Cancelled century rides; now what?
 

Many, if not all, of the century rides I was planning on participating in this summer are cancelled. This is disappointing as I had a good list of rides this summer, but understandable.

With the lack of century rides this summer, what are you folks doing? Are you creating your own century rides? Recreating the rides you've done in the past? Other?

If you don't have any ideas for routes, look on ride with gps for routes. You can set the desired length in the search. Most of the routes I have designed are 200km. Not sure I'm really up for riding any of them though.

If I was in Vancouver I'd be doing the triple crown.

I knew that there was a fairly new paved bike trail in an adjacent county. Spent some quality time with a map of back roads and bike trails between home and there, then put a route into the GPS. Did an out and back a month ago. Repeated again yesterday, but this time did not take any wrong turns. At 63 miles, was not a 100 miles but I was looking for some exercise, not a mileage based goal. And some of the hills on the back roads provided plenty of first gear exercise.

I've been riding century routes by using my house as a hub with spokes out to other suburbs. Not the same as some of the rides I've done up in Wisconsin or out by Princeton, IL in terms of scenery nor hills but for now they are keeping me in reasonable cycling shape.

My favorite century in July out in Princeton was just cancelled. I've done it the past 5 years. At this point it appears unlikely that I will register for any other events in 2020 as that just seems to guarantee that they will be cancelled.

The main thing I am hoping to do is scout some new brevet routes at touring pace; if it’s safe enough to self-supply and campgrounds are open, I’ll do that; if not, my spouse can probably be convinced to run support and will just pick me up and drop me back off the next morning where I left off.

I mostly create my own routes anyway. I do maybe one organized ride/year, and everything's cancelled this year. RideithGPS is a wonderful website, easy to use. It's fun to explore. I'll use Google Earth or Google Maps to see street view if there's something I really want to see. I build my routes during this shutdown so that I have water/food/bathroom stops as often as I need them, usually around 30 miles apart. Grocery stores and mini-marts are open. So first I find the stops, then route to them. It's fun.

Ride my own century or 200km, however I’ll carry a little more food than usual this year and route myself through small parks in the towns I pass through where I know there are drinking fountains and rest rooms so I have the option of not stopping at any convenience or grocery stores.

billridesbikes That's the big challenge in hosting my own century. Having access to food and water. In previous years it wouldn't be an issue since the Kwik-E-Marts would be open. Now though, it's a 50/50 gamble on being able to get food and fluids while out in the field.

On a lighter note, I did some searching around in Garmin Connect last night and came across some local rides that I can extend to 160k. Looks like I'll be doing some local century rides after all.

Figured out this weekend I need to pull my hydration pack out of … well, out of wherever it is now. It's getting too hot to ride more than a couple hours with just a couple of water bottles, and I don't want to pfutz with putting a mask on and taking it off every time I need to re-supply -- assuming there's an open convenience store there. 5 hours' water and plenty of food to ride that long -- I'm starting to sound like I'm driving a steam locomotive instead of riding a bike!

I haven't worn my hydration pack in a couple of years. What I have been doing is carrying 2 water bottles in my front randonneuring bag in addition to the two on the frame. It has worked so far. I think once it really gets hot, I'm going to have to add the hydration pack. Should have bought a new bag for it, the old one has a crummy design that will soak you if you don't put the lid on just right.

I actually just got a new Camelbak. I haven't been riding any centuries, but I have been riding a weekly ~100K, with enough supplies that I shouldn't need to stop.

I can definitely ride 100km without stopping. In fact, with my hydration pack, there is no problem making it to 100 miles given reasonable temperatures.

Many of the century rides will publish their routes, and you are welcome to do the rides self-supported (or with a small group if you wish).

I'm down on my miles this year, but over the past few years I was a hardcore commuter, and had far more century commutes than organized century (and hilly half century) rides. I'd rather do a point to point trip that I'd like to do for a commute than to simply ride in a circle for the miles.

Well, you guys got me to order a new bladder for my hydration pack. We'll see if I use it. I want to do some mountain biking, so it will be helpful there.

I'm going to have to bust out the hydration pack if I go beyond 200km, there's so few open toilets in the parks now, a few I usually rely on are still closed, frustratingly enough. I will have to keep an eye out for churches and schools, though most schools have taps that need a square socket to use, luckily I have one... but I've been left dry at schools in the summer since I guess they shut the water off.

I've ridden my bike up to the drive-thru without a problem now though, since the dining rooms are still closed and I pre-order food via an app, they haven't refused me yet. I would be okay if they brought it out to me in person if they give me a hassle... used to always tell us to take a hike in pre-covid times.

I did a century, and another 230km, on Zwift... though I suppose to some people, it doesn't count. If I ever plan to do one outdoors, I'll probably break out the Camelbak like everyone else here is mentioning though there aren't really many nice routes from my doorstep... which is why I haven't been doing outdoor rides much.

I think I respect an indoor century more than an outdoor century. My tailbone hurts from zwift, and the longest ride I have done is an hour and a half.

I'm doing some riding of existing routes (200k randonneuring permanents, for example) and also exploring some new areas on my bike. Got a 200k planned this Saturday that I've never ridden on before.

Water, the one liter size Smart Water and one liter size Life WTR disposable bottles fit well in most bike frame cages. The Life WTR bottles are a bit shorter than the Smart Water ones, both are a bit under 12 inches.
https://www.target.com/p/lifewtr-pre...e/-/A-51955216

I reuse them, but after a few months they are pretty beat up. This size does not have a flip top lid for easy drinking, I use those lids from other bottles.


In winter, pre-virus I did an hour to two hours on an exercise bike at Planet Fitness a couple times a week. Their saddles are rock hard. Immensely boring, so I bring a tablet along to read the news on, downloading news articles off of wifi.

There were a dozen centuries in my Strava feed this weekend. One guy had two. But a solo century is a completely different experience than a big organized ride. Phil's Cookie Fondo in October hasn't been canceled yet. I may go ride that one again this year if it happens.

I wanted to go out for a long-ish, near-century distance ride on Sunday but it was a relatively wet weekend, and there was a significant spike of new COVID-19 cases in the district that I would be passing through so I decided against it. Perhaps another weekend this month... though my country is scheduled to lift the movement control order on June 9 (assuming no new surprises, touch wood)... maybe the local audax club might start some events again after that? Guess I'll just wait and see...

I rode 31 centuries last year. Only 4 of those were organised rides (randonnees), the rest were all private. So to me the cancellation of brevets doesn't make that much difference with regards to how many long rides I do. However, my solo rides tend to be at touring pace, without the time pressure of brevets. I miss the camaraderie of the organised events and the company of group rides with friends, but I still enjoy the beauty of nature and the challenges of climbing, of riding in remote areas and of long days in the saddle.

I improvised my own century here in Midcoast Maine two weekends ago. I used some familiar roads and discovered some great backroads I had never ridden on. The highlight was seeing the Alewives heading upstream to spawn at a fish ladder in Newcastle. Three water bottles were enough since it wasn't too hot. Bathroom stops were mostly behind trees and buildings, although I did stop at two gas stations for some food. It was a great, hilly ride--I'm super lucky to live in a beautiful area!

David
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...341d2bf0ec.jpg

For the last few weeks, I've been doing two rides a day about 4 days per week (chipping away at my accumulated vacation days because I'm retiring in a few weeks). Average of 3.5 hours in the morning, then home for the hottest part of the day, then 1.5 to 2 hours in the late afternoon. It's an easy way to avoid the various problems I'd otherwise encounter doing rides of 5 to 6 hours or more.