Does this qualify as a real century?
01-21-13, 01:44 PM
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Does this qualify as a real century?
Last Sunday I participated in a group ride that ended with breakfast at a restaurant. After that, on the ride home,
I hit 50 miles. I decided to keep riding and ultimately ended the day with 103 miles. So, does that qualify as a century,
even with a 45 minute break for breakfast? I figure it is, since the 45 min. break is about equal to an organized century
with 5 SAG stops and stopping at each for 10 mins. One guy in my club jokingly said it doesn't qualify since it was such
a long break in between. He says it's just back-to-back fifties. So which is correct?
TRob
I hit 50 miles. I decided to keep riding and ultimately ended the day with 103 miles. So, does that qualify as a century,
even with a 45 minute break for breakfast? I figure it is, since the 45 min. break is about equal to an organized century
with 5 SAG stops and stopping at each for 10 mins. One guy in my club jokingly said it doesn't qualify since it was such
a long break in between. He says it's just back-to-back fifties. So which is correct?
TRob
01-21-13, 01:55 PM
#2
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This comes up every once in a while and we never all agree on an exact definition. I certainly have done organized centuries where I relaxed and took long breaks when I felt like it, and they still gave me a T-shirt, so...
01-21-13, 02:25 PM
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Almost any 100+ ride completed in one calendar day is a "century".
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01-21-13, 02:36 PM
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01-21-13, 03:05 PM
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Yes.
I have a theory that the longer it takes you to ride a given distance, the harder it is. One of the hardest rides I ever did was a 17 mile ride with a batch of newbies that would stop every couple of miles so it took us many hours. I almost bonked because I didn't get to eat lunch.
I know in my youth I hated to stop because if you are stopped for very long you have to warm up again.
I have a theory that the longer it takes you to ride a given distance, the harder it is. One of the hardest rides I ever did was a 17 mile ride with a batch of newbies that would stop every couple of miles so it took us many hours. I almost bonked because I didn't get to eat lunch.
I know in my youth I hated to stop because if you are stopped for very long you have to warm up again.
01-21-13, 04:24 PM
#8
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It's whatever you want it to be. If I had rode it I would call it a century, but its your call, not an internet forums. Hell, for that matter, you cannot get agreement on if the sun rose this morning on most forums, and if the sun rose, was a good thing on any forum.
01-21-13, 07:39 PM
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I'd count it for sure! In the earliest days of cycling, "century rides" were defined by the daylight hours of one calendar day because they didn't have the lighting systems we do now. And they certainly had to take breaks at some point. 
01-21-13, 09:50 PM
#11
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Sure, a hundred miles in a day is a century. Congrats!
01-22-13, 01:29 AM
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Last Sunday I participated in a group ride that ended with breakfast at a restaurant. After that, on the ride home,
I hit 50 miles. I decided to keep riding and ultimately ended the day with 103 miles. So, does that qualify as a century,
even with a 45 minute break for breakfast? I figure it is, since the 45 min. break is about equal to an organized century
with 5 SAG stops and stopping at each for 10 mins. One guy in my club jokingly said it doesn't qualify since it was such
a long break in between. He says it's just back-to-back fifties. So which is correct?
TRob
I hit 50 miles. I decided to keep riding and ultimately ended the day with 103 miles. So, does that qualify as a century,
even with a 45 minute break for breakfast? I figure it is, since the 45 min. break is about equal to an organized century
with 5 SAG stops and stopping at each for 10 mins. One guy in my club jokingly said it doesn't qualify since it was such
a long break in between. He says it's just back-to-back fifties. So which is correct?
TRob
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01-22-13, 05:13 AM
#13
Lover of Old Chrome Moly
Yeah, count it. You took a long lunch, big deal, it's not like you showered, changed clothes and watched a movie before going riding again. There are hardcores out there who don't think it's a "real" century if you put a foot down between the start and triple digits on the trip meter. Last summer I rode to a LBS 45 miles from my home, ate lunch at the soup and sandwich shop there, chatted a browsed a bit, then headed home by the scenic route to get in 100 miles in a little over seven hours. I still counted it but I posted the exact same question you did on this forum and got the same answers. I've also ridden to the same town to volunteer at the bike co-op then rode home, so a three-hour break from riding. I'm a bit more hesitant to call those rides "centuries" but its just semantics, I still rode about 100 miles in a day.
01-22-13, 10:04 AM
#14
Drops small screws
It's a century. You're in the club!
01-22-13, 10:26 AM
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The classic century is an organized 100 mile ride that has a time limit, often 7:00 am to 5:00 pm) (the time limit is often soft).
For rides with time-limits, it doesn't matter how long your breaks are, as long as you complete the ride before the time limit expires.
This. The OP did a 100 mile ride. I'm not sure why people are so interested in calling these things "centuries".
For rides with time-limits, it doesn't matter how long your breaks are, as long as you complete the ride before the time limit expires.
This. The OP did a 100 mile ride. I'm not sure why people are so interested in calling these things "centuries".
Last edited by njkayaker; 01-22-13 at 10:34 AM.
01-22-13, 10:38 AM
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I have a theory that the longer it takes you to ride a given distance, the harder it is. One of the hardest rides I ever did was a 17 mile ride with a batch of newbies that would stop every couple of miles so it took us many hours. I almost bonked because I didn't get to eat lunch.
01-22-13, 10:43 AM
#17
Drops small screws
The ones with time limits and rest stops are organized centuries. What the OP did was a self-supported century.
And anyway, it just sounds cooler.
01-22-13, 11:07 AM
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As far as I can tell, the label "century" started with the organized rides.
01-22-13, 11:07 AM
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01-22-13, 11:11 AM
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[strike]They started out as a social event back when cycling was "cool" the first time around[/strike], and the classic time limit of the daylight hours of a calendar day comes from the reason I already suggested. Why are you opposed to using the term "century" for a solo 100-mile ride?
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01-22-13, 11:20 AM
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Drops small screws
01-22-13, 11:26 AM
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They started out as a social event back when cycling was "cool" the first time around, and the classic time limit of the daylight hours of a calendar day comes from the reason I already suggested. Why are you opposed to using the term "century" for a solo 100-mile ride?
01-22-13, 11:29 AM
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01-22-13, 11:31 AM
#24
Drops small screws
Thanks. Feel free to call any domesticated carnivorous mammal of the genus and species Canis familiaris a "dog."
01-22-13, 12:09 PM
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