MinnMan

I checked "do the extra miles and get the century", b/c more times than not, that's what I've done. However, I don't always. Doing a century isn't really a big deal at the moment - I did 15 of them in 2019.

If am on my way home from a longish ride, I know what the mileage is going to be because I have lots of landmarks for which I know the mileage back to my house. So at mile 95 or even mile 90 or 80, I already know what the total is going to be when I get home. If it looks like it's going to be, say 98, more times than not, I'll change my route a little to add a couple of miles. If it looks like it's going to be 90 and I'm feeling energetic, I might add an extra loop to get an additional 10. But if the weather is bad or if I feel pressed for time for one reason or another, then it's no big deal fall short of the century.

I have never passed my house and kept going around the block a few times to make it a century.

I once finished an organized group ride that was advertised as being a century, but when we got back, it was 98.5. One guy rode around the parking lot until his head unit read "100". I thought that was pretty dumb, but to each, their own.

downtube42

I think 2 miles is my limit, for how much extra I'd ride to hit a round number. Miles or kms, either one.

I did a 1500k brevet once, and a few guys went out afterwards to make it an even 1000 miles. 68 more miles? Heck no.

Cypress

If your loop is the same every single time with the exact wind severity and direction, the temperature never changes, and other factors like stoplights/traffic/acute effort don't change.... sure, avg spd is fine.

Most people don't live in that world. I can ride the same route at the same average wattage 10 different times through out the year, and I'd probably get 10 different average speeds with a ~3 mph spread.

Slightspeed

I'll bet you're not over 70 with a heart condition. If you are, go for it! I ride for fun, and centuries aren't fun anymore. Ride as long as you can and as fast as you can, while you can. 😉

TheDudeIsHere

In the sentence/comment I quoted, it said nothing about a heart condition. You should list that on you avatar so next time I know to take that into consideration.

shelbyfv

Curious how you found this 10 year old thread and why it interested you enough to revive it. There's been a rash of necro threads recently, nobody seems to know why.

HTupolev

I voted "ride until 100", then I realized that the thread was about kilometers.

Then I looked at the date and realized that the thread is a zombie.

Oh my.

Slightspeed

I never bother checking the post dates, if the thread is interesting. Apparently, I'm not the only one if other zombie threads start moving mysteriously too. Might be something to do with Halloween, just past?🎃

Cypress

It means the search function is not only being used, but it's working splendidly.

redlude97

Haha nope, the only time I did a one day STP:

ls01

Goals. It depends on what yours are. If you set out to do 100, stopping at 98.9 means you have Failed to meet the goal you set out to achieve. If that doesn't bother you, so be it.
However, the part that gets to me is people will say they rode 100 but only completed 98.9. "Well basically I rode a hu..."
NO. YOU DID NOT. You rode 98.9. That last 1.1 is going to suck unless it's all down hill. And if you gave up on it at that point your kinda weird anyways....
But, whatever. If I set out to ride 100. I ride 100. Or I dont.
A man's ( or womans) got to know his (or her) limitations

ls01

Needs a bring out your dead meme.

Or he's only mostly dead...

caloso

I did that once. Rode with a bunch of teammates to the Davis ride, rode the ride, rode home. Had 99 miles as I approached my house so I rode around the block till it clicked over.

The next time I did that ride, I just accepted 99.4 miles.

Sy Reene

If I'm close, I'll ride around a bit to make sure I hit 29 leagues.

jimincalif

Oh yeah. Just did this in the Solvang Century in March. Local PD directed us up McMurray to the finish instead of the official route crossing over the 101 and back. Had 98.8 miles at the driveway so kept going and then turned back. Ended up with 100.23.

mstateglfr 

Just not sure why its worth laughing at those who reference avg speed of a ride to describe the difficulty. Its dont constantly on the opposite end of the spectrum- I dont think Ive ever described a ride with my youngest daughter as difficult because we average 8 or 9mph. So if I ride a route Ive done with her and push myself hard, the ride can be difficult and shown thru my avg speed.

I fully understand that its an inexact claim due to many varying conditions, but not everyone uses powermeters so the next best thing thats available is then used.

Cypress

This makes me twitch lol

Also, I had no idea STP was so flat!

Clipped_in

Your question reveals a lot of bias in what you want for an answer.

I concerned myself with things like that when I started cycling. Many, many miles later I don't care so much. Mostly because I now focus primarily on time and intensity for measurement. Miles in and of themselves don't mean that much.

MinnMan

No, OP was asking about both km and miles. Paying attention to whether a ride is a metric century? meh.

Yes, it's a zombie thread. Some of the best threads are zombie threads.

bikecrate

Many years ago I was close to rounding off the mileage on a ride. I decided to ride around the block to get the extra distance in. I almost went down on a muddy corner. I take that as a sign to never try it again.

canklecat

Like Zoidberg, I'm up for whatever.

Back in late September, when I did my first solo century in a couple of years, the odometer showed 98.something miles with a mile to get home. I diverted to my usual cooldown route through the neighborhood for a couplafew miles to get the three digits. Finished with 101.something miles.

Next full century I probably won't care.

Same with my first metric century. Had to nail it. After that, meh. I'll ride 50, 60, 75 miles, whatever I feel like that day. It's a goal, not a sentence. And my primary goal is to enjoy the ride, not punish myself.

I sorta like the idea of finishing just shy of 100. Just to amuse my OCD friends on Strava. I might even use the crop feature.

Sy Reene

If less than a mile difference, I tend to ride around a bit to round up to the nearest value that ends in 0 or 5.

Ghazmh

Many time I’ve pulled up my driveway ending a ride at 39.9, 49.9 miles, and so on. I will absolutely ride around the block to hit 100 however. FWIW back in 1999 I rode 97.5 miles, my longest ride ever to date at the time. I regret it every day.

wipekitty

Sure, I'll ride around to hit a goal. I'm also not against adding a long loop on after a ride to make it a proper 'century'.

One of my biggest fails was when I was trying to do a 100 mile day. The morning ride came in at like 76, and I took a second ride in the evening to try and get 100. I was too tired to do math and missed it by .8 miles.

devianb

I once quit a ride at 99.4 miles. I didn't feel the need to go that extra .6 miles. If my goal was to ride 100 miles that day I would have definitely made it to 100.