Solo Centuries
 

How many here prefer riding a century (when you do) going it alone? My first and only century was a solo "out and back" with the first half in a 15-20mph headwind that switched up on the return leg (murphy's law of biking).

Not me. I big part of why I like to ride are the people I do it with. As a matter of fact ... I don't think I've ever ridden a century by myself. whoa.

I have never ridden a solo century. I have ridden in quite a few organized centuries by myself, and ridden 4 doubles and a couple of centuries with a group more or less in a paceline. I enjoy both.

When I was doing club centuries I seemed to be either riding with people who were hell bent on a sub 5 hour ride or struggling to complete it in 8 hours. ~ 6:15 with a couple 5 minute breaks is the way I liked to roll so I was usually alone in the middle. I eventually decided to save the $20 entry fees and just ride solo.

I've done plenty and I enjoy them. Ride at my own pace, stop when I want - the freedom of it is appealing. I do go out and enjoy long rides with friends as well, but sometimes it's just nice to be out by myself.

I prefer to ride solo or in a very small group. I have done one group double century with the Los Angeles Wheelmen, but we were so spread out it doesn't count as a group ride. :) All of my centuries have been w/ one, two, or possibly three other riders.

My rides were uphill both ways. :lol: Seriously, my toughest century was my first, w/ my cousin and one of my college pals. After fighting a headwind in first gear all the way from Santa Cruz to San Gregorio, we had a tough time going back over the hill to Los Altos.

I've done a lot of both and for me there are times for both. If I'm trying to focus on some sort of training regime I prefer just being out there solo doing my own thing unless someone else is going to ride exactly like me. But I also greatly enjoy doing group rides if I'm interested in overall performance, helping the ride to go faster, etc.

I have not done a solo century but would really like to. I just want to take a day to go at a leisurely pace and forget about time. Just spending a day riding is what I'm after.

Done a few but never one that I decided to do and prepared for. Just got out on the bike and rode till I realised I was near the metric or over the metric and still had plenty of energy left to do 100 miles.

But days like that that are few and far between. Weather always seems to get in the way so I do organised rides---but do them on my own. Then as I have paid for the ride I will continue with the ride no matter how wet or windy the ride is going to be.

I like both. I've done more with others than I have solo. It's nice to have company when the going gets tough.
I did a organized double that was well supported, but my buddy backed out at the last minute and I didn't hook up with anyone, so I did that kind of solo in that I rode alone the whole day.

Have done both. Organized or club rides provide some support and companionship, sometimes at the expense of having to abide by others' timetables or paces. There is something, though, about rising early and heading out at dawn for a long ride and not worrying about anyone else.

I've done plenty of both and they each have their advantages, as others have noted above.

I think the ones I enjoy most are not the super-organized Event level centuries (Palm Springs, Solvang, Wildflower, Lighthouse, etc.) but the ones put on by a few cycling friends who just decide to do one, without any outside support. That way we can take all day, re-group whenever we want, stop to eat at some "sit-down" cafe or just buy food along the way.

In these days of email and facebook, it's fairly easy to get a group together for a century.

I've never ridden a double on my own, but as John E. points out above, sometimes the separation between riders is so great that it seems like doing in on your own.

Overall though, I like the small informal centuries the best.

Rick / OCRR

I've done about 35 centuries with maybe 80% of them riding alone. Even in large organized rides, I usually ride alone. I like to set my own pace.

All of my rides of 100 miles or more have, so far, been organized centuries. I sometimes ride with a group of people, sometimes with one other person and sometimes by myself. Sometimes I'll start a ride alone and along the way I'll fall in with one or more riders going my speed, maybe for a while, maybe for the duration. I have also started rides with a group and either dropped off the back or broken away off the front when their speed didn't suit me at the time.

I have done several solo rides of 70 to 80 miles and will likely stretch that out to a century soon. I wouldn't be surprised if my first solo century turns out to be a mixture of dirt roads and paved roads on my monstercross bike. That is when I get the most adventurous on rides these days.

