Originally Posted by
downtube42
People who manage 100 miles in five hours usually figure out a couple things. One, mostly nobody cares. Two, others can do it in four.
Same thing for 100 miles, and 200. Same thing for 200 and 300. For 300 and 400. And yes, if you do 400 someone else will do 500. Again nobody cares, and it doesn't really matter. Then some dude writes an article saying 30 miles is the perfect ride distance.
It's all good.
I respectfully agree and disagree with the above. I agree that non-cyclists could probably care less, other than thinking you are a wacko. Also endurance cyclists that can do several hundred miles in a day could also care less.
However, if your peers are cyclists with similar ability who aspire, or know how difficult a century can be for someone who typically rides in the 30-60 miles range, 100 is considered a good reach and a real attainment. I know when my friends and I did our first century, it was a big deal to us and those who only dreamed of doing one. When I did my first one day double and others were achieving their first single, I was still happy for their achievement. In other words I cared because I had been there and knew what a big deal it was.
As a former runner, (never competitive) stretching to do a 10K in the low 7s was a big goal. My friends who were not gifted runners either, saw it as a big deal when I did it. Friends who didn’t run either thought I was a wacko or thought it was a real attainment since they could never conceive of running that far. However the ‘real runners’ who ran marathons, or could run a 10K in the 5s, could care less and that was fine since they were in a different league which I had zero interest in achieving.
So it all depends on the audience and your peers.
To make a broad generalization, broad generalizations in life rarely hold up under examination.