Originally Posted by
UniChris
Your goals aren't entirely unlike mine accomplished at the end of last summer.
Start working towards earlier starts, for the full ride starting before dawn would be good. Given I roll around 10 mph before allowing for breaks for me it was a necessity. Also find a light solution that works if you get on the road before dawn, and for after dark as well if you need to be riding on that end of the day instead or even as well.
I'm not sure OP knows you did your century on a unicycle, and I'm guessing 10 mph would be a pretty good clip on one of those. 10 mph on a bike sounds to me like she is struggling with something as it's an unusually slow speed for a distance bike rider, even a beginner. Keep in mind also that at that distance, each 1 mph increase equals almost an hour less of riding time, so even a small increase in speed to 11 or 12 mph is going to make this quite a bit more tolerable.
I hope OP posts a few more specifics about what she is currently doing so we can see if there's some tweaks she could do to make this more achievable. She's off to a good start.