Living Car Free - Various challenges in the Long Distance forum

Those of you who are carfree ride your bicycles a lot. You might easily log 1000 km or 1000 miles in a month ... and you might knock off centuries on errand runs.

Several challenges have been posted in the Long Distance forum, which might appeal to you. Check them out!

-- the Century-A-Month challenge - at least one century (100 miles) in each month of the year
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=496633

-- the Century challenge - as many centuries as you can ride
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=496675

-- the Double Century challenge - as many doubles or longer rides you can ride
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=498503

-- the 1000-Kilometer Month challenge - ride at least 1000 km (~622 miles) in at least 1 month of the year
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=498699

-- the 1000-Mile Month challenge - ride at least 1000 miles in at least 1 month of the year
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=498500


http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=231


Enjoy! :D

I'm planning to do a "carfree century this year. 100 miles in one day, like a regular century. But it has to be done mostly in the city, you have to use a utility bike and/or a commuter, and you have to run some errands--shop, carry cargo, etc. This will be more difficult and take a lot longer than a standard road bike century.

I'm planning to do a "carfree century this year. 100 miles in one day, like a regular century. But it has to be done mostly in the city, you have to use a utility bike and/or a commuter, and you have to run some errands--shop, carry cargo, etc. This will be more difficult and take a lot longer than a standard road bike century.

Almost like the messenger races. :D


In 2003 I was doing the Century-A-Month challenge in Winnipeg, and for my December century I decided to do it all within Winnipeg city limits. As it happened it snowed quite a bit the night before, but nevertheless I went out anyway ... on my commuter bike (my mtn bike). At first, I just rode up and down the bits of road where the snow had drifted away, but as the plows started coming out and clearing the drifts off the road, I extended my route ...... out to where I worked, out to where I shopped, along the cool little streets where the arts and crafts, and antique goods are sold, etc. etc. I never actually bought anything, but it was a similar idea to yours. :D

And Rowan almost always picks up his weekly groceries at the end of his centuries. Now, he lives way out in the country, so his centuries aren't urban, but he uses one of his "utility" bicycles (his fixed gear), complete with panniers, and returns with them loaded with groceries.

So rather than hunt each thread down, can we just 'unofficialy' do our own here? I know there is alot of crossover here to there in Long Distance. I think I should be good for just about all of them! I had a bit over 6100 miles for '08' (calculated known routes, commuting, MUPs,etc.) so These challenges will be good for me to push myself over 10K and maybe lose some of my intimidation of doing brevets, etc...

long story, long... I'm in!

Glad you're in.

Thing is, this thread will drop right away once the people in Living Car Free have found out about the LD challenges, and those who want to, have "signed up".

But I can imagine there would be a few on this forum that might get a little irritated by a thread bobbing up all the time here that really isn't relevant to them (and I say that in the politest possible way).

I know, I know... people don't have to read what they don't want to read, but still, it cuts down on the flotsam and jetsam

Macha's challenge threads got me adding up my last year's mileage and I discovered that I only qualify for the kilometer threads. Nonetheless, I had one month last year over 1000 kms and hope to add more this year.

Unfortunately, I keep losing my cyclocomputers. I bought (and lost) two last year, and ended up estimating the miles and writing the estimated miles down on my calendar.

In Little Rock, we have a small traffic-free loop around the Natural Resources Complex. Its a .7 mile loop, with lots of parking on one side. I've wondered if you could make a Century ride out of this. Complete the loop about 143 times. You'd only need one checkpoint/Sag stop at the start finish line, and riders could take breaks when ever they needed. If you want, there are restaurants nearby. Great for families.

Seems like you could do some kind of RFID tagging to keep track of how many times people crossed the finish line.

The route is not flat, it has one nice steep downhill and a gradual uphill on the route. There is greenery on all sides, and almost no traffic at all on the weekends. Seems like it could be an interesting social and athletic event.

In Little Rock, we have a small traffic-free loop around the Natural Resources Complex. Its a .7 mile loop, with lots of parking on one side. I've wondered if you could make a Century ride out of this. Complete the loop about 143 times. You'd only need one checkpoint/Sag stop at the start finish line, and riders could take breaks when ever they needed. If you want, there are restaurants nearby. Great for families.

Seems like you could do some kind of RFID tagging to keep track of how many times people crossed the finish line.

The route is not flat, it has one nice steep downhill and a gradual uphill on the route. There is greenery on all sides, and almost no traffic at all on the weekends. Seems like it could be an interesting social and athletic event.

Of course you could ... a Century is 100 miles done as all-at-once as possible. It's not necessarily an organized event, it could be with people or solo, it could be done with no rest/eating stops at all or with a whole bunch of rest/eating stops.

So you could go out next weekend and ride that loop 143 times to get your first century of the year in. For me, however, I would find a 0.7 mile loop incredibly, min-numbingly boring.

Because I live in an area where winter can literally kill a person, when I do winter centuries I do a series of loops close to home and shelter, but they're usually at least 10 km (6 miles) long, and I'll change it up by extending a few of the loops or doing the loop in different directions.