Machka 

Quite a high percentage of you have indicated that you could do somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 miles without any special preparation, so I wondered .......

How many centuries (100 miles), or longer rides, have you done?

Are you interested in, or involved in, rides longer than centuries?



I'm at 125 centuries, or longer rides, so far since my first century in 1994. And I think most of you know I'm into Randonneuring and 24-hour TTs.

Dubbayoo

I've done 3 centuries this year and I didn't specifically train for any of them. In fact for one I didn't ride at all the previous month. I prefer to do 2-3 hour rides all the time and I almost always ride alone. Centuries are just a social thing for me. I don't care if I do them fast or not.

WxGuesser

i did my first today....
yesterday i found out about it and rode it.... just took more food.. that's all...
my previous long ride was just over 70 miles..

Duke of Kent

I've hit the 5 hour mark, for riding time, twice. I don't even look at mileage, but as the only time I roll at <20mph is for a recovery ride or with a crazy headwind, I'll assume it was 100 or more. Not to mention it was with a group of 5 other guys each time, which would further increase the pace.

I normally ride for 3 hours or more once or twice a week, as well as whatever the racing schedule throws at me, i.e. road races.

And, honestly, distance really doesn't mean much. A point to point RR with a tailwind, even at 160km, is pretty easy if you aren't doing any work. Whereas a 100km RR with several rated climbs on it is going to suck, regardless of whatever meteorological assistance you might recieve.

So, riding centuries doesn't really appeal to me. I don't see the point.

Machka 

Congratulations!

That's how I rode my first century back in 1994. I had done a 70 mile ride a couple weeks before, and was planning to ride 85 miles ... gradually working my way up to a century. But when I got to the 85 mile point that day, I figured I only had another 15 miles to go, so I might as well go for it!

WxGuesser

Thanks.. if you wanna check out the ride it's here:
https://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4469397

patentcad

I do 4-6 110 mile rides each year, routine long Saturday rides, not organized centuries. I don't know how many times I've exceeded 100 miles annually over my riding career, probably a couple of dozen times. I'll continue to do those 100+ mile training rides 4+ times annually going forward. I do 75+ miles much more regularly, like 25x annually. I have more problems with things like hot spots in my cycling shoes on warm days on longer rides or neck pain. I wouldn't want to spend more than 7 hours on a bike (those 110 mile rides are typically rather hilly 7 hour rides). I will probably go 120-150 miles one of these days just to say I did it.

Machka 

Have you tried moving your cleats back a touch (1-2 mm). That got rid of my hot spots. And raising my handlebars got rid of my neck and shoulder pain ........ well, until I landed on my shoulder in a crash in the spring.

elgalad

I usually get one in each weekend.

Two per week during base training.

Sirrobinofcoxly

I did 12 centuries last year. This year, I've done none. *shame*

biffstephens

I did 16 this year....hopefully more next year and faster....

rollin

3 in all. All solo, all unplanned. All 70 milers that kept going!

Hardheadmandca

I did my second organized century yesterday, the 109 mile Tour de Tucson. I didn't do as well as I wanted to, but better than most. There were 9K+ riders, and I finished in 7:36:59, or 2846th place. That got me a silver medal, but they give a lot of those away. I wanted to finish under 7 hours, but there was no shade and I simply roasted out there. Next year I'll do better. It's about a 2.5 hour improvement over my first Century last June around Lake Tahoe. That kicked my butt for no good reason - well, I also spent way to much time gabbing in rest stops at Tahoe.

I've also had 3 training rides this year that extended themselves to century length.

Demit

I don't keep track of miles but its not uncommon for me to put 6 hours in a day.

How and why do you all keep track of how many you've done?

jschen

I think I've done 17 100+ mile rides since last September. Not really sure. I love long days in the saddle, but don't always have the time.

Machka 

How ... with a computer.

Why ... because distance is more important than speed to me. I've actually been keeping track of my distance since I started cycling "seriously" 17.5 years ago.

Mr. Beanz

What the....???? My post vanished!

I did 23 centuries in 2005 with a total of about 30 lifetime. First was in 97 (?)

Machka 

That's been the story of my life this year!!

Machka 

I knew you'd done centuries before!!!

mihlbach

I probably average about once a month. A century is not a big deal to me and I don't keep track of how many I've done. A double century I consider challenging...not only because of the distance, which I can do, but because I have to ride through NYC (twice) to get anywhere that I can ride that sort of distance. I don't mind riding in the city, but riding all the way through it twice on a 200 mile ride sucks.

rbart4506

I've done a grand total of 2! Both were done this year....Didn't really prepare for either, just rode my bike leading up the centuries. The first one was actually decided on the week or two before. My wife and I had intended on doing the metric, since it was our first major ride of the season, but got talked into doing the full blown century. That one hurt both us of because of the heat in Georgia. It was May, coming from Ontario, we were not accustomed to the hot and humid weather. It took a good bit to recover from that ride. The second one was better. It was in north Toronto and in September so it was cool, but really wet. We finished that one with gas left in the tank. Even though I felt good at the end it still took a bit to recover from that ride too.

Next year we hope to do another couple, but we'll see if we can manage more. I don't see us doing anything longer then that though since the recovery periods are long enough.

Personally we just like getting out on a Saturday morning and doing 100-130km and calling it a day. We get home just after noon, stretch, eat, get cleaned up and then head out for a coffee and the rest of the day.

maddyfish

I've done 5, that I know of, back in the old days 8 hour rides were not unusual. So 5 for sure. The first 3 I trained and prepared for, the last 2 were spur of the moment.

LowCel 

I've only done seven, four of which have been this year. I only intentionally went out to do three of them, the other four just kind of happened.

substructure

I did 3 in a row in July. That's all I needed to do this year.

Psimet2001 

I think I've done 6 or more this year. I think I did 6 last year. I am travelling today so I can't check my log. Lifetime....not a whole ton. Maybe 25-30ish. I really didn't ride centuries until the last 5 years or so. The previous 15 were spent riding shorter distances.

Last 3 years I have ridden the RAIN ride (Ride Across INdiana) which is 160ish miles. I always plan a double metric or 2, but I don't think I rode any this year.

Last 2 years I rode at least 1 solo. The rest are organized rides - mainly for the set routes in areas I have never ridden before, and water/food.