2011 SoCal Century a Month Challenge

[augustgarage]

2011 SoCal Century a Month Challenge

Ok folks it’s that time of year again to start thinking about your goals for 2011. What better goal than to do a century a month to keep your fitness level up and to be ready for any organized ride you wish to do without worrying if you’re “in shape” for it. Riding a century a month is a great way to train for doing Brevets, Double Centuries or Multi day tours.

CENTURY FAQ:
A century is defined by the UMCA as being from 90-149 miles and completing it within an 11 hour time limit including time off the bike and maintaining an average of 8.33mph.

What Counts?
• Any Organized/sponsored ride that is billed as a century
• Any informal group or solo ride that totals between 90-149 miles
• Any Indoor Century: You may ride indoors "centuries" (six hours) for credit.
• Tandem Century: Centuries may be done on a tandem bicycle. A tandem rider accumulates tandem mileage independent of partner.

• Double centuries count, but only as a single century.
• This is self reported. The honor system is all we have so if you lie about your data may you be cursed with thorns on every trail you ride.

Since the UMCA allows up to 2 make up rides you can start as late as March

PLEASE, DO NOT REPLY TO POSTS OR POST ANYTHING OTHER THAN YOUR DATA.

Please post the data for your century/month as follows:

Date of Ride:
Type of Ride: (group ride or solo ride)
Name of organized ride or route:
Actual Mileage:
Ride Time:
Total Time:
Avg. Speed:
Altitude Climbed: (if available, either by route map, or cycling computer)
Weather conditions:
Synopsis of Ride: (please be respectful as you never know who might read this)


Remember, even if you don't make all twelve, please still post your data for as many months as you can - all centuries are an accomplishment! So, although this is a challenge, it is in the spirit of camaraderie!

If those of you who are planning to go stealth this year, or are on the fence want to join the fun please let me know. If you do not see your name or century months updated, please PM me, and I will update your info. Thank you!

RIDERS WHO ARE TAKING THE CHALLENGE:

1. augustgarage 14/12
2. calamarichris 9/12
3. CbadRider 2/12
4. Genaro 1/12
5. jmX 7/12
6. ...?

Date of Ride: 1/1
Type of Ride: 200K ACP Brevet with the PCH Randonneurs ("Views of Anacapa")
Actual Mileage: 125.5
Ride Time: ?
Total Time: 7:43
Avg. Speed: ?
Altitude Climbed: ~4500 - 4900ft
Weather conditions: 32ºF - upper 40s; moderately windy, in the opposite direction you would expect.
Synopsis of Ride: Moorpark to Carpinteria via Casitas Pass, then back down the coast to the Naval Air Base, then back to Moorpark. Had a jovial group of ~25 - 30 at the start - stuck with 2 other riders until the climb up Casitas when I went off the front. One of the other two passed me in Port Hueneme I think while I was re-fueling...saw more cyclists than motorists which was a pleasant change of pace. Some gorgeous bikes on display and some wood-fire pizza at the end - great way to start the year! Didn't take many photos, but: Ride report to follow...

[jmX]

What the heck, I'll give it a try.

Date of Ride: 1/27
Type of Ride: Solo
Actual Mileage: 103.8
Ride Time: 6:56
Total Time: 7:49
Avg. Speed: 15.0
Altitude Climbed: 5150ft
Weather conditions: 70F, annoying abnormal wind
Synopsis of Ride: SART->Imperial->Santiago->El Toro->Alicia->PCH->San clemente, and back. Somewhat relaxing ride, trying not to push it. Bike lanes the whole way. Hit a lot of lights (note: you hit less lights on these roads on the weekend). Had a nice long stop along the beach in dana point to enjoy the birds, sun and scenery.

