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Me and all my friends....,


Zephyr

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I try to ride at least one fondo a year, and try to pick different ones, which is harder than you would think living here.  

My wife is not a long distance rider and maxs out at 100k(60 mile) rides, so I always end up doing these 100 mile rides alone.  Which is fine, a large percentage of my rides are done by myself.  I do, however, admit to being a little jealous seeing groups of obvious friends doing these rides together and having fun and making a day of it.

This year I decided to see if I could get some company for the ride so I reached out to a number of people in our program who ride some (most around the 25 mile mark) back in March and tried to get them to do this ride for me.  I had 4 yes'es, three of them had never rode over 80k before.   Starting in March, I provided them with training plans and have been in contact and encouraging them throughout.  Then they started to drop.

One boss cancelled one guys day off for that day to fill a shift.  Another has had some personal issues so she had to back out, another had an injury and had to stay off the bike for the last four weeks.  So it was down to two of us.  

I just found out today when he signed up he signed up for 100k, not 100 miles.  :(

Oh well I tried.  I will just spend my 100 miles thinking about not being such a dick all the time and maybe getting a few friends.  

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2 hours ago, Zephyr said:

I try to ride at least one fondo a year, and try to pick different ones, which is harder than you would think living here.  

My wife is not a long distance rider and maxs out at 100k(60 mile) rides, so I always end up doing these 100 mile rides alone.  Which is fine, a large percentage of my rides are done by myself.  I do, however, admit to being a little jealous seeing groups of obvious friends doing these rides together and having fun and making a day of it.

This year I decided to see if I could get some company for the ride so I reached out to a number of people in our program who ride some (most around the 25 mile mark) back in March and tried to get them to do this ride for me.  I had 4 yes'es, three of them had never rode over 80k before.   Starting in March, I provided them with training plans and have been in contact and encouraging them throughout.  Then they started to drop.

One boss cancelled one guys day off for that day to fill a shift.  Another has had some personal issues so she had to back out, another had an injury and had to stay off the bike for the last four weeks.  So it was down to two of us.  

I just found out today when he signed up he signed up for 100k, not 100 miles.  :(

Oh well I tried.  I will just spend my 100 miles thinking about not being such a dick all the time and maybe getting a few friends.  

Dearie is a social cycling hermit. He doesn't cycle with any guys on a regular basis or any group.   He only cycled for about 2 yrs. with a mixed cycling group when we lived in Toronto.  He seems to go cycling with another guy maybe um...every 3-4 yrs.  Otherwise all the multi-long month, wks long trips bike touring is by himself or more rarely me..when I can take vacation from work.  

He doesn't go to have a beer with a guy or so.  It just hasn't been him ever since I've known him which is nearly 3 decades.  He enjoys doing a lot of stuff....himself.  Yet in cycling advocacy groups, with my family, his family, he is talkative, etc.  One would never know he is friendly loner.

With me in 1 day I am cycling up to 70 km. He knows and I'm sure you know as well, when a life partner also enjoys cycling with you, it's a bonus...especially when he cycles solo out of town....though not with him, it is the best understanding ear to have.... to talk about the cycling day.

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Over here in Scotland, the CTC hold a veterans' 100 mile run for those over fifty. This runs over a lovely part of Scotland...the Trossachs, a bit hilly though, and ends with a dinner. I've done this a few times, last time with a seventy year-old woman friend and it was a great day.

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Centuries are a race, I don't care what they say.  It's a race.  You need to ride like your life depended on it.  It must be hilly, you are not allowed to walk the hills, ever.  When you're on the flats, you need to maintain at least 20, downhill you're allowed to stop peddling only if you are going over 40 already.

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Just now, Airehead said:

You @Square Wheels are a bad ass. Tandem century rides mean I always have a friend. 

Same rules on a tandem.  There must be as many watts as you think you can manage, +5%.

It's only 100 miles.  There is no giving up  There is no getting a ride back.  You have two choices, ride really hard the whole time, or ride even harder.  Stop your bitchin.  

Of course if I rode with you @Airehead we would stop and make a daisy chain necklace with the dandelions.  It would be a fun ride, as relaxing as you wanted, unless you said, let's push it, then you better bring your legs.

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2 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Centuries are a race, I don't care what they say.  It's a race.  You need to ride like your life depended on it.  It must be hilly, you are not allowed to walk the hills, ever.  When you're on the flats, you need to maintain at least 20, downhill you're allowed to stop peddling only if you are going over 40 already.

Where did you get that? Probably from “the rules”. I break almost all “the rules” 

around here you don’t have to worry about not having enough hills but they do go out of their way to find more. The volunteers at the rest stop are trained to lie to you too. When they hear someone bitching about how horrible the hills were on that last section they reassure them that the worst is over and there are not anymore hills. That’s just before you hit all the killer hills. Snake hill and fly on the wall are famous.

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3 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Same rules on a tandem.  There must be as many watts as you think you can manage, +5%.

It's only 100 miles.  There is no giving up  There is no getting a ride back.  You have two choices, ride really hard the whole time, or ride even harder.  Stop your bitchin.  

Of course if I rode with you @Airehead we would stop and make a daisy chain necklace with the dandelions.  It would be a fun ride, as relaxing as you wanted, unless you said, let's push it, then you better bring your legs.

Last century we did was dead ass flat for 100 scenic miles on Maryland’s lower shore. At mile 89 Mr Aire got the bad type of cramp where you can’t get off the bike. It was then I realized I should help by pedaling. 

