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What do you consider a sub-5 (or 4 or 6 or...) hour century?

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What do you consider a sub-5 (or 4 or 6 or...) hour century?

Old 11-04-11, 03:00 PM
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What do you consider a sub-5 (or 4 or 6 or...) hour century?

Sorry if this has been asked before, but it is such a "41" question.

I was reading a post the other day where the OP was discussing wanting to repeat a sub 5 hour century, then mentioned that his total time was 6 or 6.5 hours or something. Now I have always used the metric that the ride time was counted from when I got on the bike to when I finished, including all stop lights, rest stops, water fill-ups and what have you. All these are just part of the ride and if I want to do a sub-whatever ride I just don't stop unless I have to.

So what do people say here, do you use total ride time or just moving time when quantitating your performance on a ride.
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Old 11-04-11, 03:01 PM
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Total time of course.
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Old 11-04-11, 03:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Bioluminescence
Total time of course.
Yup.
Only counting ride time is silly.
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Old 11-04-11, 03:12 PM
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https://www.sub5century.org/
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Old 11-04-11, 03:39 PM
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Count total time. If you have to take breaks in order to finish the ride, you've got to include them in the ride time.
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Old 11-04-11, 04:30 PM
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Interesting. I've always counted the duration of a bike ride as the amount of time I spent riding the bike. But I seem to be the odd one out.
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Old 11-04-11, 04:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Seattle Forrest
Interesting. I've always counted the duration of a bike ride as the amount of time I spent riding the bike. But I seem to be the odd one out.
If no one could do a non-stop century, then you might be justified in doing that. But since some people can do non-stop centuries, we should all record our total times.

If Rider A does a non-stop 5-hour century ... and Rider B does a 7-hour century with 5 hours of riding time because he needed those 2 hours off the bicycle in order to get through the distance ... it would be a bit rude (and untrue) of Rider B to tell everyone that he did a 5-hour century just like Rider A.
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Old 11-04-11, 05:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Bioluminescence
Total time of course.
That would also be termed "elapsed time" as opposed to "ride time".

As far as I'm concerned do what you want, but if you want full disclosure then you should use the appropriate descriptive terminology.
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Old 11-04-11, 05:43 PM
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A sub-5 is elapsed time. If you take a break it counts against you. - the clock's running while you're stopped! If you want to count it differently, you can do a 20+ mph century by counting your 'ride time,' but even though it might be less than 5 hours' ride time, it's NOT a sub-5 century.
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Old 11-04-11, 05:44 PM
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What do I consider a sub-5 (or 4 or 6 or...) hour century?

Bragging.




Originally Posted by Machka
Count total time. If you have to take breaks in order to finish the ride, you've got to include them in the ride time.
Yep. I count century time from the moment the rider is fully clipped in until he hits 100 (including all the time in between).
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Old 11-04-11, 05:47 PM
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Count whatever you like.

Go ride.
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Old 11-04-11, 05:48 PM
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"ride time" for the century, "elapsed time" for weight watchers points.
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Old 11-04-11, 06:05 PM
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I did a sub-5 hour century once. First 98 miles were sub-4 hours, then I bonked so hard that I got off the bike and slept

I don't even use a computer, so I have no way to tell how much I spent on the bike vs. off
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Old 11-04-11, 06:34 PM
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In my opinion... all rides should be measured in elapsed time, not riding time. Maybe this is why some threads sounded strange because of this misunderstanding? I mean think about it...if I split up a century into 5 min 25mph + sprints...(so I averaged 25mph throughout the century measured by riding time) and took a 20-30 minute recovery break in between each sprint...I would not brag that I could do a 4 hour century. Its just crazy. Elapsed time only.
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Old 11-04-11, 06:46 PM
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Originally Posted by kbro1986
In my opinion... all rides should be measured in elapsed time, not riding time. Maybe this is why some threads sounded strange because of this misunderstanding? I mean think about it...if I split up a century into 5 min 25mph + sprints...(so I averaged 25mph throughout the century measured by riding time) and took a 20-30 minute recovery break in between each sprint...I would not brag that I could do a 4 hour century. Its just crazy. Elapsed time only.
I think you're missing an opportunity. I live at the top of a four mile uphill road. If I ride down that road at 40 mph once a day then I can sign up to the century-a-month club AND brag that I do them in 2.5 hours. The fact that I'm taking more than 700 hours of break time during each century never needs to come up.
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Old 11-04-11, 07:50 PM
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If you're doing it to impress someone else, I guess you have to use their rules. If you're doing it for yourself and for your own fitness, use whatever you want, as long as you're being honest with yourself.