I've only done one. It was a rail trail in Northern Illinois that I always wanted to ride and I did it last summer.

I've done about two dozen century rides in the last 4 years.

About 1/3 of these are organized events, the rest are rides in northeast Illinois starting from my home.

I find riding with one or two friends to be ideal. Riding alone is something I often do, but I consider it to be less safe than riding in a small group. I avoid larger groups, it takes too much energy and effort to hang with a group and avoid any contact with the young guns while maintaining a paceline for 5 to 6 hours.

When I lived in NorCal, there were always lots of riders available to do centuries, double centuries or something in between (an overnighter to the coast, a favorite of ours, was 270 miles), so I rode a lot of disorganized group centuries and such. Here in Oregon, there just aren't many people who ride any distances and the local riding skill level is a bit below my safety threshold, so I ride a lot of centuries and double centuries solo or with my wife on a tandem.

While I enjoy riding with other people, my favorite rides are unsupported centuries and doubles on a tandem with my wife. If one of us wants to stop for a while, we don't have to justify it to anyone. If we want to go hammer and tongs for a few hours, we just do it. When we find an interesting looking old right-of-way like Gunter-Alma Rd, we head off on it. When it turns to gravel and then single-track, we just keep on enjoying ourselves and no one talks us out of seeing where it comes out. Of course we are totally on our own if something goes wrong, but we're not afraid of walking a bit, if need be. (We do have a Spot set up to notify a few friends where we are and if we need help, but we've always managed to make it home under our own power.)

What?! You can still ride centuries for $20!

I usually do the organized centuries alone, moving from group to group. I'm on the fixed gear anyway, so things tend to break up on the climbs, since I have to maintain a certain tempo to make it up comfortably. Lately I've been riding with my girlfriend on my wheel. When we get to the climbs, she surges on ahead! I catch her at the top or on the descents, since she doesn't like to descend fast, and I like to countersteer the fixie to the limit of tire adhesion. Unless it's a straight, steep descent, and then I'm toast, totally spun out.

Luis

I typically ride alone by default. Maybe someday I'll find someone to ride with. One of the LBS here will host wednesday morning rides but I work those days.

There is a well organized century not far from here that I just might be in this year. It's a flat and eastward ride that attracts racers looking to cop an easy PR or get their TdF thrills.

I prefer solo centuries (65 last year) to group centuries (3 last year not including brevets) - hard to explain why. Maybe I'm more anti-social than I think I am - I like silence, listening to music and starting/stopping when I feel like it - not when someone else does - is that anti-social or just self-centered? Brevets (200km and longer) are a different animal --- I like riding @ my own pace for 200 or 300km ones (though I'll ride with others on brevets) but would want to ride with others for any distance past that. But 100 miles? Shrug - that's a walk in the park and unless I'm feeling particularly socially-needy that day, I prefef to ride alone.

There IS a definite benefit to having others along if something unforeseen happens, of course. But I'm mechanically self-sufficient enough that I'll get most basic failutes fixed and get home without anyone else's help. So 100 miles and major malfunctions doesn't enter into the equation very heavily for me.

When I ride alone...I prefer to be by myself... feel free to sing along. ;) Don't know how many centuries I've ridden alone but it's a lot. I've ridden 600km rides by myself. Heck, it's over a hundred miles for me to just ride around the block (the back yard). Riding around the block in front is only 23 miles.

Having said that, I do prefer to ride with others. I'm more of a social animal than not and have no problem riding at a slower pace if that means riding with someone else.

I like both. I do as many organized century rides as I can. But I also like doing it all on my own. What I rarely (or never really) get to do is any riding with just another buddy or two. I don't know anybody else locally who rides.

I ride centuries solo every weekend. In fact the concept of paying to ride my bike in an organized event seems plain wrong. My job involves hundreds of kids everyday. Then I have two more at home. I look forward to 6 hours with only the road, me, and my bike.

Perfect!

Dang, I'd love to get to that point and at 65?? Good for you, really good! Our reasons for riding solo are very similar.