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I Am An Idiot - Did 60 Miles On Saturday - But No Metric Century

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I Am An Idiot - Did 60 Miles On Saturday - But No Metric Century

Old 08-04-20, 02:39 PM
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GAtkins
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I Am An Idiot - Did 60 Miles On Saturday - But No Metric Century

All,

I'm an idiot. Did 60 miles on Saturday, got back close to home and just pulled into the driveway. I had it in the back of my head that a metric century was 67 miles or so, only to find out later that it is 62 and change.

I could have done the 62+ or even the 67+ but just decided not to. Idiot)

I won't let that happen again!

I know you guys have those days where your legs just feel like pistons - that was my Saturday - awesome.

In my OCD ways I always try to "round up" to the nearest 5 miles. I had kinda set out to do 40, then I thought well hell, I might as well do 45, then 50 was close, the 55, then 60, etc. Ugh!

Sorry for letting everyone down! )

Take care.

Glenn
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Old 08-04-20, 03:05 PM
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I won't hold you to the last 2.1 miles if you want to say it's a metric century in casual conversation when you talk about it.

We aren't unlike fisherman with our tales are we? <grin>
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Old 08-04-20, 04:36 PM
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I just take my Terrier for a 2 mile walk if I am at 60 miles and call it my metric brick.
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Old 08-04-20, 05:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Iride01
I won't hold you to the last 2.1 miles if you want to say it's a metric century in casual conversation when you talk about it.

We aren't unlike fisherman with our tales are we? <grin>
I had forgotten about the fisherman tales. I think I'm gonna blame it on Garmin. They suffer a lot a grief anyway Maybe it had something to do with the recent hack. That's it!

Glenn
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Old 08-04-20, 10:40 PM
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I don't worry about exact distances. I intended to ride a full century Saturday but made the mistake of doing 10 miles of hill repeats on double digit grades around the 30 mile mark.

By 60 miles I was burned out and headed home, finishing with 70 miles. Good day, good enough.

My metric centuries and full centuries are usually a few miles over, just depends on the route and how I feel. If my body feels done at 60 or 95 miles, I go home. Nobody is handing out trophies.

And amusing to see friends ask "Why 60?" Same reason I leave 2 seconds on the microwave. To drive OCD people crazy. That's fulfilling in itself.
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Old 08-04-20, 11:44 PM
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Originally Posted by GAtkins
All,

I'm an idiot. Did 60 miles on Saturday, got back close to home and just pulled into the driveway. I had it in the back of my head that a metric century was 67 miles or so, only to find out later that it is 62 and change.

I could have done the 62+ or even the 67+ but just decided not to. Idiot)

I won't let that happen again!

I know you guys have those days where your legs just feel like pistons - that was my Saturday - awesome.

In my OCD ways I always try to "round up" to the nearest 5 miles. I had kinda set out to do 40, then I thought well hell, I might as well do 45, then 50 was close, the 55, then 60, etc. Ugh!

Sorry for letting everyone down! )

Take care.

Glenn
When I "kit-up" and head out I'm figuring at least 50 miles otherwise it's NOT a RIDE. Get to 50 then a metric is next and then my age (70) and then 100, so to the club. My 70th Birthday ride on 7/10 had to be double plus 1 mile and for that extra mile plus the couple that lead up to 140 was around the block a few times. Some might say that "it wasn't really like riding" but I still had to pedal.

Keep on adding those miles with smiles and ride your age for a Birthday Ride or join the Double the AGE group.
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Old 08-05-20, 12:07 AM
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No, you did a 60 mile ride, which is a fine distance. 100k is a different ride. For that, put your measuring device of choice in kms, and go ride a metric century. Miles don't matter on a metric century, and vise versa.

I did a1500k brevet once. Some of the guys went out and rode another 70 miles the next day so they would have a 1000 mile week. F that. 1500k was the deal; making it about 1000 miles just polluted the whole 1500k accomplishment.

Granted, it's quite possible I've spent too many ks alone contemplating the matter.
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Old 08-05-20, 12:10 AM
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push it good. push it real good.
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Old 08-05-20, 12:58 AM
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Originally Posted by GAtkins
All,

I'm an idiot. Did 60 miles on Saturday, got back close to home and just pulled into the driveway. I had it in the back of my head that a metric century was 67 miles or so, only to find out later that it is 62 and change.

