Originally Posted by
khatfull
The simple fact is that the importance of 100 miles has been determined by the folks in the sport. It's universally recognized as an achievement.
Does a pitcher who allows one hit get to say he basically got a no hitter? No! It's only one more hit than a no hitter right? Well, it's important because it's an achievement/goal set by the paerticipants in the game/sport. A no hitter is universally recognized as a significant achievement in baseball. Almost doesn't count.
The OP invited criticism buy saying "what is the big deal..." Well, it is to cyclists just as a no hitter is to pitchers, or winning all four majors to golfers, or winning all the grand slam events to a tennis player. The OP can ride his 97 miles and be proud...but to the majority of cyclists, be it for tradition, a triple digit number, whatever, 97 will never be "the same" as 100.
Universally? I think not. In the USA perhaps. In the metric world, which is most of us, it's a metric century then a double metric century.