Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Your Fastest Century?

CLYDES ONLY!!!!!! I know some of you will have some supefast times, and some not so superfast, let's have them! Solo or group?

My best flat century is 5:45 ride time and 6:05 total. That' solo, no drafting. I rarely draft anyone. I migh be able to do better if I rode with a couple of evenly matched riders in a group.

My best climbing century (10,000 ft) was 7:05 ride time and 7:40 total time (timed event). Still no drafting!:D

I completed a 200k (127 miles) in 7.25 hours saddle time. Add 40 minutes for four sag stops.

That's a 17.5 mph rate, I completed the 100 miles portion in 5 hours, 25 minutes.

I completed a 200k (127 miles) in 7.25 hours saddle time. Add 40 minutes for four sag stops.

That's a 17.5 mph rate, I completed the 100 miles portion in 5 hours, 25 minutes.

solo or group?

Just one riding partner. We came across other riders and drafted in small groups about 20% of the distance. We don't draft each other, no real benefit in drafting one person @ 18 mph.

The ride was 90% flat, it followed the Illinois River from Coal City to Oglevy and back.

115 miles 4:45 (ride time, no stops) pancake flat with a fair amount of drafting. My fastest 200 was 9:50, no drafting, around 12,000ft of climbing and a pretty strong tailwind. :)

Last September (2009), I completed the Sunrise Century (http://www.clarksvillecentury.com/100_overview.htm)in Tennessee. Exactly 100-miles with about 2,000-ft of elevation gain. I finished in 4:05. Group effort up until 18-miles to go when I fell off the back of the group I was with. They finished in 3:47, about 1-minute per mile faster than me, which wasn't bad considering I pretty much hit the wall, and had a flat 4-miles after getting dropped.

I regularly do El Tour de Tucson (http://www.pbaa.com/%21ETT/ETThome.html) (Arizona), it's pretty much my end-of-season target these past 3 years. It's 109-miles with about 3,500-ft of elevation gain. I've finished in 4:59 (2007), 5:12 (2008), and 4:50 (2009).

Oh, these times are total, not just in-saddle.

Fastest was the Hancock Horizontal Hundred, around 15 years ago. I was still a Clyde, just barely, at 203-ish for my triathlon race weight.
Hooked on with a group doing a double rotation paceline: 3 tandems rotating pulls in front of about 15 singles behind them. We pulled a 04:50 total, with 2 stops. It was phracking insane, and I'll probably never do that again.

In recent history, I did my January 200k in 08:29 total. No idea what my on/off bike times were, but that's a 14.9mph average so it puts my 100 mile pace at around 06:40 total. That's on a solo RUSA Permanent, meaning I had no ride partners, no route markers (just a cue sheet), no ride support, it was 35 degrees when I started, and I had to stop at 5 designated controls to collect a store receipt and a signature/timestamp on my brevet card. I did, however, pick the easiest Permanent my club has, which is less than 2500' of total climbing for the entire 200k route.

Fastest ever was 4h55min on a fairly flat coarse, with drafting. There was 5 of us together and at times we hung on to faster groups for as long as we could. I will admit I was completely spent at the end of that ride, 32.5km/h average. Fastest solo is maybe 5:45 not really sure on that one. Did 210km last year with one other rider and we did it in 7h43m. I will say that just one other rider makes a huge difference even if they are not right at your level. If you do it right with lots of rotation say stronger rider out front for 4 minutes, weaker out for 1 minute you will really improve time. If they are at your same level do the rotation every 2 minutes and the k's will click by in a hurry.

I will say that just one other rider makes a huge difference even if they are not right at your level. If you do it right with lots of rotation say stronger rider out front for 4 minutes, weaker out for 1 minute you will really improve time.

I'd like to try but I have a hard time finding riders that cooperate. I've been invited to do training for rides for an organized event that we plan to ride TOGETHER. But I will end up doing 40 mile pulls then when I ask the other rider to go to the front, he'll sprint around!:eek: By the time I catch up, usually 2 or 3 mintues, the dude is spent and it's my turn again!:mad:

Last time I tried to trained with a dude for an event, he drafted me for 59.5 miles, then sprinted around and dropped me on the final 1/2 mile...some riders don't get it.

