I've been riding for just over a year, and having done a few 50, 60, and 70 mile rides, I decided that I wanted to try a century. Yesterday was the planned day, and with the weather looking cooperative I set out on my planned route of 103 miles. Unfortunately I only made it 37 miles due to some poor planning on my part, so I thought that I'd share some thoughts on the failed attempt in case it helps out someone else who's relatively inexperienced and wants to try a century.

My biggest screw-up was failing to account for elevation gain when I planned the route. I live right next to the ocean, and all of my previous rides have been coastal and therefore very flat. My favorite 60 mile ride, for example, only has just over 2,000 feet of elevation gain, roughly 335 feet per 10 miles. The planned route took me quite some distance inland, and had 5,200 feet of elevation gain or 520 feet per 10 miles (roughly 50% more than my previous high). I'm what you guys loving call a Clydesdale at 250lbs +/- and 6' 6" tall. That's a lot to haul up the hills.

That might have been manageable, albeit tough, but screw-up number two was failing to account for where the elevation gains were. According to ClimbPro there were a total of 13 climbs along the proposed route, and as I found out to my cost, 11 of them fell within the first 30 miles. In fact I'd completed just about 3,400 feet of the gains by that time meaning that 2/3rds of the elevation gains fell in the first 1/3rd of the ride (roughly 1,100 feet per 10 miles or close to an average 2% grade). I hate to admit that I was gassed, but yeah, I was gassed. That was way too much climbing too early in the ride and too close together for someone who hasn't climbed much before. I'd eaten and rested well the day before, had plenty of water + electrolytes with me, and was getting plenty of carbs from fig bars and chocolate milk, but my legs / heart / lungs simply hadn't experienced that level of output before.

I would say that screw-up number three was not driving the route beforehand. That might not be necessary for experienced riders, but for a relative newbie attempting a century for the first time, not a bad idea to check it out. Had I done so, I'm 99% sure that I would have gone back to the route-planner in Strava and started over!

It wasn't all negatives though. I had a friend with an SUV on call in case of problems, and had shared a Garmin Live Track link with several people so that they knew where I was. That made it a breeze for said friend to come and pick me up for the drive of shame back home. Once I had been stopped for 15 minutes or so, a couple of friends texted me to see if I was ok. It was good to know that backup was available. Also people can be really, unexpectedly, friendly! A couple had driven by and saw me stopped by the side of the road, turned around, and offered me a bottle of water. Several others stopped and checked that I was ok. That was definitely appreciated.

I already have a flatter route planned so that I can surpass the century mark, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. And that hilly century? It's saved for when I have more experience climbing, something that I plan to seek out more in my shorter rides. I'll take it out eventually.

3400 ft of climbing in only 37 miles is a very tough route, so congrats for doing that.

Hilly is tough, long is tough. But both on the same day is really, really tough! Most of your climbing was early, so that made that part even tougher.

It sounds like you did this alone; a solo century is tough, so maybe try one with an organized event or with a group of similar ability. For me, this would have been an all-day thing, so maybe also reconsider your pace.

Don't be too hard on yourself, you'll get there. You did a difficult ride and learned somethings. Cycling can be glorious but it can also be cruel. Someday, but not today, you'll have great memories of the day you pushed yourself to the edge.

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm absolutely taking a lot of positives from it, the biggest one being that now I know where one of my limitations is so that I can start to push it with training. And yes, I'm proud of the fact that I did more than 60% more climbing in that 37 miles than I've ever done before on much longer rides. That hilly route kicked my butt, but one day, maybe a year or two from now, I'll return the favor.

This was a solo ride? Not a organized Century Ride.

Either way you did what you could do. Unknowingly, due to the unexpected terrain, pushed your limits. So good for you. Especially since you seem to have figured out the stuff that held you back. It'll be better next time. Don't wait too long to tackle the hills again. You need to experience them so your body will know it has to deal with them. And you'll learn certain things to do that will make them easier.