[calamarichris]

Date of Ride: 1/29
Type of Ride: Solo
Actual Mileage: 101.65
Ride Time: 6:09
Total Time: 8:03 (had lunch at Mother's Kitchen, and spent a few weeks waiting for non-automated stoplights in &$^%# Escondido.)
Avg Speed: 16.5
Avg Power: 241W
Avg HR: 146bpm
Top Speed: 52.3mph coming down Cole Grade. (I believe it could have been higher if it weren't for the truck in my way.)
Climbed: 9508ft
Weather conditions: Perfect on the climb up, (which should have been a clue that I'd be freezing my tookus off on the way back down.)
Synopsis of Ride: Carlsbad/Home to Palomar Summit & return. Escondido must be Latin for "many &$#@^ red lights"; if a route through or around Escondido exists that isn't miserable, I haven't found it yet. Seems like I spent half of the day waiting for red lights to change. It really cooled off on my way back down; I'll never make this run again without at least an overvest & knee-warmers in my jersey pockets. The motorcycle traffic on South Grade was fairly light and quite polite, but there were dozens of stupid monster trucks spewing thick black smoke on the 76 climb. There is a market with water at the Palomar Oaks campground at the base of Palomar, and it turns out their tapwater is the same stuff that gets bottled and sold as Palomar Water. They're a lot less hostile to cyclists than the Stage Stop next door to Jilberto's Mexican. The chilly descent and chillier headwind most of the way back really took it out of me.

Click here for Garminconnect junk.

Edit: Ha! Just noticed I sustained 288.5W for more than an hour in the middle of this arduous ride. Feeling pretty good about cracking 300W FTP next month.

[CbadRider]

Date of Ride: 1/30
Type of Ride: Solo
Actual Mileage: 90.07
Ride Time: 6:02
Total Time: 6:40
Avg Speed: 14.9
Weather Conditions: Started out nice, finished crappy and rainy.
Synopsis of Ride: Carlsbad up to the Bagel Shack in San Clemente, on the way home SLR trail to College and back to the coast, then home. The ride north was nice, had a great tailwind on the way up. I wasn't doing too bad on the way back with the headwind until dark clouds rolled in and it got cold. I had a vest on but no knee/leg warmers. Sprinkles on and off through San Onofre and Pendleton. The headwind on the SLR trail slowed me to about 10 - 11 mph, it was not fun. I had planned on turning inland at Palomar Airport and getting over 90 miles for the day, but it started raining in North Carlsbad and after a couple of miles I was soaked, my knees were freezing, and I just wanted to get home. I would have had my standard 15 mph average speed, but the last half mile was spent cruising down side streets and doing a couple of laps around my cul-de-sac to hit 90 miles.

[calamarichris]

Date of Ride: 02/05
Type of Ride: Solo
Actual Mileage: 102.87
Ride Time: 5:36
Total Time: 6:18
Avg Speed: 18.4
Avg Power: 241W
Avg HR: 148bpm
Top Speed: 44.6
Climbed: 5823ft
Weather conditions: Pretty nice. A little chill in the headwind on San Luis Rey returning to the coast.
Synopsis of Ride: Elfin Forest-Lake Wohford-Valley Center-Lilac-Old Castle-Circle R-Couser-76-West Lilac-San Luis Rey Bikepath-PCH. Finally found a less tedious path through Escondido (Grand Avenue!), but also learned Valley Center Road, east of Cole Grade Road is an @$$-buster--terrible, terrible road.

Click here for Garminconnect junk.

[augustgarage]

Date of Ride: 1/15/11
Type of Ride: Group
Name of Organized Ride: "Rainbow 200K" (San Diego Randonneurs)
Actual Mileage: 121.2
Ride Time: ?
Total Time: 7:47
Avg Speed: ?
Elevation Gain: ~8,000ft
Weather Conditions: Cool start, growing fairly warm (~80F) - a few clouds.
Synopsis of Ride: Start in La Jolla, up through Rancho Santa Fe to San Elijo Hills and N Escondido; then the backcountry of Couser Canyon and Rice Canyon to Rainbow, back through Fallbrook to the coast, and down PCH to the finish. Ride report here.

