My first Century
 

I started riding again about 4 years ago at 59. At the time it was just a way to get some exercise outdoors riding my old rigid mtb around town regularly. Other than trying to get in better shape, I've never had any goals in terms of miles, speed, climbing, or anything other than exploring some roads on a bike. When I got to where I was riding 30 miles or so, I decided to try a road bike and the rides naturally got longer and longer.

I've ridden 80+ miles many times but never 100 till yesterday when I decided it was time. Did probably the easiest 100 mile route I could do from home, going over to the coast and riding the pacific coast bike route south till I hit 50 and then turn around and come back the same way. Only 1500 feet of climbing. There were some nasty headwinds coming back up the coast but intermittent and once I turned inland had a good tailwind making the slight incline a breeze. Average speed was a modest 15.65 MPH

Not sure I'll want to do that regularly but who knows. Still no goals other than to keep riding and keep exploring.

Good job! How did you feel after the ride?

congrats on your c-note! i thought your new pic posted in the “empty road ahead” thread in the road biking forum looked a little too coastal vs your other pics. well-done!

About the same as the prior Sunday where I rode 82 miles but on a route with more hills. My butt was a bit more sore when I got home but feels fine today.

Good job. I might be joining the old man century club this summer if I can get my act together.

Congratulations!

I think I do about 150' of climbing over a 20 mile route around here. Lots of wind, though.

OUTSTANDING RIDE and CONGRATULATIONS!!! :thumb: :thumb:

I have a goal for you ---- 2 x age for your BIRTHDAY RIDE. Mine is 140 + 1 (for good measure) in JULY.

CONGRATS! :)

One of these days when I come up on a week that I don't see any foreseeable need to walk?...LOL!

But seriously, Congratulations. :)

Ogsarg Congrats! I've been commuting 28 years with longer weekend rides and I can't seem to do more than my birthday ride, and I knocked off a little early this year due to high winds.

Congrats. A solo century is even harder than a group ride. You have nobody but yourself to tell you to keep going, and I never listen to myself.

Congratulations on your first century! Well done. Try participating in an organized century when all of this social distancing is resolved. They're a lot of fun.

beware, a few years ago, i was averaging two a month and it got to a point where if it wasn't a century, it wasn't worth my time and i didn't feel validated.
fortunately, that passed but the buzz of doing centuries can be addictive. especially when you're not dependent on an event or others along for the ride.
still...always nice to throw down a c-note on a monday or early in the week to get the weekly mileage ramped up properly.

Yay! Nicely done!

Good show! My last was almost a year ago to the day. Not ready yet this year but I'll get there.

I particularly love the photos you take on your rides, you've got a good eye and some great country to explore out there.

Congratulations Ogsarg. I just turned 62 been riding seriously roughly a year now. I had been registered for a very easy century, I registered last November, it was to be held two weeks ago but was put off not sure when it will be.

Anyway, I have been prepping all winter on a fluid trainer and Zwift. Since mid-November I've Zwifted 3000 miles and completed two virtual centuries, ridden up the Alpe 32 times (one day I did three Alpe runs) and completed all of the route badges. So I feel confident in a flat century but I really want to do one in real life just because. I'm sure I will get to it this summer.

Tomorrow I'm doing a 64 mile ride on hybred on a rail trail. It's funny because a year ago I would have been pacing the floor over this now it's just going out for a ride.

Terrific! I’m enjoying doing some longer rides lately as well. What has helped me is planning routes for exploring of new areas and roads plus mixing in a good food stop. Keep up the great riding!

Congratulations. As was said above, I think it's a lot tougher to do a century on your own. I don't know if it will happen this year due to COVID-19 Social Distancing (it's usually in the Fall, so who knows), but the Foxy's Fall Classic ride up in Davis CA is a good one if you don't want to do a ton of climbing.

I started riding 3 years ago at 57 in June 2017. Did my first century in an organized ride in Sept. 2018, Rode my 2nd in an organized ride in March 2019.

I was signed up for 2 century rides in the past 2 months that were both cancelled due to COVID-19, so I decided to make up for them!

I rode my first solo century on March 28. I rode 105.22 miles with a modest 2,064 ft of climbing and a terrible headwind for 36 miles straight at one point! Finished in 6:18 and had a 16.7 average.

Set out to do a 2nd solo century a week later on April 4. My rear derailleur cable snapped inside my brifter at mile 25, though, so I had no choice but to turn around and ride home!

I was able to ride that same route on May 2. 105.3 miles w/1,867 ft of climbing. Finished in 5:57 with a 17.7 average.

I solo'd again this past Saturday - 2nd Saturday in a row! Different route this time - 110.1 miles with 2,694 ft of climbing. Strong crosswinds for most of the route. Finished in 6:20 with a 17.4 average.

Solo centuries are a challenge! It's a physical challenge, for sure, but the mental challenge is just as great to me.

Keep the pedals spinning!

Gary

So inspiring. Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Congrats. 100 miles is a long way.
Quite a few times Santa Cruz to Monterey and back was my flat century.

All my centuries are metric now.

Congrats! That's awesome. I hit 26 a couple weeks back on my old hybrid bike and was proud of that haha.

Nicely done. Well earned kudos.

Absolute fact! The mental part has really taken a hold of me. Before I retired and moved, I had a nice, fairly flat century route mapped out that I would ride several times a year. In SoCal, would leave the car parked at a city park in an inland valley and ride through an agricultural valley to the ocean. Then return. (Central Park in Santa Clarita, out the 126 to the beach in Ventura, then retrace.)

No hills of worthy note. Nice afternoon on-shore breeze to aid in the return trip. Would take a snack break in the orange orchards at 25 miles, lunch at the beach at 50 miles, another break at 70-75 miles, then finish. Safe route, little traffic except for the state highway.

What I found so difficult to overcome is "the wall" that I hit right at the 80 mile marker. I just wanted to be done and finished. But I still had an hour plus to finish up. It turned into agony and a mental nightmare. Especially if that last stretch had any type of headwind.


These days, I fear my century runs are over and now confine myself to metric centuries, which I still find quite enjoyable. Several years ago, on my birthday ride, which that year was riding 124 miles, I had to make the "call of shame" at the century marker and have my lady friend come fetch me. I just couldn't move anymore and got to a stretch when it just got dark and had to ride through a notoriously known anti-bicycle horse area.

However, I arose early the next day and got in that last 24 miles. So, I rode the 124 miles within a 24-hour period, so I count that as good. These years, for my birthday ride, I'll start at noon and ride my age. Get up early enough the next day to ride my age again and finish by noon. Double my age, in miles, in a 24-hour period. That's good enough for me! This year, I'll be riding 138 miles for my birthday ride. August days are long up here in North Idaho.