The Imperial Century A Month Challenge Chatzone
- Thread starter Rob S
- Start date
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StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
+ another 1.
sittingbull
Veteran
- Location
- South Liverpool
Not sure what age you guys are, only one age appears in your profiles, but going by that I reckon I'm bang in the middle somewhere. I ran my first marathon 3 decades ago this year, feeling old now.
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
40. But very scrawny.....
If you need some company and to help gee up the others...I would be interested.
Would be nice to nail down my 200 too.
Running? yeuch...can't be doing with that running
I get tired when my nose runs. 
Now that @rb58 , put it this way, for an ol' fella
he's an astonishingly good cyclist. I only hope when I am the same age as he is now, I am just as good, Oh, and he runs too.@StuAff , for a wippersnapper, that boy can cycle and has some guts and determination, just check out the FNTttK thread.
rb58
Enigma
- Location
- Bexley, Kent
That'd be good. I'll let you know when we have some dates - unfortunately, three of the riders are police officers working shifts, so getting a date isn't going to be easy I suspect.
Here's the route - it's very similar to the one I used when I rode down from York last year. Much of it was suggested by Davywalnuts, who seems to have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid hills
. 212 miles, 3,600' climbing - I don't think you could get any flatter unless you went to Holland.
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
I think he prepared that for our ride to York that never happened.That'd be good. I'll let you know when we have some dates - unfortunately, three of the riders are police officers working shifts, so getting a date isn't going to be easy I suspect.
Here's the route - it's very similar to the one I used when I rode down from York last year. Much of it was suggested by Davywalnuts, who seems to have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid hills
sittingbull
Veteran
- Location
- South Liverpool
My bike needs washing 
I brought quite a lot of Wales home with me, a fair bit on the frame and quite a lot on me.
Wild, wet and windy. 11 in 11
I brought quite a lot of Wales home with me, a fair bit on the frame and quite a lot on me.Wild, wet and windy. 11 in 11
BigGee
Senior Member
- Location
- North East London
You sound quite similar to me in that respect, I ran marathons around the 20 year old mark which is 30 years ago for me now as well. I was never really a marathon runner's shape and could actually do a fairly decent 400m whilst at school. Probably because I was a fairly big lump and did not have a very economical running style they were quite hard on the body, even when younger and a dodgy back throughout adult life has meant putting them to bed, probably just as well!
Having said that running like cycling is a results based sport and you can get great improvements through training hard and experience. It can also become equally obsessive if you let it. Having got my time down to a tad over the three hour mark I still occasionally wonder what I could achieve now, then I wake up in the morning with a stiff back and realise that it is probably better to keep that one in the world of fantasy!
BigGee
Senior Member
- Location
- North East London
Anyway, getting back to my current and it has to be said, more long lasting obsession I rode up to Hull this year prior to the York-Hull FNRttC. 179 miles, making it both my longest ride of the year and in fact of all time.
I actually planned this ride last year, but was put paid to by a recurrence of my back pain. I am actually glad that I did not attempt it then as there was no way I would have been fit enough to do it, or if I had it would certainly have done some damage. Doing these regular 100 mile a month ride has definitely taken me up a notch this year. I probably got to this level last year, but not until the end of the summer. I think that I am slowly realising that at my age it does not pay to have a down season any more!
I could not have got a better day to do the ride, sunny and warm, without being to hot. The winds were light but mainly from the side and did not really cause any problems. The route profile is very interesting, with rolling hills for the first 60 or so miles through Hertfordshire and the southern part of Cambridgeshire then the long stretch through the Fens, which are indeed as advertised, pancake flat. The last part of the ride then started to roll again as you hit the Lincolnshire Wolds, which were hillier than I expected but in reality that was probably fatigue setting in. Being a nurse and interested in physiology, you can clearly see the fatigue trend on the heart rate graphic as the average rate drops over the course of the ride.
I did tire towards the end and in hindsight probably went off to fast. It is difficult to know just how much to hold yourself back when self pacing. I certainly did not feel that I was pushing it and perhaps fatiguing towards the end of a ride that length is inevitable. I struggled with food and drink a bit again and have yet to find something palatable that I can get down easily that gives me the energy that I need. I also ran out of water at one stage and had to do about 30 miles dry which did not help, it being the middle of the afternoon at that stage. I had not really grasped how sparsely populated that part of Lincolnshire was and the anticipated town with a shop to buy some stores just did not arrive. When it did and I was able to refuel, I definitely picked up again and I thought I finished off the ride in pretty good shape.
Most of the route was quiet. I was disturbed by a dear crashing across the road just in front of me early on. The worse bit was the A16 going towards Boston, which turned out to be a busy A road with a lot of heavy traffic. I am not quite sure why there is such a lot of traffic heading towards Boston, but there is. Anyway it was certainly the shortest route and the road itself had a decent hard shoulder and so was far from the worst one I have ever ridden. I would probably chose to avoid it though if I ever do that ride again. The other thing of note was the quality of the roads in Lincolnshire, over the Wolds and running up to the bridge, they were very rough on my 23mm tyres. I noticed the same thing the following night on the FNRttC, in Lincolnshire wider tyres are not a bad idea!
Comfort on the bike is a big deal on rides that length. I am in 2 minds as to how much discomfort is due to bad positioning on the bike or how much it is inevitable on a ride that length. I found that small break did make a big difference but I still don't think I have the perfect bike set up. It seems to be alright from the waist down but my back, neck and hands still bother me at times. I think I an going to need to do a little bit more experimentation!
