Originally Posted by
jamesdak
Wow, guess I see things a bit different. I record the data from all my rides just to keep track of my fitness since this is what I do it for. All my solo riding (which is 99% of my rides) have the actual ride time recorded since that is what my computer is tracking. Also this gives me yet another consistent metric to track on. Yet if riding in an event than yes the total time is what I am tracked and rated on obviously and I have no issues with that at all. Yet I still record my ride time for the event in my log since that is the consistent data point I am using.
This in not to say I don't worry about the total time on long rides. I always work on improving that. All breaks are at a minimum and I constantly tweak how much stuff I carry and such to minimize how often I have to stop. I never stop to just rest no matter what distance. Even if I boink I'll just push nutrition/fluids and ride through it until it passes.
So, when I say I'm riding a 5 + hour century at an xx mph pace I will mean the time spent riding. In most cases there would be an additional 10 minutes or so when I stop at home halfway, hit the bathroom, refuel, and then move on. Never felt this was deceptive at all. Heck I don't even know how to or if my computer will track total time. Guess I'm just breaking on of those BF rules.
I am so ashamed... Oh well, I'm over it.
Seriously, do what you want. Who cares what others think. In any organized event you will obviously be timed against the others. As long as you know what to expect based on your own training rides what does it matter how you report your time in the grand scheme of things??
Here's the issue that I have...and why it matters to a lot of people...When someone here starts a thread stating that they completed their first sub 5 hour century and people rush to congratulate (which is a tremendous accomplishment, don't get me wrong), it matters. A sub 5 hour century (measured using elapsed time) is AWESOME!. However, a sub 5 hour century reported in riding time is something that isn't as hard to do. So, the problem is that when people read this thread....different people understand the post in different ways. So, it does matter....