I could have done the 62+ or even the 67+ but just decided not to. Idiot)

I won't let that happen again!

I know you guys have those days where your legs just feel like pistons - that was my Saturday - awesome.

In my OCD ways I always try to "round up" to the nearest 5 miles. I had kinda set out to do 40, then I thought well hell, I might as well do 45, then 50 was close, the 55, then 60, etc. Ugh!

Sorry for letting everyone down! )

Take care.

Glenn
Good Ride! You accomplished the metric century.
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Old 08-05-20, 05:25 AM
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60 or 62, no biggie. Metric "Century" is kind of like a participation medal anyway.
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Old 08-05-20, 08:31 AM
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Great replies all. I laughed out loud at many of them. I just kept rounding up to the next 5 because I still felt good...only later did I wonder what was the metric century distance. Then I slapped my forehead.

CAT7RDR that terrier sounds like good motivation. canklecat when I tell friends how many miles I've ridden, most of them just look at me like I'm an alien with two heads. If it happens to be a 60 miler or whatever, some will ask what's the hardest part? Well, the first 60 miles. Ha!

OldTryGuy I had mentioned in another thread, the hardest part of the ride for me is getting kitted-up and out the door. Once I'm on the bike it's all good. I generally consider less than 20 or 25 "not a ride." I definitely rode my age (not by much). Not a double age yet, but that's a great idea. Ugh! If I'm pedaling around the block to round up, those are miles no doubt. In those last few miles when I'm headed for home, I always try to go above my average speed on that ride so far.

downtube42 Contemplation is good. My aunt used to say that it's OK to talk to yourself as long as you don't answer yourself. I do some of both

Thanks to all for the kind comments and encouragement. Safe miles (kms) to everyone...

Glenn
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Old 08-05-20, 09:20 AM
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Yeah, the numbers game. I do it too, adding a loop around the neighborhood to reach an even number or a metric. A couple of weeks ago I did a route that would be almost 80 miles, so I added enough to reach 80, then I kept going. As I approached 90 miles, I was thinking about making it a century. But I’d only brought one Clif bar with me that day and I was getting pretty hungry. I hadn’t yet bonked, but I decided to call it at 90 anyway.
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Old 08-05-20, 10:24 AM
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Originally Posted by GAtkins
I'm an idiot. Did 60 miles on Saturday, got back close to home and just pulled into the driveway. I had it in the back of my head that a metric century was 67 miles or so, only to find out later that it is 62 and change.

I could have done the 62+ or even the 67+ but just decided not to. Idiot)

I won't let that happen again!

I know you guys have those days where your legs just feel like pistons - that was my Saturday - awesome.

In my OCD ways I always try to "round up" to the nearest 5 miles. I had kinda set out to do 40, then I thought well hell, I might as well do 45, then 50 was close, the 55, then 60, etc. Ugh!
Meh. Now get to the important part. Did you have a good ride? What did you see that caught your attention, good or bad?
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Old 08-05-20, 10:35 AM
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What were you using to measure mileage? My computer underreports a bit, at least according to highway mile markers. 100 miles is really about 103.

During a 2008 cross-PA supported tour we had a near century day. Something like 98 miles to get to our overnight college. It was a very hard day in very humid conditions. Two guys decided to do loops in a parking lot just so they could say they rode 100 miles. I remember thinking two things: (1) Their computers could be underreporting, so they might have already done 100 miles, and (2) Their computers could be overreporting, so what they might not actually ride 100 miles.

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Old 08-06-20, 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by GAtkins
Great replies all. I laughed out loud at many of them. I just kept rounding up to the next 5 because I still felt good...only later did I wonder what was the metric century distance. Then I slapped my forehead....................................Glenn
Got out early at 1:14AM today on my Grocery Grabber since we had a nice rain last night and put in 35 miles for the 1st segment. Showered, ate, relaxed then kitted back up after the sun came up and got out on the Roubaix only this time it was hot. Heat was building so I figured on 50 miles but started to feel better since clouds showed up and went for the *Metric* and then for my age (70) and then I was a bit over so I tried for a palindrome mileage with a back-n-forth in front of house. Hit STOP at 72.27 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3874499198
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Old 08-06-20, 05:30 PM
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Originally Posted by indyfabz
What were you using to measure mileage? My computer underreports a bit, at least according to highway mile markers. 100 miles is really about 103.