My undertanding is that sometimes you have to ease up half a step to let the dude recover if you are "riding together", especially if he just got done pulling 40 miles.

One parnter I had was a really good rider (SemperFi, Homey may know the guy). He knew how to ride together but he vanished from the forums.:( Good partners are hard to find!;)

5:31 100 miles group riding. Saddle time only.

6 Hours total, right about 5:15 saddle. Two riders, we drafted each other sometimes but mostly rode along next to each other and talked.

I'd like to try but I have a hard time finding riders that cooperate. I've been invited to do training for rides for an organized event that we plan to ride TOGETHER. But I will end up doing 40 mile pulls then when I ask the other rider to go to the front, he'll sprint around!:eek: By the time I catch up, usually 2 or 3 mintues, the dude is spent and it's my turn again!:mad:

Last time I tried to trained with a dude for an event, he drafted me for 59.5 miles, then sprinted around and dropped me on the final 1/2 mile...some riders don't get it.

My undertanding is that sometimes you have to ease up half a step to let the dude recover if you are "riding together", especially if he just got done pulling 40 miles.

One parnter I had was a really good rider (SemperFi, Homey may know the guy). He knew how to ride together but he vanished from the forums.:( Good partners are hard to find!;)Yep...just gotta find the right peeps and circumstance. :shrug:

I'd be happy to ride with ya, but, of course, it depends on my training objective for the day. Some days I go hard, some easy (really easy), some intervals... you get the idea. Even when I do Montrose Ride, I have objectives (sit in the pack, work at the front, hammer up Branford Hill or spin up it, break-away, contest the sprint, etc...).

4:24 no stops, it was 1989 out of Champaign, Illinois (flat like plywood), on a steel bike with friction shifting!!...... the wind actually shifted during the ride and was behind us (group of 8 or so) almost the whole time. I was 24 years old and weighed 170lbs.

I haven't done a timed century since.... does this count?? guess I was a clyde by height only.. was 6'4" ish then too.

..One parnter I had was a really good rider (SemperFi, Homey may know the guy). He knew how to ride together but he vanished from the forums.:( Good partners are hard to find!;)

I remember him, we did a few rides together. He's good to draft because he's a very steady rider. His speed doesn't fluctuate a lot. I haven't seen or heard from him in quite a while. Wonder what he's up to?

2009 Hotter N Hell @ Wichita Falls , Tx. I completed the 100 in 5:03 total time. No hills and I pacelined about half the ride.. I had made "emeritius" again in early June and was about 187 for this ride.

On actual centuries, about 9 hours, but haven't done one on the new bike. On the new bike, I've hit the 100 mile mark of a 200k in under 8 hours on a couple of rides. Fairly flat rides at that, with tailwind going out, headwind coming back. On the most recent one, I think I averaged 15.2 mph computer speed for the whole 130 miles.

I remember him, we did a few rides together. He's good to draft because he's a very steady rider. His speed doesn't fluctuate a lot. I haven't seen or heard from him in quite a while. Wonder what he's up to?

Yup, that's was the good thing about Larry. Even if you did a 10 mile pull, he'd take the front, make sure you were there before he continued the pace.:thumb:

I know some guys that are about my pace but they accelerate then slow, fat then slow!:eek:..Being on their wheel is like doing doing inetervals!:D

5:40 minutes was my fastest century to date, ride time with one partner.

Did the hilly 100mile Round Taupo Challenge here in New Zealand in 4:49 last year. I've asked them to include a Clydesdale and Athena category this year :)

Also did the Round Taranaki Challenge - which is 95 miles and a bit flatter - managed to hang on to the weight weenies in the lead group and stop the clock in 3:55.

Did both rides weighing in at 275lbs

Poway Century last October.