On those hills, you need to make sure you can pedal in a gear ratio that is just as easy as when you are on level ground. And your cadence is just a fast as cruising. Only when you are in your lowest gear ratio and the hill gets steeper should your cadence slow down. For the short hills in my area, I usually go up them with a faster cadence than I cruise at.

The elevation is one thing, for sure. If you burn all your matches early, it's bad news in the long run.

The thing I learned too, was that in rides over about 40 miles, fueling and hydration become a big deal. In shorter rides, if you're well-hydrated prior to the ride, you can compensate and recover later. If you're burning so many calories and sweating so much though, it's too late not to do more during the ride.

On my first century, I bonked at 80 miles, had to rest for awhile while my body re-grouped, then pedaled the last 20 very slowly. (luckily it was flat)

I did manage to stay hydrated, but I burned off the bacon cheeseburger, fries and two beers sooner than I thought I would and just plain ran out of energy.

Good for you for giving it a good shot. And even better for you, for doing a good analysis of what didn’t work and what to do next time. As a couple of others have mentioned, doing an organized century ride is much more enjoyable due to all the distractions and food/water stops, unless you don’t like people. Another thing to start training is more hill climbing. If you get good at climbing in advance, then on the big day, it will be much more easy. There is a saying I learned many years ago, “To win in the hills, you must train in the hills”. But good on you for looking for a flatter route in the future - and good climbing legs will help you there too.

Best of luck and keep us posted. Most people don’t have the courage to detail their failings, so hats off to you a maybe another budding centurion can learn from you.

Do you have a low enough gear for the climbs you are doing? Climbing, as you have discovered, is very different than flat roads. I'm lighter now but most of my riding has been in the 220# range and most of my climbing has been with lighter, fitter riders. There is a lot to learn. Take your time and figure out what works for you on long climbing days. It may be quite different than what works for the skinny mountain goats.

Hey, thanks for writing that up!

You should feel good about your effort and especially good about the future folks you are helping who are new to the sport.

Useless hindsite! This is where a heart monitor could have been a very big asset. They are the perfect tool to tell you that you are starting off too fast. If your lowest gear puts you "in the red" on that early hill, you gotta walk if you still want to be going 50 miles later.

Of course, you have to do some homework ahead of time so you know what your top heart rate is and your zones.

Years ago I did a century with a mountain pass as the big hill but there were some tough ones well before. I wore the monitor and limited myself to a painfully low HR for the early ones and let many riders go. (I'm a light, skinny climber. Letting guys I can climb with go hurts!) But later, I got to climb that long pass up a historic wagon route at 10 points higher HR and fully enjoy it. Spent the late miles passing gassed riders I had let go hours earlier.

This was a solo ride, yes. I spend all week around other people, and riding is my escape from that haha

The gearing question that you both posed is a good one. My small chainring is 39T and my large cog is 32T which gives a ratio of 1.22 and a speed of 7.25 MPH @ 75 RPM if I've done the math right. Gears were definitely something that I struggled with as I've completed my previous (much flatter) rides without ever needing the small chainring. I was caught out having to change between large and small, frequently losing momentum in the process. Practice, practice, practice will solve that!


I love your idea of pre-ride nutrition! Perhaps the couple of beers would have put me over the top. Hmmmm.

Having bonked on my first half-century when I was really new and left my fig bars on the kitchen counter, I've resolved never to run out of food or water again. I had a CamelBak with 2.5L of an electrolyte drink, 3 x 24oz bottles of chocolate milk for carbs, and 6 packs of fig bars at 220 calories each. I was stopping for food regularly and biting down on the CamelBak every couple of miles, but that couldn't overcome my body just not being conditioned for the climbs.

Thanks! I'm going to take that saying to heart and make hills a regular part of my training. Several of the climbs are in the first 10 miles or so from my house with a nice flat section leading to and from them, so a couple of times a week I plan to head there and ride up and down them, practicing my gear shifts and cadence, and getting my body more accustomed to the different stresses that climbing imposes. It will be good for my overall fitness anyway, and I'm going to master than hilly route one way or another.

