Average miles per hour for 100 mile ride?

[Rusty Nails]

Only if your bike is uncomfortable or you are riding harder than your fitness allows for 100 miles. My very first 100 miles was actually 130 miles, very enjoyable and no misery.

So to sum up the obvious: if you ride within your fitness levels, and your bike is comfortable, 100 miles need not be accompanied by pain or misery.

The only problem with this is that many people doing their first, or even their 20th, century do not know in advance if their riding will be within their fitness levels...especially when differing weather conditions, terrain, motivation, refuelling and health are thrown into the mix. Silly people.

Perfection is rare, even among cyclists.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Perfection is rare, even among cyclists.

Doesn't have to be perfection, in fact no where near, to stay comfortable. You just have to adapt to how you find things on the day. If you are stubborn and don’t adapt to reality, I can see things getting miserable.

 

[Dogtrousers]

So to sum up the obvious: if you ride within your fitness levels, and your bike is comfortable, 100 miles need not be accompanied by pain or misery.

The only problem with this is that many people doing their first, or even their 20th, century do not know in advance if their riding will be within their fitness levels...especially when differing weather conditions, terrain, motivation, refuelling and health are thrown into the mix. Silly people.

Perfection is rare, even among cyclists.

If I rode strictly within my fitness levels, even when I'm training regularly, I don't think I'd ever ride much further than down the shops.

 

[Rusty Nails]

If I rode strictly within my fitness levels, even when I'm training regularly, I don't think I'd ever ride much further than down the shops.

You must only do rides that you have planned and prepared fully for. Cycling is not for wimps, nor for those who just fancy "having a go".

 

[Punkawallah]

You must only do rides that you have planned and prepared fully for. Cycling is not for wimps, nor for those who just fancy "having a go".

Ooops.

 

[matticus]

Doesn't have to be perfection, in fact no where near, to stay comfortable. You just have to adapt to how you find things on the day. If you are stubborn and don’t adapt to reality, I can see things getting miserable.

Yup.
I had the food fortune of riding my first century (as an ignorant teen) with my dad as Road Captain.
Only later did I realise what he was doing to ensure a comfortable ride for us both. I've tried to not throw away the wisdom he passed down, but I have many days where I don't perfectly follow my own advice, shall we say!

 

[Dogtrousers]

Yup.
I had the food fortune of riding my first century (as an ignorant teen) with my dad as Road Captain.
Only later did I realise what he was doing to ensure a comfortable ride for us both. I've tried to not throw away the wisdom he passed down, but I have many days where I don't perfectly follow my own advice, shall we say!

Couldn't be a bigger contrast with my first century. A complete and utter absence of wisdom.

I was about 16 or so and me and my mate decided to ride from the West Midlands to see my sister at Aberystwyth Uni. We planned to take a sensible two days with a stop at Clun Youth Hostel half way.

We arrived at the half way stop in time for a relatively early lunch, and decided to press on. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, we hadn't taken into account the fact that riding through gently rolling Worcestershire or Shropshire, was rather a lot easier than what lay ahead. So off we headed into the mid-Wales hills, that soon became more like mountains, darkness fell, and we switched on our trusty Never Ready lights. Our sketchy grasp of navigation deserted us. At least the weather was kind. I think it was probably coming on for midnight when we arrived. I couldn't walk the next day.

Unfortunately I don't think I've gathered much in the way of wisdom since.

 

[postman]

100 miles Mrs P told me i could take a week to do it.Look how kind is she.

 

[AlanW]

In 1991 l rode the Speedwell 100 time trial, a rather undulating course finishing at the top of a mile long drag. A genuinely cruel end to the time trial. However, it turned out to be my best ever time of 4 hours 18 minutes.

Plus and taking into account that the winning time on the day was a fraction over 4 hours, needless to to say l was very pleased.

I'd be happy to do it in 6 hours now!!

 

[gbb]

Never having done a 100, most I achieved was 84 miles think at something like 16mph average...I think I'd approach it as follows...
12 hours total.
10 hours riding time, 2 hours breaks.

That's only 10mph average which for me then would be like a stroll.
In reality, I back then i could average 18mph over 50 miles, so I worked on the principle of knocking off 2 or 3 mph average to maintain stamina over the longer distance

 

[lazybloke]

Only if your bike is uncomfortable or you are riding harder than your fitness allows for 100 miles. My very first 100 miles was actually 130 miles, very enjoyable and no misery.

Knowledge that comes with experience. And assumes you plan to do 100 miles that day; some of my long rides were spur-of-the-moment extensions of much shorter rides.

 

[All uphill]

I've not done a 100 mile day, but if I wanted to I'd do the same as I did for my first 100km about five years ago.

Eat a decent breakfast, get the train to a place the required distance away and then cycle home, being strict about taking food and drink breaks. Cycling home is sooo much easier than cycling away from home.