I did one a couple weeks ago, and had to stop to change a flat, refill water, and pee a couple times. For the sake of assessing my own fitness, I only really considered riding time, because all stops were necessary, and I feel like I could have done it faster, or at least just as fast if I hadn't had to stop at all. At least for me, my legs are worst off right after a stop when I get moving again. I'd love to ride six hours start to stop, but I'd need a friend to sacrifice an entire day to drive a support vehicle, and I'm not concerned enough to ask that of anybody.

If you think part of the skillset required to ride a fast century is being able to change a tube quickly, pee quickly, "hold it" for a long time, refill a bottle quickly, run stoplights without getting ticketed, take a fast dump, and eat without chewing too much, use overall time.

Last edited by Kind of Blued; 11-04-11 at 07:55 PM.
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Old 11-04-11, 10:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Kind of Blued
If you're doing it to impress someone else, I guess you have to use their rules. If you're doing it for yourself and for your own fitness, use whatever you want, as long as you're being honest with yourself.
.
Well this is the 41 so it is all about bragging rights!

Seriously, I like the fact that most feel as I do, that it is elapsed time not moving time. Not that I am riding that fast anymore, it has been at least 15 years since I have done a sub 5 hour century, and that was with a group on a pan flat ride up the coast in So CA.

I am just hoping to get to the point where I can do a solo (no drafting) sub 5 century

We gotta have dreams!
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Old 11-05-11, 03:30 AM
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I have my computer set to calculate average speed based on riding time, not elapsed time. That way I don't feel pressured to run stop lights. I generally keep breaks to a bare minimum by eating while I ride. I stop only to answer the call of nature, to change a flat tire, or for red lights (traffic, not the Amsterdam style). However, I'm fat and slow enough (or the area is hilly enough, take your pick) that I don't see myself doing a 5 hour century any time soon either way.
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Old 11-05-11, 07:35 AM
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Wow, guess I see things a bit different. I record the data from all my rides just to keep track of my fitness since this is what I do it for. All my solo riding (which is 99% of my rides) have the actual ride time recorded since that is what my computer is tracking. Also this gives me yet another consistent metric to track on. Yet if riding in an event than yes the total time is what I am tracked and rated on obviously and I have no issues with that at all. Yet I still record my ride time for the event in my log since that is the consistent data point I am using.

This in not to say I don't worry about the total time on long rides. I always work on improving that. All breaks are at a minimum and I constantly tweak how much stuff I carry and such to minimize how often I have to stop. I never stop to just rest no matter what distance. Even if I boink I'll just push nutrition/fluids and ride through it until it passes.

So, when I say I'm riding a 5 + hour century at an xx mph pace I will mean the time spent riding. In most cases there would be an additional 10 minutes or so when I stop at home halfway, hit the bathroom, refuel, and then move on. Never felt this was deceptive at all. Heck I don't even know how to or if my computer will track total time. Guess I'm just breaking on of those BF rules. I am so ashamed... Oh well, I'm over it.

Seriously, do what you want. Who cares what others think. In any organized event you will obviously be timed against the others. As long as you know what to expect based on your own training rides what does it matter how you report your time in the grand scheme of things??
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Old 11-05-11, 07:38 AM
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A few years back, some riders did a century ride near Nashville in just under 4 hours. (3:44:55) I recall one of the riders being a former Olympics rider. No, they didn't stop at all.

Could a ProTour team of riders break the 3 hour mark for a century ride?

Last edited by bbattle; 11-05-11 at 07:41 AM.
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Old 11-05-11, 07:40 AM
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Originally Posted by jamesdak
I don't even know how to or if my computer will track total time.
The tracking is done with a watch. Look at your watch as you leave ... and look at your watch when you return.
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Old 11-05-11, 07:50 AM
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Originally Posted by bbattle
A few years back, some riders did a century ride near Nashville in just under 4 hours. (3:44:55) I recall one of the riders being a former Olympics rider. No, they didn't stop at all.

