The Imperial Century A Month Challenge Chatzone

[Supersuperleeds]

April done. Left the house at 5.40am and took the Allez for its first big ride of the year. I basically rode out to an Audax route I found on t'internet, did that, and slung some miles on to it to make the 100. Was hillier than I am used to and it was bloody freezing first thing as well. I've also decided to ditch the rucksack on the bigger rides, the only things I took out of it for the whole ride were a small pack of biscuits and a double decker, everything else was just lugged around for the whole ride. (I had more food and drink, plus bike locks, phone, wallet and keys.) Phone and a bit of cash and a bit of food can go in my pockets next time, everything else can stay at home.

Really struggled on the hills so was pleasantly surprised to hit 16mph average moving speed.

http://www.strava.com/activities/130468354

 

[rhm]

April done. Left the house at 6 AM Easter Sunday. My family was on Long Island for the holiday so my route is pretty familiar.
http://www.strava.com/activities/132395236
I haven't been able to edit my post in the other thread (have pm'd Shaun about that).
I saw an unusual amount of wildlife on this ride, especially for such a sunny day, including turkeys:

I saw mustkats on two separate occasions, which is striking because I'm not sure I've ever seen one before:

Heron are pretty common in the marshes, and much prettier than muskrat!

I also visited a few Long Island landmarks, such as The Big Duck:

The old windmill on the campus of Stony Brook University Southampton:

And last, but by no means least, the grave of one of my favorite authors:

I did a couple miles of off-road riding just to see what it was like (not easy; it's either sand or fallen leaves!).

I rode my old Lambert which has a three speed fixed gear hub:

 

[rb58]

Bagged May's century yesterday. Six of us (three guys, three gals) from my local gym headed over the Dartford Crossing at 5.00am (much faffing and an altercation with a woman in the control point trying (very rudely) to tell us to let a couple of guys who had arrived after us to go before us as they had to go work - no "would you mind", or "are you in a rush" - I shall be having words when the office opens again on Tuesday). We finally got away from Thurrock at 5.45am, putting us a little behind schedule. Up through Brentwood, then across country to Braintree where we had a bacon sandwich. Shortly after Braintree the two other guys decided they'd had enough and turned round (they're training for an upcoming ironman triathlon) leaving me and three ladies to continue. We picked up the normal Dun Run route through Sudbury, with a quick stop at the services at Needham Market before getting to Dunwich for a lunch of freshly caught fish at the Flora Cafe. The first time I've ever been to Dunwich when there's not been enormous queues of cyclists waiting for breakfast. And the first time I've cycled that route in daylight. 115 miles done at a good pace of over 15 mph, particularly bearing in mind the headwind. I'd plotted a return via towns with bail out stations, so through Ipswich and on to the Station Buffet at Manningtree (157 miles) for refreshments. At this point, even though the route had been as flat as you could possible hope for, and we were being carried long by a gentle tail wind, our pace had dropped dramatically. My buddies were fine on the flat, but any lift in the road had them scrambling for the lowest gear and spinning up really slowly. It was also getting cold again, would be getting dark soon and the route was going to get mildly 'lumpy' from Maldon. I was worried the girls would slow so much we wouldn't get back to the Dartford Crossing before the service stopped, so we decided to jump the train to London and cycle home from there. Disappointed not to have got the 200 done - the easy pace meant my legs were feeling strong and I could have done it easily - but I wasn't going to abandon my fellow cyclists - so I'll leave the full return for the DunRun proper in July.

All in all though, a great day through some lovely countryside, sharing well maintained roads with very considerate drivers who could really show the drivers in London how it is possible to all live together safely and without so much tension or aggression. The ride home from Liverpool Street brought me back to earth with a bump though (metaphorically).

All in 171 miles at an overall average of 14.5mph, so not too shabby. I'm the one on the right in the photo

 

[StuAff]

Nice one Ross. Got my first ton for this month done on Sunday too, in Belgium and France....report here.

