UniChris

I did one Century ride in 2018 and two in 2019.

Sort of figure I should do "a few" in 2020, but it's been such an odd year. A warm winter meant I did a metric in January and back to back ones on consecutive days in February, then ended up doing a lot of frequent 10-30 mile rides with only occasional 50's. Finally did another metric this past weekend and was a bit tired and stiff the next day, but nothing serious.

Previously I'd go for something in the 75-80 mile range before going for broke, but distractions of re-ordering life in the time of covid mean the long days of the solstice are almost here and at my slow speed (see profile picture) maximum daylight is key.

Sort of thinking maybe I just go for it and jump from 63 to 100 and change.

Crazy or sane to do that?

What about if I can have a potential ride home from the 75/80 etc mile point on call? Seems like that means I could have either a Century or a stepping-stone ride, depending on how it actually goes...

jpescatore

I've found over the years that one or two metric century rides that go well mean I'm good for a 100 mile ride with similar terrain. That one 75 miler doesn't really change your physical training in any meaningful way - it is more a mental thing.

One strategy that works for me: I try to time/place the rest stops so I am not stopping at 60 miles - I pedal through the normal end point. I'm sure it is all mental but getting back on the bike at 65 miles, my body would say "Hey, what are you doing?? This was not part of the deal - 35 more miles??" YMMV and everyone's rest stop strategy is different but a stop near 50 miles and then one near 80 miles on a century ride really works for me.

livedarklions

I've been riding solo centuries on my bike this year, but really no further because stopping for breaks really isn't much fun this year. No Nashua Amherst ride so far this year because I couldn't visit my son on campus. What I know of where you now live makes me think you might want to route some circles around home where you could bail by riding back on the radius if you get tired.

How do you feel about riding on hills? You got some big ones nearby.

UniChris

That's a good way to put it. Seems like I should go for it when the weather cooperates, especially as the shorter ride I'd really enjoy doing is a one-way that would require some help getting to the start, while my plan for a Century is an out-and-back.

I may go out and try an alternate routing for the first 20 on-road miles though, we've got some bad weather coming up and I don't think I'm going to do "the ride" until the far side of it, but could manage a little exploration.

That does sound like a good idea, though personally most of my long rides have been out-and-back so my keep on going thinking tends to be focused on a fairly developed awareness of what is yet to come on the return. It's actually in the early part of the rides that I sometimes find determination the hardest - "you haven't even done x miles yet and you want to do y? go back to bed, fool!"

Particularly in peak summer I have to time my serious breaks for water refill opportunities. Last time that was basically 5 twenty mile segments, probably will be like that this time too.

UniChris

Yes, it is an added hassle. I think I'm basically going to take a stack of (fabric) masks so I can have a fresh one for each stop where I need to go into a store and purchase fluids, and one more to ride back into town where it's a soft requirement. I've done 30 miles in a mask on a cool day, but suspect wearing one in the peak temperature hours isn't going to work, and can't think of anything to do with a removed one that would leave me willing to put it back on again.

Sheltering earlier in southeastern CT finally broke me of the rail trail habit and built some comfort on the (unusually quieted) local roads, with a side effect of getting much better at climbing - my last ride into Mystic was pretty much "climb everything I could find" until I finally found things I couldn't get up. More generally I did some 50 mile circuits there and was looking into possible Century routes but hadn't found anything nice for an east-west "top" leg north of rt 2. Now that I'm up here in MA a circular one might be a possibility, but I think for the season's first I'm going to do use the Farmington Canal Trail again, only this time I'll "ride to the ride not cage to the ride" which will eliminate the mileage-boosting repeat of the first section and the need to take the spur trail. It has the double benefit of being familiar and having a lot of shade, which given that the thermometer just decided it is summer will probably be key. Ironically I'd like to find a less shaded road alternative to the final segment of rail trail back to my door, more open to the sky and able to benefit from the final natural light of evening.

But for another? Yes. I don't really think the logistics would work to get back the Putnam Division route in NY for a dawn-to-dusk ride, so if I want some variety it might well end up being a local road century. I'd probably end up exploring options in pieces and then stringing several of them together.

livedarklions

Not sure how it work on a uni, but I really liked riding up to the Peace Pagoda. I did that at the beginning of my return ride to Nashua. Doubt I'd want to do it at the beginning of a uni century, though, but fun enough hill ride.

UniChris

What route did you take? When I poke around on maps I've seeing a few miles of 2% or so where apart from getting started a unicycle isn't too bad (one could almost argue the gearing finally makes sense). Though sure, elevation change is a workout. It's more short steep pitches that are an actual obstacle.

Ogsarg

I cannot imagine doing a century on a unicycle. What's your average speed for something like that?

I did my first century about 5 weeks ago but I had been regularly doing 60-80 mile rides on the weekends leading up to that and chose a route with about the least amount of elevation available to me, which was a little over 1500ft. of climbing with no significant grades longer than a few tenths of a mile. It ended up being no more strenuous than the shorter rides I had been doing. I ride more for enjoyment than to meet a particular mileage or speed goal but at close to 64, I wanted to do it just to say I have. I pick routes based on how enjoyable they are or because I am exploring an area I haven't been to as opposed to the mileage.

livedarklions

Amherst Rd., to Montague, to Cave Hill Rd.. It's more the length of the climb than the grade, but I seem to remember a dirt hill path up to the pagoda from the parking area that was a bit interesting grade-wise. TBH, the round trip Nashua Amherst involved about 120000 feet of climbing in 2 days, so I'm a bit fuzzy on where I was or wasn't working hard. I also think I remember rerouting around it on my later trips because that route involves too much crappy pavement.

