My First Metric Century

**glademaster** · 10-17-2005, 03:39 PM

OK, so for most serious riders, 100km's isn't anything more than a nice day out on the bike, but since I started riding about a month ago, its significant to me. Sunday morning I headed down with a few other members of my school's bike club to the annual Central Buck's Bike Club's Covered Bridges Ride.

I initially planned on riding the 50 mile route, but then thought, what the hell, if I'm going that far, whats another 14 miles(the metric was actually 63.9 miles instead of 62ish). Before yesterday, my longest ride was 60km's, and that was pretty flat with around 900 or 1000 feet of elevation change, this was 100km's with 3400 feet of climbing. And for those of you familiar with the area, the hills are not super long, but they are steep, often 10%+ gradients, which are fun since my granny gear is a 39x25. After an embarassing start involving me unclipping my left foot and leaning right, resulting in a tumble at 0 km/hr, we got underway. The weather was great, aside from the 20-30 mile per hour winds that always seemed to be headwinds or crosswinds uphill and tailwinds on the descents

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With 3 rest stops at various points along the route, we managed to average an even 26km/hr over the 103km route. Not too bad really, it ranks as my 2nd or 3rd fastest ever, and my longest by a solid 45km's. It's a great sport, and hopefully I'll keep improving. Next years goal's are an imperial century and a double metric. I managed to snap a few pics at the start and finish and found a few from along the route as well, so enjoy, and feel free to rip on how ridiculous I look.

pre-ride(I'm the guy with the long hair and cycling hat under my helmet, second from the looker's right):

post ride:

**powderdave** · 10-17-2005, 04:24 PM

As a guy who is also relatively new to two-wheeled life I appreciate every milestone. Your metric century is something to be proud of, and will stay so long after you've ridden longer rides. Good on ya.

**Plakespear** · 10-17-2005, 08:37 PM

Good on ya. I did the 33 mile ride two years ago, and it felt like 50. If I hadn't been hung over and in NY (where it was 45 degrees and rainy) I would have joined you.

**UTdave** · 10-18-2005, 08:09 AM

Why are you measuring your rides in kms? I see the point for this ride but it seems like you are measuring every ride in kms.

**Plakespear** · 10-19-2005, 06:00 PM

Originally Posted by UTdave

Why are you measuring your rides in kms? I see the point for this ride but it seems like you are measuring every ride in kms.

'Cuz that how the pros do it.

**glademaster** · 10-19-2005, 06:47 PM

Actually, the metric system makes more sense to me, so I use it most of the time. If it keeps you from getting your panties in a wad, I can use imperial units.