View Single Post
Old 09-19-09, 07:07 PM
  #23  
Hezz
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,655
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by donhaller
I have seen a few rides advertised as English Centuries, isn't a hundred miles a hundred miles?
Sorry to break the fun but everyone so far is wrong. Except for the jokers.

The English had at one time a system of measurement known as the imperial system. It used inches, yards, miles, gallons, ounces, etc. Some of the volume measures are different than the American. For instance an Imperial gallon is 160 ounces instead of 128 ounces of the American gallon. But the inches, yard and mile are the same as the American equivalents. At least they are now. They unified the imperial distances in the 1950's to be the same as the American units. Prior to that time the Imperial distance units may have been longer. I'm not sure. So an English century is essentially 100 miles long. Not to be confused with the metric century which is 100 kilometers.

However, some believe the English century to be superior to the American century even though they are of the same length. The primary difference is that one is based on Imperial miles and the other on American miles.

From Wikipedia:

Imperial units or the imperial system is a system of units, first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824, later refined (until 1959) and reduced. The system came into official use across the British Empire. By the late 20th century all nations of the former empire had officially adopted the metric system as their main system of measurement. However, the use of imperial units does persist, with some countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada, having laws permitting and even mandating them.


The imperial system is one of many systems of English or foot-pound-second units, so named because of the base units of length, mass and time. Although most of the units are defined in more than one system, some subsidiary units were used to a much greater extent, or for different purposes, in one area rather than the other. The distinctions between these systems are often not drawn precisely.

One such system is the US customary system, which is historically derived from units which were in use in England at the time of settlement. Because the United States was already independent at the time, these units were unaffected by the introduction of the imperial system. Units of length and area are mostly shared between the imperial and US systems, albeit being partially and temporally defined differently. Capacity measures differ the most due to the introduction of the imperial gallon and the unification of wet and dry measures. The avoirdupois system applies only to weights; it has a long designation and a short designation for the hundredweight and ton.

Another distinction to be noted is that between these systems and older British/English units/systems or newer additions. The term imperial should not be applied to English units that were outlawed in Weights and Measures Act of 1824 or earlier, or which had fallen out of use by that time, nor to post-imperial inventions such as the slug or poundal.

My personal take on it:

American century = 100 miles ridden with the end in mind for bragging rights to see how fast you can do it.

English century = 100 miles ridden with the journey in mind, not for speed but for enjoyment and to see the country side.

Last edited by Hezz; 09-19-09 at 07:23 PM.
Hezz is offline