mprelaw

You can get the same basic information on your I-phone or Android phone with free GPS apps. Two popular ones are Strava and Endomondo.

wahoonc

There is also Move! Bike Computer. Dunno if they have an Iphone App.

Aaron

Mithrandir

https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Cycling...armin+edge+500


Garmin Edge 500. $350 with everything you need, or $250 for just the GPS head unit. It might actually be cheaper to get the heart strap and cadence sensor separately. I'd wait for a sale, or maybe until fall. Garmin seems to give their sports products 2 years and then releases a newer model, which means there might be an Edge 500 replacement coming for 2013, which means the 500 will drop in price.

Wolfvegas

Question, if I have an Iphone or Android that has no cell service (but it has wifi) I can still download and use apps right?

Doug5150

That would be riding 100 miles, non-stop.

100 miles with four rest stops is "riding twenty miles, five times".

ThermionicScott 

If that were the case, there would be very few people out there who have done a "true century."

Keith99

Very few. Even the guys doing the quad centrury option of the Grand tour had what could be called a stop. And they were in a situation where if their support driver could abve gone to the bathroom form them they would have.

wahoonc

You can download them on WiFi, but I am pretty sure that for the tracking you have to have cell service available, and turn the GPS on.

Aaron

slowandsteady

Sorry but that is bull****. According to you one cannot even go to the bathroom?

Doug5150

If riding a century was easy, everybody would do it.

Machka 

Century = 100 miles done as "all at once" as possible, and usually completed within a "day".

A century can include reasonably short breaks for using the toilet or having lunch or even sitting on a park bench watching the ducks in a pond for a few minutes.

Mobile 155

Machka is right, at least for a organized century, it includes SAG stops, that you don't have to take if you don't want but you should. THe Furnace Creek 508 is a race and it includes stops it is just timed. The RAM is a race and it includes stops. All they have to do is finish in a time limit.

Machka 

And also ... when you tell people how long it took you to do the century, tell them the entire time it took you to do the century. The total time.

If you can do a non-stop 5-hour century, your total time is 5 hours.

If you take several breaks throughout your century so that your ride time is 8 hours, but including all the breaks it adds up to 10 hours, then your total time is 10 hours.

oldskoolwrench

+1

Count the TOTAL time, including stops. The goal is to ride the distance; not kill yourself doing it.

There's always time for improvement... in the meantime, enjoy the ride, the scenery, your riding partners.

As you get more events under your belt, your body will be the best barometer of performance and fitness.

Have fun!!

nd2010

It's even hard for me to *drive* a century without stopping. I don't think I can ride a century in 6 hours without stopping. Unless it's downhill with the wind at my back the entire distance.

eofelis 

I did a 94 mile ride one day that I considered good enough to consider it a century. It had 5000ft of climbing over the top of the Grand Mesa (10800'), and I got snowed on on the way up.

The week after I did a 110 mile day with a climb over a 12000ft pass.

It all evens out. The mileage that is, not the terrain.

Road Fan

Pretty much it! Pick a location 50 miles (or whatevers) from home. Start in the morning so you can be home for dinner. Pedal there, pedal back home. Have a shower, dinner and a beer. Crash.

DataJunkie

I accidentally did one yesterday while riding 60 of it with a couple of fast riders in my club. Honestly, I do not care about centuries or the debate as to what qualifies as a century. Likewise whether you count the total or rolling time. Just ride the darn thing and have fun.

BlazingPedals

A century is a hundred miles in a single ride. Beyond that, you can make up your own rules. In your own mind, you know what constitutes a single ride and not two different rides.

hyhuu

That's why I was so mad that the damm traffic light turned red. It totally ruined my century ride. From now on I am sticking to riding on the highway only.

Boudicca

We were the last ones back from an organized century ride a couple of years ago (ok, we started a little late). There was still a little food left.

It was well over six hours, but it definitely counts as a century.

devianb

I consider a century a 100 miles on a single ride within a 24 hour period regardless of how long it takes. Although I am not sure how long a break has to be before it is considered starting a second ride. Sometimes I will do 95 miles, go home, and then finish the last 5 miles several hours later after a long rest. Feels like I am cheating or doing it on Easy mode, but I still count it as a century.

stevebiker

A century is riding for 100 years. Nothing less, or it's not a century.

Sixty Fiver

100 miles on one day.

Racers will say it has to be done non stop in 5 hours, advanced tourists will oftenride 100 miles in a day but do that at a lower pace and will take breaks for meals and rest, and when I ride centuries the point is usually to ride that distance but to also enjoy the landscape so I consider 7 hours to be a good time when I am riding a lightly loaded touring bike.

If you can ride 100 miles in 6 hours you can say you are pretty fit... anything under that is putting you in a narrower category of riders, and when you get close to riding one in 4 hours (solo) you might want to take up cycling professionally.

The times for professional riders is faster because this is what they do and because they ride in groups where they can take advantage and draft each other and see much better times.

I-Like-To-Bike

Whoz counting? And why bother? Sounds kinda anal to me and wouldn't brag about it.

My suggestion: stop counting, or caring about Century Rulz. Ride whatever distance you want for however long you feel like it.