Could a ProTour team of riders break the 3 hour mark for a century ride?
I remember racing a stage of the Tour de Lac St. Jean, 160km and finishing in 3:25. A straight flat course, heavy tailwinds and the Coors Light team pulling the peloton. The breakaway put about 5 minutes into us. Alexi Grewal was coming off back surgery and rode either at the front or in the caravan. Teammate who crashed with about 7 other guys lost 20 minutes.
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Old 11-05-11, 07:54 AM
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Originally Posted by jamesdak
Wow, guess I see things a bit different. I record the data from all my rides just to keep track of my fitness since this is what I do it for. All my solo riding (which is 99% of my rides) have the actual ride time recorded since that is what my computer is tracking. Also this gives me yet another consistent metric to track on. Yet if riding in an event than yes the total time is what I am tracked and rated on obviously and I have no issues with that at all. Yet I still record my ride time for the event in my log since that is the consistent data point I am using.

This in not to say I don't worry about the total time on long rides. I always work on improving that. All breaks are at a minimum and I constantly tweak how much stuff I carry and such to minimize how often I have to stop. I never stop to just rest no matter what distance. Even if I boink I'll just push nutrition/fluids and ride through it until it passes.

So, when I say I'm riding a 5 + hour century at an xx mph pace I will mean the time spent riding. In most cases there would be an additional 10 minutes or so when I stop at home halfway, hit the bathroom, refuel, and then move on. Never felt this was deceptive at all. Heck I don't even know how to or if my computer will track total time. Guess I'm just breaking on of those BF rules. I am so ashamed... Oh well, I'm over it.

Seriously, do what you want. Who cares what others think. In any organized event you will obviously be timed against the others. As long as you know what to expect based on your own training rides what does it matter how you report your time in the grand scheme of things??
Here's the issue that I have...and why it matters to a lot of people...When someone here starts a thread stating that they completed their first sub 5 hour century and people rush to congratulate (which is a tremendous accomplishment, don't get me wrong), it matters. A sub 5 hour century (measured using elapsed time) is AWESOME!. However, a sub 5 hour century reported in riding time is something that isn't as hard to do. So, the problem is that when people read this thread....different people understand the post in different ways. So, it does matter....
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Old 11-05-11, 07:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Machka
The tracking is done with a watch. Look at your watch as you leave ... and look at your watch when you return.
Have not worn a watch since my knees went bad and I gave up marathon running. It really is not an important parameter to me at all. I do keep track of my actual break time using my cell phone clock just to improve that. The only reason I do this is that I keep hoping to get selected for the 209 mile LOTOJA race and want to do as best as I can. I also plan on doing many more organized centuries so it may matter some. But even with that said. If I continue to ride my organized century's as a solo rider and not in a paceline overall time does not matter either. I spent a few miles in a paceline for one event and it made it so easy to maintain a high pace. So for me if I can finish in the top 1/3 of all riders while riding the total event solo I am happier than if I'm in the top 10 but worked a paceline the whole time. I know who worked harder.
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Old 11-05-11, 08:02 AM
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Originally Posted by kbro1986
Here's the issue that I have...and why it matters to a lot of people...When someone here starts a thread stating that they completed their first sub 5 hour century and people rush to congratulate (which is a tremendous accomplishment, don't get me wrong), it matters. A sub 5 hour century (measured using elapsed time) is AWESOME!. However, a sub 5 hour century reported in riding time is something that isn't as hard to do. So, the problem is that when people read this thread....different people understand the post in different ways. So, it does matter....
It matters to you obviously but I could care less. Anyone that rides 100 miles deserves credit. Why care what their time is. You should know what you are capable of and then always work to improve that if it matters to you. Then do real rides against others to see how you truly stack up. Heck, what about solo vs paceline centuries? Or like the last event I rode where the idiot organizers failed to have the halfway turn around point marked so a bunch of us rode an additional 12 miles or so in the race. I still finished in the top 3rd of the field but have no true idea how competitive I was since there is no telling what distance we truly all rode. Oh, and for my old and slow body a sub 5 hour century in ride time is hard to do, so it's all relative to way too many factors for us all to really worry about how someone reports time on a silly internet forum. We are all just better served to be out there riding, right??
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