Mr. Beanz

I've done 5:45 on a flat solo century before, a few times. No drafting, just me and the road. Was your century also solo or paceline. I've had several rides say I could do a 5 hour if I used a paceline, but just not my thing.

Tom Stormcrowe

I rode that same ride he's referring to and it's flat to slightly rolling, and was in nasty rainy weather. It went from miserably hot to clammy wet. He also did it with no draft.

Mr. Beanz

Cool, my kinda guy!

Bizurke

2008: Ride from East to West across Iowa to meet with RAGBRAI then complete RAGBRAI all self contained. Then follow the AC northern Tier Route from Iowa to Minot N.D.

2009: Coast to Coast (TransAmerican Trail) solo self contained.

Tom Stormcrowe

Yeah, scummer is a pretty hard core rider.

Scummer

Actually I need to make one correction. I did latch on to a group of riders which I still cannot explain how I caught up to them because they were way stronger than me.
So I latched on to them at about milemarker 52 to 62, but they dropped me 3 times at the hills, which took a big effort to reel them back in that the whole ordeal hurt me more than help me. After I let them go at milemarker 62 because I was out of gas, I had stomach cramps and I really wanted to give up. I was done, toast, gassed, wrecked and everything in between. The ride from 62 to 70 miles was pure hell but I made it to the SAG stop where I just dropped into the grass, gasping for rest like a fish out of water.

Moral of the story: Don't think you're a hotshot during a century and latch to a far stronger group of riders. It might look like a great idea at first....
Keep it nice and steady into the headwind and rain. And let the other riders go at their own, faster pace.

Mr. Beanz

Good story Scummer. That is one of the reasons I ride organized rides alone, 98% of the time. The other 2% is that maybe I ran into a friend or two. I do much better holding my own pace rather than latching onto the really fast guys. Most of the time you'll find you're only a minute or two back anyways.

Scummer

Yeah... I made that mistake only once. I will never forget that experience of suffering. But then, it was only my first or second century after I had picked up cycling again in early summer of last year after I had stopped cycling for the last 10 years I couldn't believe it how much I missed it... but I was just too afraid to ride my bike in the US.

Trucker_JDub

Some of the climbs that have been posted here are down right amazing. The Death Ride seems about imposable to me now but in a couple years who knows. Of course most of my time has been spent on flat and rolling hill areas. I just can't wait for the rain to end, I want to give the one I posted a good try and see what where I get to so I have something to base my progress on.

Cosmoline

My goal last year was a half century, and I did it. This year I plan on two half centuries with a backpacking trip in between--down to the woods and back a few days later. It would be great if I could swing a full century in a circuit of all the main bike routes, but I'm not sure what the point would be.

Mr. Beanz

Well I'm a 'You can do it ' person and I say you can!...Before I did a century with 10,000 ft of climbing, I rode strictly flats. I had no idea climbing rides even existed before I joined a bike forum. I did 3,000 miles a year on the trail. A friend talked me into the ride so I was uncertain of my abilities.

I trained for about 4 months on long climbing rides, once a week. First time almost killed me but if you're in decent shape, you quickly adapt. Seems more like the muscles adapt to the angles of the road and stress on the legs. Training rides were 40 miles with 5k of climbing. Oh it was tough but after 3 or 4 times, actually got much better. I was actually surprised on the ride itself. It was much easier than decribed by the vets. So easy that I figured I could remove an hour from my official time the next year.


That year I was 230 and did 3,000 miles. The next year I did 4,000 but watched my diet very closely and added in some mtb during the week for climbing. I went down to 218 and smoked the ride! Did it again the next 2 years and did about the same eventhough I rode 7,000 miles. Just not as aggressively. Maybe 10lbs heavier too.

Last year I did a ride that was 12,000 ft of climbing. Didn't diet or train very hard (235 lbs). Still doable just not as fast. All you need too do is go out and start climbing. Start out easy, the speed and ease will come in time. And rather quickly if you're in half decent shape right now!

I know a guy that did 3 passes on the Death Ride and didn't train at all. He did not complete the ride but he was not a strong/fast rider at all. I think mostly people are intimidated to do these rides when they can be done.

I say go for it. But then again, I'm one of those that thinks if it's humanly possible, I can do it!

Gus Riley

Yes it is. We have all the maps and are ready to get started. Very recent events have cleared our way to go. Nothing stands in our way now, all we have to do is commit to a start date. My better half is maintaining a start in 2009. So it looks to be firming up mighty quickly. Good deal because I have been wanting to go since I retired eight short years ago!!

Gus Riley

We're going East to West. Yorktown to Florence. Start should be right after school lets out toward the end of May. What are your plans, we may run into you somewhere along the route.

