Topic: Biked a century yesterday

[70CB750]

and I hurt today.

Just saying, well OK, I admit, I am showing off 

[754]

I did about 30 yesterday. rode 14 miles to meet the vintage mc group, had coffee with them and then back most of the wat..that was 22 ish in under 3 hrs. The hills though were much steeper than seen in my daily commute.. So it hurt a bit.. Packing an extra 110lbs did not go unnoticed.
 I side hurts near the hip this morning..
 Its good for you..

[madmtnmotors]

A century? 100 miles? 

That's a "shakedown" run for me! 

Just did one this morning. 

[RAFster122s]

Wilbur, is that on a bicycle or a motorcycle?

[madmtnmotors]

Wilbur, is that on a bicycle or a motorcycle?

Duh-oh! I had "motorbike" on the brain... 


I only did ONE mile on the bicycle today! Hats off for BICYCLING one hundred miles! 

[BobbyR]

I used to joke years ago that the Bike did all the work. Now my body tells me I contribute something.   

[Don R]

I do notice hills that didn't used to be there, now I know why it's got so many gears. I still find it difficult to just roll along, even down a hill I have to go faster.

[70CB750]

Yesterday i found a broken spoke on the rear wheel, I am so glad I did not know about that one 


Few years ago I done it on local roads, but it gets old watching for cars and dumb cagers, biked majority on W&OD this time:

http://bikewashington.org/trails/wad/wad.htm

It used to be a train line, there are some hills, but mostly  it is smooth rolling; it does not matter, after 80 miles I hurt on any trail 

[Raul CB750K1]

First of all, I'm impressed about somebody -beside professional cyclists- cycling 100 miles in a day. I once biked 50 miles on a day on my mountain bike and that was too much for me.

I have taken up bycicling recently after 10 years. I have also noticed too much animosity by cagers so I also ride most on bicicle-only roads. In order to avoid the expense of buying a road bike and quitting in two months I have fitted narrow tires to my mountain bike - well, it is not the same than a road bike but pretty close...

I got a language question though: why "biked a century" and not "biked a hundred"?

[70CB750]

I am just using bicycle language I learned at a bike forum, not sure why it is century except for the obvious fact  of century being a hundred

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_ride

[BobbyR]

I am just using bicycle language I learned at a bike forum, not sure why it is century except for the obvious fact  of century being a hundred

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_ride

It makes more sense than "doing the ton"

[madmtnmotors]

I am just using bicycle language I learned at a bike forum, not sure why it is century except for the obvious fact  of century being a hundred

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_ride

It makes more sense than "doing the ton"

Don't know if I would want to "do the ton" on those little bearings! Not to mention those little rubbers...  

[754]

How many hours did it take?

[70CB750]

About ten with brakes, my average speed is usually 13 mph, but the computer was not working  

[BobbyR]

I am just using bicycle language I learned at a bike forum, not sure why it is century except for the obvious fact  of century being a hundred

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_ride

It makes more sense than "doing the ton"

Don't know if I would want to "do the ton" on those little bearings! Not to mention those little rubbers...  

Actually i was saying that going 100mph is called "doing the Ton" what that has to do with 100 mph never made sense to me. 

[BeSeeingYou]

First of all, I'm impressed about somebody -beside professional cyclists- cycling 100 miles in a day. I once biked 50 miles on a day on my mountain bike and that was too much for me.

 In order to avoid the expense of buying a road bike and quitting in two months I have fitted narrow tires to my mountain bike - well, it is not the same than a road bike but pretty close...

I have a 39 year old Peugeot 10 speed with the narrow tires (90 psi).  Well two actually...one is a parts bike.   My wife has a modern 18 speed mountain bike with the fatter knobby tires.   Our regular riding route ends with a gradual hill running through the park and then a gradual incline to my house.  I like to start at the top of the hill and peddle for a set distance and then see how close I can get to my house by coasting.  Have not made it all the way yet but my bike with the narrow tires will coast at least twice as far as my wife's mountain bike.  So yeah if you want to to do any distance riding get a set of narrow tires.  When I ride my wife's bike it just feels like a slug.

[70CB750]

Yes, and the rules for pine wood derby clearly recognize that too

[Duke McDukiedook]

Yeah, a century has always meant 100 miles from bicycling to me.

I think the modern usage of ton describing 100 goes back to dart playing- Ton-eighty meaning 180 (three thriple 20's) in one of the variants of X01 or cricket games.

[RAFster122s]

I have a Trek Multicross and ran 700c treaded tires on it for about a year and when I switched to slicks it was if the rolling resistance was cut in half.  Made a huge difference. So, a mountain bike switching to slicks would be similar in rolling resistance reduction. So, unless you need and use the treaded tire off road, change out those tires for slicks.

[70CB750]

Talked to my old man today, it will be hard to beat him, he biked in Alps - parts of Grossglockner too - when he was 65 

[754]

What bike and tire size.
 I run smooth but fat tires on my gary Fisher Joshua MB

[Duanob]

All this bike talk is making me feel lazy. I've hardly ridden my bikes this year. I usually ride to work @ 32 miles RT but I find the 550 more fun and a lot faster I like doing good epic single track rides too but I have been out only  three times this year. Feeling sluggish!

