^^ just some numbers from someone who was there. that is all. ;) later.

I don't know these guys.



BTW - got word from Nana...Ride is on.

FYI - Inputflangeman just stopped by my office to tell me he is now seriously considering the ride.

With that in mind we usually "try" to take it easy for everyone at the very beginning.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Just so everyone is on the same page here (and iab doesn't have an unfair advantage over the rest of us), everyone's expected to sprint for city limit signs. Hopefully I'll find where my new mysterious creak is coming from before the ride. I actually wouldn't mind a little rain. I'm a heat wussy.

FYI - Inputflangeman just stopped by my office to tell me he is now seriously considering the ride.

if he has a ironman tri planned for saturday, then maybe we have a chance. well, not all of us, but signal11 would! seriously, will the 100 miles be like a recovery ride at, oh, 20 mph pace for him?. :D

good news on the nana front.

later.

I just realized this is on for Sunday and not Saturday. If I can clear it with the wife :rolleyes: I'll be up for this one.

shider, aham23, signal11, inputflangeguy. :eek:

thank goodness i'll be hanging back at the beginning. you guys have fun!

Besides coming to meet you all which I'm very excited about :) , I am looking forward to learning how to ride in a paceline. I've ridden for a couple of years and have hooked on to pace lines but never really knew exactly what all the rules are except...go to the front when it's your turn and try to maintain the same pace that the group has been riding.

Since I do lots of ultras in running (50k to 50 mile distances) I know how deadly it is to go out too fast. You will NOT see me make that mistake. :D So, cyclingtarheel, I'll definitely be around for you to ride with. :)

I usually average about 17 mph on my own. Not sure what that means I could ride in a pace line. I hate boring, flat rides which this one is. I love hills and that's where I'm strongest. So maybe being with a group will actually help me enjoy this ride.

Crystal

ps...I'm sure my lack of experience is making some of you go....OMG, this is gonna be interesting :eek:

Shider will blow this wide open. We will now have to officially have two groups. Human...and non-human...;)

Crystal, you have nothing to worry about. I've only ridden a few rides with these guys but I have yet to see anything resembling a paceline for more than about 5 minutes. It usually ends up a long line with someone (like aham23) pulling for several miles. This time might be different though. If there are enough of us with similar speeds and endurance a true pace line can really up the average speed. It's a lot of fun when it works. Luckily, it's a lot of fun when we're just riding together with no formation whatsoever too!

Kenal0 didn't finish the North Shore with you speed demons.
He wasn't at the BFNIC.
He was only on one leg of the Spring ride.

Just sayin', indeed!

:p

Very nice Cylowe, I couldn't have remembered myself or said it better! I did hit the 17 mph mark in the Spring Classic but that was because I only did the 34 mile 2nd loop so my original 16-17 average still stands. And I might qualify that I am only out in front if everyone else gets stopped at a light or intersection and I am able to blow through it without stopping. I then ride out in front until traffice clears and everyone catches up :). What can I say? I am slooowwww!!!!
Luckily the people in this group are nice enough to let me hang on.


Kenal0

Besides coming to meet you all which I'm very excited about :) , I am looking forward to learning how to ride in a paceline. I've ridden for a couple of years and have hooked on to pace lines but never really knew exactly what all the rules are except...go to the front when it's your turn and try to maintain the same pace that the group has been riding.

Since I do lots of ultras in running (50k to 50 mile distances) I know how deadly it is to go out too fast. You will NOT see me make that mistake. :D So, cyclingtarheel, I'll definitely be around for you to ride with. :)

I usually average about 17 mph on my own. Not sure what that means I could ride in a pace line. I hate boring, flat rides which this one is. I love hills and that's where I'm strongest. So maybe being with a group will actually help me enjoy this ride.

Crystal

ps...I'm sure my lack of experience is making some of you go....OMG, this is gonna be interesting :eek:
Not at all. You have more experince than most. As for formal pacelining...that is something that this group tends not to do. We do draft, and take turns pulling, but there is not a full rotation, etc. We do have a bad habit of not just pulling off on the inbound wind side and just letting the second rider just maintain and pull through.

People tend to jump out of line and accelerate into the front in order to take a pull. I'd be happy if we could get that to stop.

That being said I have noticed a marked improvement during the first few rides this year. At least now we're talking, and second rider has been telling the lead to pull off instead of just letting them pull for 30 minutes.

In other words you can sit on for 100 miles for almost free if you want. ;) - especially with Shider, Signal11, aham23, and Inputflangeman.

...oh and just to prove I do actually pull sometimes....
I quote from the following thread:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=229226

24649
^^^^Psimet and Aham23 out in front. This was pretty accurate for a good portion of the day

...oh and just to prove I do actually pull sometimes....


Psimet has two styles of pulling that I've seen.
1.) An excellent ride leader, setting a nice even pace that the entire group can enjoy.
2.) Dropping himself. That is pulling so hard that once he swings off he can't keep up with whats left of group he just shattered.

People tend to jump out of line and accelerate into the front in order to take a pull. I'd be happy if we could get that to stop.

And then there's those who take a pull for minutes on end into a crazy headwind, but refuse to peel off to rotate back, thus leading to someone bombing to the front to take the point....

Yeah, we're a regular Team Time Trial disaster! :D

I checked my Garmin for last years Northshore Century and I see that I averaged 18.8 mph over 125 miles.
16.5mph for the first 104 miles and 41 mph for the last 21 mile drive home. I guess I left the unit on in my car.
Kenal0

Paceline -- you can either count pedal strokes (your pull is X amount of cranks) or, pull by time (15, 20 . . . seconds). Everyone gets a chance then to take a pull and nobody stays out front too long. If someone on their pull "rockets" off the front, the second place person should let them go and keep the pace set by the group. I hope we all have computers, glance down at the pace before its your turn and maintain it. If you can't keep the pace up, simply pull off. If you'd like to speed things up -- do it gradually, or you splinter the group.

