Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
Well done, must have been tough with the wind.
The Imperial Century A Month Challenge Chatzone
- Thread starter Rob S
- Start date
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Well done, must have been tough with the wind.
Yes it was ,but had mainly tailwind home
And so it starts again. The Imperial Century a Month Challenge cycling shenanigans. My 13th year. Today saw me out nice and early to bag January's qualifying ride. A Surrey Kent anti clockwise loop. The weather stayed quite nice. No precipitation and not much wind. I waas even blessed with some sunshine and blue skies. Just a Little bit chilly. The roads were very mucky though with all the rain that hit over the past couple of weeks., Yalding and Teston in Kent both flooded again. It made for mucky riding at times, mucky bike and mucky human.
So, scores on the doors. 101 miles for the day. Imperial Century month 146 in a row. century ride #321
So, scores on the doors. 101 miles for the day. Imperial Century month 146 in a row. century ride #321
- Location
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
I'm in. 
102.1 miles round north Shropshire at 12 mph average. I had to rethink the route at the start due to flooding in the Melverley area, then there were some issues with ice on the way to Oswestry. Apart from that it was a pretty good ride. For some reason the legs ache more after this one than they did last time even though it's a flatter route.
A few snaps:
102.1 miles round north Shropshire at 12 mph average. I had to rethink the route at the start due to flooding in the Melverley area, then there were some issues with ice on the way to Oswestry. Apart from that it was a pretty good ride. For some reason the legs ache more after this one than they did last time even though it's a flatter route.A few snaps:
Fiona R
Formerly known as Cranky Knee Girl
- Location
- N Somerset
Behind the times back in 2022. I fell off the wagon in November due to weather/illness. Congratulations to all you determined finishers. Managed to do both lunacy and climbing lunacy before November and with 18 imperial centuries this year I will try not to sulk too much at my missing out on a very coveted gold star.
robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
Just embarked on year 5, with my January 2023 ride today.
There was a mad 20+mph westerly wind all day, so the obvious thing was to ride east. Unfortunately due east gets me to the coast in under 100 miles but I solved that by riding to Lowestoft and then curling up along the coast to Great Yarmouth to make up the extra distance.
It was a great day for easy riding in that direction and I got propelled along at speed most of the way. I discovered some new roads along the edge of the Breckland and on to Diss, then some semi-familiar ones along the Waveney valley which is always scenic in a low-key bucolic kind of way if you can avoid the A143. I let the train take the strain coming home.
Then to cap the day off nicely I bagged one of my few remaining stretches of the East Anglian rallway network with a train from Yarmouth to Norwich via the Reedham loop and the tiny, isolated and almost unused Berney Arms station which sits alone in the Halvergate Marshes with no road connection.
There was a mad 20+mph westerly wind all day, so the obvious thing was to ride east. Unfortunately due east gets me to the coast in under 100 miles but I solved that by riding to Lowestoft and then curling up along the coast to Great Yarmouth to make up the extra distance.
It was a great day for easy riding in that direction and I got propelled along at speed most of the way. I discovered some new roads along the edge of the Breckland and on to Diss, then some semi-familiar ones along the Waveney valley which is always scenic in a low-key bucolic kind of way if you can avoid the A143. I let the train take the strain coming home.
Then to cap the day off nicely I bagged one of my few remaining stretches of the East Anglian rallway network with a train from Yarmouth to Norwich via the Reedham loop and the tiny, isolated and almost unused Berney Arms station which sits alone in the Halvergate Marshes with no road connection.
robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
I have just counted up all my century rides since 2008 - that is, all of them - and I am now on no. 123.
Looks like I'm back in for another attempt. Missed the early weather window in January as I committed to a indoor stage race and wasn't sure with the cold I'd get a Jan ride in . But today forecast was as good as it's getting so with a spare day I got out and banked 101 Imperial mile ,Leicester around the bottom of Rugby collecting a few velo viewer squares and back to Leicester
February's qualifying ride done and dusted today. Out of the door at silly o'clock to hit the Kent lanes. Luckily here in the SE of Englandshire the weather is very favourable for cycling at the moment. Temperatures hovered around the 7's and 8's for the ride but not feeling particularly cold. Winds were relatively light also. A nice gentle tailwind for the journey out and a little headwind for the ride back, but nothing to really complain about. As we haven't had much in the way of rain recently, the lanes were mostly dry meaning a faily clean bike and human buy the time I got back home Lots of other cyclist out today also, both lonesomes and clubs.
So scores on the doors.
101 Miles for the day
Century #2 for the year
Century #322 over all
Imperial Century Month 147 in a row.
Pollhill Windmill at 7am
Mistletoe in abundance
So scores on the doors.
101 Miles for the day
Century #2 for the year
Century #322 over all
Imperial Century Month 147 in a row.
Pollhill Windmill at 7am
Mistletoe in abundance
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
You're making me feel guilty for being so lazy. Maybe next year. I'll be a proper 60 year old slow coach by then, and will have an excuse.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I wonder why that is? One thought is maybe people were inspired to do more centuries by the exploits of Steve Abraham and Kajsa Tylen (plus the various other ultra people t'other side of the pond - Kurt and Amanda I forget their names). I know I was. Now there's no similar buzz going round with people doing stuff like that. That was 2015 wasn't it? Or 2016?
Or maybe the big drop in 2020 was all to do with Covid and now the streak has been broken, starting again is hard. That was why I stopped in 2020 & 21
The reason I've dropped out this year is that it just wasn't much fun last year - riding centuries when you're not really fit enough is not much fun, especially when you've ridden a lot of them in the past so you don't even get a great sense of achievement.
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robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
I'm trying to get ideas for my April ride this year, which may be a particular challenge as for most of the month I will be somewhere on the European mainland, travelling mostly by train but with a Brompton, and I'm trying to get an idea where on my travels might be a good area for my monthly century.
If you have any thoughts, pop over to the Touring and Adventure Cycling forum where I've posted more about it.
All (sensible!) ideas are welcome.
If you have any thoughts, pop over to the Touring and Adventure Cycling forum where I've posted more about it.
All (sensible!) ideas are welcome.
