Originally Posted by Gnosis

Congratulations on your first century ride, Frosty Camel!

However, I'll add that riding a century ride just once doesn’t provide a heck of a lot in the way of bragging rights, as in essence it conveys that you deemed it so daunting that you decided against ever riding another century. See what I mean? Not much to brag about.

But it's definitely a gratifying personal achievement and that achievement becomes all the more significant when you find yourself riding numerous century rides per year without giving its difficulty a 2nd thought.

There are many on this forum who ride a dozen and even more than 2 dozen century rides every year, now THAT qualifies for some serious bragging rights, but oddly, their achievement far outweighs any need to brag about them, so instead they deem it gratifying that they’re capable of doing so at whatever their age.

So I’m not raining on your parade, but instead trying to get you to realize that century rides get easier the more you ride them and eventually you may find yourself riding much greater distances just as I have (i.e., a 200-mile ride in late August of this year). I only rode 8 hilly century rides in 2012 and that was the first year that I ever rode a century ride, so my point is, it doesn’t take all that long before you can progress to far greater distances, but it won’t happen unless you possess the desire to accomplish such distances and you can't accurately determine the scope of your limitations via a single successful century ride, as they do get easier each time (short of riding them in sweltering humidity, which is always more difficult).

I hope it doesn’t turn out to be your only century ride, in which case, I wish you much success in your future distant rides.