[Stev-o]

All this bike talk is making me feel lazy. I've hardly ridden my bikes this year.

+1.  Since this is the new unofficial bike thread, should we post our bikes? I have an XR500...

[70CB750]

I usually hang the bicycle in  September, and get ready for hunting season - and I never accomplished anything significant as far as bike rides.

Starting 2012 I decided I need to ride a century and got it done in July, so this is the second consecutive year, I hope I will have the will to keep it up for years to come

[Bankerdanny]

Did 1,075 miles Thurs 9-19 through Sunday 9-23. Biggest mileage was 376 on Sunday.

[754]

Are you talking bicycle..?  ?..?

[Bankerdanny]

Duh, cycled, not the motorcycle.

I cycle year round. I usually do at least one century a year, but I have been busy with the Wing, my 550 project, and my MG and just haven't done as much cycling as usual.

[70CB750]

I was wondering

[Bankerdanny]

My fastest century (excluding rest stops) was a 17mph average for one I did in 2009.

My longest ride is 126 miles in '86 when I was 21.

In 2007 I did a 6 day 444 mile organized ride.

[70CB750]

Wow!  I mean, crap, you are different league, man.  I really started biking when I was 40 or so.  Century is about my limit.

[Bankerdanny]

I was 44 when I did the one in the picture.

There's an annual ride in NE Illinois called the sub 5 Century. The goal is a 20mph or better average including rest stops for a total ride time of 5 hours or less. This year several members of my regular riding group successfully did it. Another member in his early 60's is an iron man triathlete. When you ride with folks like that you have to become reasonably fast or get left behind.

[70CB750]

I believe your area is flat?

[754]

Thats great..
 I ran into a guy the other day that rode competitively for a lot of years..
 Did a century a day a few times a week when training.
 Said hls longest ride was around one of the Hawaii islands.. About 250 miles in 16hrs..
 Man that is hard riding..

[RAFster122s]

I biked with some friends and was going to ride in Tucson's de Tour but achilles tendonitis took me out during the build up. I quickly learned my tires, wider treaded were making the bike a lot harder to ride any distance. It was dramatic the change in rubber made.  Had a spoke break and cause a blowout and nearly wiped out one night biking home from work. $150 later I had a heavy-duty Sun rim laced with heavier guage spokes by the bike shop. Changed the shifters to trigger shifter and reconfigured the handle bars to cruiser style as I discovered the stem was bent so, new higher rise stem added as well. With herniated discs in my neck and carpal tunnel I needed a more upright riding position than I had with the stock Trek setup.
Should have bought a cruiser hybrid as that i what I ended up building. The cruiser geometry a bit better for easier pedalling when more upright as the seat to crank position is a little different.
Similiar to lower bars making you wanting rearsets, a more upright seating needs the crank to seat relationship shifting the crank further forward.

The highway I now live on is not very bicycle friendly. My older brother and sister live near a bike friendly road, that is as the main road to her subdivision leads to a nearby park/campground/recreation area.

[70CB750]

I ended the century with a broken spoke, luckily I did not know:)

My old man biked all his life, commuting from downtown Prague to the scientific institute he worked in - 30 miles a day -  when he was 63 he landed hard on his face and broke jaw and lost some teeth, he biked the Alps with similar crazy group when he was 65.

Now he is 80 and  bikes normal bike and electrical assisted when he feels lazy.

We always biked together when he comes, Skyline drive and such. But because of him, I never got into till I was 40 or so.  Started with an old Raleigh I found in a scrap metal bin

Sorry, talk too much as always.

[Stev-o]

We always biked together when he comes, Skyline drive and such. But because of him, I never got into till I was 40 or so.  Started with an old Raleigh I found in a scrap metal bin

You didn't bike as a kid? Before I got a car at 15, I rode a bike everywhere.

One of most memorable rides was the MS150, a charity ride that is done every year to benefit Multiple Sclerosis. It was a two day ride, camped overnight, and covered 168 miles from a Houston to Austin.
There were 5000 riders, quite an event.

http://biketxh.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEvents?sid=3590&type=fr_informational&pg=informational&fr_id=22598
 

[70CB750]

I was a city kid, there was no need for a bicycle with metro, bus, tram.
I did bike on weekends at the summer/weekend cabin, just to go fishing or get ice cream and such, nothing what I would count as biking.

That BL MS looks like good event, how did you like the ride?  Did you haul all the gear for camping on the bike?

[Bankerdanny]

I believe your area is flat?

Where I live is very flat, which absolutely contributed to that 17.2mph average a few years back.

But the first few days of the multi-day ride in 2007 were along the Mississippi River Valley area, and it can get darn hilly. One day covered 80 miles with 4,000 feet of climbing and another was 70+ mi;les with 3,000 feet. You never get very high, so no issues with oxygen levels like riding in mountains, but 4,000 feet in 80 miles is still a lot of going up when you traditionally barely break 200 feet of total elevation change in a 100 mile ride.