UniChris

That sounds reasonable, both for the climb and in being a sensible routing from me - out the rail trail to Amherst then north on

I suspect there's an extra zero else it would be 12% overall grade :-) but I get the meaning, still a lot of climbing with one hill blending into another.

Was this between Amherst and the pagoda or elsewhere? Or just somewhere amidst all those hills...

livedarklions

Definitely an extra 0! That's a funny typo if I do say so myself. Honestly, I can't remember where the pavement gets bad, because the last couple of times I've done the ride, I've routed around all the windy, narrow and cracked by taking Amherst Rd. to 202. Basically the ride to Nashua is a giant M, with two big climbs and two big descents.

Drew Eckhardt 

With a couple easy days beforehand, you can ride your weekly total in one day. I'd never ridden over 40 miles when I did my first century, although I was riding 125 miles a week at the time.

The other rule of thumb is not riding more than 50% farther than your longest ride this season so you don't discover issues with fit, fueling, etc. too far from home. 160km is close enough to 50% more than 100km to not matter.

Pace yourself, hydrate, eat enough, and you'll be fine.

Under five hours you can have an average power output higher than your aerobic threshold (AeT, VT1, LT1) where breathing becomes rhythmic, conversation doesn't flow, and you start to feel your legs. Over you can't.

UniChris

My best on a similar route last year was a little over 15 hours, I'd be thrilled if I could get it to 14, others have done it in under 10. Some of it is wanting to keep the rolling speed down to the 11-12 mph point where I can probably run out a mistake on my feet. Some of it is breaks out of the saddle or time spent getting water, etc. I remember being please I accomplished ten miles actually covered in the first hour elapsed last year, but didn't sustain that through the day. As it got warmer I had trouble finding calories palatable in the heat and had a few instances where I had to dismount and walk into the shade and a long spell of wandering around an air conditioned grocery store trying to decide what to buy. Hopefully all of these are learning experiences.

I have the advantage this year of being able to start the ride out my door, so getting on the road pre-dawn may actually happen. And roads I'll be using for a stretch near each end can be faster than rail trails. On the flip side I want to try to carry less which probably still means 4 refill stops. And given how long it takes I pretty much have to ride in peak summer. Though if I can find a road rather than trail routing for the nearest to home miles, I might be more able to ride before/after dark later in the season. And I've been going to bed earlier... though had to cancel a planned test of an alternate route for the near part that was intended for early this morning when I didn't get actually to sleep soon enough.

I do have the advantage from doing it before of knowing I can do it. It's more a question of can I do it on the day I set out to.

UniChris

Did a test of the alternate route for the initial miles of the planned century this morning but did not actually roll until 8, a far cry from the 5am plan what would have rehearsed those aspects. East Mountain Rd / Papermill / Union seems good and maybe even a hair more shade.

But wow, even with the sombrero sized helmet brim 42 miles in the heat took much more out of me than the 62 mile test ride in cooler weather a week ago. Makes me think I may have to wait for a cool day.

Posed a puzzle to my nephew this evening: if you have a generally North/South route and plan to ride a dawn to dusk round trip, should you start at the North end or the South? Unfortunately my circumstances lead to the wrong answer.

UniChris

Waited a week for weather and family who could be my rescue over the last twenty miles, and had a great ride.

I'm definitely stronger than last year, and the pandemic making me more comfortable on roads was a benefit too - using a partially road route on a cooler day I chopped two full hours off last summer's time, by riding a hair faster and not having to take so many breaks, especially of the "I need to stop NOW and walk into that patch of shade" sort.

Still didn't quite get things right though, as I was completing the ride two full hours ahead of sunset (instead of at it) the final section ended up the hottest and most sun exposed, while my habits were more tuned to cooler evening finishes. Rode out of the last refill with what I though was a lot of fluids but probably was not enough - the result was I painfully watched my computer count up to 100 miles and immediately stopped along a fence two miles from home. Exchanged some texts with family, made a mess squeezing half a gel, finished the last swallows of water, put on the mask were supposed to wear in town and managed to ride back to my door, but there was a moment when that felt uncertain.

But getting it done in around thirteen hours vs over fifteen now means I'm not confined to riding centuries on the longest days of the year. Especially with some road possibilities at the home end (which can seem preferable to trails when the sun is not up) and the possibility of getting rescued twenty miles out if I'm too far behind schedule means I can consider them earlier and later in summer when it may not be as hot. Kind of curious if I can find a different all roads route that works for me for variety (though that will probably involve more climb) and then do this one again later in the year.

Drew Eckhardt 

With lights and reflective clothing you don't need sunshine.

Note 6:00am start an hour before sunrise at 7:02am, and 1:00am end six after sunset at 7:26pm
Saturday, March 26th 2016: 208 miles, 7500 feet climbing, 16:50 moving out of 18:50 total
https://www.strava.com/activities/528397406
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8297513

UniChris

On roads, I'd agree.

On a past route in another state that involved badly degraded rail trail in the woods, I found it hard to get enough light on the ground to keep my speed up so it was key to get through that part before sunset.

One of the things I've been meaning to do is test out a road alternative for the five miles of trail that are closest to home - they aren't too bad, but when it's really dark out I'd rather be on a road. Having the first and last 18 miles all roads would really open up the Century season for me - in theory to the equinoxes or so.

Hot summer sun? Give me shade to hide under - a closed canopy or at least the narrower clearing of a trail that the tree shadows span.

True rural dark? A nice wide road with more sky to let in moonlight,and more user population if something goes wrong.