mudman22

Stoked to do my first century tomorrow morning!

Question about navigating: How do you stay on course? Follow the herd?

The course "map" is 6-1/2 pages of turn-by-turn directions. No actual map. So is it usually easy enough to just follow the herd, or do I need to keep the directions handy? Seems like there are often several turns in any given mile. I can't imagine keeping the sheets out to figure out where to turn--that is really going to slow things down.

https://www.bccutah.org/ulcer/wp-cont...Mile_Route.pdf

Did I mention how stoked I am?! Can't wait!

Elvo

If you plan on doing the 14 hour or 4 hour century, I'd just map it out on my Garmin. Otherwise follow the heard.

gregf83 

If you have any type of Garmin you can map the route in ridewithgps.com and load the turn-by-turn directions into the garmin. Failing that just get in a group and trust that someone knows the way.

rufvelo

Following the herd is good, with so many rest stops you can re-group, often road markings are done in a specific color that you should look out for, carry a printout of the directions; you won't get lost.
Century is great, all the best, do report back.

Pamestique 

Is this is organized ride? Most are very well marked either with signs or markings on the pavement (usually different color arrows or hash marks for different distances) - you just need to pay attention and look for them. Chatting with others I have missed the turns at times. Most rides will also give you a route map. Everytime you take a rest - study the map, then put it away. If the street names sound familar to you you will think to check for markings.

Good luck have fun!

johnny99

Following the herd usually works, but remember that most of them have never ridden that particular route either. One of them may be following the directions, or maybe not.

Machka 

Follow the herd ... and use a map case.


Also since you have the instructions already, map them on bikely or one of the others, and print your own map of the route, or of certain sections with a lot of turns.

Do you have a paper map of the area? You might want to have a good look at it as well, and map out the route ... and then bring the paper map with you.

jamesdak 

Hmmm, I tried the "follow the herd" mentality on my first organized century just last week. Was during the organized 100 mile race up in Park City Utah and there was supposed to be a turn around point around mile 44. While the organizer failed to have signage, arrows, a person, or anything at the turn around point. Oh and did I mention the turn around point was on a fast descent area down the mountain. So a bunch of us did another 10 miles down the mountain before realizing something was wrong. So that meant another 10 miles of climbing on what was already a "climb heavy" ride.

So my advice, map out your route and keep track as you go.

Clipped_in

All I've ever heard about the Park City ride is how unorganized and poorly managed it is. Sounds like that hasn't changed much. Most rides are much better. I'll expect better from the ULCER tomorrow.

TrekDen

Found this map on Garmin Connect.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/103206130

And this one on Map My Ride

https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/44771424

Have fun!

coralreef

Thanks for the warning on the Park City ride. That's one I've considered doing in the future.

j-law

Its best to ask questions like this before the night of the ride.

Machka 

A lot of them seem to do that. Variations of these types of questions come up all the time .....

On a Tuesday ... "I'm wondering what sort of training I should do for the century I'm planning to ride this coming Saturday. Because of [school/work/family/friends who wanted me to party every night] I haven't done much cycling since I signed up for this century 3 months ago, and my longest ride so far is 20 miles. But I'm wondering if I should go out and do a 40 mile ride today, or if I should just taper now."

On a Friday ... "I'm riding my first ever century on Sunday, and I'm wondering what I should plan to eat on that century, and how often."

On a Thursday ... "What would you guys wear on a century ride? I'm riding a century on Saturday and I have no idea what to wear for a ride that might be cool to start and warmer later. And do any of you put bags on your bicycles for longer rides so you can carry a jacket or something?"

rm -rf

Is this the ULCER Century or the Migraine Century?
From the PDF:

32.42 mi Head south on N 2000 W toward W 800 N

34.04 mi Head south on S 2000 W toward W 4000 S

34.07 mi turn Right onto W 4000 S

These look like auto-generated cue sheets, from mapmyride or ridewithgps, etc.

If I'm print a cue from one of those sites, I load it into a spreadsheet and edit out the unnecessary entries. Then I mark the "T" intersections with "Tee" so I don't have to watch side roads, mark the turns as "First Left" or "2nd Right" if appropriate.

This is a really complicated route. There's a lot of turns.

BradOlz

Bring a map!

My first century was inadvertent because I was too cheap to buy a $5 map. I planned on an 75-80 mile ride from point A to Point B. I made a wrong turn twice and had to backtrack quite a bit both times. If I had a map on the ride I would have checked it whenever I had any question which way to go. I could have saved myself quite a bit of frustration/energy had I just gotten a simple road map.

Good luck, have fun!