Chris L

Alright so who's up for this? The challenge is to ride at least one imperial century in every calendar month of 2004.

I bombed out last year after illness meant that none of my 13 centuries for the year occurred in February, so I'm keen to atone for that this year. Does anyone want to join me?



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For those who have not yet broken the century barrier, perhaps this provides an opportunity to work for it. Perhaps gradually build up the training until you're ready to pull off your first - and keep us informed as to how it's all going.


So who's up for this?

SamDaBikinMan

Heck Chris I thought you'd just rahter do a cetury a day for the 365 day year .

36500 miles in one year! Imagine how much of a stud you'd be.

I'll watch from the safety of my couch.

So should we set up a training journal forum? Or post a personal journal in the Training/Nutrition forum?

ngateguy

Imperial is that what we call a metric (100k) century? that might be fun to try I have April, July and August covered already.
a training journal forum would be cool too!

Chris L

Unfortunately, I have to work sometimes, too.

There are a number of on-line training journals where one can document their daily progress (I use www.bikeprolog.com). However, I thought it might help the motivation if people had somewhere to post their major achievements as they go along. I suppose I could make this thread a sticky if need be.

Oh yeah, just for clarification purposes - the imperial is 100 miles, or 161km. Of course, those who want to run with the metric (100km) option can do so if they wish.

danr

Sounds like a challenge. I haven't ridden a singe mile yet this year, but I need a little motivation. I'll give it some thought.

naisme

Sure, I'll give it a shot. I was pretty close last year, with two in February, so I didn't have January covered. Tried to get psyched up for one today, but I worked 16 hours last night, and was really ragged, so I did 26 and called it quits.

goodcatjack

Dude, I'm in.

I was on track to do it late last year (for the first time) but this stupid shoulder surgery got in my way, and then I got lazy. Soooo laaaazzyyy. So this'll be the kick up the seatpost that will give me the quick energy I need to get back on the road.

What's the proposed schedule? Should it be a rain or shine thing? Lots to think about.

Ooh, and a jersey! yeah ...

-alex.

NZLcyclist

I shall do my best but I dunno.... at the moment I am working 8 hour days 7 days a week untill the end of jan in the corn feilds! I will be able to do at least a Metric century a month, easy. I have already got one out this month before I got the job. I am concentrating on TT speed right now.... I want to be the 2005 New Zealand Under19 road TT champ.....thats my goal!

Brendon

Chris L

If we're talking one century per month, I imagine there should be at least one day suitable for riding in terms of weather - unless, of course, you're in Queensland, where the humidity will continue to suck for another three months or so yet. I'd say there will be plenty of opportunities to get the miles in.

For those yet to do their first century, well, there's plenty of time to go until the end of the year for that one, too. Should be enough riding time to get the base miles in.

Guest

Actually, Queensland wouldn't be the good example of an exception to bad weather riding- it would be the winter months in places where the weather can get dangerously cold. I would hate to see someone fighting below zero temps in an inane attempt to keep the mileage up for something that's not really important.

If you're riding in the winter months, consider your health above anything else. With an especially bad flu season, you could end up doing more harm than good riding on a day where the temperatures are not safe for riding, especially on those days when the temperature is declining over the course of a day.

Also, if you live in a climate where monsoons abound in the winter months, do be careful- I've never been in a monsoon, but I do know the monsoon season does have plenty of days where it's nearly impossible to go outside, and not safe at all.

If you're living in a climate that's not temperate mostly year round, consider at the very least doing your mileage on a trainer rather than attempting what may be a less than safe ride outdoors in uncooperative weather.

Be safe more than anything else is what I'm looking for if you plan on participating in this. If you can't ride outdoors, by all means, do your ride on a trainer or stationary bike.

Thanks,

Koffee

willic

I am always up for a challenge.... But I`m afraid this one I wil have to forego as my winter cycling is restricted to my old Hybrid, outdoors, and it is just to heavy and slow to contemplate any where near a century ride, between 40/50 is about all I could manage at best.

Come the better weather and when the gritters are put to bed for the Spring/Summer/Autumn, that is a different scenario!.

shokhead

I do 100 miles plus in a week,does that count?

Chris L

A century in a month essentially means one day in a month. It doesn't actually require anyone to go out everyday rain hail or shine (although, having not ridden in hail for a week or so, I personally am suffering from withdrawals). Alright, perhaps the training might require slightly more than one day a month, but there is nothing in this challenge to force people to go out every single day if they choose not to, or even force anyone to partcipate at all.

Incidentally, if we're talking about below zero celcuis -- do a quick search for "Strathgordon" on the forums. I was fighting those in "summer" last week.