6:02 or so ride time, about 6:30 total time. With drafting any chance I got. There was about 5,000 ft of climbing IIRC. Not super fast, but I was happy with it.

Wow I feel really slow... fastest century was 6hr. 50 minutes (total not riding time I never know ride time since I generally just check my watch before than after I finish). I thought I was flying. Got a late start and finished early. Haven't got close since. Now I'm usually around 8 1/2 hours. I do like to enjoy myself! I did do the Sierra Fall Century out of Mammoth in 8:20 or so which I thought was good for a hilly ride. I was actually in shape (i.e. a shape other than round) then!:D

Slowest century - Cool Breeze 4 years ago - did the ride with 3 newbies... by gosh it took forever. They didn't grasp the concept of "get in get out" of the sag stops. Over 11 hours!!!!! That's a long time to be out on a bike ! :(

Wow I feel really slow... fastest century was 6hr. 50 minutes (total not riding time I never know ride time since I generally just check my watch before than after I finish). I thought I was flying. Got a late start and finished early. Haven't got close since. Now I'm usually around 8 1/2 hours. I do like to enjoy myself! I did do the Sierra Fall Century out of Mammoth in 8:20 or so which I thought was good for a hilly ride. I was actually in shape (i.e. a shape other than round) then!:D

Slowest century - Cool Breeze 4 years ago - did the ride with 3 newbies... by gosh it took forever. They didn't grasp the concept of "get in get out" of the sag stops. Over 11 hours!!!!! That's a long time to be out on a bike ! :(I've had my longest time and shortest time (on a climbing route) on the Assault on Mt. Mitchell (100-miles, 10,000+ feet). In 1988, I finished in 11:30. I was wearing hi-top sneakers and clips & straps. Then, in 2008, I returned and finished in 8:45. So I can definitely identify with you on the 11 hours=long time. :D

I also did the High Sierra Fall Century out of Mammoth 2 years ago. Man! I found out that altitude & I don't mix very well. Very hard. (I can't remember my time.)

I'd like to try but I have a hard time finding riders that cooperate. I've been invited to do training for rides for an organized event that we plan to ride TOGETHER. But I will end up doing 40 mile pulls then when I ask the other rider to go to the front, he'll sprint around!:eek: By the time I catch up, usually 2 or 3 mintues, the dude is spent and it's my turn again!:mad:

Last time I tried to trained with a dude for an event, he drafted me for 59.5 miles, then sprinted around and dropped me on the final 1/2 mile...some riders don't get it.

My undertanding is that sometimes you have to ease up half a step to let the dude recover if you are "riding together", especially if he just got done pulling 40 miles.

One parnter I had was a really good rider (SemperFi, Homey may know the guy). He knew how to ride together but he vanished from the forums.:( Good partners are hard to find!;)

With most guys I ride with we just use a simple elbow flick and the guy behind knows it's time to pull,as the guy is going by they should start pulling in when their hips are in line with your bars. You just ease up on pedals and as they slide in front it's break time! Now for real fun a rotating double paceline is a blast especially if there are like 10-20 equal riders you can really crank it up as you are only out front for about 30 seconds. I've seen us hitting in the 50-60km/h range as you are always just at threshold but never too far over.

What about athenas???? Best was 15MPH AVG and very proud!

... Best was 15MPH AVG and very proud!

And Proud you should be! Good for you!

What about athenas???? Best was 15MPH AVG and very proud!

WTG very respectable. I think anyone who completes a century should be proud no matter what speed, really think about it 100miles traveled under your own power. As cyclists we don't really stop and think about it but a very small percentage of the population would even think about doing this and I know a ton of riders who have rode for years and never even considered doing a century!

With most guys I ride with we just use a simple elbow flick and the guy behind knows it's time to pull,as the guy is going by they should start pulling in when their hips are in line with your bars. You just ease up on pedals and as they slide in front it's break time! Now for real fun a rotating double paceline is a blast especially if there are like 10-20 equal riders you can really crank it up as you are only out front for about 30 seconds. I've seen us hitting in the 50-60km/h range as you are always just at threshold but never too far over.