Another paceline technique is to just keep rotating, with one leg being the "drive" side and the other the rest. Which is fun with big groups :D !

Relax, it will be fun!

And then there's those who take a pull for minutes on end into a crazy headwind, but refuse to peel off to rotate back, thus leading to someone bombing to the front to take the point....

Yeah, we're a regular Team Time Trial disaster! :D

i missed the part where everyone was just begging and jumping to get up front into that crazy headwind. of course, when you are in front you do miss those things. wait, was your statement hypothetical? :D

seriously, we ride, we pull, Psi and Cy tell us what to do and when to do it, and we have a great time. its relaxed. dont let the internet sarcasim fool you.

later.

Hopefully my new jersey shows up tomorrow, I am hoping it helps me gain a little speed. It looks like it should.
Kenal0

Psimet has two styles of pulling that I've seen.
1.) An excellent ride leader, setting a nice even pace that the entire group can enjoy.
2.) Dropping himself. That is pulling so hard that once he swings off he can't keep up with whats left of group he just shattered.
1) Thank you.
2) Guilty.

We do have a bad habit of not just pulling off on the inbound wind side and just letting the second rider just maintain and pull through.

I actually thought pulling involved a rope! :eek: Not really, ha.

I was with you all the way on your explanation except for the part about the "inbound wind side". I'm happy to let shider and aham23 have the rope! :D I do like understanding how things are supposed to work. Whether I really ever do it is another matter. Watching pacelines...it looks cool and fun.

Did you ride in a formal/informal paceline for all or part of RAIN? I was mainly alone and I would have loved to been with a group. That is a long dang way to be alone. I did hang onto the back of some groups of guys but would eventually drop off because I felt sort of bad just hanging onto the back. Like I was cheating! You don't have to answer this now; we can discuss it on Sunday. We'll be out there a while with time to chat.

BTW, I've already learned a lot just reading your replies and the "internet sarcasm" makes it all the more fun ;)

Crystal

Did you ride formal/informall

Oh man! I didn't read anything in the brochure about dress code :eek:

Very seriously considering it....

I'll get a separate dress code thread going. I mean when you're riding the Udder, you gotta dress the part. :p

BTW - just as a reminder....the last leg of this ride has some steady climbing and is usually into the wind. I checked the cue sheet for this year and it is the same route. So....you have that to look forward to.

Maps & Cue Sheets for all routes (http://www.mchenrybicycleclub.org/mcbc_Udder/UDDER-2007-maps/Udder_maps.htm)

BTW - just as a reminder....the last leg of this ride has some steady climbing and is usually into the wind. I checked the cue sheet for this year and it is the same route. So....you have that to look forward to.

This is good news. This year I really struggle (relatively) to keep up with my normal group going downwind or on the flats. Whenever the road turns up and into the wind I come into my own. Having said that, I'll probably bonk just about that point in time... :D

Well it looks like there might be some scattered storms, but at least the wind looks to be in check.
Kenal0

There's still a slim chance I may be able to make it. What time is everyone meeting? I seemed to have skimmed past that.

I believe Roll Out is at 7:00AM.
Kenal0

Here's the original timing that was brought up. So looks like 7 rollout. The line is long for registration from what I remember.


<snip> Last year it was 6:45 meet up, 7 am roll out.

We met up near the entrance to the registration and Psimet had a handy forums sign. Perhaps he'll bring another sign along this year?

Oh and I will have a sign....need to design one though....I've already done A-Team and "Training for Wussy"....hmm....

More than 15 minutes long? I did not register yet and plan on being there by 6:45.
Kenal0

More than 15 minutes long? I did not register yet and plan on being there by 6:45.
Kenal0
Don't think so. I know I showed up early last year and there were probably 40-50 people in front of me. Have your waiver filled out (print it out online) before going. The line took a while, but <10 minutes I'm sure.

Edit: They have a picture of the line at 6:45 last year on the site:
http://www.mchenrybicycleclub.org/mcbc_Udder/UDDER-pics-2006/Jun06%20Udder%20Century%20Riders%20start%20to%20line%20up%20at%20645a.m..jpg

^^^^ yeah i need Signal11. he dragged me home last year! later.

I hope you guys have a great ride tomorrow! Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to make it out there for this ride. Just got back from a grueling two weeks of business travel (no biking) and I'm completely wiped. :eek:

I was starting to get worried about rain. I noticed that weather.com has it at 40% about mid ride. Then I noticed that when I put "Udder Century" into google (to find the site and print the waiver) the third result down on Google was last year's archived thread starting with "As I told Psimet..."

Link: http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-198546.html

If you read that one you'll see that weather.com estimated the same 40% chance last year. Never rained. I'll have to wear a RAIN jersey to help ensure the same result though....

I was starting to get worried about rain. I noticed that weather.com has it at 40% about mid ride. Then I noticed that when I put "Udder Century" into google (to find the site and print the waiver) the third result down on Google was last year's archived thread starting with "As I told Psimet..."

Link: http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-198546.html

If you read that one you'll see that weather.com estimated the same 40% chance last year. Never rained. I'll have to wear a RAIN jersey to help ensure the same result though....

Don't tempt the gods Psimet. If it isn't raining, will see you all there tomorrow morning.

See everyone at the start.

No rain, I am on my way.
Kenal0