I just finished my first century a few hours ago. I did 114 miles in just over 10 hours (planned to do 100, but got lost towards the end). I was solo/unsupported and feel like I handled my nutrition/water pretty well. This is due in large part to reading all the threads here and especially Machka's tips. My legs are sore and my neck a little stiff, but overall, I'm surprised how good I feel, except for one thing...my butt.

My route was pretty flat so there was almost no out of the saddle climbing and very few chances to coast with my butt up. I was also riding in pretty cheap shorts from performance. My saddle is the e3 gel and had been great up to about 70 miles in the past.

I'd like to start doing more long distance rides but owww.

Will better shorts make a big difference? Do I just need to toughen up? Something else?

Congratulations!!

And thanks ... I'm glad some of my tips helped. :)

As for your little difficulty ....

1) Flat or hilly, you can still get out of the saddle. I cycled for 13 years in Manitoba ... the part of the world that defines the word "flat". My Randonneuring group looked like we were choreographed. About every 15 to 20 minutes the whole works of us would stand in unison, and go through a standing pedal and stretch routine. I've sort of gotten out of that habit but should get back in.

2) You're a century rider now ... time to get rid of the gel saddle. You might start considering a Brooks. :D Or at least experimenting with different saddles to find a better one.

3) You might look at your setup. Sometimes saddle pain means your saddle is too high and you're rocking to reach the bottom of your pedal stroke. Or your saddle is too low and you're putting too much pressure on your sitting area. Your stiff neck might also indicate some setup issues.

4) Shorts can make some difference, however, with a Brooks saddle I can ride some fairly long distances without cycling shorts. In the hot weather of Australia, I would ride 80 kms a day wearing a bathing suit with beach shorts. I liked that combo because I could hop into the ocean along the way ... plus lycra cycling shorts give me a wicked rash in hot weather. Nevertheless, I don't think I could have ridden that far in regular shorts, with what was essentially underwear, if I did not have a Brooks saddle.

But if you are going to look into new shorts a few tips ... snug, but not too snug; padding that covers your sitbones; no gel.

5) And toughening up probably helps too. :)

well I just rode 160 miles on my brooks and my ass felt great afterwards.....no bike shorts required.

I spent hundreds of dollars on all types of saddles while frowning and the pictures of the brooks thinking "no way that thing is comfortable." I was wrong.

Buy a champion flyer......the springs make it even better.

2) You're a century rider now ... time to get rid of the gel saddle. You might start considering a Brooks. :D Or at least experimenting with different saddles to find a better one.

3) You might look at your setup. Sometimes saddle pain means your saddle is too high and you're rocking to reach the bottom of your pedal stroke. Or your saddle is too low and you're putting too much pressure on your sitting area. Your stiff neck might also indicate some setup issues.

4) Shorts can make some difference, however, with a Brooks saddle I can ride some fairly long distances without cycling shorts. In the hot weather of Australia, I would ride 80 kms a day wearing a bathing suit with beach shorts. I liked that combo because I could hop into the ocean along the way ... plus lycra cycling shorts give me a wicked rash in hot weather. Nevertheless, I don't think I could have ridden that far in regular shorts, with what was essentially underwear, if I did not have a Brooks saddle.

5) And toughening up probably helps too. :)

I have a brooks b17 on my commuter/townie. It's nice, but I don't find it to be comfortable on my road bike, especially after about 2 hours. I've thought about a brooks pro, but it's an expensive experiment though if ti works well, it will be worth it.

I didn't want to be the first to mention the "b" word but a convert is a convert. I just got a pro for the road bike it's working out very well...

I have a brooks b17 on my commuter/townie. It's nice, but I don't find it to be comfortable on my road bike, especially after about 2 hours. I've thought about a brooks pro, but it's an expensive experiment though if ti works well, it will be worth it.

Is the nose of the saddle tipped up in front a little bit? I found mine somewhat uncomfortable at first, and then several people suggested I tip the nose up a bit, and sure enough ... comfort. :)

Does yours look like mine yet?
.

My route was pretty flat so there was almost no out of the saddle climbing and very few chances to coast with my butt up. I was also riding in pretty cheap shorts from performance. My saddle is the e3 gel and had been great up to about 70 miles in the past.

I'd like to start doing more long distance rides but owww.

Will better shorts make a big difference? Do I just need to toughen up? Something else?

just to go against the conventional wisdom ... I've been fine with riding a Specialized Avatar gel saddle even with 1200k's. I do find that having better shorts does make a big difference though. For most of my 100+ mile rides, I'll wear Pearl Izumi Ultrasensors and have been generally fine with those, but I find that anything cheaper than that can get a bit wearisome after 50 miles or so.

