Who has completed a 100 mile ride?

[peter.bier]

Originally Posted by GizmoDuck

T IMHO, it's easier to do it fast because the tiredness is a factor of time spent on the unicycle as well as effort.
Ken

Its like watching marathon runners coming in at the finish: often the people arriving after 6 hours look more wasted than those arriving after 3. Sure the slower runners are probably not as fit, but they have also been running hard for twice as long!

Saddle soreness is also a factor of time spent on the unicycle The faster you go, the less problems you are going to have with post race soreness.

I agree that completing a 100 mile ride is more a mental challenge rather than physical. Where fitness comes in to it is being able to complete the ride in a fast time.

I know I can crank along at a good pace for up to 4 hours but after that my fitness lets me down and it becomes a bit more of a slog. To do the 100:10:1 challenge I think I would need to either up my fitness or find a less hilly course.

[redwelly]

Well done Joe and John for your spontinaity.

It makes me consider using the Christmas vacation, namely the Winter Solstice (Wed 21 Dec), for this nice, long, fast coker ride; the 100 - 10 - 1.

Shortest day of the year, for the longest ride of the year? This seems to make sense from a do-it-because-it-sounds-ridiculous point of view. It will be officially daytime for 7h52m, 8.12am to 16.04pm.

I'm thinking of starting from Bath at 6am, visiting somewhere like Blandford Forum and being back in time for tea. The south west isn't the flattest of areas, but there's just as much downhill as up.

Weee.

If anyone fancies lots of fast cokering and wants to join me, drop me a line. Joe or John... it's not as if you don't want to do it again within a few weeks...
sam (at) redwelly (dot) co (dot) uk

Sam

[steve.colligan]

Congratulations Joe & John on your 100 miler.

I know you're both pretty fit guys anyway, but it still takes a lot of effort to complete the 100 miles, especially within 10 hours. Well done. Part of me would still like to complete the 100 miles in 10 hours, although I have no regrets doing our 100 miler as a more social/relaxed affair. In fact we turned our ride into a weekend meet with partying the night before and obviously after the ride.

You'll have to let us know your route as we also did ours across Linconshire. I'm assuming the wind was kind to you.

Hope you can both make it the Manchester this weekend for the hockey tournament.

See you soon.
Steve

[joemarshall]

Originally Posted by steve.colligan

You'll have to let us know your route as we also did ours across Linconshire. I'm assuming the wind was kind to you.

Our route started in Nottingham near John's house(*) and ended at Skegness and went on lots of little roads. It went via Cotgrave and Barkestone and New York and various other places and ended just near Butlins in Skegness. John may have more idea of which particular roads and places as he had the route marked on a map.

It wasn't that windy, I think a small bit we had a light headwind, but nothing to really slow us down. If it was super bad, we'd have turned round at the 50 mile mark and headed back into Nottingham.

I can't make Manchester which is super-annoying, I'm going down to London this weekend for a few things that just can't be missed.

Sam - it sounds fantastic and you should totally go for it, but I'm busy that day going to the theatre. Darn. Actually to be honest I'm not in a hurry to repeat it now I've done it. I need to still be alive for the Strathpuffer.

Incidentally, the whole disorganised riding thing is great. I reckon we do way more rides than a lot of people simply due to not organising loads in advance and just heading out riding when possible. Oh and owning lots of maps to go places without having to buy maps helps. And using public transport so you don't have to faff around organising shuttles or always riding circular routes.

Joe

(*) I did an extra few miles to get to the start, humph.

[johnhimsworth]

But I rode home from the station when we got back, which makes me more hardcore than you. Ha!

Sam - sounds like you've got the attitude for 'planning' about right, and after the end to end 100 miles can't be too hard, surely?

Our route was a random mix of small roads, chosen for a mix of directness and avoiding big roads - didn't fancy riding down the A1 (that probably counts as an interstatemegahighway or something in the US). A more full description can be provided on request, but it'll be a massive list of tiny little villages and descriptions of cabbage fields.

