oboeguy

Barely got it in for January, phew! 16 laps of Central Park yesterday (no joke). Temp never got above freezing.

SharpT

I kicked off the year in San Francisco with my first 200K brevet Jan 26th. Forecast was for Definite Light Rain all day long... turned out there was not a drop of rain all day, in fact the sun was peeking out for about half the ride. Wind was tough along the coast as several were apparently blown off their bikes or road... I had to make an emergency unclip once and nearly lost my balance, but luckily regained. However, several times I was blown from one side of the road to the other. If a car was approaching, I'd just stop and let them pass. This went on for about 6 miles of the route as we headed out and back to a lighthouse. Nice views... Ran out of water at one point, and apparently missed a nice water/food stop just off the road in between controls.

And I managed to get lost or felt lost a couple times on the way back in due to some cue sheet errors, only a bonus mile or two, but I was pedaling quite slowly looking for the twist and turns... along with a lack of confidence in the directions given.

Only 32 people out of ~85 registered started due to the weather forecast. 30 finished.

Time 10:53...

300k SF brevet end of Feb. scheduled..

--
SharpT

Rowan

Done. Fixed.

Reynolds 

170 kms on January 20th. Took me nearly all day.

truman

Did a windy 104 early this month and did something to the knee.
Hope I can get it back in shape before Feb. ends I definitely want to do a couple of back-to-back longish days before the soldier ride in March.

freemti

I started off planning to do an Imperial century, but events, poor planning and just sheer cold combined to deny me and my son our official January 2008 Century. We ran out of daylight (not a show stopper in itself), the temperatures plummeted and overall tiredness jeopardized our ability to navigate my cur sheet.Luckily we we able to hop on a local train and let SEPTA do the rest. Many mistakes were made and I'll outline some for posterity and so others may benefit from not repeating them.

1. Dress better, bikes shorts & leg warmers are not enough (I think I'm sterile now)
2. shoe covers and/or heated insoles
3. Dense urban routes to be avoided
4. better cue sheets and use a clip dohicky to hold them
5. Try not to ride during commuting hours on roads subject to high traffic
6. Either pre-drive the route or rely on known bike friendly routes

They say the best lessons are those learned the hard way.

freemti

I did get 67.5 miles in before calling it quits, so it counts as a metric. For my first attempt at the century a month club in a Northeastern state, I'll take some solace in that fact

Michelangelo

February century done
166 km @ 21,8 km/hour.
Started with a ride organised by the Satory bike club in the Chevreuse Valley. Completed the century on the return trip home. Cold and windy, but otherwise fantastic weather. This is far better than BPB: it rains during the week and week-ends are great and sunny (whell... during daytime). Next will be march, and a flèche Velocio with Republique pass on the way is on the program

kraxmel

February century done too.

100.51 miles yesterday.

Commuted in from home to do the area's "Super Bowl Ride". Stopped in downtown Dallas for spaghetti before riding back to the start and then back home. Was a beautiful day for the ride, temps started in the low 60's and go up into the mid 70's.

Yesterday's ride brings me up to 3 centuries for the year and I've got another in two weeks.

supcom

Completed Feb last Saturday on a hilly 200K out of Austin, TX. That makes for 5 total so far, including one 300K.

The first 400K of the year is scheduled for this Saturday.

Godwin

February is done, probably my hardest 162km yet. Made a post in my blog thing.



edit: anyone know a good way to clean a carradice barley?

The Smokester

February century done.

znomit

Just got back from a "back to back to back". There was an organised round the mountain ride on saturday, and its around 170km away so I though I'd pedal up... up is the word, highest point 750m and lots of up and down on the way.

Nice sunny day on friday, got away around 10:30, in no hurry so explored some backroads and kept off the highway. Stopped at 115km for a quick bite. 173.5km 7.51hrs

The ride on saturday was only my second organised century (though I did a double in nov). Loops around Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom for you LOTR fans) , starts at 550m, climbs to 1100, back down to 500 and up to 900 and then a 40km cruise home.
Was a bit apprehensive about going too fast but I found a good bunch that was getting along just right. At 20km mark the a short steep climb had me switching to the smaller front ring, or trying too... front derailleur not shifting. Continued on for a bit but the looming hills had me stop and see if I could work it out. Ended up loosening the cable so it went into low gear and did did the remaining 130km like that. Ok on the hills but I couldn't keep up with anyone at much over 35 so spent most of the ride on my own. Ended up getting in after 6.52 hrs, my target was 7 so I was happy with that.

Woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof and wind in the trees. Rolled over and got another hour in. Out the door at 8:45 during a dry spell. Had the wind at my back most of the ride and apart from the first 30km it was mostly downhill. Really missing my big gears, spent a lot of the day coasting at 35. Home, exhausted after 7.29hrs, 172.7km

Was a nice ride but I think I might take the car next year.