Honestly, I am not the fastest but I am a bit hard headed about wanting to get long rides done. I don’t linger or mess around. Only goal is completion as fast as possible. 

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A century I did a few years ago, it was 100 degrees out.  You could not drink enough water.  There was a 7mile climb at the 60 mile mark that was pretty gradual but had a 1/2 mile of 12-18% grade.  It was so hot, it made rhe water in my bottles warm, and the warm water made me feel sick.  Feeling sick I stopped eating and drinking.  By the time I got to the next stop I was so dehydrated I could barely stand.  I quickly got fresh water and hit the road because I didn't want the medic to stop me.  I limped the last 30 miles.  My wife had done the 60 miles and was waiting for me.  She said I looked terrible when I got back and asked me 'Why didn't you just stop?" I told her it was against the rules.

My other hill story, on a ride from Vancouver to Whistler, at one steep hill there was a guy with a sign that said "Remember, you PAID to do this to yourself"

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5 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

A century I did a few years ago, it was 100 degrees out.  You could not drink enough water.  There was a 7mile climb at the 60 mile mark that was pretty gradual but had a 1/2 mile of 12-18% grade.  It was so hot, it made rhe water in my bottles warm, and the warm water made me feel sick.  Feeling sick I stopped eating and drinking.  By the time I got to the next stop I was so dehydrated I could barely stand.  I quickly got fresh water and hit the road because I didn't want the medic to stop me.  I limped the last 30 miles.  My wife had done the 60 miles and was waiting for me.  She said I looked terrible when I got back and asked me 'Why didn't you just stop?" I told her it was against the rules.

My other hill story, on a ride from Vancouver to Whistler, at one steep hill there was a guy with a sign that said "Remember, you PAID to do this to yourself"

Now that's bad ass, stupid too, but I have more respect for you now.  Willing to die for a t-shirt.

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I don't believe in allowing cycling to become an ego thing.......too much of the pleasure of cycling is lost by doing this. I've never been interested in speed, and to me it's all about enjoying the effort, enjoying the countryside and being on the bike. I've always loved loaded touring with a light-weight tent and being free to roam the countryside for a couple of months. No strict route, but just a destination to reach by using the smallest and quietest roads which avoided all the large towns. I never had a day on tour in France when I didn't cycle, and have never felt more liberated than when I knew I had a thousand miles to go and only myself to rely upon to get there.

It's something I still miss every summer.

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5 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

Centuries are a race, I don't care what they say.  It's a race.  You need to ride like your life depended on it.  It must be hilly, you are not allowed to walk the hills, ever.  When you're on the flats, you need to maintain at least 20, downhill you're allowed to stop peddling only if you are going over 40 already. 

I agree 100% with the bolded stuff.  The "race" stuff, though, makes every event a shit show. I know you are joking, but there are many folks who ought to go race in a RACE if they want to race. Otherwise, calm the eff down.

4 hours ago, Zephyr said:

A century I did a few years ago, it was 100 degrees out. 

For some reason our local century is at the end of August, so either you get hot & humid (90s to 100+) or thunderstorms (or both).  It is tough to drink enough to deal with fluid loss.  Even with a couple months of that sort of riding already under one's belt, it can be brutal around noon when you are far into the ride and the sun is really beating down on you.

7 hours ago, Longjohn said:

I always rode century rides by myself.

Me too. I like to start when I want to start, and stop when I want to stop.  I'll sit in with folks sometimes, but rarely (if ever) be with the same folks before & after a rest stop.

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Good friend of mine and I always raced on centuries.  We would take turns pulling but the last 3 miles or so was almost sprint paced.  Competitive bastard! :)   I like all kinds of rides from supported group to solo to sprints to touring and utility. There is no right or wrong for me.  Its all good. :) 

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I dehydrated and cramped, to the point where I had to call for a ride home. I never did recover completely. I was in my 40's.

My daughter came to pick me up. She has since become an RN, she told me awhile ago that knowing what she knows now she would have taken me straight to the ER for an IV.

I now back off if I even think I'm over doing it.

Age changes everything  :(

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The hottest century I ever did started in Defiance, Ohio and went north fifty miles to a winery and returned. I started when it was just starting to get light (5am?) with head and tail lights. They forecast over 100° temps by afternoon. The first rest stop wasn’t open when we got there. The lunch stop was sort of open, they got us some food and drink but they were not set up yet. The lunch stop was at twenty five miles into the ride, who does that? We rode twenty five miles to the winery. They had water for us and bananas and they gave us an embroidered century patch. If we ordered any wine they would get it to our final stop at the end of the week so we could take it home. I didn’t order any.

the last rest stop was at the lunch stop we were at on the way up. It was 102° by then. The last twenty five miles the tar in the road was sticking to our tires. Our cycling computers read 118°. They were reading the heat coming off the pavement but still that is where we were riding. An ambulance would occasionally pull up along side us and hand us ice cold bottles of water TDF style, that was cool. The last ten miles we were on our own. I was wishing I would see someone washing their car or with a swimming pool. I would have paid $20 just to jump in or get hosed down with cold water. There was no place to escape the heat, no stores or anything, at least when we kept pedaling we had a breeze. I pedaled right past my tent and went straight to the shower truck. I took a half hour cold shower and I hate cold showers. I felt a bit out of sorts all evening but went into town and had dinner and was fine the next morning.

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