RoaringMad Mac

I would love to do a vacation biking event. I know there are plenty out there. I would love for my wife to commit to doing one herself as well.

Neil_B

So start planning one. You could tackle a trail and not worry about traffic. Camp or stay in lodgings as you wish. Travel at your own speed.

Two widely recommended trails for bike touring vacations are the Katy Trail in MO (250 miles), and the Great Allegheny Passage/C & O Canal towpath in PA and MD (335 miles.)

RoaringMad Mac

LOL, I already have I just have to get my wife up to par on riding as well.

However, I have planned on getting together with some of the members on my site who I just found out are big riders and maybe trying to plan something out with them.

BigBlueToe

This is probably a "who cares?" post, but if anyone is in my local area, here's a ride I like. I do it after I've been training for something for awhile, to see if I'm really in shape. If I can complete this without too much suffering, I'm good to go. (That's for what I consider to be "in shape" for myself. You gnarly people might find this too easy.)

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...o-Cayucos-Loop

This is a loop so you can start and finish anywhere along it. I start in Los Osos. I ride into San Luis Obispo on Los Osos Valley Road. I turn left on Foothill and ride to Santa Rosa (Highway 1). I take it into town and turn left on Monterey. Get on Highway 101 at the end of Monterey and ride until you reach the junction with Stagecoach Road. Take Stagecoach over the grade. At the top get back onto 101 heading north until the Santa Margarita exit. Get off the highway and follow El Camino Real through Atascadero to Home Depot. Get back on 101 for a couple of miles and take the Templeton exit. Take Vineyard Drive west and turn left on Santa Rita Road. Follow Santa Rita Road over the top of the pass and down the other side until it ends at Old Creek Road. Take a left on Old Creek and head to Cayucos. At Cayucos, turn left on Highway 1. At San Jacinto you can turn right, then left again and get on the bike path that will take you a couple of miles. Cross 41 by Morro Bay High School and pick up the bike path again just before the highway onramp - it turns off to the right. When the bike path ends, turn left on Quintana. Follow it up the hill. Turn left on Morro Bay Blvd. and quickly right back onto Quintana. At the bottom of the hill turn right on South Bay Blvd. This will take you back to Los Osos.

The total miles is 67. The route takes you on all sorts of roads and scenery, from busy highway shoulders (unavoidable but brief) to dirt roads through the country. Since a couple of the stretches involve dirt, I wouldn't recommend this route to someone with really skinny tires on a fragile racing bike, but on a touring bike with 28m tires or wider, this is easily doable. There are some long climbs that will test your fitness - Stagecoach Road, Santa Rita Road, and the climb up from Whale Rock Reservoir on Old Creek Road after you're pretty exhausted - but also some nice flat stretches - Los Osos Valley Road, El Camino Real, and Highway 1 from Cayucos through Morro Bay.

coasting 

What a great route! This is now officially my target...well part of it anyway.

I've been aiming at being able to get from London to Cambridge and back in the same day. My normal ride takes me half way there and back so I could do the one way but certainly not the return journey. Hopefully by June I'll do it.

cyccommute 

1. Finish the middle of the Lewis and Clark Trail (the scary bit) from Great Falls MT to Pierre SD. Already done both ends.



2. Break the 160 day barrier for riding to work (got to 156 days a couple of years ago.) Then break the 190 day barrier.

3. Ride in all 50 states...I've got 27.

4. Do my brussels sprout tour that was called off last year...after spending 6 weeks training for it. So called because I have to do it before I can enjoy my dessert. (Start in Texarkanna and ride in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi)

5. Someday figure out how to do the TranAm trail and still be able to pay the bills.

6. Either plan and do a "Sherman's March to the Sea Tour" in the south or (and?) do the Underground Railroad Trail.

JohnKScott

Cool thread. Hard to answer the OP question because as I get more fit my sites keep setting higher. I don't know what the ultimate is at this point.

Here is one I have planned for this summer. Not monumental compared to some rides I've seen posted here and pretty flat, but it will be a fun day out on the bike back in my old stompin' grounds...

https://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...klin/395388343

After that, a double century would be the target. Maybe this fall or next year?

Plus I would like to do a flat century ride that I did last fall (my first and only century) in just under 7 hours saddle time in under 6 this year. I know that's not blazing fast, but it would be a nice improvement over last year. Since I'm in A LOT better shape now than I was last September and I probably really didn't train adequately last year for my first century (I really didn't ride anything over 35 miles except twice before I tried the century) I'm thinking that is within reach .

SHOwned

my ultimate riding goals are to complete a century this year. i cant ride at all now due to a freshly shattered collar bone. i suppose i can meet my goal if i train like a demon once i'm healed. furthest i've done in a day so far is like 15 miles... i could have gone further...i just didnt have the time that day for much more.