The Imperial Century A Month Challenge Chatzone

[Aravis]

Re the stopping at home rule.
I'm happy to change it for next year. I am of the opinion that if you drop in for a snack, wee, whatever and not and extended stop then it's ok. Perhaps only 1 stop per ride only though.

Plainly the rule wasn't an issue for me this month since the ride in question was a fitness test for the weekend's Audax, and naturally I prefer the latter to be my qualifying ride.

My home is near the edge of Gloucester, close to the A40/A38 intersection, and designing figure-of-8 rides that use it as a café stop is quite logical. Not that I expect to do it very often. Last Thursday I had to pass by at around 4 o'clock in case my daughter needed a lift to work (she didn't).

I'm quite happy for the rule to stay as it is, if that's what you prefer. There's nothing wrong with a bit of tradition now at then - it adds to the charm.

 

[Soltydog]

I'm quite happy not to stop off at home when out for a ton, SWMBO might think I'm done & give me a list of jobs before I get chance to go out & finish my ride But I can see sometimes you might need to call in due to a mechanical, or for lights etc ??

 

[ianrauk]

FNRttC Whitstable route and having breakfast at the Freewheel pub in Graveney on Saturday.

I would carry on to the Waterfront for a brekkie meself.

 

[Edwardoka]

Re the stopping at home rule.
I'm happy to change it for next year. I am of the opinion that if you drop in for a snack, wee, whatever and not and extended stop then it's ok. Perhaps only 1 stop per ride only though.

If I'd managed to recover sufficiently to go back out and complete the ton after half-freezing to death on last year's 31st December attempt, only to be told that I was disqualified for stopping at home (and having a bath, and getting changed), I'd have spent New Year in police cells in the Orpington region

 

[tatr]

What if you have many homes? Can you stop once in each?

 

[Dogtrousers]

September done. Got out at 05:30 and headed out through suburban hell to Darenth and then Dartford. It was really quite chilly as the sun was coming up, and the Darent valley was full of mist.

#
Then off to Dartford, where I picked up the Fridays Whitstable route. I've done the ride so many times that I thought I'd know the way, but it just goes to show how sheep like I am as I kept missing turns. At Faversham I headed homewards over the Kent Downs to Tonbridge via Headcorn. Then off to one of my favourite sit down rest points - the pond at Four Elms

A pork pie and some seed bars prepared me for the climbs over the Greensand Ridge to Chartwell, then up over North Downs and down to Hayes station, where I got a train home.
204km.
First outing for my new Selle SMP Hybrid saddle. Quite a success, no late-ride agony that I get with the B17 on long rides. Forgot to take sunblock. Paid the price.

 

[HLaB]

I've only got round to July, August and September Just added them to the challenge thread.

 

[ianrauk]

I've only got round to July, August and September Just added them to the challenge thread.

Well done bud, I was wondering if you had bailed due to your training.

 

[StuAff]

Done. Members of the Fridays hardcore lunatic fringe on the tour of Europe decided that while everyone else was having a rest day, we'd have a rest from pootling between coffee stops and go for a proper ride. A small matter of 200km DIY by GPS. Seven of us set off from Aachen at 0735. We were joined at about 35 miles by Haiko, our eighth rider, (he started late & caught up) who came up with the route. Clockwise from Aachen, we went SE to Simmerath & Monschau before heading west to Malmedy. I was suffering the most in the heat, though my pace was still plenty enough for the 15 kph limit had I been riding the DIY, and at our meal stop ( supermarket in Remouchamps, 75 miles in) the decision was made to split the ride. Self and Eddie, both happy enough to get 100 miles in the bag, got a train from Liege to Welkenraedt, just over the border, and rode into Aachen from there. Just 74 miles tomorrow!

 

[tatr]

I'll start my September attempt tomorrow morning at around 7 - St Davids, on the West cost of Wales, to London.

First is about 20 miles into a headwind to get to St Davids from Haverfordwest (that's its real name, not a typo) then a long uphill slog to Brecon and a couple of hours sleep at a youth hostel. A bit more than 100km of early morning downhill freewheeling* will see me to the Severn Bridge and the delights of a service station pit stop before a relatively flat return to London - nothing steeper than 9% in the last 140km.

To keep my wife happy I'll have a tracker running at https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=124fd57dbf40b3d9fa (password w2l)

Great Western Railway have already attempted to increase the carbon footprint of my trip by printing 8 cards for one single journey...

Relying on the Garmin to get me back faster than the replacement bus service but I've already climbed one unnecessary hill getting to tonight's hotel. Wales is Not Flat.

*On average...

 

[martint235]

It's only the 17th but I feel I will likely fail the challenge this month. A sore back and some sickness has meant I haven't been able to get a ride in yet and I'm on call next weekend. Never mind

 

[tatr]

So many hills. Ouch.

 

[tatr]

Abandoned at Newbury after about 400k. I just wasn't fit enough for the last leg.

St Davids to Fishguard is a lovely road for cycling, and it really is almost all down-hill from Brecon YHA to England! Well worth the effort of hauling yourself up there.

 

[tatr]

It's only the 17th but I feel I will likely fail the challenge this month. A sore back and some sickness has meant I haven't been able to get a ride in yet and I'm on call next weekend. Never mind

Sorry to hear that - hope you recover fast.

 

[StuAff]

Abandoned at Newbury after about 400k. I just wasn't fit enough for the last leg.

St Davids to Fishguard is a lovely road for cycling, and it really is almost all down-hill from Brecon YHA to England! Well worth the effort of hauling yourself up there.

400k and that much climbing? Heroic. Well done. Wednesday's century had only about 3-3500ft, but in 31 degrees it was hard work...