Date of Ride: 2/5/11
Type of Ride: Group
Name of Organized Ride: Orange County Circle Santiago 300K (PCH Randonneurs)
Actual Mileage: 191.0
Ride Time: ?
Total Time: 13:27
Avg Speed: ?
Elevation Gain: ~11,000ft+
Weather Conditions: 32F - 84F; Very light winds, mostly clear, cold in the morning, warm during the day, cool in the evening.
Synopsis of Ride: Starting in Foothill Ranch, this route follows Santiago Canyon Road to Orange, to Newport Beach on bike paths and the Back Bay, north on the PCH to the SART (Santa Ana River Trail), on to Corona, South on the I-15 corridor, around Lake Elsinore, through the avocado orchards of De Luz (a few double-digit "rollers" here), to Fallbrook, toward the coast to Oceanside, then North on the PCH to Dana Point and inland back to Foothill Ranch. Ride report to follow...

[CbadRider]

Date of Ride: 2/13
Type of Ride: Solo
Actual Mileage: 90.2
Ride Time: ??
Total Time: 7:30
Avg Speed: 13.5-ish
Weather Conditions: Perfect
Synopsis of Ride: Carlsbad up to Dana Point. I had reset my Cateye computer the previous day and forgot to turn on the automatic timing function, so it didn't log my speed or time on the bike. It was a perfect day for a ride, but my legs were tired from teaching 3 spin classes in 4 days. The ride north wasn't too bad but my legs wore out on the trip south so I ended up just tooling along. The bagel place at Dana Point was jammed so I ate at a cheap pizza place. Two slices of pizza + drink for $6 - not bad (not terribly good, either, but I got in and out of there in less than 20 minutes).

[jmX]

Date of Ride: 2/26
Type of Ride: Solo
Name of Organized Ride: Death Valley Spring Century
Actual Mileage: 102.7
Ride Time: 8:58
Total Time: 10:22
Avg. Speed: 11.4
Altitude Climbed: 4311ft
Weather conditions: 50-70F, very high headwind
Synopsis of Ride: Wind was everything. Less than 1/3rd of the 400 people that signed up actually finished. It was brutal. Slowest 100 miles ever!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/70564415

[calamarichris]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73093724
Date of Ride: 03/12
Type of Ride: $olvang Century ($115 to ride on those roads!?!? And T-shirt not included!!)
Actual Mileage: 98.5
Ride Time: 5:00:29
Total Time: 5:14
Avg Speed: 19.7
Avg Power: 233W
Avg HR: 162bpm
Top Speed: 46.3
Climbed: 4744ft
Weather conditions: Chilly & windy, but not as bad as last year.
Synopsis of Ride: Almost 20 minutes better than last year. Started out a little too hard because it was so cold and I had a hard time unclenching. Eventually was able to relax and just haul the freight. I got help in the crosswind for a total of less than 5 minutes in the crosswind in Santa Maria by two hardy souls, but spent the rest of the day pulling trains of drafters. Unlike last year, felt great on the last 20 miles on Foxen Canyon. Was pulling a train of guys who didn't seem at all interested in taking a pull, but when the grade picked up, they faded quicker than a fart in the wind. Goal was sub-5 hours, but I narrowly missed the last stoplight in town and it killed my momentum. Probably won't do this ride again until they do something about Foxen Canyon--it remains a buttcrusher.

At 30 miles, and at ~96 miles:

[augustgarage]

Date of Ride: 3/19/11
Type of Ride: Group
Name of Organized Ride: Solana Beach 400K (San Diego Randonneurs)
Actual Mileage: 260 (yeah, I got lost, otherwise this would be 248.something)
Ride Time: ?
Total Time: 19.50
Avg Speed: ?
Elevation Gain: ~15,500ft+
Weather Conditions: Mostly cool to cold with a few hot spots, fog, drizzle, and winds.
Synopsis of Ride: Solana Beach down to San Diego, out to Alpine, up the 79 to Julian, through Warner Springs, up to Hemet via Sage Rd, up to Lake Elsinore, then down to Temecula and San Marcos (with lots of time on Old 395) before heading back to Solana Beach via Carlsbad. Ride report to follow.

