100 mile times

decepticon

hi everyone,
just got into road cycling after buying a ridley excalibur in feb after being into mtb for a few years. enjoying being a roadie very much and currently training for the norwich 100mile in june. would like to know what times people would do for this type of event (mainly fairly flat) i am aiming for a sub 5hour (this weeks traing ride of 78miles was at an average of 20.5mph) i am 30 yrs old
please respond with a description of your age and times you have achieved/would expect.
i am only asking as i would like to know if i will be alongside the best or struggling near the back
cheers
neil

cacbyname

Good to hear you are enjoying being a roadie and hope you like the Norwich 100 too. However you should realise it isn't a race by any stretch of the imagination. The start time is staggered over several hours and there is no timing involved whatsoever so it would be impossible to know where you finished. If you want to test yourself against others, there are other ways to do it than Bike Event charity rides where you'll see people of all shapes and sizes, for some of whom doing 50 miles in itself is a major achievement.

That said, if you are averaging over 20mph on a solo training ride, I imagine you'll be one of the quicker people there, probably top 10%. I imagine you'll find a group going at a similar speed and end up riding with them for a good part of it which will allow you to go even quicker.

If it helps, I'm mid-thirties and think I've done the Manchester 100 in about five and a half to six hours. I've done a century a bit quicker than that but that was in a time trial where speed is everything (or the only thing!)