ThermionicScott 

Why is it important to use the same bike for the whole thing?

Perhaps if you can come up with an elegant term for a ride-of-100-miles-during-one-calendar-day-that-doesn't-involve-other-people, we can preserve the sanctity of the term "century" for you.

noteon 

Boss ride.

unterhausen

can we avoid the ankle-biting please?
^
official request from a mod, in case I wasn't clear

njkayaker

No, that's not what I meant.

People seem to use the term "century" to make what they did appear more impressive.

It's also ambigous since there isn't just one "century".

ThermionicScott 

I've never met someone who didn't care as emphatically as you.

The vast majority of people would define a "century" as 100 miles (give or take a few) ridden within one calendar day, period.

If people want to add qualifiers for their own rides (same bike, no dismounting, must be with a group, must be during daylight), fantastic, but at that point, you're deviating from the generally-accepted definition.

CbadRider

Apparently you missed post #28, directly above your own. The nitpicking is detracting from the thread. njkayaker, please leave this thread.

stevage

Ha, 45 minute break is nothing. I did one recently that was this:
- 10k home to train station (then 90 minute train ride)
- 10k train station to meeting (then 5 hours of meeting etc)
- 150k ride home (including 40 minute dinner stop and an hour fixing a particularly annoying puncture).

None of my friends can really understand why I care about hitting the 160.9 kilometre mark

unterhausen

I had an hour break in a century once, and I definitely consider that a century. I rode with a batch of fast racers for the first 99 miles in under 4 hours. We didn't stop, and since it was a supported century I had not brought any food. I bonked so hard with a mile left that I got off my bike and slept for over an hour. Fortunately I was way ahead of anyone else because I'm sure the cyclists on the ride would have kept waking me up. That last mile was one of the hardest rides I remember on a bike. I still had to wait some number of hours to catch a ride home because the people I came with took quite a while to finish.

Six jours

What if you do 100 miles in four hours without a single stop, but you start the ride at 9 PM? Is it not a "century" because it took two calendar days to get it done?

I know, I know, "Please leave this thread." I'm going - but you'll be sorry when I'm gone!

ThermionicScott 

"Midnight century"?

rhm

Sheesh, guys.

I don't ride many organized rides, because such rides almost always require that I drive to the start point.

The reason we call certain rides 'centuries' is because we have the term. There is nothing special about the distance, as opposed to a 'double metric' or whatever. It's just that people, by nature, tend to use the words they have. It beats circumlocution.

As with all words, once you have it and use it, it turns out to be useful for things it did not originally denote. Once upon a time a 'century' was a squad of a hundred soldiers. Then it came to mean a period of a hundred years. Now a bike ride of a hundred miles. I'm sure it's perfectly normal for a few people to get all huffy about it, every time the meaning of the word expands. Likewise, it is perfectly normal for the rest of us to ignore them.

OP, you rode a century.

DXchulo

Nitpicking was the point of the thread, was it not?

Anyway, I always go with the 100 miles in 24 hours definition. Why take anything away from other people? I add my own personal stipulations, but that's my own problem, not anyone else's.

amit_shah25 

Well, was it 100 miles on your bicycle computer, or a GPS ? If your bicycle computer, was it caliberated correctly ? Otherwise the whole ride is a kapoosh Just kidding ! 100 miles in 24 hours qualifies as a century in my dictionary.

Myosmith

Is it just me, or are people WAY overthinking this?


Congratulations on your century!

noteon 

I'm going to start referring to my rides in furlongs. "Eight hundred furlongs" just sounds so much more badass than anything else we're talking about in this thread.

ericthered

Isn't that what km is for?

merlinextraligh

solo century; one hundred mile bicycle ride in one calender day ridden by one's self; subset of century, which may be done with the aid of others.

Steamer

I prefer to think of a century as .1609 billion millimeters.

unterhausen

I measure in nanometers, that's 1.609 gazillion nanometers

Steamer

What is that in beard-seconds?

contango 

823,680 inches.

Sounds more impressive than it really is (13 miles for those who can't be bothered with the sums)

Six jours

I was thinking about Paris-Brest-Paris the other day and then recalled this thread. Someone should let the organizers know that it can't be considered a 1200 kilometer ride, because they're not getting it done within 24 hours.

Chris516

As to the OP's question. Regardless of whether, cyclist, or motorist, and consecutive or cumulative, at some point during the 100-mile distance, they need to make a 'pit stop'. So, Yes, It does qualify.