BridgeNotTunnel

Hi all,

Of course I know of a "Century" for 100 miles, but what about, 5-10-20-50 miles...?

I tried googling the question, without any luck.

Thanks!

tsl

Half-century, 50 miles
Metric century, 100km or 62 miles and change
Double-metric, 200km or 125 miles

Some people use "quarter-century" for 25 miles, but I just call it a 25-miler.

rebel1916

A five miler is often called a sissy, while a 10 miler is usually called a nancy.

BridgeNotTunnel

Thanks for the responses.

I just finished a quarter century/25 miler.

Tomorrow I guess I will nancy to work.

jsdavis

Man, it takes some thick skin to rebuff the attitude that comes from some motorists on my commute of 4 miles each way. But coming from fellow cyclist...that hurts

rebel1916

If you ride both ways that's a double nancy!

rebel1916

4 miles is a teeny weeny...

ahsposo 

Sometimes it's just relative. 50km in cold rain is a longer ride that 100km on a perfect day in late spring. 30km into a strong head wind is called a death march. When you turn around and have a strong tail wind for 30km it's called awesome.

The difference between your epic adventure and your senseless tragedy is you are still alive to tell the tale of the adventure.

Machka 

Under 50 miles ... it's just a ride, as in, "I went on a 25-mile training ride this afternoon", or " I did a 30-mile ride around the lake", or whatever. If the 30-mile ride around the lake is a common occurance, then it might become "The Lake Ride".

50 miles = half century
100 km = metric century
100 miles = imperial century
200 km = double metric
200 miles = double century
300 km = triple metric
300 miles = triple century
400 km = quad metric
400 miles = quad century
etc.

Mithrandir

There's no such thing as a tail wind. You're just having an awesome day.

Looigi

I like the Fibonacci rides: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, ...

jsdavis

What's it called and we get a little extra boost from methane?

BlazingPedals

Methane doesn't give us recumbent riders a boost. It does keep our glasses from fogging up, though. The downside is, it makes our eyes water worse.

BridgeNotTunnel

Total double nancy, lol!

More good responses, ahsposo and machka, that's the kind of gauge I was looking for I guess.

I was also secretly hoping for ye olde examples as well.

Maybe a little something like, "5 miles is a jaunt, 10 miles a brief constitutional....", I don't know.

Is there an accepted standard length for the term, "tour"?

ahsposo 

A legume.

ahsposo 

There are those that really like long distance riding. They ride randonneurs or audaxes.

Here's a link to the wiki on it.

Here's a link to a friend's blog who rides these amazing distances.

BridgeNotTunnel

So that's where the name of my vittorio front tire came from....

It's a long way to go to be considered, "audacious".

Thanks for the link.

DataJunkie

I measure mine in:
a) Non divorce causing ride length.
b) Divorce causing ride length.

tagaproject6

Do you miss her?

DataJunkie

Heck no!

Machka 

No ... and touring is broken down into all sorts of categories ...

Within recreational touring:
-- Day tour ... where riders spend the day riding around an area with the intent of having a look at what's there. Riders will stop to take pictures, stop to read informational signs, stop to have a look at the scenery, museums, parks, etc. etc.

-- Hub-and-spoke tour ... where riders will set up headquarters in a central location (usually a place away from home), and will ride out in different directions each day of the tour ... like spokes from a hub

-- Point-to-point tour ... where riders will ride from Point A to Point B, stay there overnight, then ride from Point B back to Point A or onward to Point C, D, E, F ... or wherever. These tours can be a weekend tour, a tour of several days or week, or months, or even years. Cycletourists may carry everything they need with them in panniers etc. and camp along the way, or they may travel fairly lightly and stay in hostels, motels, friend's places, etc. along the way, or some combination of those options.

The distance a cycletourist travels can vary at the whim of the cycletourist from just a few kilometres to as much as a cycletourist can fit in a day.


Sometimes Randonneuring events are referred to as a tour as well, and those are long, long distances. But generally you'll hear terms like: audax, randonnee, brevet, permanent, and populaire to describe those sorts of rides. The distances for those rides are usually 50K, 100K, 150K, 200K, 300K, 400K, 600K, 1000K, and 1200K, and have a time limit. For example, the 200K - 600K distances have a 15 km/h minimum speed, including all breaks. So the 200K must be finished within 13.5 hours, including all breaks.


And racers ride "tours" as well, except theirs are competitive, with several long and/or intense days, and may also be called "Staged Races". The Tour de France is the most well-known of those sorts of tours or staged races. It is 3 weeks long and includes a couple time trials (which are the shortest riding days). The rest of the days are usually around or over 150 km.

BridgeNotTunnel

Thanks again, machka.

Some solid info there.

njkayaker

The point of the basic "named" rides is because they are "significant" distances and somewhat "difficult" (to complete in daylight).

Of course, 100 miles is mostly arbitrary but it's a nice round number.

Short rides like 25 miles are rides that most anybody can do. They don't really "deserve" names.

The "metric century" is kind of marginal.

No one seriously calls a 25 mile ride a "quarter century" (it's kind of lame).

njkayaker

It would be interesting to know why you think that such terms exist for such trivial ride distances.

10 Wheels

I do a Mega Million Ride. 1/2 mile to the convenience store to buy a ticket.