Originally Posted by
milchad
It's a rite of passage for many cyclists.
I voted that I had completed at least one. My number is at two, I think. I did the first one a few months after taking up cycling. The group that got me into cycling was doing the Old Kentucky Home Tour, so I did what they did -- the 102 mile option. It was an experience. Not exactly more than I could handle, but I did get pretty loopy for 10 miles or so starting just before the big climb near the end (Pottershop Hill). It was a social event that year, and that's the way OKHT will stay for me, whether or not I do the century.
Last year, i did the 72 mile option, as I was recovering from mono. I might do the 50 mile option this year to accommodate the gf, who will be doing her first tour.
The other century I have completed was a pretty difficult and stellar ride from Louisville to Bloomington for the Little 500. I consider it stellar even though I blew out my hip flexor and was not able to do the return ride. Little in life tops cycling to a cycling event, even when you spend the weekend pedaling the rollers in Bloomington on one leg.
Originally Posted by
botto
it's a number. nothing more.
Having completed two, I have a take-it, or leave-it attitude about it now. If someone wants to ride 100, I'm game, although my schedule and riding ability work better for the metric century. I've struggled at the end of both centuries to the point where I've sworn them off. I know I will do another one (sooner or later), but they are not my bread and butter ride. I want to plan something special for when I complete this next degree, but that will probably be a tour and not some major one-day ride.