 

[HLaB]

Yip it was a really nice weekend doon sooth, I bagged my May Century too :-)

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Bagged my May imperial today http://www.strava.com/activities/138100878 Will do a full write up in "your ride today" thread in a while, going to drive to the shops, to knackered to bike there and back

 

[sittingbull]

All in 171 miles ........

Superb!

Your next one will be even more spectacular....a century of centuries!

No pressure then

Kudos to anyone who's already achieved this (@ianrauk plus any others), quite an achievement

Not sure I'll ever get there........

 

[ianrauk]

Superb!

Your next one will be even more spectacular....a century of centuries!

No pressure then

Kudos to anyone who's already achieved this (@ianrauk plus any others), quite an achievement

Not sure I'll ever get there........

Cheers mate. You're not doing so bad yourself.
It really is just a case of getting on with it, getting out there and doing the rides.
We are a little lucky in that from March to November we have the organised Friday Night Rides to the Coast which are always 100+ miles, that knocks out a huge chunk of the round the year centuries.

 

[sittingbull]

I'm up to 30, with 10 over the last 10 consecutive weekends, this may continue, but only while I continue to enjoy it.
I'm not keen on cold and wet (is anyone? ) . Then there's also external factors.

I'm several years away from one hundred 100s

 

[ianrauk]

I'm up to 30, with 10 over the last 10 consecutive weekends, this may continue, but only while I continue to enjoy it.
I'm not keen on cold and wet (is anyone? ) . Then there's also external factors.

I'm several years away from one hundred 100s

Hell man.. 10 in 10, that's excellent going, especially with the not so good weather we have had over the past couple of months. At that rate you'll reach the ton of tons soon enough.
Most I have managed is 11, that was last year. I was going to go for the 12 but that morning the weather was foul and I just though - nah - not worth it.

 

[sittingbull]

I've been soaked twice in one ride having dried out in-between, not nice, toes were red raw. I've been considering another mid-week century but any delayed recovery might stop my run of consecutive weekends.

You've mentioned your 11 before so I thought I'd give it a go, nearly there. It will only take one REALLY wet weekend and it's over.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I'm up to 30, with 10 over the last 10 consecutive weekends, this may continue, but only while I continue to enjoy it.
I'm not keen on cold and wet (is anyone? ) . Then there's also external factors.

I'm several years away from one hundred 100s

I've done 6 so far, I am decades away from doing 100 100s, though I am thinking of doing a second one this month

 

[rb58]

The odd thing is (and this will sound smug) but after a while a century is just another ride, not really a challenge. At which point it can become a chore and any slight wavering of the cycling mojo and I can't be bothered. Mind you, last weekend was a cracking ride and it's just a shame the ladies lost so much speed at the time they did. They're all still keen to nail a 200 miler and so I've worked out a Doncaster to Sidcup route that is just about as flat as it's possible to get in this country. The plan is to get the last train to Doncaster on a Friday night and ride back from there. That way we have no deadlines (trains, river crossing etc,) and we get the night time riding out of the way first. That's the plan anyway.

 

[sittingbull]

......... but after a while a century is just another ride, not really a challenge.

I know what you mean, sometimes I set myself a challenge within a ride. I've been reading the 100 miles in 5 hours thread so decided to push my pace last weekend. My route was pretty flat but getting out of Liverpool meant I was barely averaging 19mph by 20 miles. By 40 miles I'd pulled it back to 19.8mph but by 50 I'd hit Preston city centre and it dropped to 19.6mph. On my return leg I was fading all the way and was trying to do the mental arithmetic to maintain an average over 18mph, which I just did. This kept me engaged for the whole ride.

Good luck with the 200, I did a 150 last year but don't expect to repeat that any time soon. Although I will repeat some of last years routes, comparing the pace, and enjoying the ride of course

 

[rb58]

At my age, I can only dream of 20mph averages! Chapeau.