I've been in a couple of rotating pacelines, they are a blast but hard to find.:D.....The lines I have been in just use a nod to the side or a flick or the hand to signal. Last time I tried that, it was the day after a 10,000 ft climbing century, and the rider wouldn't come to the front. Knowing I had just done the ride, I was shocked he wouldn't come up claiming that he was tired from the previous day's ride of 25 miles.:eek:...right now I'm just having fun but when I get serious, I'll need some new partners!:D

What about athenas???? Best was 15MPH AVG and very proud!

Oh yeah, I meant Athenas also! I just said Clydes to keep the Marco Pantanis away!:D



WTG very respectable. I think anyone who completes a century should be proud no matter what speed, really think about it 100miles traveled under your own power. As cyclists we don't really stop and think about it but a very small percentage of the population would even think about doing this and I know a ton of riders who have rode for years and never even considered doing a century!

SO true!:thumb:...I know several cyclists that consider themselves HARDCORE but won't even attempt a century!:thumb:

I've been in a couple of rotating pacelines, they are a blast but hard to find.:D.....The lines I have been in just use a nod to the side or a flick or the hand to signal. Last time I tried that, it was the day after a 10,000 ft climbing century, and the rider wouldn't come to the front. Knowing I had just done the ride, I was shocked he wouldn't come up claiming that he was tired from the previous day's ride of 25 miles.:eek:...right now I'm just having fun but when I get serious, I'll need some new partners!:D

Come on out and ride with us... you're welcome to pull us around any time!:p

Guess I've been lucky. I have a couple of ride buds and a route that has become sort of a routine of testing each other and then working together once the days A-dog has been crowned.. aka lets stab each other in the legs for a few miles followed by a nice rapidly rotating & cooperative pace line.

...Last time I tried that, it was the day after a 10,000 ft climbing century, and the rider wouldn't come to the front. Knowing I had just done the ride, I was shocked he wouldn't come up claiming that he was tired from the previous day's ride of 25 miles.:eek:...
The day after a century, I was riding with a local club. There's one young dude who's a real jerk, talkin' trash all-the-time! Finally, he says one too many, so after a bit of a warm-up, me and one other guy go to the front and start drilling it at 27-28mph. A couple other guys I know could handle it (but weren't on the century) come along. We kept it like this for the next 5 miles. Pretty soon, we're a small group of 5, and Young Stud is with us--he has too much machismo to let a blatant challenge like this go by. Then we hit a short roller. I can't keep the pace and fall OTB (I am tired after all), as does Young Stud. But, it was made all worth it when I look at him and he's absolutely dying! Tongue dragging in the spokes, eyes rolling back, cursing at us... Eventually, he's OTB from me and one other guy and not to be seen again. Priceless.

Come on out and ride with us... you're welcome to pull us around any time!:p

Guess I've been lucky. I have a couple of ride buds and a route that has become sort of a routine of testing each other and then working together once the days A-dog has been crowned.. aka lets stab each other in the legs for a few miles followed by a nice rapidly rotating & cooperative pace line.

Well that's fun when you know the plan!:D Testing then riding together. My climbing buds are pretty good, they test me on the first couple miles cause they know I'm a slow starter, but we usually end up riding together after I warm up!:thumb:

The day after a century, I was riding with a local club. There's one young dude who's a real jerk, talkin' trash all-the-time! Finally, he says one too many, so after a bit of a warm-up, me and one other guy go to the front and start drilling it at 27-28mph. A couple other guys I know could handle it (but weren't on the century) come along. We kept it like this for the next 5 miles. Pretty soon, we're a small group of 5, and Young Stud is with us--he has too much machismo to let a blatant challenge like this go by. Then we hit a short roller. I can't keep the pace and fall OTB (I am tired after all), as does Young Stud. But, it was made all worth it when I look at him and he's absolutely dying! Tongue dragging in the spokes, eyes rolling back, cursing at us... Eventually, he's OTB from me and one other guy and not to be seen again. Priceless.