[calamarichris]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/75728911
Date of Ride: 03/26
Type of Ride: Hell's Gate Hundred
Actual Mileage: 100.6
Ride Time: 6:02:47
Total Time: 6:57
Avg Speed: 16.6
Avg Power: 231W
Avg HR: 152bpm
Top Speed: 46.3
Climbed: 8675ft
Weather conditions: Freezing, sweating, sweating, hypothermic, sweating, smiling.
Synopsis of Ride: Ooog--Chalk another one up to the Hazard of New Functions. Should have brought arm & knee warmers for this one! Also should have made reservations at the resort instead of staying in a crappy, smokey, casino hotel in Pahrump, driving an hour both ways, thereby also compelling myself to eat a pre-century breakfast of (bleargh!) McDonald's hash browns. (Come to think of it, this is the first McDonald's product I've eaten this millennium. (Come to think of it again, the first one in more than two decades.)) On the first climb on Artist's Road, I was burping up pieces of freeze-dried, reconstituted potato-ish product saturated with grease and teen despair.
Was not prepared for the sustained climb, didn't grab enough water at the base, and was in a pretty bad way just before the pass. I'll definitely do a few things differently next year! (Maybe just volunteer to hand out water and take pictures of the riders, haha.) Spent nearly an hour in the feed stations, and didn't really measure up on this ride; partly because of being sick for the last two weeks, partly for the poor prep, and partly because it was so cold on the Nevada side of the mountain.
This was my first Adventurecorps event but certainly not my last! And I could see myself becoming evangelical about this organization.

[jmX]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/75760236
Date of Ride: 03/26
Type of Ride: Hell's Gate Hundred
Actual Mileage: 100.3
Ride Time: 7:03
Total Time: 7:56
Avg Moving Speed: 14.2
Avg Power: 179W
Avg HR: 154bpm
Top Speed: 37.8mph
Climbed: 8655ft

Most fun I've ever had on a bike. Easier and less memorable than last months century in death valley, but more enjoyable. The climbing was great, nice and easy.

[augustgarage]

Date of Ride: 04/02
Type of Ride: Two Man 200K Training Ride
Actual Mileage: 128.5
Ride Time: 7:59
Total Time: 8:35
Avg Speed: ?
Climbed: 13,175ft
Weather conditions: Cool, overcast, foggy, partly cloudy, etc.
Synopsis of Ride: Up Sepulveda, Down Entrada, Up Topanga, Up Old Topanga (turn around due to downed power line), Up Topanga, Rollers along Mulholland Hwy, Down 7 Minute Hill, Up Stunt, Up Ramblo Pacifica, Down Piuma, Down Encinal, Up Yerba Buena, Rollers along Mulholland Hwy; Las Virgenes back to the valley...

Map: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/341564

[calamarichris]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/79827219
Date of Ride: 04/16
Type of Ride: MOunt Laguna Bicycle Classic
Actual Mileage: 100.52
Ride Time: 6:13:02
Total Time: 7:14:50
Avg Speed: 16.2
Avg Power: 210W
Avg HR: 154bpm
Top Speed: 46.5
Climbed: 9577ft
Weather conditions: 38 degrees at start; 98 degrees at finish
Synopsis of Ride: Ooog--Chalk yet another one up to the Hazard of New Functions. I was not at all prepared for the final climb up Pine Creek. Beautiful, beautiful ride, but harrrrd. This was the first time I've ever had to WALK my bike at an event, (and I had a 38-27!!) This was a real wake-up call for l'Etape next month. I really came apart on Pine Creek--but strangely enough, was only passed by 2 or 3 people, and I caught them plus several more after that pass. Weird.

[jmX]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/79631447
Date of Ride: 04/16
Type of Ride: Self Supported century, Orange, CA to Camp Pendleton and most of the way back
Actual Mileage: 100.8
Ride Time: 6:51
Total Time: 8:02
Avg Speed: 14.7
Avg Power: 183W
Avg HR: 149bpm
Top Speed: 41.2
Climbed: 4934ft
Weather conditions: 90 degree avg, 105.8 max (HOT!)

