As I said last year after my first century I would be returning to the same century with a goal of finishing it sub 5 hrs.

We ride with some relatively fit and fast riders who can and have accomplished this, as of now I don't see it happening but I have a lot of training time between now and september 1st.

we finished last year with stops and all in 6hrs, the fast guys are wanting us to ride with them this year and do it non stop and finish first (its not a race....but it is )

We are planning on doing this with a 10 man group minimum, last year they said they did most the work and a bunch of people were sucking and they couldn't drop them because they simply didn't have the reserve power the suckers were saving by sticking on their rear, so the plan is for an early drop of these suckers.

Who is or has been riding centuries at such a pace, what should I do to prepare and whats the best method for hydrating and feeding?

Thanks in advance.

I did it with three or four other people. It really wasn't that difficult, just don't take any exceptionally long pulls. As for the wheel suckers, don't worry about them. If you expend the energy to drop them you may be using energy you are wish you had later.

Suckers won't slow you down even if they might annoy you.

If you couldn't drop them later, there's no particular reason you'll have much luck dropping them earlier. If you're actually stronger, you'll drop them without trying on climbs. If you burn up your stuff dropping them, they'll just latch on to another group which will then catch and pass you later.

Drafters actually make the draftee slightly faster by filling in the low pressure, turbulent wake behind the lead rider, replacing it with an elevated pressure region ahead of their body...so even though they're getting much more of a benefit than you are, there is still a small aerodynamic advantage to being drafted.

People hanging on won't slow you down so don't waste energy trying to drop them. In fact there's evidence they might improve your overall performance if they ride tightly behind. The problem is strangers can also cuase accidents.

To do 5 hours, you need a group that's fit and able to ride that long. I've been with people who can go 3 or 4 hours but really slow down after that. If you wait for them, you can miss your 5 hour goal.

sorry, I wasn't implying they were slowing them or going to slow us, just that these people never took a turn at the front. I'm no strong puller myself but I'll stay up as long as I can. I'd say I'm the weakest rider of our group but thats mostly because I havn't been riding the past 3 months as often as the others have. I tend to suck a lot while I work up to their level, it's slowly coming back though.

I think it's more of an annoyance of a group sucking for 100 miles and I think the main riders from our group just want to make a point this year. It's always the same riders at the Savannah century taking off with the early group, I think they just want to make sure we pull away from that group.

It's a relatively flat ride, so it should be a fast one, we cross the Talmadge bridge which literally has almost all the climb in the ride.

I'm more concerned with water and food and the inevitable bonk.

Ask the riders what they bring for hydration/nutrition. Using larger bottles (30+oz) and adding a third in jersey will just about get you there. Load them up with calories/electrolytes and bring gels and other quick calories.

If you are the weakest rider, do very short pulls at the front. You will be helping the group by just working in the paceline, moving up and helping the draft. Once you get to the front, peel off relatively quickly and get back in line. This will be much preferred over longer pulls that slow you down at the end due to burning out.

very true. we're planning on 4 bottles (cheapos so we can toss them at the check points). We were talking about bringing a camel back. I have one I could put under my jersey, that and 2 large bottles should be good.

If its going to be hot I would hate having a camelbak under my jersey.

What's the point in sucking wheel for an entire ride? I can see being part of a coordinated paceline, taking your turn at the front and accomplishing something. Sucking for 5 hours doesn't prove anything except the ability to watch someone's wheel, butt or whatever for that long.

Of course the accomplishment is all in the telling. If the "sucker" is an invited guest and his/her retelling is "My buds allowed me to suck wheel for 5 hours. I sure wish I could have done some pulling." That's an honest telling and I'm good. If "I rode a 5 hour century", that's dishonest. But, then again, who cares.

My 5 hour century plan, on the other hand, is honest. I'm going to threaten my Cat 2 son with disinheritance unless he stokes me and the tandem to sub 5 hours. Then I'll brag about it until they carve it in my tombstone. I never made a 2:37 marathon (best was 2:42) so I've got to find something to put on the granite slab.

Are you ready to pull one of these too?
https://youtu.be/tvdkfW6b5ks

Lol.

True. Personally, I'd find it pretty uncomfortable having that on my back. It would probably feel pretty hot too over such long ride since your skin wont be able to breath properly. If the century has checkpoints or pit stops where you can stop quickly to refill your bottles I would think that 2 large bottles should do, along with some gels and bars. Maybe a banana as well. It really may depend a lot on the weather conditions but taking a sip of a drink every 20 or so minutes is recommended. You want to stay hydrated. Also having a small snack as you ride will help a lot. You don't want to wait till you feel hunger. At that point it may be to late and you will "hit the wall".

maybe you missed the point. we are planning on a group of 10, everybody does their share, granted there will be 3-4 riders out of the group that are most definitely a few levels above the rest and probably will be the few to pull it all together near the end for the rest but all in all I'm talking about dropping the other 30 wheel suckers at the beginning, not within our own group.

havn't tried it yet, I've got plenty of time to try out different methods. I think we want to avoid stopping unless we have technical problems or somebody is dying.

Im hoping that doesn't become an issue.

LOL? The effect that PamolaPat refers to is real, although I imagine the net effect is pretty much zero at cycling speeds.

Not to be a jerk but a five hour century really isn't that difficult with a group that size. Don't over think it, just go and have a good time.

True.

Put a couple of triathlon bottles behind your seat. Better than carrying it on your back.

What a strange approach to a century.

Anyways, in a paceline I think a sub five hour time won't be difficult, that's only 32km/h avg. That's a good speed for a single rider, but not so much in a paceline. I'd be surprised if that was even close to fast enough to 'win' the century...well, depending on the course as always.

No special nutrition should be needed, just be able to eat on the bike, and know when to. Sometimes on brevets I see very fast pacelines get disrupted because everyone wants to take very short pulls and no one has time to eat properly, so consider figuring out the length of these pulls during training.

I find often that wheelsuckers can be dislodged if everyone in your group is good about slotting in behind the last member of the group, rather than behind the wheelsuckers. They tend to get shifted to the outside, or have to drop back and surge a bit to get back on. Now that's not so hard to do, of course, but if it's happening every 5-10 minutes it gets tiresome, and I guess it makes them feel a bit uncomfortable. I dunno, but generally if a team works as a team and ignores the others behind, they tend to end up by themselves.

Agreed, have fun with it and find yourself a good horse.
I pulled a century group a couple of years ago at a 23mph pace for the first 75 miles until I realized they had all blown up...
Was a good training ride though...

I agree, especially since its so flat, but when I say sub 5 I mean on the closer side to 4.5. My original goal from last year was just to be at 5 or sub 5 with only 4 riders, but now these other guys asked us to ride with them and they are a lot faster, but seem to think we can get ourselves up to shape to hang with them (which I hope and want)

https://www.clarksvillecentury.com/About.html

A few of my boys set that record pace - a 3:44 century. Nice...

I'm admiring that.