I bet you get under estimated all the time too! Not many big guys have your power on the climbs. He's lucky you weren't fresh!:D

Last time I tried to trained with a dude for an event, he drafted me for 59.5 miles, then sprinted around and dropped me on the final 1/2 mile...some riders don't get it.

My undertanding is that sometimes you have to ease up half a step to let the dude recover if you are "riding together", especially if he just got done pulling 40 miles.


Good riding partners make riding much more fun, but they're rare. I moved away from the last good riding partner I found. Life hasn't been the same.

I bet you get under estimated all the time too! Not many big guys climb that hard...Not on the racing scene, much: it's a small group and we all know each other (cat 3's).

But, yeah, pretty much. One classic moment: in 2008 at Mt. Mitchell. It's 102-miles, 10,000+ feet of gain, 3,000 in the first 75-miles, then the remaining 7,000 feet in the last 30-miles. I go out with the front of the pack (mass start century). We average 25mph until Marion (75-mile mark, where the climbing begins). I'm just at the bottom of the climbing, maybe 1-mile into it. A guy catches up to me. "You ride all the way from the start?" he asks.

"Yeah," I reply.

"Good job," he says, then pulls away on the climb.

Apparently, some riders jump into the event and just do the climbing from Marion. He must've thought I had done this too, because of my size. It was a nice, if not awkward, compliment.

Good riding partners make riding much more fun, but they're rare. I moved away from the last good riding partner I found. Life hasn't been the same.


The best partner I ever had was in at an organized ride in Arizona. AZ rides are great btw, this was small town and still far better than the BIG rides out here.:thumb:

It was a 62 miler. I was riding alone up to the 40 mile point. I was out in the middle of nowhwere when this dude came up and said, "ride with me". I had seen the guy and his buddy and they were strong riders. I was doing well alone but these 2 guys blew by me. How they got behind me, I don't know. I told the dude that he was too fast. He said his partner had to drop out with a bad wheel so he was alone and wanted me to help him.:eek:

I told the guy I didn't think I could but he explained the system. He'd do longer pulls and I'd do shorter pulls. So I gave it a try. He was doing 2 mintues and I was doing 1 minute at the front. Funny, after 5 miles or so, I had recovered from the solo effort and we were about 50/50. It was a blast, we ran down so many big pacelines. At one point, about 20 of us. Later on it was back down to 3 riders. But he made sure we stuck together. At the last 2 miles, the guy that asked me to ride started to tire, 3rd dude sprinted off, maybe because medals were distributed to the first 100 riders to finish. When the 3rd unknown dude sprinted off, the guy that had picked me up said, "go for it, you can beat him". My reply, " I wouldn't be here if you hadn't helped me so I'm cool.". I just stayed at the front for the last 2 and towed the guy in at a good pace. We both got our medals!;)

This dude was good! He captained the whole ride just right. I would have had my usual average on the ride of about 18 (which I was at mile 40), but at the end of the ride, my average increased to 19.9. My pace increased nearly 2 mph in the final 20 miles just sticking to the ride plan.

That was great but that now it's tough cause that set the bar high as far as finding a good ride partner. Heck, I might have to move to Arizona!:D

Good riding partners make riding much more fun, but they're rare. I moved away from the last good riding partner I found. Life hasn't been the same.

I completed four 110 mile+ rides last year with a person who had the same pace and cycling personality as me. So much better than solo, and I won't completely distort my pace or plan to stay with an incompatible rider.

Michael

I also did the High Sierra Fall Century out of Mammoth 2 years ago. Man! I found out that altitude & I don't mix very well. Very hard. (I can't remember my time.)

I have done that ride 3 times - I learned after the first to get acclimated. I generally go up for the week and enjoy myself finishing with the ride - so much easier that way!!!! Beautiful ride huh?

And MissBumble - I be an Athena...

I have done that ride 3 times - I learned after the first to get acclimated. I generally go up for the week and enjoy myself finishing with the ride - so much easier that way!!!! Beautiful ride huh?

