What is a CENTURY?
08-26-09, 03:22 AM
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What is a CENTURY?
Hi there! I´m an eager vintage biker and dont mind having my classic bikes on so called "exercise races, amateur races, gran fondos...". Theres no translation for the kind of organized races we got over here in Sweden, so what is a Century? What distance? Is it organized by the cycling authoritys? I do races between 150 and 300 km; is that century length? My two gems; A Crescent -79 all original and my upgraded Monark -75.
08-26-09, 05:09 AM
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100 miles, coloquially known. It can be 100 of any distance of riding. The racer Freds 
will be stepping in here soon with more.
I don't race, I just thrash around in the mud. 'Used to be a roadie of 20+ years, though.
will be stepping in here soon with more.I don't race, I just thrash around in the mud. 'Used to be a roadie of 20+ years, though.
08-26-09, 06:08 AM
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A century is 100 miles done in one day (24 hours?) but more or less as all-at-once as possible. In other words, riding 50 miles on Saturday going home, sleeping the night, etc. and then finishing the remaining 50 miles on Sunday wouldn't be considered a century .... however riding 50 miles, then stopping for lunch in a cafe, and finishing the 50 miles probably would be considered a century.
Some suggest that a "day" is 12 hours, but I've done century at -32C on ice and snow that took me 15 hours so I prefer to call a "day" a 24-hour period to allow for extreme conditions which require slower riding and a few more brief breaks than a person might take on a century on a lovely sunny warm day.
It can be an event organized by a club or whatever, or it can be just you on the bicycle riding 100 miles.
Double century = 200 miles
Back-to-back century = a century on one day, and another century on the next day
Metric century = 100 km
Double metric = 200 km
Etc.
Some suggest that a "day" is 12 hours, but I've done century at -32C on ice and snow that took me 15 hours so I prefer to call a "day" a 24-hour period to allow for extreme conditions which require slower riding and a few more brief breaks than a person might take on a century on a lovely sunny warm day.
It can be an event organized by a club or whatever, or it can be just you on the bicycle riding 100 miles.
Double century = 200 miles
Back-to-back century = a century on one day, and another century on the next day
Metric century = 100 km
Double metric = 200 km
Etc.
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08-26-09, 06:15 AM
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A century is a Portland event I accidentally "entered" not too long ago on my morning ride. Very interesting day that was. Didn't remember that many roadies with numbers on their backs on that route before lol.
08-26-09, 12:21 PM
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You´ve shed some light over the century-word - thanks! Seems like I´ve done it numerous times (the metric one anyway). Over here, "races" for amateurs (people who bike to keep reasonable or very fit) often stretches between metric and double metric. I rode a metric (+ 50 km = 150 km) two weekends ago on my Monark -75. I did it in 4 h 38 min. I´m the guy on the far left in grey/black.
