2011 Metric Century Challenge

furrag

At the risk of taking it all too seriously, what's the score with 100km over a days worth of riding?

I commuted to/fro uni this mornng, cycled to Crystal Palace in the evening, then raced and returned home tonight, all of which came to 62.43 miles. Does it count?

pdstsp

I think this was asked last year and the ruling was that it doesn't - you can do a ride and have a cafe/meal break and this obviously does count, but not a commute, work commute as the bit in the middle is too long!!

As ever I stand to be corrected.

toontra

Just to explain - I'm in training for Paris-Brest-Paris in August so my figures are up for this time of year, and should stay pretty high through till then.

To put it in perspective, there are many audaxers who put my mileage to shame, totting up truly incredible distances year after year. Just as well they don't post here

As other have said, hearing about BikeGirl's crash puts everything into perspective, though. Hope she's doing well.

johnboy183

Not part of this challenge, came upon it too late (and probably not quite up to it yet anyway!). Will look forward to following everyone's progress.
BikerGirl ... have a speedy recovery, sounds a mite uncomfortable

DeadCalm

Just to add my wishes to Bikergirl for a quick recovery. Get well soon!

rolf_f

209.6km (130.3 miles) - first double km century! That feels good and bad at the same time

pdstsp

April update:
Durrin 23
daibhi 21
toontra 21
genki 16
Mad One 16
MikeEye 15
furrag 15
jonninho 14
fridgeboy 13
Runner2Cycling 12
Slog 11
RedGreenBaron 11
wiffachip 10
threelionsbrian 9
lucky paddy 9
LA 9
bikergirl17 9
orbeaorca 8
Rolf F 8
Omar Little 8
Christophe.cdb 8
pmunster 7
mr_poll 7
peterst6906 6
DeadCalm 6
pdw 6
RickyG 6
gbs 6
Velocitizen 5
JamieW 5
Wheelspinner 5
Leedsmjh 5
Polly's Bott 4
thecrofter 4
renard 4

Well done to the 35 still in - good luck for bikergirl and her recovery.

gbs

Can I claim a virtual medal for first to complete for the month of May?

100km clocked up by 11:52 this morning on a virtually flat Thames Valley course with more wind assistance than hindrance.

mikeeye

gbs wrote:

Can I claim a virtual medal for first to complete for the month of May?

100km clocked up by 11:52 this morning on a virtually flat Thames Valley course with more wind assistance than hindrance.

Fine by me. I've just got back from a 205km ride, but it was 11:57 by the time I'd done the first 100.

New Edge 500 locked up very close to home so I've lost some of my data. Disappointing - my old Edge 305 didn't do that.

And my rear gear cable snapped at 195 km. Glad it didn't happen earlier!

What a great day to be out on the bike though - if a little windy

EDIT: Thanks for the update pdstsp ;-) Should have said this before :oops:

toontra

Thanks for the update pdstsp!

bikergirl17

wanted to say thanks all for the kind words ... so gutted and envious that two awesome four day weekends and you all are out there ... the surgeon added another week to the ban, so fingers crossed i do get out the last weekend in may and manage 100K on the first ride out (he wasn't swayed by my argument that i would have to drop out of this challenge!) ...

if anyone has good recommendations how to get aerobically (and generally cycling) fit with three months off (really like 6 since didn't do much this winter) please pass them on (am not allowed to jog or do yoga either). i am trying to turbo, but having a hard time motivating or even knowing what would make sense (although i guess just getting on to it would be a big start!!!)

Jonninho

MikeEye wrote:

gbs wrote:

Can I claim a virtual medal for first to complete for the month of May?

100km clocked up by 11:52 this morning on a virtually flat Thames Valley course with more wind assistance than hindrance.

Fine by me. I've just got back from a 205km ride, but it was 11:57 by the time I'd done the first 100.

New Edge 500 locked up very close to home so I've lost some of my data. Disappointing - my old Edge 305 didn't do that.

And my rear gear cable snapped at 195 km. Glad it didn't happen earlier!

What a great day to be out on the bike though - if a little windy

EDIT: Thanks for the update pdstsp ;-) Should have said this before :oops:

just checked the gps track and passed 100k at 11.45 this morning, but didn't finish overall till 12.30 - what time counts?

gbs

Having relinqushed the "first to complete" slot to Jon and being blown away by MikeEye I now claim to be the first OAP to complete in May!

Jonninho

gbs wrote:

Having relinqushed the "first to complete" slot to Jon and being blown away by MikeEye I now claim to be the first OAP to complete in May!

I can`t compete with that one - not yet anyway

you have given us a new game to play each month now..

velocitizen

Thanks pdstsp for the update.
Good luck with your recovery Bikergirl.
Got my May ride in today, 2 X 100km weekend riding in the Peak district.
Great roads, blue skies but a bit breezy!

ThreeLionsBrian

gbs wrote:

Can I claim a virtual medal for first to complete for the month of May?

100km clocked up by 11:52 this morning on a virtually flat Thames Valley course with more wind assistance than hindrance.

According to the rules i suppose, but i had done 100KM+ between 1200 & 6.45, but as it was part of a 400, you win

gbs

ThreeLionsBrian wrote:

gbs wrote:

Can I claim a virtual medal for first to complete for the month of May?

100km clocked up by 11:52 this morning on a virtually flat Thames Valley course with more wind assistance than hindrance.

