Where do you tour? My best was a two-month loop from Toronto to Gaspe, out through Ontario and Quebec and back through New England and upstate New York. Went through Oakville on the last day, I was in pretty good shape by then, as you might imagine. Nice place.

You're right to look forward to going out unencumbered, there isn't much to beat just riding for five or six hours for the sheer pleasure of it.

It's been years since I did my last self supported tour, and although I've ridden in many locations across North America and a couple in Europe, all my self supported touring has been within Ontario.
I've done the north shore of lake Erie, up the west coast along Lake Huron, to Manitoulin Island, and across country to and from various points along that route to Waterloo County where I lived at the time.

http://i61.tinypic.com/2rm3zao.jpg

Sauble Beach, 1999.

I got the reference too.

Yeaaaaah all by myself.....

:)

Like Big John states, sometimes you fire of an 80 mile, 9,000 foot climbing ride, and you feel the work. Other days, a 200K with only a few thousand in elevation gain can be blasted out in 6-ish hours, and you feel good. I'm on a medical hiatus, but I expect to be able to fire one off whenever I choose.

Yeah. I was doing a lot of them a couple of years ago but got burnt out. Lately I prefer intensity over duration and do more 30-50 mile fast rides.

What are you calling a century? If it is just riding 100miles in one day, I usually do 2 or three a year during self supported tours just because the lodging works that way, or one of our electronic mapping guessers sends me the wrong way. If you mean a supported century at a charity ride or just riding 100 miles to do it, never.

Marc

I've done them, just to prove to myself that I could, but I didn't enjoy them.

I'm not fast enough to complete a century in 4-5 hours. Four to five hours is about my limit for any activity--work, sleep, traveling, visiting people, whatever. Cycling is no different for me.

Last century I did, I arrived home completely bored, antsy, and upset. Didn't want to even look at the bike for two days. Did a nice metric today with the club. Just under four hours. I arrived home a happy man, looking forward to tomorrow's ride, and Sunday's too.

So ride what you want to ride. Me? I'll stick with 50-70 milers, thanks.

FWIW, I won't be doing my favorite ride this year, the Highlander Cycle Tour, because they've eliminated the 70-mile cut. Since this year's route goes around a lake, I can't make my own cut either. At least not without a snorkel.

Riding 100 miles or more in a day. Organised, casual, planned, unplanned, supported, unsupported - all count.

Despite having ridden many, many 100-milers, I have a lot of sympathy for this view. Once I'd done it a couple of times, the idea of riding 100 miles just to get into three figures rapidly lost its appeal. I really don't understand the guys who, after a 95-mile ride, carry on for five more just to do the hundred. Who cares?

But I don't entirely agree about the 4 - 5 hour thing. On a tour, or sometimes just when out for a day on the bike, there are days when just riding (not necessarily continuously, there is always the option of stopping at a decent pub) is the only possible option. 100, 120, 130 miles, who cares? There's just a wonderfully meditative, Zen-like quality of being on the bike and at one with one's environment. That's how most of my long days have happened, anyway.

Once a year, every year for the past six years, I've ridden a 100 miler within a couple of weeks of my birthday.

I have several personal reasons why I ride a "Birthday Century" every year plus, I really enjoy it. :recum:

+1

I've never done a century, and I don't really have any desire to try one. I'm fine riding half's and metrics.

I like a Century because it is iconic, it is a benchmark for cycling. Though it is not my preferred type of riding I do enjoy the more casual approach to the ride. I dont do Century TT's like some do, probably a side effect to long winters. My preference is speed and the raw adrenaline of hammering a course until legs are burning and breathing is labored. The endurance rides are a total different mindset and that I find enjoyable.

When I completed my first, I was disappointed the town didnt line the streets cheering in clamorous exultation celebrating my accomplishment. :lol:

I've done a couple of centuries in one day 4 times. And those were after turning 50 YO.

Twice I've done at least one century each month for a year. Pretty good as it can get cold in the St. Louis area and it's difficult to find riding partners. I've done some of them solo.

The last couple of years I've only been able to get in one or two centuries. We had a club that put on 5 centuries each year, but no longer.

I did three on father's day... darned near four. So evidently I like them.

Well the poll has finished and it either shows that centuries are more commonplace than I thought or how worthless online polls are.

If the replies are representative then almost 80% of members have ridden centuries, 40% regularly.

I'm a lower achiever than I thought.:cry:

Poll responders are self-selecting, and may involve a bit of ego gratification. "I do many centuries, and I want to tell everyone about it - even if anonymously," as opposed to "I have never done a century and likely never will," which is not much of an ego builder, and the person may not even respond.

Therefore, while interesting, most INet polls are pretty worthless as far as being able to generalize to the larger population. JMHO.

Some of us just dont like that long of a ride. Just getting out there is an achievement. In terms of accuracy, a poll is like throwing a rock into a pack of dogs. The one that yelps.....is the one you hit.

[QUOTE=OldsCOOL;16929733 A poll is like throwing a rock into a pack of dogs. The one that yelps.....is the one you hit.[/QUOTE]

Except that . . . no dogs were hurt in the making of this poll!

Rick / OCRR

I usually do two a year with lots of climbing to maintain my endurance. They are getting too expensive so a flat non challenging century is of no interest unless some friends are going.

I had a goal of riding a century 20 years ago. I made it as far as an MS150. (150 miles in 2 days) Now I just want to get healthy and lose a ton of weight. I might change my in a few years.

:lol:

As most of you know, I ride double centuries, so riding a century is fairly easy and I see centuries (pretty much) as training rides for doubles.

The exceptions are centuries with 10,000 or more feet of climbing, those get my attention a bit more.

I just checked my notes and I've ridden 19 centuries in 2014, 4 of which were the first half of a double. Our local club (Los Angeles Wheelmen) has some funny rules about counting centuries anyway:

1. If you ride 90 miles or more, you can count it as a century.
2. If you ride a double century you can only count it as one century.

But . . . they do count centuries and a loyal club member (Gary) records everyone's centuries (in the club) by month, just in case anyone is curious. So those are their rules and I play by them.

My main club (OCRR) doesn't have any rules (and very few, if any, centuries) but I like it better for shorter rides; seems more friendly for one thing.

Rick / OCRR (and sometimes Los Angeles Wheelmen)

Edit: Oh, hang on, I forgot, I also ride centuries with the Orange County Wheelmen, but only those hosted by Chuck Bramwell (very friendly!) since they are billed as double century training rides anyway. So yes, very challenging, but fun!

That's pretty amazing. I'd like to see what it's like living in a snowless state a few years for the effects on cycling. It seems like I spend all of March, April and May getting back in shape. Trainers help but it isnt riding.

Very True OldsCOOL, Environment is a huge factor. I just rode another century yesterday, so that's 20 so far in 2014.

I rode this one with two other guys, one 50+ and the other 60+. Well, except they didn't do the bonus Mt. Wilson Observatory climb at the end because they're smarter than I am! Plus, I needed it to get 100 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing, which was my goal for the day.

Bike Ride Profile | Red Box to Grassy Hollow ::& Back + Mt. Wilson near | Times and Records | Strava

Rick / OCRR