Cycle Peeps-Metric Century

canary_girl

What's a good time for a metric century. I have one in 3 weeks.

MeanderingMammal

Three weeks seems like a long time for a metric century...

Personally I'd be aiming for between 3:40 and 4:00, but I'm not a fast cyclist.

canary_girl

This is my first and I'm aiming as close as possible to 3 hours, wondering if that's unrealistic.

sijomial

How far have you cycled and at what speed?
Or alternatively how long can you actually sustain speeds in excess of 20mph?

Riding solo or in a pack makes a huge difference too, as does the course, your bike etc. etc.

100km isn't a distance I've tried to set a fast time (for me!) but would guess and be happy with 3:30 hrs riding solo on a flat course but neither me or my bike are particularly fast. I have the aero of a brick out-house...

TimothyFish

If you can do 100km in 3 hours you are a stronger rider than me. I might be able to do that on a flat course with no stops. That's a distance that has started to get ordinary for me, but I don't think about time so much. I tend to stop and smell the roses, or at least take pictures of them when I'm out on a ride like that.

MeanderingMammal

canary_girl wrote: »

This is my first and I'm aiming as close as possible to 3 hours, wondering if that's unrealistic.

It's certainly ambitious.

Whether it's unrealistic or not depends on the route, your experience, other riders etc.

Fr a first event I'd be veering towards a more conservative forecast.

Machka9

canary_girl wrote: »

This is my first and I'm aiming as close as possible to 3 hours, wondering if that's unrealistic.

Give us some more information to work with.



When I was racing, and lived in a flat area, I used to do 100 km in 4 hours.

Now I live in a very hilly area, and 13 years have passed, and I'm a little slower, so it's a good day if I can do it in less than 5 hours.

susanp57

That would require an average speed in excess of 20 mph. Highly unlikely. What is your current average speed?

amandaeve

If you are worried about riding out of the pack, ask the group you are riding with (is it a race?) what the typical speeds are. You don't want to be bored, and you don't want to be last. Other than that, your pace is the right pace.

cwolfman13

canary_girl wrote: »

This is my first and I'm aiming as close as possible to 3 hours, wondering if that's unrealistic.

I couldn't sustain 20+ MPH for 100 km solo...I might be able to do that if I was riding in a peloton. If the course was flat, my guess would be that I'd be in the neighborhood of 4 hours if I didn't stop, etc...on endurance rides I typically average around 16 MPH...18 on a really good day.

sijomial

Wonder if @canary_girl is reading this?

At least it gave me an idea for my ride today, I was going to do 60 miles so bumped it up slightly to just over 100km.



And now after consulting my book of excuses (!).....
Legs weren't fresh after 39 ride yesterday, got stuck in some traffic and I'm a bit down on fitness and a bit heavier than my summer peak but my estimate of 3:30 should be attainable (for me).

Whether knowing what an elderly man can do will help the OP is anybody's guess.
I know a 45 year old lady who does a 100 miler in 5hrs but she is an unusually good cyclist with quite a few Strava QOMs and is a wheel-sucker extraordinaire.

canary_girl

sijomial wrote: »

Wonder if @canary_girl is reading this?

At least it gave me an idea for my ride today, I was going to do 60 miles so bumped it up slightly to just over 100km.



And now after consulting my book of excuses (!).....
Legs weren't fresh after 39 ride yesterday, got stuck in some traffic and I'm a bit down on fitness and a bit heavier than my summer peak but my estimate of 3:30 should be attainable (for me).

Whether knowing what an elderly man can do will help the OP is anybody's guess.
I know a 45 year old lady who does a 100 miler in 5hrs but she is an unusually good cyclist with quite a few Strava QOMs and is a wheel-sucker extraordinaire.

Nice ride, glad I could inspire you!

I haven't been riding outdoors much these days. My world is very cycle unfriendly and so most of my riding is indoors. But I've got enough experience to know the difference between the tension on a spin bike and a road ride.

I ride 90 minutes/day, 5 days/week. I'll do 2+ hour rides sporadically, but I've done them once a week in the past. I prefer heavy hills to downhill sprints (although the downhill is do much more fun outside) so I typically crank up the tension.

Even though I haven't ridden this course I'm not concerned about finishing. Although I may bump up my ideal time frame a bit.

Thanks!

sijomial

Hope it goes well on the day and you enjoy the experience- there's quite a difference in fuelling 2 hour rides (I don't basically, just water) and 3 hour + rides.
Worth practicing beforehand, you don't want to be doing something on the event day that you haven't done before.

kcjchang

That's a pretty good clip depending on the terrain and field. My last metric was 63.9 miles in 3:23 moving/3:47 total with elevation gain of 3,474'. The climbs was mostly gentle around 6% and the biggest climb took just over 30 minutes to crest. My normalized power for the ride was 227w and had an IF of 0.87. Power to weight was 3.03w/kg for the ride and I had an FTP around 3.57w/kg at the time. I finished about 15 minutes behind the front group after being drop on the back rollers. On the flats, I have no problem hanging with them on much longer rides. It was a club ride and the front consist of 10-15 riders with me trailing on climbs. Might been able to finish with or just after the lead group if I had sat back more on the flatter sections of the ride (but I never learn).

If it's a mass start, seat on fast group and conserve your energy. A descent cat 3-4 field should cover that distance under 3 hour if the course is moderate. Hanging for dear life the first 15-30 minutes has been my experience (

Machka9

My club has an event called the Petite Year Round Randonneur where we ride a 100 km ride each month for 12 months. My husband and I have completed 6 in a row so far. Plus some longer rides. ☺

But we usually do them slightly over 5 hours.

Machka9

canary_girl wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Wonder if @canary_girl is reading this?

At least it gave me an idea for my ride today, I was going to do 60 miles so bumped it up slightly to just over 100km.



And now after consulting my book of excuses (!).....
Legs weren't fresh after 39 ride yesterday, got stuck in some traffic and I'm a bit down on fitness and a bit heavier than my summer peak but my estimate of 3:30 should be attainable (for me).

Whether knowing what an elderly man can do will help the OP is anybody's guess.
I know a 45 year old lady who does a 100 miler in 5hrs but she is an unusually good cyclist with quite a few Strava QOMs and is a wheel-sucker extraordinaire.

Nice ride, glad I could inspire you!

I haven't been riding outdoors much these days. My world is very cycle unfriendly and so most of my riding is indoors. But I've got enough experience to know the difference between the tension on a spin bike and a road ride.

I ride 90 minutes/day, 5 days/week. I'll do 2+ hour rides sporadically, but I've done them once a week in the past. I prefer heavy hills to downhill sprints (although the downhill is do much more fun outside) so I typically crank up the tension.

Even though I haven't ridden this course I'm not concerned about finishing. Although I may bump up my ideal time frame a bit.

Thanks!

How's the training going? Have you had a chance to ride outside yet?

canary_girl

I have, but I have kids that go with me so it's slow. The ride is Sunday, I'll be sure to update.