Huerro,
I don't have anything to offer in seat suggestions, but I just wanted to congratulate you on your first Century! I have my first coming up in March, and just wanted to cheer someone who has done it already, it's inspiring!
Though you're scaring me to death with the whole "got lost" thing!:eek: Riding 100 miles is enough, I don't want to be tacking anything extra on by getting lost! And I'm bad with directions! LOL! Guess I better study the route carefully! Anyway GREAT JOB! :D
Kitty

Just tag along with someone so you don't get lost.

exactly where on your rear are you sore? Sit bones? Perineum? I'm a Specialzed kinda guy, and ride centuries on Avatars and Toupes. I for one would NOT change the height of your saddle if you don't have knee pain (sorry Machka). Tilting it slightly may help (I have my saddles slightly nose-up as someone else has mentioned here). A sore neck may be from too-low handlebars, or not staying loose on the bike, or not moving around from the drops and hoods and tops enough to not being tough enough ;)

Congrats on the century, next time do 6 miles more and you can brag about completing a double metric!

Thanks for the report. Well Done. I like hearing about the nutrition part of the ride. I think I tend to eat too little, causing problems towards the end.

Huerro,
I don't have anything to offer in seat suggestions, but I just wanted to congratulate you on your first Century! I have my first coming up in March, and just wanted to cheer someone who has done it already, it's inspiring!
Though you're scaring me to death with the whole "got lost" thing!:eek: Riding 100 miles is enough, I don't want to be tacking anything extra on by getting lost! And I'm bad with directions! LOL! Guess I better study the route carefully! Anyway GREAT JOB! :D
Kitty

Thanks! It feels great to have done it and I'm sure you will be fine. As for the getting lost...it's no one's fault but my own. I didn't have a cue sheet and thought I knew how to get from the end of my route back home. So make sure and carry that cue sheet with you. Next time I'll probably ride an organized ride and see if I can't manage my pace a bit better (maybe after that try this route again with the fixed gear!)

Is the nose of the saddle tipped up in front a little bit? I found mine somewhat uncomfortable at first, and then several people suggested I tip the nose up a bit, and sure enough ... comfort. :)

Does yours look like mine yet?
.

I'll try tilting it up a hair and see how it goes on a medium ride.

I'm curious about your on bike stretches too. I searched but couldn't find anything.

I'll try tilting it up a hair and see how it goes on a medium ride.

I'm curious about your on bike stretches too. I searched but couldn't find anything.

I should write something up for my website about my stretching routine.

Basically what I do is this ...

-- Shift into a harder gear
-- Stand and pedal about 5 times then coast
-- With the foot at the bottom of the pedal stroke, I slowly drop the heel to stretch my calf.
-- Then I slowly pedal to move the other foot to the bottom of the pedal stroke, and I slow drop the heel to stretch my calf.
-- Then I tighten my quad (of the extended leg) and relax it
-- Pedal slowly to extend the other leg
-- Tighten that quad and relax
-- Same thing for the glutes ... tighten and relax the one on the side of the extended leg, pedal over and tighten and relax the other one
-- At some point in here I might need to pedal 5 times again to pick up my coasting speed again
-- Still standing, but with pedals at the 3:00 and 9:00 positions (so both legs straight), I lean forward to stretch my hamstrings and lower back (this one is a bit tricky to do but if you can sort of stick your butt back and lean forward into an "L" keeping your back as flat as possible, you get a good stretch ... you can get a bit of your arms and shoulders as well)
-- Pedal 5 more times, then sit and coast
-- Move right arm behind my back in an L, so that my forearm is along my waist in the back, and sit up very straight ... incidentally, that one also wakes up sleeping hands.
-- Do the same as above with left arm ... but a word of caution about these two ... that motion is also the signal for "veering right" and "veering left" (around a stationary object such as a parked car) in places like England.
-- Put your right arm up into a tricep stretch (like you're going to do a tricep raise) and do the same again with the left arm
-- Right arm across chest and then left arm across chest
-- Pretend you're doing a very slow bicep curl with each arm
-- Then the neck ... look to the left, look to the right, look down (and drop shoulders), look up

That's pretty much it ... from what I can remember just sitting here at my desk. I really should get on my trainer and go through it all, document it with photos, and add it to my website. It's a great little routine which covers pretty much everything ... and believe me, my muscles are much happier when I do that periodically during a ride. You get sort of locked into one position all the time and everything stiffens up ... it feels so good to move around and stretch it out now and then.