Anyway it was a very satisfying experience and the fact that I was able to get through the FNRttC ride the following night showed that it did not completely clean me out. I am starting to get an idea of what real long distance cycling is all about!
I actually planned this ride last year, but was put paid to by a recurrence of my back pain. I am actually glad that I did not attempt it then as there was no way I would have been fit enough to do it, or if I had it would certainly have done some damage. Doing these regular 100 mile a month ride has definitely taken me up a notch this year. I probably got to this level last year, but not until the end of the summer. I think that I am slowly realising that at my age it does not pay to have a down season any more!
I could not have got a better day to do the ride, sunny and warm, without being to hot. The winds were light but mainly from the side and did not really cause any problems. The route profile is very interesting, with rolling hills for the first 60 or so miles through Hertfordshire and the southern part of Cambridgeshire then the long stretch through the Fens, which are indeed as advertised, pancake flat. The last part of the ride then started to roll again as you hit the Lincolnshire Wolds, which were hillier than I expected but in reality that was probably fatigue setting in. Being a nurse and interested in physiology, you can clearly see the fatigue trend on the heart rate graphic as the average rate drops over the course of the ride.
I did tire towards the end and in hindsight probably went off to fast. It is difficult to know just how much to hold yourself back when self pacing. I certainly did not feel that I was pushing it and perhaps fatiguing towards the end of a ride that length is inevitable. I struggled with food and drink a bit again and have yet to find something palatable that I can get down easily that gives me the energy that I need. I also ran out of water at one stage and had to do about 30 miles dry which did not help, it being the middle of the afternoon at that stage. I had not really grasped how sparsely populated that part of Lincolnshire was and the anticipated town with a shop to buy some stores just did not arrive. When it did and I was able to refuel, I definitely picked up again and I thought I finished off the ride in pretty good shape.
Most of the route was quiet. I was disturbed by a dear crashing across the road just in front of me early on. The worse bit was the A16 going towards Boston, which turned out to be a busy A road with a lot of heavy traffic. I am not quite sure why there is such a lot of traffic heading towards Boston, but there is. Anyway it was certainly the shortest route and the road itself had a decent hard shoulder and so was far from the worst one I have ever ridden. I would probably chose to avoid it though if I ever do that ride again. The other thing of note was the quality of the roads in Lincolnshire, over the Wolds and running up to the bridge, they were very rough on my 23mm tyres. I noticed the same thing the following night on the FNRttC, in Lincolnshire wider tyres are not a bad idea!
Comfort on the bike is a big deal on rides that length. I am in 2 minds as to how much discomfort is due to bad positioning on the bike or how much it is inevitable on a ride that length. I found that small break did make a big difference but I still don't think I have the perfect bike set up. It seems to be alright from the waist down but my back, neck and hands still bother me at times. I think I an going to need to do a little bit more experimentation!
Anyway it was a very satisfying experience and the fact that I was able to get through the FNRttC ride the following night showed that it did not completely clean me out. I am starting to get an idea of what real long distance cycling is all about!
sittingbull
Veteran
- Location
- South Liverpool
Remarkably so!............. I never got under 3 hours either, although I should have managed it comfortably based on my half marathon time. 10k road races were my preference although I did a fair bit of cross-country through the winter season. I've always been pretty lean though (as opposed to "a fairly big lump") and even now I'm only about half a stone over my racing weight, no point carrying around anything I don't need.
.............oh and er...........well done on the epic ride
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Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
Did my 7th and 8th 100 milers yesterday and today, not far now for double figures
rhm
Well-Known Member
Monday was a holiday (Memorial Day) so I celebrated by riding my century. I left the house at 5 AM. It was cold enough to wear gloves, and the day dawned slowly. The first dozen miles are more or less suburban; then the countryside opens up into farmland. From Cookstown down to Brown's Mills the road goes through a military reservation, and there's not much to see on either side of the road. After stopping for coffee, donuts, and bananas in Brown's Mills, I got into the real pine forest.
This is Mount Misery Road, a typical backwoods road through the pines. it's just sand, and at times tough going. It's hard to explain why, but I love these sand roads.
A few miles later I got to road where Tim and I rode through the controlled burn in the woods. If you look close you'll see a lot of waist-high bushes on the right side of the road appear to be dead. These are blueberry bushes. I don't know if they'll recover, but everything else is flourishing.
By now sun was getting warm, and with the warmth of the sun the air became fragrant. It was lovely.
By 9 AM I was out of the pines and on my way home, but slowing down. Headwinds toward the end, and only a few miles from home my GPS told me I had to go another 9 miles before I'd complete a century! Feeling a fool for not having done an extra loop down in the pine barrens, I investigated an unpaved path I'd been curious about.
This is Mount Misery Road, a typical backwoods road through the pines. it's just sand, and at times tough going. It's hard to explain why, but I love these sand roads.
A few miles later I got to road where Tim and I rode through the controlled burn in the woods. If you look close you'll see a lot of waist-high bushes on the right side of the road appear to be dead. These are blueberry bushes. I don't know if they'll recover, but everything else is flourishing.
By now sun was getting warm, and with the warmth of the sun the air became fragrant. It was lovely.
By 9 AM I was out of the pines and on my way home, but slowing down. Headwinds toward the end, and only a few miles from home my GPS told me I had to go another 9 miles before I'd complete a century! Feeling a fool for not having done an extra loop down in the pine barrens, I investigated an unpaved path I'd been curious about.
