The Imperial Century A Month Challenge Chatzone

[fatjel]

Do folk ride bikes outside of Kent ? I've heard there's hills and all sorts lurking just beyond the border

 

[ianrauk]

Do folk ride bikes outside of Kent ? I've heard there's hills and all sorts lurking just beyond the border

Yup, turn right on Vigo Hill, first left on Exedown Lane and Cotman Ash, into Beddlestead Lane, then into Toys followed by Ide, swing a right onto Star, then once you are through Cudham Lane you should be able to find some hills.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

@ianrauk Thanks for the welcome.
You probably went by my front door..
Was a great ride. First puncture before dawn.
Proper headwind into Hythe , arrived at the cafe just as they stopped serving food.
Rain on the way back lol
Only thing kept me going was thinking I'd be the first to log a ride in this challenge.
Well done on your one.. I wish I could go that fast.

This challenge is all about the distance, speed is totally a non issue, unless you need to get home for something. Welcome aboard

 

[rhm]

I'm going to try this again in 2016! I did 15 imperial centuries in 2015 but didn't post them here. So I'm going to try to be consistent this year.

My first ride of the year, with my friend Tim, started about 11 hours after I'd got off an airplane returning from Heathrow. I don't really like jetlag, but it does help one get out of bed early. The weather forecast was for a sunny and mild day, but in fact we saw little sun, and the temperatures gradually dropped throughout the day. It was not a great day for photography, but this Greek Revival church caught my eye near mile 56.

Also, there was this old mill:

 

[HLaB]

I'm following a training plan building to long/fast ride, it may not build fast enough though and I might have to give the challenge a miss this year :-/

 

[ianrauk]

Welcome to this years challenge to returnee @rhm from over the pond in the colonies. (Would still love to come and cycle in your neck of the woods, knowing NE Phila and NJ so well.

And also a welcome to new entrant to the challange @Aravis .

Good luck to you both for 2016.

 

[ianrauk]

I'm following a training plan building to long/fast ride, it may not build fast enough though and I might have to give the challenge a miss this year :-/

Hope you don't and continue with the challenge. You are part of the furniture around here

 

[martint235]

Back in the game!! 105 miles in the company of @zigzag , @arallsopp , @Mista Preston , @rb58 and of course @ianrauk . Cheers guys, I really needed that!

 

[zigzag]

thank you @ianrauk for organising it and thanks everyone for the company!

 

[rb58]

To be honest, I probably shouldn't have ridden today with a sore chest and heavy cold, And I really felt it after the break. But a century is a century, and that's January's in the bag.

 

[StuAff]

Do a rerun on a Saturday and I might join you (Sundays are simply impossible as there aren't any trains early enough..).

 

[ianrauk]

Do a rerun on a Saturday and I might join you (Sundays are simply impossible as there aren't any trains early enough..).

Little H's football is on a saturday and i'm loathe to miss it.

 

[StuAff]

Little H's football is on a saturday and i'm loathe to miss it.

Fair enough....I'd have to make a 300 out of it!

 

[Aravis]

A big thank you to Cyclechat for organising this challenge. Having rediscovered some belief after many years when I've achieved very little cycling-wise, it looks like a powerful source of motivation. Perhaps ideally I'd prefer a 10-month challenge, forgetting January and December which I've always regarded as the season for hill-walking, but things don't work like that, do they?

Last Wednesday was an unbelievably perfect day for cycling so I decided to "just do it". I'm not sure if I can remember the last time I never had to think about the wind at any stage during a ride, and this is January! I plotted a route using several old faithful elements plus a few new ones and it was great. I didn't fancy the old railway between Monmouth and Symonds Yat after all the rain we've had so I had to do a few uncomfortable miles on the dual carriageway A40 after Monmouth. A fortuitous missed turn after Newent meant I didn't need any jiggery-pokery at the end to nudge over the 100.

 

[ianrauk]

Good to have you aboard @Aravis .
Yup, the colder months of the challenge are... challenging. It's one of the reason's that a few of us always get out at the beginning of the month in case the weather is just too crappy, dreary, wet or cold the rest of the month.