Can't make it to Manchester either, I'm off biking in the peaks with the uni club (ahh, the irony). Never been there on two wheels, should be fun.

[bungeejoe]

July 15, 2006 I completed 102 miles Seattle to Centraila during the first day of the STP.

[tomblackwood]

Originally Posted by bungeejoe

July 15, 2006 I completed 102 miles Seattle to Centraila during the first day of the STP.

Way to go Joe...you do all Washington riders proud, and join a pretty exclusive club that have done the STP on one wheel. As far as I know, it's just you, Bruce Dawson, Jack Hughes, and Dan Heaton, in reverse order of completion.

Plus joining that bigger but still exclusive list of century riders is nothing to sneeze at.

Congrats! If you're willing to drive a couple hours to the Seattle area for an all day unicycle cook-out in late September, PM me your e-mail address.

Tom B

[knobbytracks]

Originally Posted by peter.bier

Ah yes, gritty details

I used the UDC gel saddle which is the best saddle I've come across so far.

Are you talking the Nimbus gel or is there another one I have overlooked there at UDC? Which mount does it use?

[sobriquet]

Originally Posted by joemarshall

I think the 100, 10, 1 challenge should be like this -

• 100 miles
• 10 hours elapsed time (ie. you start at a certain time, you finish 10 hours
  later, no taking 'riding time' off your cycle computer or anything like that.
• 1 wheel
• Actually going somewhere, not round a track.
• No support (having a number to phone for emergency support in case someone is injured or completely breaks their unicycle is okay, but once you have any contact with the support car, you've failed the challenge), definately no follow cars, food drops etc. It should be about being able to say 'I want to be 100 miles away' and use the unicycle to make that true, rather than using a car plus a unicycle to get you there.

Has anyone else completed the 100 10 1 challenge as described there yet?

Joe

I will be going for it next summer on my trip to Florida.

And people, I can not believe you are forgetting Gracie!!
add Gracie Sorbello, in my readings of her blog she mentions that her longest day was 105 miles.

Peter Bier
David Stone
Roger Davies
Alan Chambers
Steve Colligan
Mark Wiggins
Takayuki Koike (record holder 6hrs44min)
Lars Clauson
Ken Looi
Floyd Beattie
Johnnie Severin
Cathy Fox
Bruce Dawson
Jack Hughes
Dan Heaton
Scot Cooper
Sam Wakeling
Joe Marshall
John Himsworth
Gracie Sorbello

[redwelly]

A little archaeology needed to dig up this thread.

Thanks to having a free Saturday before the clocks go back, with the prospect of reasonable weather, I had a go at Joe's 100-10-1 challenge:

Popped the (strangely long-feeling) 114s on 36" Shaddowfax, tightened the repaired broomstick handles, and managed to faff before leaving by 10am. The Radio4 'pips' ringing in my ears, I set off at a brisk pootle down to Builth Wells. According to Google Maps it should be 48 miles away.

A lovely October day, with low sunlight glancing off the wet road and golden leaves here and there. The rain came and went a few times, and there was a reasonably stiff headwind. Never mind, it was fun.

The hills and wind were getting increasingly tiresome on the way back - the resolve to never ever stop on the way up a hill is very important. Had a little stop at a very rural garage, where the mechanical petrol pump has a handwritten sticker saying 'sorry, no cards', and the packets of peanuts jostled with old potted plants.

The last 20 miles is mostly downhill, which was nice, and with a headwind (now turned around to face me again) I didn't need much brake use.

Once almost back to Aberystwyth, I had to make up a few more miles, by going up and down a half mile section a few times. Slightly against the spirit of the challenge, but when you've done 97 miles in under nine hours, a few ideological corners must be cut. Still, I finished within close range of my house, with pizza and sausages and soft sofa seats.

100 miles eventually clocked in after 9 hours and 1 minute. Faffing/resting time of 54 minutes. Average speed of 12.3 mph - it was never much above that, and felt like more of a slog than a spinning cruise. Max was never usually more than 17, even down hill, and flat was more like 13.

