Don in Austin

Today at age three months from medicare, I rode my first century. It was an urban solo ride here in Austin, Texas. First I went to the velloway which is a one-way loop just over three miles. I went around and around until my water bottle got empty which I couldn't refill because the parks department was apparently paranoid about the water fountains freezing. I hate it when they shut off the water! It got into the mid 70s today. So I went to my gym to hydrate and refill the bottle. Andy is the owner and my personal trainer. I told him what I was doing and he asked "You are going to ride a century AND do your Thurs. night group ride?" I told him, "Hell no! The group ride will be the final part of the century." I think you can guess what's coming -- I started to think about it and between male hormones, my arrogance, and a need to show Andy the seed was planted!

So I went to my shop and traded the wierd home-brew CF MTB with street tires for the wierd home-brew CF road bike with flat bars. This was at exactly mile 50. The road bike has two water bottle holders and I was concerned all the frigging water fountains in town would be turned off, which they were. BTW both bikes have platform pedals which is how I always ride. Both bikes are built with unbranded e-bay carbon fiber frames and other e-bay unbranded CF components. I zig-zagged around Austin and did a lot of back-tracking until I had 100 miles accrued. Lot of deja-vu.

I returned to my shop and met my riding partners for a short Thurs night ride which includes a hill that tops out at 20%. Total about 112 miles per my bike computers and the GPS in my smartphone.

I think some more stretching is in order!!

Don in Austin

10 Wheels

Mojo Slim

That may be the oddest century I've every encountered. But a century nonetheless! Congrats.

LesterOfPuppets

err two bikes.

pmcq

Congratulations on your achievement in one of my favorite places- glad the weather was wonderful and that you had enough water and bikes to make the entire trip. Bet the gps map would be an interesting one....

StephenH

I believe it was in the Clydesdale forum where they had the idea of a "century to nowwhere"- either rider on rollers or around and around on a very small course.

If I remember right, the long-distance race in Sebring, Florida, starts with a regular century, then switches to a large loop, then to a smaller loop on an auto racetrack which is about 3 miles- so sort of what you were doing in reverse.

stapfam

So how was the comparison of the two bikes on a 100 mile ride?

And on the stretching--Think you may need a recovery ride today- but try to vary the scenery. Doing short circuits must be as bad a a trainer

But as said-100 miles is 100 miles. Well done.

drmweaver2

Go you!

Don in Austin

The road bike has 700c x 28 tires, is 5 pounds lighter. The MTB has 26x1.25 slick tires and a suspension fork, but there wasn't a great deal of difference. I have compared the bikes on a 15 mile commute and the times are close.

Recovery ride planned for midday.

Don in Austin

Bare Feet

It may have been a little unusual, but it sure made a good story. Congratulations on your determination!

BluesDawg

A very unconventional century. But then, what would we expect?

Congratulations!

big john

Sounds like you had fun, Don. Keep these stories coming.

JanMM

Dunno about the two bikes thing but, well, um, ok, it's a legit century in my book, esp. with the extra mileage.

Don in Austin

Various constraints came into play. I didn't want to go 100 miles out in the boondocks solo. Also, a lot of the roadies around here do long rides on freeway shoulders, narrow two lane country roads without shoulders and pickups whizzing by at 75 mph. I am not comfortable riding on such roads. Also, if I was going to do 100 miles I wanted to avoid super steep hills -- although I had some anyway. Park trails were not such a good idea after I traded in the MTB for the road bike. Congested rush hour traffic didn't appeal to me either, so there were limits on routes I could take. So, besides the veloway I went from far southwest Austin to north Austin with a lot of zig-zagging and finding myself at familiar intersections and ended up in near south Austin at my shop. It took a long time with all the stopping and starting. I know a road cruise could have been done in significantly less time. I would prefer not to say exactly how long it took -- suffice to just say I did the 100 miles AND the evening steep hill group ride and made it home for a not-to-late supper.

Don in Austin

europa

Blitherin' dog biscuits. I never realised that you had to stop half way through and buy a new bike, not to mention going on a group ride as well. No wonder I keep woosing out with metric centuries, the long one is just too darned complicated and expensive.

Well done that man.

Richard

billydonn

???Doesn't count if two bikes are used does it??? Just sayin....

Don in Austin

I did not buy a new bike. I have 5 bikes. I rode the MTB with street tires in from home, and when I got to my automotive shop I rode off on my road bike to take advantage of 2x the water bottle capacity

Don

AzTallRider

Congratulations, Don. 112 miles is looong ride, no matter how you do it.

bjjoondo 

Don, congrats!! I've only done one century ride, that was in 1984 to finish off a "patch set" from the "League of American Wheelmen". LOL, IF I ever make 100 miles in a day again, it won't be planned!

Rick@OCRR

Great ride Don, and great area too. My brother lives in Austin, TX so back in '91 when I was training for P-B-P I flew down there in Feb. (from St.Louis) and rode many miles in and around Austin. Didn't see Lance though.

No matter how many bikes you used, or how long it took total, you still rode 112 miles in one day, so that definitely counts. Darn close to a double metric (about 124 mi. as I recall) too!

Rick / OCRR

Allegheny Jet

Well done Don! That is one of the oddest done and best described century rides I've read. Apparently "unbranded CF bikes" rule.

kr32

Don,
I did some centuries this year and always ended up home so I went nowhere too. Good ride, congratulations.

Keith99

There used to be two centries in Southern California that were rather odd and in one way at opposite ends of the spectrum.

The Mountiangate Century, originally an April Fools Joke. Mountiangate to the West of the San Diego Freeway on the Santa Monica Side of Sepulveda Pass. The entry road is a mile long and I'd guess 15-20% grade. Yup, 50 loops. People showed up and did it. It lasted at least a few years.

The other was the Mile Square park century. Yup, a park that is a mile on each side, a bif perfectly flat square. 25 laps.

I never did either.

sjordan1959

112 miles, no matter how many bikes, done in one day is a century. Congrats on finishing the year with a great accomplishment :-)

BengeBoy 

Congrats on the ride!

Originally I read the post as buying a new bike in the middle of the ride -- that would set up a whole new level of accomplishment (most number of bikes purchased during a century, most expensive bike purchased during a century, etc.)


The blogger Fatty at fatcyclist sponsors a "Century to Nowhere" each year. He does it as a fundraiser -- if you raise money for Livestrong and send in a story about your day, you get a prize in return (a jersey or patch or something).