Rode from my house to camp pendleton in SD county and back (minus a few miles as it got dark and I got a ride after doing my 100 miles). At mi 67 my left knee became useless and I ended up doing some 1 legged pedaling for the next 25 miles. Not sure what happened, but it started to clear up around mile 92. Due to this, the heat, and the fact it was self supported (went through 9 bottles of water!), I think this was tougher than the century in Death Valley last month. Max temp was up on santiago canyon....it was scorching hot up there.

[augustgarage]

Date of Ride: 04/09
Type of Ride: Mulholland Challenge (PlanetUltra)
Actual Mileage: 112.0 miles
Total Time: 7hrs50min23sec
Climbed: 12,500ft
Weather conditions: Cold and clear with light winds on occasion.
Synopsis of Ride: This about sums it up. Ride report to follow.

Date of Ride: 04/16
Type of Ride: Monterey 400K (Santa Cruz Randonneurs)
Actual Mileage: 262.0 miles
Total Time: 16:34
Climbed: ~7,000ft?
Weather conditions: Foggy and cool in the morning, quite warm but not really hot in-land, growing cooler again at night, with some tough winds around Gonzales and Marina.
Synopsis of Ride: Santa Cruz to just past Half Moon Bay along the 1; back down to the 84, up to La Honda (I added 12 miles here by going too far up the 84), back and over Pescadero Rd, Gonzales Creek Rd, etc through Davenport and Santa Cruz along the 1; Through farming roads to Marina, out to Gonzales, back to Marina, then back to Santa Cruz via more back-roads. Ride report to follow.

[Genaro]

Getting in on this late in the year, but I want in

Date of Ride: 05/01
Type of Ride: Organized: Tour De Cure (Long Beach Ship to shore
Actual Mileage: Approx: 100 miles
Total Time: 7:11
Climbed: ~3400 ft ?

Weather conditions: A little cool in the morning,no arm warmers necessary. Ocean breeze kept temp in the 70's and possibly low 80's. Wind kicked up pretty good around mile 70 going up Wesminster to Huntington beach, then turned around and faced us again on PCH heading back to long beach..

Synopsis of Ride: Don't have much to compare the ride to as this was my first century, but the weather was nice, I'm glad I couldn't find my Garmin the night before since It helped me enjoy the ride not fixating on my Avg MPH, etc. The course was badly marked, tiny road markers right before you had to make a drastic turn and not enough in the long stretches. Very confusing. Riders even were getting confused in the last turn heading into the finish. Almost hit a peacok in PV (that was a first) Glad it stopped.

[calamarichris]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84538752

Date of Ride: 05/07
Type of Ride: l'Etape du California
Actual Mileage: 98.88
Ride Time: 6:26:16
Total Time: 8:40:22
Avg Speed: 14.9
Avg Power: 230W
Avg HR: 149bpm
Top Speed: 49.5
Climbed: 11,224ft
Weather conditions: Perfect. (Hopefully we'll get Santa Ana conditions on the 21st, so the pros can really suffer.)
Synopsis of Ride: Great, great ride. Beautiful. I was afraid of a clusterf**k coming down GRR & East Fork, with all the bandit-riders, but I had a smooth ride down and passed dozens of riders easily on the descent. (Had to cross the double yellow a few times, but did so safely.) BUT they didn't have any water at the Azusa waterstop and that really screwed my pooch. I arrived at Azusa with two empty bottles and it was another 15 miles (and about 4000 feet of climbing) until the next water. I had tunnel vision, seeing swirling spots and was just concentrating on turning the pedals without blacking out by the time I got to the water. Probably added 15-20 minutes to my time. It also screwed me up for the last 4 miles--some weird little muscle on my inner thighs started cramping and I walked for 200 yards on one of the steep sections. Still felt happy at the top to look around and see all the skinny, muscly dudes I'd finished with (and a good number I'd beaten.) Will definitely do this ride again with water.