Well done for trying! 3400 ft is about the amount of climbing I generally do over 60 miles, so packing it into <2/3 of that distance is a lot!

I get your desire to do it solo, after being around people all week. BUT in a supported Century ride, you can ride alone - that's how I did the one Century I have ridden. The support is great because there will be food and drink, other people struggling just like you, and a well-planned route. So consider doing that for your first one. The one I did, I amazed myself by not losing any weight over the ride. At the time, I thought that meant I oveconsumed at the rest stops, but I think that was actually key to being able to complete it without collapsing from dehydration or low blood sugar. I was stiff and sore the next day but not cripplingly so, and I think a lot of that was keeping hydrated and fed.

Regarding hills, there's not much other than riding hills to train you for riding hills. You can get gears low enough to climb up a wall, but it's still hard to put in sustained efforts for half an hour or more without building up to it.

Good write up....I did 50 on Sat with 3350 in gain. Could not imagine going another 50.....I'm fairly certain you'll hit it next time

A 39x32 is a fairly low gear for road cyclists in general but I like something a bit lower. I have 34x29 on my main bike and sometimes I wish for lower when on a long climb.
When in my 30s I used a 42x28 low, eventually putting a 39 on the front. Later I had a couple bikes with triple cranks, then the compact double. I understood early on that I could not use the same gearing as 150 pound climbers. Also, I could never climb at the same speed as they do, even if I could do the same climbs.

I also learned that I need a lot more water than others on a hot climbing day. And I break a lot more parts, especially wheels.

Bigger guys can climb and a few can climb fast. I have seen a few really good climbers over 200 pounds, but not many. Saturday a big guy, maybe your size, showed up on our club ride. I thought I would have someone behind me, or at least maybe someone to chat with on the climb early in the ride. Nope, he took off and I didn't see him until the regroup later.

I stopped for lunch (bacon cheeseburger, 2 beers and fries) about 30 miles in, and that was not a good plan either. I felt so bloated for the next hour. I think I could've gotten away with the cheeseburger, but should've skipped the fries.

Should've made another food stop, even if just a fig bar and banana every now and then.

At my club's annual ride last year, do you know what I had that I feel really helped? Dill pickles and a small cup of pickle juice from the feed stop. That replaced the salt I was losing to sweat, as I was drinking just water.

Some people love fries during a ride. I found that if I split a lunch with someone it works on a long climby ride. Half a big sandwich and half an order of fries or chips is better sometimes. I do know a guy, accomplished distance rider, 500 mile endurance races, team RAAM racer,, etc. who can eat huge amounts and still climb well. He's only about 160# but he ate a big cheeseburger and a big burrito one day when we stopped for lunch in the mountains. Still dropped everyone.

Nothing wrong with calling it a day early on a ride. Many of us here have done it for any combination of the same reasons. Continuing to push after you're already exhausted and out of energy downright sucks and can even get dangerous depending on the situation. It seems like you had the right mindset going in of hoping for the best but planning for the worst so when it did come time to call for a ride, it wasn't a big deal. Also, failures can teach you as much or more than successes and you're already learning from those so you'll be far better prepared next time.

There's a local STEEP climb up a mountain nearby (3,000 feet in 11 miles) that I had to try 3 times before successfully making it to the top. First was not enough water on too hot a day and turned around a mile from the top. Second was too cold, too rainy and not the appropriate gear for both. It sucks not being able to make it all the way but hey, the roads aren't going anywhere and you can always try again later.

Excellent. You should be warmed up by the time you get to them. Cadence-wise try to get above 80. 90 to 100 would be optimal but if you are not used to it, it feels very strange. Mashing big gears on a climb just wears one out faster, so go low and spin like a maniac. It will make climbing easier and saves energy.

Some things you just have to learn by screwing it up. I speak from experience, as do many others here.

