RunningPirate

Good evening to everyone on the board -

One of my goals this year is to do a [non-metric] century ride. While I know there are several rides per year in The Bay Area, are there any that are rides that are better for a first-timer? Or, for that matter, are there any rides that a first-timer should avoid?

Thank you for your help.

danec99

Hey Pirate
That is my goal this year as well (same as last year.) I believe I am pretty up on most of the rides in the area. You are going to get 6,000 and up most of the 100 milers. Do you like to climb? I think a pretty good ride is the Diablo Century. The 100 mile version is out to Clayton, Morgan Territory, thru Dublin to Castro Valley, up Redwood Rd. and back through Moraga. Pretty reasonable. Last year I tried to get 100 miles on the Delta Century, totally flat, easy right? Wrong, headwinds like you wouldn't believe. But I will try again. Sequoia Century, Tour of Woodside, Grizzly Peak, Cruella and Santa Cruz Mtn Challange are great rides if you like to climb a lot, but will be tough. 100 miles is a long time to be on the bike, 100 miles crosses into the mental. I am solo rider, the 100 mile and over rides are where group riding may be an advantage. But just pace yoursef.

Beaker

Primavera was my first century and I still like the route - nothing outrageous (6-7000ft perhaps) but a worthwhile route - calaveras -> Livermore -> Flynn -> Dublin -> palomares. It's in April too, so allows you to get your goal met early in the year, and also avoid stupid hot temperatures.

johnny99

Primavera in Fremont and Tierra Bella in San Jose are 2 good centuries for beginners. The routes are very scenic and easy to follow, support is good, hills are not too tough, and they both take place in the spring before the weather gets hot. Both are in April.

SesameCrunch

For an easy solo century, you can just ride from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz and back on Hwy 1. About 4,000 ft of climbing. Nice scenery, simple route. Stores about every 20 miles to refuel if needed. Early Spring is a good time for this route, before the winds come up.

bigbossman 

Bike Around the Buttes is near as flat as can be, as is the Delta Century. Bike Around the Buttes is scenic, fun, and easy. The Delta Century can either be a piece of cake or a suffer-fest if the winds are blowing.

The Sunrise Century out of Stockton is another good 1st century - maybe 3,000' of climbing in all, and none of it tough.

The Canyon classic out of Patterson is a nice ride, but there is a pretty steep pitch up Del Puerto Canyon that will open your eyes.

emdash

I haven't done this yet (I plan to this year), but I've had Foxy's Fall Century (Sacramento/Davis) recommended to me as a good ride and good first century.
https://www.davisbikeclub.org/annual_...s_fall_century

See also this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-640496.html

MarkoPolo

I'll second Sunrise Century as a good first century, especially if you want to limit the climbing. Tierra Bella is also a very well-supported century and fun, but not flat. There's only a couple of sustained climbs, but the second one to Henry Coe State Park is about 3000 ft. Their website says a little over 6000 feet of total climbing for the century route. I also recommend the Marin Century, also about 6000 feet of climbing, very scenic and great support.

If you can do a metric, you can do a 100 miles. As danec99 mentioned the difference is mostly mental. I went a long time before attempting a century and was intimidated by how much time I'd have to be on the bike. But once I'd done one it was clear I'd been making it more difficult in my head than it was in my legs. And finding a friend or group to ride with really does make a century more fun and less daunting.

Good luck with your century goal!

Dchiefransom

Napa Tour De Cure doesn't have much climbing, but you have to raise $250 dollars.

hup

Not exactly NorCal, but I did the Lighthouse Century in San Luis Obispo in September as my first. I chose the flat century option (they offer a hilly/4700' and a flat/3500' course) I don't have anything to compare it to, but the organization was good and the aid stations and lunch stop were a veritable feast. Traffic control seemed good. It was, however, really really hot that day. Living and riding here in the central valley I was used to it, but not everyone there seemed to be so lucky. Good luck!

Henry

turkey9186

Delta Century almost no climbing, but usually headwinds or rain. Monticello Century has a couple of climbs one being the east side of Mt George.

cccorlew

The Tierra Bella is actually pretty hard, but their jerseys are about the best ride jerseys ever.
Look at the Diablo Century. It's very local, so it's easy to get to, and isn't tooooooo hard.

jobob

I'll second the rec for Bike Around the Buttes, which just so happened to be my very first century.

https://www.bikearoundthebuttes.com/

DiabloScott

Bike Around the Buttes doesn't really qualify for Bay Area.

My first century was Santa Rosa Wine Country (26 years ago!) - I'll recommend it highly, first weekend in May... pretty easy, great support, lots of riders. Done it at least 6 times.
Sunrise is nice but the support is not by cyclists and the turnout is low - it's in Lodi though, not Stockton.
Tour de Cure Napa is probably the easiest one I've ever done - one hill. Also the fastest at 20mph average.
Foxy's is great if you want to wait until October.

Beaker

Good to see you catching up with these safety conscious times, Claudia.

DiabloScott

I thought about sunglasses, but then you wouldn't be able to see my infectious wink.

MilkRace

Diablo Century was the first century that I rode, it is on April 17th this year, here is the link, registration opens on Jan 15

https://www.ccjcc.org/articlenav.php?id=161

4score

I did this one as well for my 1st century. I'm told to beware of the possibility of extreme headwinds.

jobob

Good point, but I wouldn't necessarily consider Santa Rosa, Lodi, Stockton, Napa, or Davis to qualify as Bay Area either.

danec99

Ug. Tierra Bella and Diablo Century are on the same weekend. Tierra Bella is a great ride. But Diablo was my first ride in 2009, 20 miles was my longest ride up to that point - my GF is a trail runner and she saw the ad and i signed up. Took almost 6 hours I think to ride the 62 miles.

DiabloScott

As an ex-Santa Rosan, I can say that most folks there consider their city to be near the extreme boundary of the Bay Area, and it is in one of the nine counties in the generally recognized definition... but I don't want to argue with anybody about that and I don't think the OP cares.

What I think he's looking for is a century he could drive to on the morning of the event. So Santa Clara to Santa Rosa or Davis or Lodi or Stockton would just barely be do-able, Chico or Buttes probably wouldn't.

bigbossman 

I've done the Buttes three times, and two of those times I drove up "morning of". It's only a couple hour drive or so....

DiabloScott

OK! Just googled for map directions and it'd only be two hours for me too (that's about my max)- I was thinking they were north of Chico.

I think I just added BAT Buttes to my "must do" list. Wanna drive this year?

NorCalBiker

We did this last year and I don't remember raising $250.00 for it. Are you sure you're not talking about Livestrong Challenge?

NorCalBiker

By the way, stay away from Levis Century ride in Santa Rosa. IT feels like it's a never ending climbing for me.