And MissBumble - I be an Athena...Parts of it are very nice. I live in Los Angeles, so seeing desert panoramas isn't too impressive anymore: the very last 10 miles or so just at the bottom of the descent, the part coming out of the lunch break with those short, steep walls (repeated ad nauseum). But I really enjoy the 1st half, climbing through the pine trees and up to the high point with fields on the sides. And the lake. Nice. The drive up is also very cool.

I've only done 2 centuries (been riding since May this year), and my most recent one was 5 hours and 22 minutes. Pretty hilly and a lot of headwind. The best part? I drafted behind 3 guys who are way better than me the entire time. Didn't pull for one second. Hehe.

Edit: searched for this thread so I could share my awesome story, did not realize this is for larger men.

I did do the Sierra Fall Century out of Mammoth in 8:20 or so which I thought was good for a hilly ride. I was actually in shape (i.e. a shape other than round) then!:D

:(

Have also done that ride. Did it without having been on the bike for 60 days exactly. Also put a new saddle on the morning of the ride. Funny thing was, the saddle( Brooks B-17) was the most comfortable I have ever used, and even having been off the bike for 2 months, I felt good at the end of the ride. Time was nothing to write home about, but the views on the ride were fantastic. Makes me think of doing it again maybe next year. :50:

My first Century this past June, my ride time was 6:45:54 with a total time of around 7 1/2 hours thanks to a finicky rear derailer and 2 broken spokes. That was 90% solo (Tour de Cure) A month later, I went and rode the same route again with a couple people and had a ride time of 6:34:46 with total time unfortunately being close to 8 hours. We stopped for lunch, had a blowout (took forever to boot/patch the tire and remount), then we stopped at a bikeshop for the one guy to get a new tire. Might not be the fastest times ever, but I still had a blast.

I've only done 2 centuries (been riding since May this year), and my most recent one was 5 hours and 22 minutes. Pretty hilly and a lot of headwind. The best part? I drafted behind 3 guys who are way better than me the entire time. Didn't pull for one second. Hehe.

Edit: searched for this thread so I could share my awesome story, did not realize this is for larger men.
Who you calling larger? we are normal size, you are just smaller!

Haven't done a century yet, I think i'm gonna do my first one this weekend coming up. I did a 75miler last weekend in 4 hours 45 minutes with 4 hours and 15 minutes of ride time. It started at 6:30 am and I took my time at the first rest stop 16 miles in since i didn't get up early enough to eat breakfast. I had a bagel with pb&j and then I was good. It also started raining at mile 50 and while it never rained that hard, I know my tires and they suck so I didn't want to push it. This was a ride in NYC with no street closings though it was sunday morning so cars weren't too much of an issue. IT was a blast and I felt plenty strong at the end of it. It was a flat course, the century this weekend is much hillier.

Since this popped back up, I'll update my fastest century to 7:06 at the Hotter'n'Hell 100 a month ago or so. This is a fairly flat century. The first 30 miles, we had a tailwind, and I was going pretty good, then slowed down some after we turned a corner. Ride time was around 6:06, if I remember right, average speed was 16.6 mph. Not impressive for some of y'all, but that was pretty good for me.

I only go by total time. My record is 5:35. Usually, I do them in 6-7 hours, depending on the amount of climbing involved.

I actually like riding in a paceline on century rides, but it only happens for a few miles at-a-time. It is always hard to find a group where we ride the same speed on both the flats and hills.

Smaller faster guys that ride my basic flat-land speed can't keep up with me on slight downhills or in the wind, and they drop me like a brick whenever we go up a decent-sized hill.

Lots of the fast paceline groups that I see on centuries also tend to change speeds and effort a lot. They "rest" during the times that I tend to push it a little harder, so that I don't get left behind going up hills. Those explosive race-types like to change speeds a lot. I'm a steady-Freddy.

5:32 Clarksville CRAM with a group.
5:36 Clarksville Sunrise Century solo.
The routes are slightly different, but pretty close to the same.

One day I will do it! I hope next summer to do a century!