Backroads Century – Who Is Going?

[consularrider]

Yep

[JimF22003]

It’s a great ride. Going to skip this year, but I’ve done it four times. Remember you come back to the start halfway through, so you can dress for the cool start and drop off the arm-warmers etc. when you loop back. I keep forgetting, and underdress at the start

[acc]

Yes.

[sjclaeys]

I am also not going this year (doing the Seagull instead), but it is a great ride. The second half is harder than the first, especially the nice long climb at around mile 85.

[Jason B]

Signed up yesterday morning when there was only 4 spots left. Buddy tried later in the day and said it was closed.

[Swiper]

I signed up.

Sent from my Etch A Sketch using Tapatalk 2

[krazygl00]

Ok so we’re getting down to it. I’ve been so busy lately with work, kids etc. I have NOT had the time to train properly, so I may be hurting on this ride.

Am I alone in this? Anyone else here in the same situation? Is anyone interested in maybe banding together as a group to support each other?

I’m also considering signing up for the official “BB” ride group. For me it is kind of a toss-up between “BB” and “B”, but the faster groups leave earlier, so if can’t hang with “BB” or just don’t feel like it I should be able to drop back to “B” and see if they mind me poaching their paceline. I think it’s a better tactic than signing up for too-slow a group then trying to catch up to a faster group that left 10 minutes earlier. Here are the groups:

The organized Group Rides and their Co-Leaders are:
Ride/Speed Start Time Co-Leaders
100 – A 7:25 AM Ken Rowe
Tim Guilford
100 – BB 7:40 AM Keith Baron
Karen Berlage
100 – B 7:50 AM Monique Sears
Bob Doyle
100 – CC 8:00 AM Reggie Beard
Ajit Baid
Ed Hazelwood

I’m guessing the route would be considered “moderate”, so going by the classifications from the PPTC site:

CC – 12-14MPH
B – 14-16MPH
BB – 16-18MPH
A – 18-20MPH
AA – 20-22MPH

Remember this is average speed in a group, so take your normal solo average and add a little bit to it.

[acc]

I don’t have enough time to do the century this year. Silly students have unrealistic expectations that I can grade 52 papers in three days. I will ride hard for 50 and go home. It kills me to bail. But I owe it to the kids…if anyone wants to go hard for 50, I’m in.

[jabberwocky]

I’ll be there, doing the century.

[vvill]

I did it last year (my first century). It was very well run, and there’s a lot of riders out there so it’s not hard to stay with a group your pace. The organized PPTC pace groups are good to ride with too. You can really conserve a lot of energy.

My only issues last year were –
a) stay to the right, preferably single file – not everybody followed this. local police apparently weren’t too happy
b) an unrestrained dog running out and barking at riders at one point
c) dressed too cold at the start (this is before i had invested much into cool weather clothing)
d) these things were not very tasty or easy to eat
“Powerbar Energy Bites” aka balls
[img]http://weusedthat.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/balls.jpg?w=277&h=300[/img]
everyone complained about them at the stops and threw them out

[krazygl00]

@vvill 31602 wrote:

I did it last year (my first century). It was very well run, and there’s a lot of riders out there so it’s not hard to stay with a group your pace. The organized PPTC pace groups are good to ride with too. You can really conserve a lot of energy.

My only issues last year were –
a) stay to the right, preferably single file – not everybody followed this. local police apparently weren’t too happy
b) an unrestrained dog running out and barking at riders at one point
c) dressed too cold at the start (this is before i had invested much into cool weather clothing)
d) these things were not very tasty or easy to eat
“Powerbar Energy Bites” aka balls
[img]http://weusedthat.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/balls.jpg?w=277&h=300[/img]
everyone complained about them at the stops and threw them out

Yeah, it was a big enough deal that they sent an email out regarding the whole “stay to the right” thing. Police and local residents were not happy and complained, so PPTC really has to crack down on it if they want to continue putting on the ride.

And I’ll remember to skip the balls.

[txgoonie]

The PowerBar bites have too much protein to be a good energy source, IMHO. Fine for recovery, but a poor choice for a during a ride. FYI. And they taste like *ss.

It’s dicey to eat stuff you’ve never tried before during an event anyway. I’ll be doing the ride, but carrying most of what I’m gonna eat;-)

[jabberwocky]

@txgoonie 31605 wrote:

It’s dicey to eat stuff you’ve never tried before during an event anyway. I’ll be doing the ride, but carrying most of what I’m gonna eat;-)

I’m one of those people who can eat damn near anything on long rides. I’m hoping the aid stations have M&Ms.

[txgoonie]

@jabberwocky 31613 wrote:

I’m one of those people who can eat damn near anything on long rides. I’m hoping the aid stations have M&Ms.

I have extensive experience with M&Ms, so I know I could have those

[Dirt]

I thought about this…. and in the end didn’t go for it. I’m doing a long, fixie mountain bike ride instead.

Have a great ride, y’all!

[Author]

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