Northern California - Century of commuting

100 miles of commuting in a single day .. has anyone ever done this? I plan to try it tomorrow. I'm going to leave home around 5:00-5:30am and get in 52 flat miles and then get 53 hilly miles on the way home.

On your unicycle?

You're bonkers

Nope. But I've always wanted to. I even sketched out a 100 mile loop (figure-8, actually) for myself to try it.

Good luck! Take pix if possible.

On your unicycle?

Heh, I'm still working up to my first metric half century on the unicycle :)

I logged 95 miles on a work day once. 20 in the morning and 75 in the afternoon. I left work early though, so maybe I cheated....

I did 60 miles once (30/30). The thing I didn't like is that after sitting on my butt for 8 hours at work, I got really stiff. The ride home was kinda miserable. Make sure you stretch/cooldown well on the first leg.

(Now I just typically go one way (palo alto -> pleasanton) and get a ride back. the folder is great for this. I'll typically leave early and get close to 50 miles if I'm feeling frisky)

(palo alto -> pleasanton)

What route? How do you manage the bridge. Does the bumbarton have a bike path? I always have to ride bart to get to a starting point if I want to ride to work. SF to San Ramon.

Yeah the Dumbarton has a bike bridge. I'll actually be taking that tomorrow (Menlo Park to Campbell :rolleyes: )

What route? How do you manage the bridge. Does the bumbarton have a bike path? I always have to ride bart to get to a starting point if I want to ride to work. SF to San Ramon.

Yeah, SF to San Ramon is tough via bike. I guess there's always the ferry to Alameda for a change.

The 2 routes I take are straight shot from University over the Dumbarton, then take Thornton to Niles Canyon. The other route involves going down Central Expressway through San Jose, then take the Calaveras Reservoir back to Sunol, then up Foothill. If Niles Canyon were actually enjoyable, I wouldn't mind taking that route every week.

No, but I've done several half-centuries of commuting, including some on the Birdy. That was Foster City to Union City via Dumbarton and back.

have a good ride! :thumb:

Well yesterday afternoon on the commute home my car broke down on the highway 20 miles from home. Oh yeah, my cell phone battery had died earlier in the day. It took three hours before the tow truck arrived and I didn't make it home until almost 9:00pm.

So that's when I started getting the bike ready and realized I didn't clean it as well as I thought from Saturday's wet ride. I spent a couple hours detailing the chain, cassette, rear derailleur, etc. and just generally getting the bike ready to ride. It was 12:30 before I finally settled down enough to call my girlfriend and I didn't fall asleep until 2:30

When the alarm went off at 4:45 and I heard water dripping off the tree near my bedroom window I decided it was not the right day for this. I'm tentatively eyeing Friday for the next attempt. The good news is the bike is all ready to go!

Oh, as for the car, my working hypothesis is that the timing belt broke :(

It's always the timing belt!

Friday looks to be a better day for riding all around the Bay, so no loss, and all gain! Have a fun day commuting!

When the alarm went off at 4:45 and I heard water dripping off the tree near my bedroom window I decided it was not the right day for this. I'm tentatively eyeing Friday for the next attempt. The good news is the bike is all ready to go!


Bad luck. I couldn't imagine riding in the rain the day after cleaning your bike! No shame for sitting out today.

man, I'd love to, but the post-work tightness and exhaustion keep me from trying. Sounds fun though!

I finally got the commuting century done! The green marker on the map below is where I live and the red one is where I work. My usual commute between these points is two miles each direction but yesterday I took 59 miles to get to work and 45 to get home.

http://benweir.com/images/20090831-commuting-century.jpg (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fbenweir.com%2Fkml%2F20090831-commuting-century.kmz&ie=UTF8&t=p&z=10)
Commuting century route (click for bigger)

I got started just a few minutes before 4:00am and headed out on the northwest portion. I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before so I knew it would be a long day but hey, I needed a century for the month of August. 4:00am seems to be just about the deadest period of night and it was remarkable how few cars were out. I made it all the way from my house to the base of Old La Honda (a two hour ride) without ever unclipping from my pedals. At this point I stopped for a nature break and also changed the battery in my headlight. This was my only stop on the morning ride.

When I hit the road again it was just after 6:00am and the sky was beginning to lighten. I didn't climb OLH but made my way on Sand Hill out to Junipero Sera Blvd and joined my old commuting route from when I used to live in Menlo Park. From this point I knew it would be about 22 miles in, all very familiar roads whereas I had done a bit of exploring on the first portion of my ride. I arrived at work at 7:36am. The hot shower sure felt good!

Stats for my commute to work:
Distance: 59.2 miles
Time: 3:33:16
Average speed: 16.66 mph
Elevation gain: 1500 ft

After work I headed out this time to the southeast. At first it was great and I was cruising along effortlessly in my 50x14 at around 25mph. Of course this massive tailwind spelled trouble for the return trip. But somehow I was able to manage a respectable average speed for the ride

Stats for the commute home:
Distance: 45.4 miles
Time: 2:42:15
Average speed: 16.79 mph
Elevation gain: 800 ft

I'm glad to have this ride done and over with so that I never have to do it again. The ride was fine but being at work all day after a sleepless night plus a 60 mile bike ride was trying.

congrats! That does sound like a long, long day.