Numbers on Garmin data don't include the 4-5 miles from Memorial Park in Upland to the start line, because I didn't start my timer until the start. Total elapsed time also includes resting atop Mount Baldy and eating peanutbutter & banana sandwiches, and eating pasta back down at the start line and talking with the awesome people down there. Met MrC and a BUNCH of other neat, insteresting people, including this older guy, Sverra who came all the way from Norway to ride l'Etape. There were many gorgeous ladies down there, and I also saw THREE, three-legged dogs. (Is this the new fad, now that hybrid breeds are passe?)

[volosong]

... and completing it within an 11 hour time limit including time off the bike and maintaining an average of 8.33mph.

The 8.33 mph ... is that "average speed" or "average moving speed"? The Garmin records "average speed" as including stops.

[augustgarage]

The 8.33 mph ... is that "average speed" or "average moving speed"? The Garmin records "average speed" as including stops.

11hrs * 8.33mph = 91.63 miles; so if it didn't include time stopped (I think it does), you'd only be able to stop for ~11min, 44sec to still make the 11hr cut-off.

[volosong]

11hrs * 8.33mph = 91.63 miles; so if it didn't include time stopped (I think it does), you'd only be able to stop for ~11min, 44sec to still make the 11hr cut-off.

Thank you for the clarification. Sounds quite reasonable and possible, except for maybe a full 100 miles uphill at grades higher than 6 or 7%. For the "average" century, most reasonably fit people would be able to make the cut-off.

I did a century last Sunday, (the L.A. River Ride), and my average moving speed was 15.0 mph, (rode solo), but including stops, the average speed dropped to 12.8 mph. Guess I can't goof around too much at the stops.

[jmX]

Date of Ride: 06/23
Type of Ride: Solo Century
Actual Mileage: 105.4mi
Ride Time: 6:17
Total Time: 6:57
Avg Speed: 16.7mph
Avg Power: 193w
Avg HR: 149bpm
Top Speed: 30mph
Climbed: 2231ft
Weather: The usual 60-80 degree range
My own 'Tour de MUPs' in OC: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94402113

[jmX]

Tried to do a nice easy solo century so as to not mess up my current 12 week training plan too much. Ended up being my fastest time and at my lowest heart rate ever.

Date of Ride: 07/24
Type of Ride: Solo Century
Actual Mileage: 100.2mi
Ride Time: 5:50
Total Time: 6:14
Avg Speed: 17.2mph
Avg Power: 192w
Avg HR: 144bpm
Top Speed: 38.7mph
Climbed: 2080ft
Weather: 80-90 degree range
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/101552205

[augustgarage]

Date of Ride: 08/13
Type of Ride: Group Century (DTLA's Finest 3rd Annual Your'e Not Worthy Summer Century)
Actual Mileage: 107.64mi
Ride Time: ~5:20
Total Time: ~9hrs (lots of long rest stops in between the hammering)
Avg Speed: ~20mph
Climbed: 2822ft
Weather: Overcast for most of the day - mostly in the upper 70s.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3491733

[calamarichris]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/108918781

Date of Ride: 08/20
Type of Ride: Cool Breeze Double Metric
Actual Mileage: 122.04
Ride Time: 6:32:40
Total Time: About 7:20-7:30. Forgot to hit [stop] button after finishing.
Avg Speed: 18.6

Avg HR: 155bpm
Top Speed: 42.4
Climbed: 6,463ft
Weather conditions: Perfect. Cool, overcast, with a 15mph tailwind over the last 15 miles.
Synopsis of Ride: Great, great ride. Beautiful. Got a good group going at the beginning, but we were soon overshadowed by this colossally strong Ironman Triathlete named Brandon. Started out WAY too hard. Brandon totally asphyxiated me and rode me off his wheel at about mile 80. Met him later at the finish--he'd just finished a one-hour run AFTER finishing this double-metric! I've been completely slacking in my training and riding over the last two months. (Honeymooner's Disease.) This was also the longest ride I've done in about the last two decades. Big mistake to do this ride after slacking for so long. Really suffered at the end, despite the tailwind. Definitely going again next year!