During a 2008 cross-PA supported tour we had a near century day. Something like 98 miles to get to our overnight college. It was a very hard day in very humid conditions. Two guys decided to do loops in a parking lot just so they could say they rode 100 miles. I remember thinking two things: (1) Their computers could be underreporting, so they might have already done 100 miles, and (2) Their computers could be overreporting, so what they might not actually ride 100 miles.
I was using a Garmin on the bars and Cyclemeter in the bag. I think they were different by about a quarter of a mile over the 60 miles.

Glenn
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Old 08-06-20, 05:33 PM
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Originally Posted by OldTryGuy
Got out early at 1:14AM today on my Grocery Grabber since we had a nice rain last night and put in 35 miles for the 1st segment. Showered, ate, relaxed then kitted back up after the sun came up and got out on the Roubaix only this time it was hot. Heat was building so I figured on 50 miles but started to feel better since clouds showed up and went for the *Metric* and then for my age (70) and then I was a bit over so I tried for a palindrome mileage with a back-n-forth in front of house. Hit STOP at 72.27 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3874499198
1:14am? Ugh! Great ride...back-n-forth in front of the house...love it....

Glenn
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Old 08-07-20, 11:10 PM
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A few weeks ago I headed out intending to do a 50-60, but I added miles on the fly, figuring I'd up it to 75 or so. Got back home fairly knackered, checked the Strava on my phone and found that I had done 98.5. DOH!
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Old 08-08-20, 07:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Litespud
A few weeks ago I headed out intending to do a 50-60, but I added miles on the fly, figuring I'd up it to 75 or so. Got back home fairly knackered, checked the Strava on my phone and found that I had done 98.5. DOH!
That's a great story (I think). No kidding, DOH. How twisted is it in our world that riding 98.5 miles is considered a "head slap" and a "face palm"? Even when I do only 15 or 20 miles I still get that empty, nobody's home, look from folks who think that many miles is absolute lunacy. Rarely do I even kit up for less than that. I don't even get to the big climbs (at least for me, I'm weak) until around mile 20 or 25 depending on my exact route. Sometimes I do them twice because I know how much pain I inflict on the hills and how much they hate it

That's an awesome accomplishment my friend, congratulations! Keep it up....

Best,
Glenn
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Old 08-10-20, 12:50 PM
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If I'm close to a specific number, and by close I mean within a mile, I'll add some to the ride, take the long way home or whatever. If I'm close to a big number, say 75 or 80 or 100, I may take an extra loop around Prospect Park, which is 3.3 continuous miles without any stops. Almost all my rides go through the park in one direction or the other anyway. But mostly I just take what the odometer tells me. It all adds up.
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Old 08-10-20, 01:12 PM
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I once went on a long ride with some friends and when I got back to the house I was at 99 and change so I rode around the block a few times to get 100. Did the same ride a month later but didn’t bother the second time. It was hot.
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Old 08-11-20, 01:14 PM
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Pics or it did.t happen at all - just another internet fable.
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Old 08-24-20, 08:25 PM
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Originally Posted by GAtkins
I had forgotten about the fisherman tales. I think I'm gonna blame it on Garmin. They suffer a lot a grief anyway Maybe it had something to do with the recent hack. That's it!

Glenn
I think you inflated the tires wrong. You really had 62, easy! And didnt you also double back to pick up that allen wrench that fell out of your pocket?

And then that 2 mile extra loop back to the rest facility, for age accommodation? You mighta really had 70!

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Old 08-25-20, 01:04 PM
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60 miles is a great ride man

I've stopped on 11,17, 28, 38, 47 and it was alright!
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Old 08-25-20, 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted by GAtkins
In my OCD ways I always try to "round up" to the nearest 5 miles.
I'm glad it's not just me who rounds up to 5 miles. I have a 1 mile, and 2 mile loop in my neighborhood that I use at the very end of all rides to round up. 1,2,3,4 miles, what ever it takes, combinations of those loops have me covered. And they also give me about 75' of climbing per mile, so I use those loops to also round up my total ascent to the nearest 500'. What's more fun than chasing numbers?
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