Hocam

Spray it with a cleaner like simple green and wipe off? If that's not working you might be able to put it in the wash, but you'll need some beeswax to re-waterproof the outside.

chipg5

I have a carradice Nelson Longflap that's gotten quite muddy sometimes. What I've done is to let it dry and then use a very stiff wire brush (eg: ) to brush off all the dried mud/dirt.

It's worked great, though lots of elbow grease required.

Reynolds 

February done - 166 km today.

dgasmd

I must admit I did not see this thread or link to it from the other thread. Here is my last post from the other thread:

"January's century done. Did 108 miles solo on 1-13-08. Nice weather, but was definately tired at the end. Had done 62 miles the day before."

February century done last sunday 2-10-08. Did 101 miles. Warm with very very high winds. About 70 miles of it was with a tailwind so strong I was riding 25-27 MPH and feeling as if I was not even pedaling for most of the last 70 miles!

I will likely do another solo century this weekend as it is supposed to be sunny and nice. What am I saying? I live in South Florida. Short of a massive storm every day is sunny and warm

DataJunkie

Feb done. It is slowly getting easier. Still... after 70miles I start struggling. I think I may need to take more than 2 10 min breaks.

It was 19F at the beginning at the mid 50s at the end. My messenger bag started empty and at the end was completely full.
I also weigh 2lbs less so my hydration and eating finally hit the mark.

Michelangelo

Another february century just for the fun of it, and for preparation to a flèche Vélocio of 22 March.
Went to Chateaudun (a castle on the Cher) and Montigny le Gannelon, also on the Cher across the Beauce, a wonderful renaissance chateau owned by the Montmorency and the Laval families.
Anyway, the wind was east, in the nose to come back. 282 km @ 22.1 km/h in exactly 15 hours. Very cold early morning and in the evening and quite warm under the sun. The food was good

dgasmd

Another century in February also. Went today for 115 miles. About 6+ hours. Had about 40 miles of headwind at about 15-20 MPH that was kicking my but royally. However, nice side/tail wind on the way back for another 40 miles. For the first time I had a cramp. I had heard lots of people talk about it, but I have to tell you that $**** hurts like a mother f.... Had been drinking quite well, ate appropriately, and it was on the way back with the tail wind, so I was not even doing a ton of effort when it happened. I stopped for a couple of minutes and it went away. I can still feel pain in my thigh when I walk. Did I mentioned how much that $hit hurts?

mattm

did my feb. century this weekend: Seattle to North Bend & back.. 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM - i definitely wasn't haulin arse, but i was steady if nothing else. part of it was with a group, but most of it was solo.

photos of the ride & more on my blog, here.

ebrady

I am joining into this thread late, so I am listing for two months.

Jan - 107 chilly Miles.
Feb 101 miles, warm weather, but ended up doing about 30 miles in a 15 - 20 mph headwind.

Godwin

Congrats! Good to hear of someone else doing wintery centuries.

DXchulo

February is always the worst month. Spring can't come soon enough.

I did the Horsey Hundred route today in Georgetown, KY. I killed 2 birds with 1 stone by getting my Feb. century in and doing a century in a new state. I have a goal to do a century in every state. KY gives me 4 states (IN, OH, MI, KY). I'm hoping to get 4 more states this year (TN, IL, MO, and NM). We'll see what happens.

As for today, here are the stats:

Distance: 100 miles
Weather: High of 34. Flurries, but no wind.
Time: 6:35

The route was beautiful. I can only wish I had picked a better day to ride it. A combination of the cold, hills, winter legs, and an I-wish-winter-would-end mind led to a slow ride. I hit a bad funk between miles 65-78. I was crawling up hills at 9 mph that should have barely slowed me down. I stopped at mile 78 and took a 20-minute break, which is something I almost never do, especially solo. I spent most of that time eating, and I worked up enough energy to finish the ride on a positive note.

Here's a random picture from the ride:

chipg5

Did my February century yesterday: beautiful sunny day, warm -- temps between 28 and 45 -- roads dry except for a few stretches that still had snow and ice on them.

I had planned it as 2 loops -- following I think Machka's suggestion for winter centuries. The first loop was 40 miles, I ended up back at home to warm up/eat, taking about 35 minutes, and then I took off for the second, longer (60 mile) loop.

Distance: 102.9 miles
Time: 07:26'28
Avg: 13.83 mph
Climbing: 5966 ft = 57.98 ft/mile

Dxchulo's right, February is the hardest month, I lucked out that I could actually take the whole day yesterday to do this, and that there was actually a day that wasn't too snowy, icy or frigid. Lack of regular riding in the winter took its toll though...

Here's the route:



And here's a creek that part of the route goes along:


I'm thinking that there's a slight possibility that when I do my March century there won't be any snow on the ground...