fc_

Went out on Saturday for a club century ride on Saturday. This ride was rescheduled from last weekend, due to the weather. There were only three of us that ventured out for the rescheduled century, and as far as rides around here, a pretty mellow rolling hill kind of route, with only one climb to speak of, fortunately that was right before lunch, so it worked out well to refuel after the climb. Total climbing of just over 2000 ft for the entire ride.

The big problem of the day was flats! With all the rain we've had over the previous week, and another shower the night before, the roads were definitely not cooperating with my tires. Between the three of us, we had four flats for the day, and I'm ashamed to say three of them were mine! Guess it wasn't a good day to be my rear tire! Fortunately, I had enough spares to cover me, and just for good measure stopped in a bike shop and picked up some more spares after the last flat (I still had a couple of patch kits with me, so I wasn't too worried about not finishing).

With the extra time for fixing said flats, and a bit of a longer lunch than expected, we didn't make it back until well after dark, good thing I packed my lights (and yes, even spare batteries). Total rolling time of 8hrs, so not the fastest century on the books, but then again, we weren't out to break any speed records this ride, but one thing for sure, definitely the earliest in the year I've ever done a century!

CliftonGK1

Nice going on a strong start to the year! Are you planning to try the Century-a-Month challenge and go for 12 consecutive months?

I feel for you with the 3 flats in 1 ride. I've been riding a 200km each month since November to get my R-12 award with Randonneurs USA, and during my December ride I got 3 flats in the first 10 miles! Same issue for one of them: Rain allowed a sliver of something to work through the protective belt of my Gatorskins.

fc_

Honestly, I rarely plan much in advance, but do have two other mainstream organized centuries planned for this year. The first one in May is the GPC Century (and that event was the first century I ever rode, way back when). 100+ miles, 8000+ ft of climbing.

The second one in June is the Best of the Bay (aka BOB Ride), I'm planning on working the "official" century with my club, and then riding the workers century the previous or following weekend (the club hasn't nailed down an exact date for the workers century yet).

Yeah, annoying, but in the end, being prepared really paid off. I usually end up being the rolling sag for other folks, rarely needing much, if any, of what I carry for those "just in case" situations. A bit of extra weight this time helped save my ride for the day, thats for sure.

rdtompki

That's great the you got one in so early in the ear. My wife and I have missed January on our tandem, but intend to ride a tandem century in Feb. Like your recent 100 miles the Rice Valley tandem rally is fairly flat

CliftonGK1

That GPC ride sounds pretty awesome. 8000+ is pretty hefty climbing. One of the notoriously hilly rides around here is the 7 Hills of Kirkland, which started out as a 40 miler with 7 big climbs, and now has a 100k option with 11 hills and a full century with 13 hills totalling about 7200'.

I tend to bring a lot of "just in case" gear, too. 3 tubes, a stick-em patch kit, Leatherman tool, spare batteries, etc. I think people are surprised I don't keep a road flare in my Carradice like Yehuda Moon.

DanteB

fc, congrates on your first century of the season, it's tough to do centuries this early. I logged in 2 centuries in Jan. one on the 24th and the other on the 30th. Both had around 3,500' of climbing. I'm getting ready for my first double of the year on Feb. 20th, Camino Real Double.

Homeyba

Sorry but I have to ask this, you have a ton of great, (relatively)car free riding all over the place near you. Why did you choose a route through all that city! You could have hopped up into the Oakland hills and over towards Livermore and Mt. Hamilton...whatever. Regardless of that, congrats on your first century of the year!

BikeArkansas

Good to see this post because I rode my first ever January century also. For some reason this year has become my CAM year. The Feb. century is scheduled this Saturday.
Do not worry about the slower time. I am learning from this experience that winter riding will be slower than warm weather. Just enjoy it.

Neil_B

Congratulations!

fc_

It was a ride with the bike club I belong to. I ride in the hills a lot, and seldom get over to the peninsula, so it was a change of pace. Sure, a bit more urban, but still, not a bad ride. I've been on worse!

fc_

Actually the slower riding time was due to the group I was with, and the lack of ride sheets brought by the ride leader. Maybe she'll be more prepared when she leads her next ride.

funrover 

Congreats, one day I will try a 100 miles

Homeyba

You know, any day on the bike is a good day!