avidone1

when you say you rode a century or (OMG) a double, does that mean straight through without a break?
That seems incredible to me, so I'm assuming their are breaks for lunch, restrooms, or just a bench under a tree.
Do you add up all the miles traveled in one day?
So when you measure distance for "a ride" how exactly is that done?

10 Wheels

100 miles in 24 hours...

My club gives a free jersey if you can ride one each month of the year.

10 Wheels

Jseis 

STP is either 200 miles in one day of 16 hours or 200 miles in two days, each of 16 hours. And yes, there are stops along the way. Most two day riders ride ~12 hours a day and there are no controls first day (some ride 150 1st day). One day riders have to finish by a strict time (8-9pm?), thus under 16 hours assuming a 4-5am start. I'd like to do a one-day before I'm 70.

BlazingPedals

Generally, doing a century is "one day's ride." There are no set rules, but breaks for food and potty stops are definitely allowed. Although I've done them non-stop, it's only when I'm going for an overall time.

fietsbob

the ones that matter get the T-shirt , etc, are organized by someone else they get all the stuff set up along the way .

other than that you just ride some where , if its 50 miles away , by the time you get back , well there you are.

GlennR

I've done 2 century but that includes a few stops for short rest and nutrition.

Hell, i usually have a 15 minute stop on a 40 mile ride.

OldTryGuy

Complete the miles in 24 hours.

My ride today......Left the house at 0310 on my Paramount with a stop for a traffic light, continued until 0526 when I stopped to see the ISS (International Space Station) pass overhead then continued until back at house by 0630 for 50 miles. Quick shower and kit change, put computer on my CAAD8, aired tires, grabbed a Pop Tart fresh water and Mountain Dew Throw Back and at 0730 headed the 5 miles to LBS for the start of the 33 miler. Back at store hung around until friend was ready to leave, biked to his house, BS for a while then home. 102 miles total.

2014 Ironman Florida 112 miles non stop.

July will be my 65th birthday ride of 135 miles with 4 stops.

Halloween 2010 was a 200 miler starting at 0130 and finishing at 1500. 6 stops, 158 miles by myself and 42 miles with friends.

jppe

I've ridden more 100 milers than I can count and a few 200 milers. The least number of stops I've done on a 100 miler is 1-and I've done a lot of those with the last one with 1 stop last month. I just don't carry enough fluids. On doubles at some point I'm just mentally ready to get off the bike.

The one I point to as one of my best was a 100 miler with 10,000'+ feet of climbing that took 6 hr 30 mins with only 1 stop.

avidone1

totally cool looking Jersey!

spdracr39

100 miles in one outing within 24 hours. Stops are ok and usually necessary to refuel, rehydate, and relieve and as long as you don't load up the bike and get transported to another location to start riding again I count it as one ride.

FBinNY 

I guess they've relaxed the rules over the decades.

BITD a Century ride was 100 miles end to end completed in under 10 hours. How that was broken up was up to the rider, with only the total distance and time mattering. The 10mph pace was also the guideline used for the other distances, with a half century taking 5 hours, and a double taking 20, though some allowed 24. When I created the NYC to DC ride, we allowed 24hrs for the 250 mile route.

BlazingPedals

If you're doing an organized century, then there's usually a time limit. After all, those SAG drivers don't want to stay out on the road for the next 24 hours! But if you're on your own, you can make up your own limits.

FBinNY 

Back then we did organized century rides without a sag wagon. Sag wagons were the province of upscale European tours. We grunts carried our own for most rides, though some major rides with large numbers of participants had sweep buses or trucks to gather up the stranded at the end of the ride.

Gerryattrick

By definition rules are only for organised events. Rules don't exist for unorganised or social centuries do they?

JerrySTL

The furthest I've ever been able to go non-stop is a little over a metric century. I've done many centuries and even a few double-centuries with short stops.

