I'm planning on doing the Foxy's Fall Century, and signed up for 50K. Now, I'm tempted to go for 100km. I did a 30 mile ride out to Sac yesterday, got home and after drinking a bit, felt like going back out! I haven't done more than 35 miles a day though; last weekend I did about 60, but most rides are 20-30 miles. I've started road biking about 2 months now.

Should I go for it? Should I stick to the 50K? It's mostly flat, and rest stops and meals. I'm familiar with half the course. I'm 45, and no health problems.

Help me decide!!

I say "Go for it!"

I've been riding about 20-30 miles, 5-6 days a week, for the past 2 months. I've completed two metric centuries - on my MTB. The first was really difficult - I originally began riding to lose weight - and I didn't eat. I bonked.

I ate regularly over the 2nd one - a couple fig newtons every hour or so, and finished without any problem.

Definitely go for it - but take your time - and don't try to break any records. Ride your own pace.

Dave

Thanks Dave! I will have to be careful...I tend to get impatient and hammer. And I'm not hungry, so.....I'll bring some newly discovered (for me) Cytomax for my water, and some gel that a triathlete friend gave me (she's off at Ironman and HI right now!)

ALthough if it's as windy as it is today, I'll probably stick to the 50km.

I'm with Dave... definitely go for it!

With an event and lots of other riders on the road, the enthusiasm will be contagious and can help energize and motivate you. There will be sag vehicles and lots of other riders if you need help. Plenty of food and rest stops. You already know the biggest liability... going hard too early. What've you go to lose???

You planning to do it on the Crossroads or the Dolce? My wife and I did our first organized ride last month, and did a metric century, after training for about 2 months. We made the ride on Expeditions. We now have Allez which I think would be easier, although we're both (my wife especially) suffering from some wrist/hand discomfort. We were riding 30-35 mile rides up until about 3 weeks out, but they tended to be very hilly rides. Then we added some flat miles to that and did a 65 mile ride the weekend before. We suffered some, as the metric was a very challenging course.

Keep hydrated, and eat at least a little something at each rest stop. You can make it.

My Dolce: my Crossroads is fitted for commuting with wire folding baskets. It's HEAVY!

I think there are some hills...and I've never ridden hills! Just overpasses. I'm kind of giving myself conditions now. IF it's not windy, I'll do 100km. But I think it could be excitment/nervousness, you know? I'm still wavering, but these posts are the nudges I need to go for it! Anybody ride the 100 km course at the Foxy? How are the hills?

I looked it up, and it sounds like it shouldn't be too difficult of a course. I wish I had the computer I have now (with altimeter) when we did ours last month, but to give an idea, I had several experienced riders tell us that having completed that ride, we would have no problem doing the 100 mile ride they offer in the spring. For what it's worth, we rode the day after what was left of Ivan went through. It was cold, raining, and the wind was brutal, to the point of having to pedal downhill at times to keep moving. I actually watched a crosswind take my wife about 6 inches sideways at about 20 MPH on a downhill, I thought she was toast. The biggest thing I think is nutrition and pace.

I still say "go for it!" regardless of the wind. Is it a straight course, or a loop? If it's a loop, the wind will be at your back for part of the ride.

My 2nd 100KM was 50% into a strong 20 knot headwind. It sucked, but I spun away at a moderate speed. The wind was at my back all the way home. I absolutely flew! It took 2.5 hours up, and just under an hour back. It made all the effort worthwhile.

Unfortunately. there's only one road and one direction where I can ride from here. I live about 2 miles up from the end of US 1, with water in all other directions. From here, riding a real loop is an impossibility.

Never set your goals too low!

Dave

Right on. You can never reach your full potential until you try your hardest and fail.

If you've previously done a 60km ride (return trip) as your maximum, you can sure as hell go for a 100k ride or even 120k.

This is my first organized ride and I've signed up for the 100 Mile Ride! Been riding the bike trail and the hills around El Dorado County since early summer. My longest ride this summer has been a little over 60 miles but I'm hoping that if I pace myself and visit the rest stops I'll complete the ride.

From what you've said you should be able to make the 100km ride without any problems.

Yes! I wanted the answers I got; part of me wants to push it, and try doing double the milage I've put in so far in one day. My friend is checking with the DBC to see if I can do the 'last minute switch' and do a different distance. I just have to remember to pace myself, hydrate and eat.
Joxerspak, so you're doing the Davis FF too? Good luck! 100 miles will definitely be a goal for me someday...

Doing double the mileage you have ever attempted is a bit of a reach.

But it sounds as if you can do 30-35 easily.

On event rides, I always get a boost just from the excitement and all. I have found that the surge takes me quite a way. I think that if you stop at 30, you will sort of "let down". I think you probably should be able to do 40-50 pretty easily. The last 10 miles or so might be a challenge, but if you stop and rest a little and snack and go slow at the end you should probably get through.

The thing is that doubling the mileage would be a big deal and that would make the ride a memorable event. However, the going could get a bit tough at the end and that is a matter of just gearing down and slowing down and being patient.