Among them: pace yourself. It is so tempting to shoot off like a rocket, especially on the hills, but you need to save yourself for later. The so-called 'saving your matches."

Eat small, but often. More than you thing. Nibble all day. Everyone has their favorites and mine changes over the course of a season.

Lastly, watching the Tour de France on TV is like my brother watching the Masters golf tournament. We are not like those guys! My last ride was fairly brisk and I get home and watch the pros averaging almost twice what I did! Don't compare yourself to them, anyone on Strava, here or anywhere. Ride your own ride.

Doesn't a century ride in little Rhody take you around the entire state? (Sorry, originally from Mass, so....)

Previewing a new route by car is something I will always do when possible. Sometimes you find out that your route takes you on roads that are in absolutely terrible condition - bad vehicle traffic with narrow (or no) shoulders, potholes galore, construction, or, as I found out, a bridge washed out by recent flooding that would require a long, even more difficult detour. I'll even pre-drive a familiar shorter route that I haven't ridden in a while. That recently saved me when one of the roads was closed due to construction.

I usually use RideWGPS to plan a route, but I've found (the hard way) that sometimes their elevation profile shows the route as fairly flat (around here, "fairly flat" means no climbs above 7%) but after completing the route and then comparing the 'route' to the 'ride' the profile is significantly different. What shows on the 'route' as 3% shows as 8% on the 'ride'.

Yeah depending on where you live 3400 ft is multiple rides. GFNY Maryland 92 mile course is 481 ft of elevation total, so IMO elevation and initial effort slash pacing make a huge difference. A lot of my 50 milers are 1800 ft of elevation so basically you almost did twice as much elevation than I normally do while doing less miles. You should be proud of that

A 39 small ring. Don’t know if I could survive that so not surprised you struggled. and I’ve done plenty of centuries and some of those with maybe 10-12k feet of climbing and I’ve done 1000m climbs in one hit. Would not want to do any of that with a 39. I weigh 82kg.

I’ve got a 36 on my road bike and a 30 on my gravel bike. There are still hills around here that I have to get out of the saddle for.

Yep, gearing is a big part of the picture here. Back in my race days I ran a 42/52 up front and a 12-21 6spd out back and did regular training rides of 100 miles or more on it. Sure, the hills were killer events, however I just grunted through it along with everyone else.
I'm 65 now and can do 100 miles without too much trouble with a low 34 up front and 32 out back. On the touring rigs it is even lower gearing than that and it makes 100 miles very doable.

I'm surprised that it took this many posts! And for bonus funny points, the route did include some parts of Connecticut that I added in to get over 100 miles while staying South of Providence.

Hoping to try a flatter 108 miles this weekend, only 2,965 feet of elevation for the whole ride.

Hills are often easier the next time you ride the same climb. It's knowing what the hill is like, I guess.
I have a 34 front, 32 rear low gear. At 165 lbs, that's good for my local climbs. But my other bike has much lower gearing, and it's nice to stay seated on steeper climbs, and not be grinding a very low cadence.
I'd look for 1:1 ratio low gears if possible.

The Garmin 830 and 1030 and newer models have an elevation chart page. I can see the latest half mile of the ride, and the next 1.5 miles coming up. I like it, and that view stays on my screen in the hills.
That helps a lot with climbing: How much farther to the top? Is it a downhill next, or more rolling hills? Where's the steepest part of the climb? And, "oh good, flat roads for a while!"

~~~
Ridewithgps
Sometimes rwgps has less accurate elevation data, so it won't always show the steep parts accurately. Sometimes, it shows the route dipping down into a creek valley that's actually crossed on a level bridge. But in general, it's good.

Car scouting:
I drove new routes sometimes, 15 or 20 years ago. The grade is difficult to feel while driving! I was surprised a few times when I rode the route.
You might take along your bike GPS, and see the grade% while you drive up the hills.

Are you under the impression that the hills later on in the century will somehow make them easier, cause......