I like the definition of "within 24 hours" over "in one day" as I've done some 24-hour races where we rode past midnight into the next day. However I tend to think that the ride should be somewhat continuous. Riding 50 miles; taking 6 hours off; then riding another 50 miles seem more like two half-centuries rather than a full century to me.

FBinNY 

Yes, IMO rules imply some kind of organized ride or standard. That's why I italicized rules. My point was to contrast the references to a 16 hour or all day standard for the term a Century Ride, with what the term implied BITD.

Back then, if you rode 100 miles you rode 100 miles. But if you said you'd completed a Century Ride, it implied that it was an organized 100mile ride completed in under 10 hours start to finish. Various clubs organized Century rides, usually late in the season, though organized didn't imply much more than a planned route (maybe even marked) and maybe a leader of some sort.

Tony Marley

Some century rides, normally not planned to be such, occur in the course of multi-day bicycle touring. If you get a strong tail wind, for example, you may take advantage of it and do 100+ miles instead of stopping at the originally planned campground. Or, things don't turn out as planned, so you have to ride further: on a cross-country ride, my 10-year old daughter and I rode from Thermopolis, Wyoming to Caspar, Wyoming in one day, when we found that the county had closed the campground we planned to stay at due to health code violations. On all such centuries, you stop as often as you want or need to, for meals, rests, and bathroom breaks.

FBinNY 

This is why I prefer the older 100/10 standard. 10 hours for 100 miles imposes something of a continuous ride standard. There's time for breaks, even a decent lunch break, yet they won't be long enough to call it two rides. The typical profile for the ride would be to ride roughly half way non-stop, doing it in under 4 hours. This gave you time for a decent meal break, leaving 5 or more hours to complete the ride, usually with a short break near the 3/4 mark.

IMO riding 100 miles is just riding 100 miles, but completing a Century Ride, should imply something more. BITD it did, now I guess it no longer does.

Gerryattrick

Speaking as someone who hasn't done a "Century" for more than 45 years, when I rode with a cycle club, I can see the reasoning behind having a maximum time standard.

I also believe that cycling has evolved a lot in the last 30 years, with many people having mountain bikes and riding very long distances entirely or significantly off-road where it is not possible to maintain the same speeds as road riders over 100 miles.

100 miles is a century, literally, although we may disagree about figuratively so, IMO, keep the time limitations for organised rides/ sportives and continue to recognise the achievements of those who follow a different path for their 100 miles/century in a day.

avidone1

Interesting comments. I really enjoyed the history lesson as well as the different standards based on club or individual preference. It seems clear that when riders on this or similar forums talk about a century ride they use whatever "standard" they prefer. Personally, I'm partial to the sixteen hour standard for centuries or any other ride...Henceforth whatever distance I cover in a continuous sixteen hour time frame will be considered as my ride distance for that day.
I now have a standard, which was my intention when posting this thread.

OldTryGuy

Good luck with your century ( X 100) and BTW, a curious mind would like to know how you are going to the 100.

Biker395 

I don't suppose the girl comes with the jersey too? lol

To me, a century is riding 100 miles in one swell foop, whether that takes 5 hours or 25. I've ridden countless centuries. some of them are highly organized affairs where there is an entrance fee, sag support, numerous food stops and the like. Others are only organized in the sense that a bunch of friends agree to meet and do a ride together, stopping for food and water along the way when they damn well feel like it.

I typically stop a LOT. I'm in no damn hurry to finish anyway, and I love the company and the food.

I measure success not by how fast I complete the century, but by how many pictures I've taken, how many new people I meet, and just general awesomeness.

Gerryattrick

Given your history of centuries I'll go along with that ( except for the swell foop! )

zonatandem

Have ridden well over a hundred centuries and a half dozen double centuries since 1973 and lots of multi-day tours. The toughest was 3 days of riding covering 325 miles with 22,000 feet of climbing on our tandem in Arizona with temperature at 103 degrees when we finished in Phoenix. Never did that one again!
Now at ages 79 and 82 we are still pedalin' TWOgether, but no longer do centuries . . . been there, done that!