Also this is a supported ride and if worse comes to worse, you should be able to SAG in.

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

My boyfriend and I are signed up for this and I am looking out my window right now and kind of dreading it -- it is REALLY smoky in the valley from all the forest fires. Actually I can't tell how much is smoke and how much is cloud cover, but my eyes are stinging so I think some of this is from fires.

We were planning to do the 50K because I am a newbie rider (in fact I just bought my first road bike today and have been planning to do this ride on my Crossroads, although mine is aluminum so it's not quite so heavy), since around 23 miles is the furthest I have ridden so far. With this air quality that suddenly feels like a good decision.

A (well) organized ride is usually easier than riding alone or with a couple of pals I find. ALong a metric century you will get to stop at regular intervals of say 12miles for food, drink, or just socially while alone, a rider tends to continue till tired which is usually not good. The rule is drink before you are thirsty, eat before you are hungry, rest before you feel tired,... alone, I never do what I preach !
Go for the metric century, you'll love it !

forgive me. Whats a metric century? Im having a hard time keeping up with the lingo these days.

metric century = 100 kilometers, or about 62.5 miles.

Hey, overthere, how'd you do? Did you do the 100K? We decided to stick with the 50K, which was probably a good idea for me with all that wind. I did it on my new road bike and it was kind of a breeze, but I suspect the 100K would have killed me dead. If I had had a road bike for a month instead of two days before the ride I think I would have tried the 100K, though.

xeney...glad to see you made the 50K ride, it sure was windy yesterday. I'm curious also as to how overthere did on her 100k ride. I rode the 100 mile ride and am paying for it this morning!

I made it!! I did the 100K, but boy, there were times when I thought there was no way I was going to finish. I wasn't feeling very strong yesterday, and I my legs were feeling it before I left town. Then my water bottle cage broke off about 12 miles out!

It's such a mental thing. I remember when I passed the first SAG wagon, and my body had a little sugar surge or something, with a bit of light headedness, and I thought, 'Oh no! I'm bonking or something!!' but I kept pedaling.

Those first 30 some miles before the 1st rest stop were tough! The wind was gusting. I had to keep an eye on my water bottle 1/2 jammed into my handlebar bag, but threatening to fall out. I thought, 'I'm going to SAG back. This is too much...' but I made it there. I managed to eat a fig newton and a piece of banana. I refilled my water bottle with their Ctyomax (soapy taste! Yck!) and decided to push on, since the wind would be in our favor out of Elmira.

And it was. Heaven! I could go forever! And there was a fun group ahead of me, with those funny tooty horns, having a blast. My legs finally found their rhythm, and it was through wonderful walnut orchards...although at that point, I was soon preoccupied with that awful 'I have to pee!' mentality. Yes, I went at the rest stop, by my body is new at this. I was lucky to stop at a local saddle shop where they let me use the facilities, and the 2nd time? Let's just say I'm an initiated Roadie!

I had sort of figured that I would skip the Solano Lake lunch stop, and head back into town, but Putah Creek Rd came up quicker than I thought, and the nice man waved me left, so I went left, for the 12 mile lunch loop. I tried not to think of the hills, my FIRST hills ever riding. It wasn't bad at all, not too much more than an overpass, but the worse part for me was going downhill FAST! For me, fast. My computer said I maxed at 29 mph, but it was faster than I'd ever gone, and and I felt a hint of panic. When I tried to squeeze the brakes to slow down, I started a slight shimmy, so I thought, what the hell, and just coasted down, until I saw the turn for lunch was right at the bottom. I gently squeezed both brakes again and managed to slow pretty smoothly. Lunch!!

I couldn't eat much, but it was a great lay out of food. The weather was blue and perfect. I tried to relax on NOT think of the hill back out on the way up. But soon, I couldn't justify stalling anymore, so I headed out. Panic! I'm going to have to walk my bike! My legs hurt! I'm going to look like a weeny if I walk! But then I remembered some forum poster writing about just pumping one pedal at a time probably on some mountain with a name, so I followed suite, and I made it!

The rest of the ride was great. Familiar, flat, and almost over. I swear, I was the slowest thing on 2 wheels out there, but I was so happy that I was DOING it! And bike people are the best. Everytime I had to stop to 'uncradle' my water bottle to drink, people called out to see if I was okay. Near the end, I must have looked tired, because friendly people would comment to me, 'We're almost there!' and 'Not too much farther!' as they passed. And they nearly ALL passed. At the least the view is nice! I confess, part of my inspiration to keep going was to pretend chase those lycra clad male roadies.

So I did it! I can hardly believe I managed. It was such a big jump in mileage for me, so THANKS for all the posts here that encouraged me to go for it!!

Hey! Congratulations to you and the others that met their goals for this ride! I actually came to this forum looking to see if there was news, I'd have felt bad telling you to go for it if you had failed.

If you or anyone else is interested, I posted the training logs from the first metric century my wife and I did, as well as the story of the ride itself, which was brutal on the tail of Hurricane Ivan. It's a fairly long read, but several people have told me it was a good read. You can find it here.