Next time (erm..) I'll find somewhere flatter. Worth doing though

Sam

[semach.the.monkey]

Originally Posted by redwelly

A little archaeology needed to dig up this thread.

Thanks to having a free Saturday before the clocks go back, with the prospect of reasonable weather, I had a go at Joe's 100-10-1 challenge:

Sam

Thanks for taking the time to dig out this thread, and congratulations on the 100-10-1!

I remember when it came up a almost a year ago and I was proud to have completed 100 miles... in a month! These days I seem to be averaging this most weeks.

The problem now is that the gauntlet has now been raised again, and when I'm almost in a position to accept! In 2 weeks time I will be riding the 140 miles from Nottingham to London over the weekend. I was planning on splitting it in to an 80/60 mile ride. However, for the sake of some extra work on the Saturday, and a leisurly 40 miles on the Sunday, I could become a member of your elite club. Hmmm...

I'll be doing it on a 29er though, so I don't think the 100-10-1 is going to be possible, but the 100-14-1 might be :-)

STM

[kington99]

Damn this is tempting me even more to get a 36, 100 miles seems like an impossible distance to tackle, guess it's going to take a lot of practice to get that good.

[joemarshall]

Well done Sam, sounds like you kept it in the spirit of the thing, no organisation, no support, and you only decided to do it at the last minute.

I dunno if I could do it on my own. The last time I did a really long ride (96 milesish), I was riding fast enough to do it, but I couldn't be bothered to hurry that much, and sat around for an hour or so eating a nice lunch, and took my time over snack stops.

Originally Posted by semach.the.monkey

The problem now is that the gauntlet has now been raised again, and when I'm almost in a position to accept! In 2 weeks time I will be riding the 140 miles from Nottingham to London over the weekend. I was planning on splitting it in to an 80/60 mile ride. However, for the sake of some extra work on the Saturday, and a leisurly 40 miles on the Sunday, I could become a member of your elite club. Hmmm...

I'll be doing it on a 29er though, so I don't think the 100-10-1 is going to be possible, but the 100-14-1 might be :-)

Hey Spence,

You could aim for 100-12.5-1, because that's about the ratio of the wheel sizes. Although, just think if you did manage 100-10-1, unsupported, you'd be something like the 4th person in the world to do that, or at least within the first 10, which would be super cool as 3 out of the 4 would be living within 2 miles of each other. It must be possible, as it's not that hard to ride at 11mph on a 29er, and John & I didn't average much faster than that, you just have to not faff at all, and carry a days worth of food with you.

If you're going to do 80 miles in a day, it isn't much harder to do 100 miles, so you should go for it. Personally I'd rather split a 2 day ride into a very long plus a short day, because then you arrive at your destination more rested than if you do two long days. As an added bonus, you'd probably end the first day somewhere near Leicester, and you must know someone who lives round there and has a floor you can sleep on which would save organising a B+B.

Joe

[roland]

Originally Posted by joemarshall

As an added bonus, you'd probably end the first day somewhere near Leicester, and you must know someone who lives round there and has a floor you can sleep on which would save organising a B+B.

Cunning, but I believe he's going the other way So he'll have hardly eaten his first soreen loaf by leicester

[semach.the.monkey]

Originally Posted by joemarshall

If you're going to do 80 miles in a day, it isn't much harder to do 100 miles, so you should go for it. Personally I'd rather split a 2 day ride into a very long plus a short day, because then you arrive at your destination more rested than if you do two long days. As an added bonus, you'd probably end the first day somewhere near Leicester, and you must know someone who lives round there and has a floor you can sleep on which would save organising a B+B.

Joe

As Roland says, it's the other way. I figure that if I head down the country from Nottingham to London then at least I'll have gravity on my side ;-) Was probably looking for somewhere around Luton for a B&B, but might have to re-evaluate that if I'm adding the extra 20 miles on.

Although wouldn't an 80-10-1 on a 29 be about equivalent to 100-10-1 on a 36?

STM