Whoa, hang on! Trainer miles haven't counted in any of the previous bikeforums challenges thus far. I'm not so sure they count in this one either. Given that there is no "daily distance" requirement here, it doesn't really seem necessary.

Of course, but I really don't see any way that participating in this would compromise one's safety.

Guest

Dood come on out to Chicago and do that century. You'll soon find what I mean by compromising safety. Tomorrow, the high is supposed to be 1 C, and that's before factoring in wind chill. By the way, the wind is supposed to get as high as 37 km/hr. This is what I would call a semi-good day for us. God help the Canadians, who get worse weather than us!

I know the century per month is one century per month, hence my caveat about being safe. If it were 100 miles in a month, I would feel a lot better about promoting it, as it would be more realistic for people in colder climes, but as it's an actual imperical (100 mi) ride, that changes the playing field a bit, I think.

Seriously, Chris. You are welcome to come on down here to Chicago and ride a month out here. If you plan for February, I'll put down my sleeper sofa, and you can see for yourself what I mean by unsafe conditions. It would do you some good to see how the other half lives every now and then....


Unless you can make consessions for those riding in the harsh winter climates, I think it's more than fair to say that if you've got bad weather, and you're feeling like your safety is compromised, you can be able to do your miles on the trainer. Besides, the way most people talk, it's like those 100 miles would be much harder on a trainer than riding outside anyway!

The welcome wagon is here for ya anytime, gorilla boy! You sound a bit soft anyways....

Koffee

sm266

hmmm. could this be the excuse I've been looking for to warrant a road bike purchase???

halfspeed

Tee hee. That's =fahrenheit=! Zero degrees fahrenheit is about -17 degrees c. Combine that with winds up to 60 kph and you can start to get an idea of what "cold" means in the upper midwest of the US where it's not unusual for temperatures to fall below -26 degrees c.

outashape

Count me in.

Chris L

Just last week I was riding in a Strathgordon summer, as I recall the temp was about the same, the wind 60km/h, and it was pouring rain. Oh yeah, that involved six mountain passes in two days.

It's still only one day a month. I'm sure you lot can manage at least one decent day in 31.

If you feel your safety is compromised on a particular day, ride the century on another day instead. Incidentally, I see we already have a few entrants from the Northern Hemisphere - couldn't just be a case of one particular member wanting an excuse to wuss out, could it?

Not out here in this humidity it aint, and not the centuries I generally ride.

As I recall I'm still waiting for you to pay for the ticket!

Chris L

Incidentally, I'm about to go for a ride in a thunderstorm -- and it won't even count as a century!

Guest

Well, Chris... you certainly are the most determined rider?

Call me wussy, or call me careful.... I'm not planning on participating in it regardless, since I'm on a periodization schedule for training. I can't let a club dictate what my training schedule is to be. You know I'm always about training schedules!

However, as you never know in the winter months what the bad days are when you've got your time off, it's not as simple as just finding a good day sometimes. You should know better.

It's nice to know that one remote day in your lifetime, you think you came close to what we experience here on a daily basis- sometimes as much as 5 months out of our year here. That's cute!

Anyway, I still say be safe... if you're aiming for the mileage, and you're just in crappy weather that's NOT safe, AND (since Chris insists that you can simply ride another day) you can't find another day off where you could ride safely, I still think you should be able to do those miles on a trainer. Whatsamatta, Chris? You too much of a wuss to ride a trainer or what?

All I ask is that you be safe when doing your mileage. There may be some riders that throw caution to the wind and ride in the thunderstorms, blizzards, extreme cold with wind chill factors, earthquakes, apocolypse-type events , but for those riding more realistically, practice some caution, that's all.

Koffee

Guest

Dood, you got me- I'm going to pay for your ticket, seriously. Shoot me a PM with your nearest airport, when you're off work and can make it over, and I will get you here by April.

No joke. It's about time you got over to the real world for a visit! Bring your bike!

Koffee

Bring it. At least two weeks, dood. And your butt needs to be gone in a month! That's about all I think I could take of you!

shokhead

How about a half century club,i can do that.A lot of you riders must have a lot of down time.A house,kids wife as hard to belive as it may be and a mom going nuts,i'm lucky to get in 100 a week.

Bikedud

Ditto.

Put me down for a metric a month. That I can handle. It will be March or April before I'm doing 100 milers.

lsits

Put me down for an metric century a month. That's what 62 miles? (I would do the conversion but I'm saving my energy for riding )

lsits

There's a conversion program on my computer. 100 kilometers equals 62.14 US miles.