According to the rules i suppose, but i had done 100KM+ between 1200 & 6.45, but as it was part of a 400, you win

I don't think so - see Joninno and my post above. Some of you guys are riding insane distances. Do you we have a rule re sanity as a pre-condition! Anyway, chapeau for yr effort.

JamieW

Well you guys all seem to be whipping me. Doing many rides up to the 60 mile mark but not quite counting...

Hoping this weekend will give me a double point score at least.... 24 hrs of exposure. Do u get extra points for doing it off road?

pdstsp

No extra points but extra respect!

ThreeLionsBrian

JamieW wrote:

Well you guys all seem to be whipping me. Doing many rides up to the 60 mile mark but not quite counting...

A little tip, when you get to 60 do 2 and a bit more

JamieW

Damn i knew i'd been going wrong somewhere. I just didnt want to show you all up... maybe next year i'll do those extra 2/3 miles to clock up the extra points

pdstsp

Morning all.

At the risk of attracting more abuse I am afraid I am warning you in advance that I will not be able to post the May update until 8 June. This is because I have been given the chance to ride Lands End to John O Groats over the month end. Now I know this is self-centred of me but I have decided to do it anyway.

So could I ask if someone out there could post the update for me. Unfortunately Velocitizen is also waylaid over the month end and I know you lot need your league table early.

I suggest the first volunteer be elected and I'll be back on the case for the June update.

Thanks in advance and apologies for the inconvenience.

Paul

toontra

I won't be around either, or would have been happy to stand in.

PS Good luck with the end to end Paul. May bump into you on the way as I'll be doing my annual London-Aberdeen then also.

mikeeye

pdstsp wrote:

...I will not be able to post the May update until 8 June. This is because I have been given the chance to ride Lands End to John O Groats over the month end.

You can't pass up an opportunity like that! I'd volunteer myself but I too will be LEJOGing over the month end. Perhaps I'll see you en route. When do you start / finish?

Good luck with it and enjoy the ride. Here's hoping for great weather.

pdstsp

Thanks for the good wishes guys. I'm setting off on 26th and doing it over 11 days. We were aiming at 8 or 9 days but the trains didn't work out. I think that was a blessing as , hopefully, the extra time will make it that much more enjoyable.

As you say it was impossible to pass up the opportunity, particularly as it was the wife's idea (ish)!

I'll be riding a Van Nicholas Chinook (my new pride and joy) with a couple of small compression bags strapped to it and my mate is on a Speciallized something or other, so say hello if you see us. We're sticking to the general direction of the Okehampton, Bridgewater, Monmouth, Shrewsbury, Shap, M74, A9 route but using very few A roads - mainly lanes and B roads. We are staying in pubs and b&bs and detouring via Liverpool to have a night being cosseted at home. My kids reckon getting the Mersey Ferry disqualifies me for saying I rode the whole way so I'm putting the little b######s in care.

Very excited but a little nervous too!

Toontra- that sounds an interesting one is it part of the PBP qualification@

When do you go MikeEye and how long you taking?

Paul

mikeeye

We're starting on Sunday 22nd and doing 11 days riding with a rest day after 6 days. So you're going to be roughly four days behind all the way. Our route is 970 miles, so that's an average of 88 miles per day, but we've got a support vehicle provided by our company. Loosely following the CTC B&B route.

I'm jealous of your new bike. I'll be doing it on my Ribble Audax/Winter trainer. I do like the look of those Van Nicholas's, but no rack mounts would rule that one out for me - I have a rack on mine for commuting. :idea: Perhaps we should swap. The panniers would be really useful to you, and I can manage without. I'm just thinking of you, honest

On a more serious note, I just fitted some Vittoria Open Pave CG tyres - instead of Vittoria Rubino Pro Tech 3 which had done 3800 miles (and are still okay). What a transformation. They may be expensive, but the ride is so smooth! Fingers crossed they don't lead to any visits from the PF.

toontra

pdstsp wrote:

Toontra- that sounds an interesting one is it part of the PBP qualification

Paul

No, just something I've been doing for the past few years. It's how I got into long-distance cycling. This year I'm going to try and do the 570 miles in 3 days (usually take 4) as part of PBP training.

toontra

MikeEye wrote:

I do like the look of those Van Nicholas's, but no rack mounts would rule that one out for me - I have a rack on mine for commuting.

Have a look at the Van Nicholas Yukon. That's what I use (and a lot of other audaxers). Rackmounts, but still a fairly racy geometry. I use a rack with rackpack and often carry about 10k, but could also be used with panniers and a fair bit more weight than that.

mikeeye

toontra wrote:

MikeEye wrote:

I do like the look of those Van Nicholas's, but no rack mounts would rule that one out for me - I have a rack on mine for commuting.

Have a look at the Van Nicholas Yukon. That's what I use (and a lot of other audaxers). Rackmounts, but still a fairly racy geometry. I use a rack with rackpack and often carry about 10k, but could also be used with panniers and a fair bit more weight than that.

Funnily enough that's exactly what I'm looking at right now! Drool.

pdstsp

Only got the Van Nicholas two weeks ago and absolutely love it so I'm going to turn down your kind offer of a swap! Our route is 920 so we are on a slighly lower average. I'm using a seat post rack which is designed for a carradice saddle bag, but attaching a compression bag to it instead. I'm also outting a small compression bag on the bars. If anything goes completely tits up we'll have to buy it en route.!!

Thanks for the tip on the tyres - I'm on Pro Race 3s at the moment and considering options for LeJog.

Paul