Has to be done sometime though. Got 10 hours free anytime soon?
John
I’m free next sunday. I’m going out walking then drinking Saturday night, it sounds like a fantastically stupid idea to plan to ride 100 miles on a day when I’m pretty much guaranteed to be hungover and there’s only just 10 hours of light. So I guess it must be done. Bring lights obviously.
I wonder if it’s possible to ride to Skegness, that must be pretty flat? I can’t see an obvious route that isn’t the A52, which is dullsville to ride on. Maybe a cunning non-obvious route would make 100 miles. Or Nottingham-> Skegness -> Lincoln, which is 120 miles which has a bit better trains back plus is presumably passing somewhat near your parent’s in case of needing an emergency bail out.
Best would be a loop though, I just tried Nottingham -> Melton Mowbray -> Leicester -> Derby -> Nottingham on the route planner, but it isn’t quite enough, we need a little bit more (20 miles or so) than that. Don’t have time to work a loop out right now. Maybe add Mansfield into that loop and we’d get it.
edit: Training is for wusses right?
Joe
I’m scared now. By the end of that post it almost looks like you’re serious…
100+ miles on a uni (in a day)
I’ve ridden two centuries, tho one ended up being only 90 miles* due to bad event planning (the other was 102 miles). I’ve written both of them up on this forum, so if you’re interested, do a search of ‘century’ or ‘100’ and you might find my write up and some others.
My longer ride was done on a Coker. The shorter ride came on my Schlumpf geared uni.
My brother (John) rode 89 miles on a 29" uni on the same day as my 12-hour, 102-mile ride. He took 30 extra minutes. He’s also ridden many 60+ mile days in the course of his touring with Andy Cotter and friends. I’m a lot more impressed with his 1200 miles in 3 weeks than my 102 miles in 12 hours.
I’m interested in your post-ride findings. Did it hurt to pee afterwards? Any nasty chafing? I found the KH seat on my guni made a huge difference, where it didn’t hurt to pee after the 90 miles. The air seat on my Coker was more comfy while riding, but I had trouble peeing for two days, even after a 55-mile ride.
- I also rode 13 miles the night before, so I did manage over 100 miles in 24 hours that time.
Oh, Peter. Congrats, btw. 
Ok then, here’s the list so far, 100miles/century in 1 day.
The Century Club:
Peter Bier
David Stone
Roger Davies
Alan Chambers
Steve Colligan
Takayuki Koike (record holder 6hrs44min)
Lars Clauson
Ken Looi
Floyd Beattie
Johnnie Severin
Cathy Fox
Must be more…
Ah yes, gritty details 
Post race my only problems were saddle soreness, pain in my right knee and stiff leg muscles. There were no bladder problems at all and no genitalia numbness. Saddle soreness was at the creases formed by my inside thighs joining the groin area (ie where the left and right edges of the saddle were rubbing as my legs pedaled). This is the area I usually have problems with and the last time I rode for over 10 hours I actually broke the skin. This time round I used anti-chafing cream and better cycle pants which meant no broken skin. I would still like to decrease the saddle soreness factor as I believe it is what limits me from riding for longer than 11 hours.
It is now forty hours after the race and the muscular stiffness is fading fast. I am happily walking without pain, can run with no problems and am thinking about hopping back on a unicycle in a few hours 
I used the UDC gel saddle which is the best saddle I’ve come across so far.
I had been training frequently up and till about 3 weeks ago when I got very busy with work and had to cut down to 2 rides a week. I did not keep a training diary but in the last three months did roughly 20km every other day, and tried to throw in a 40 to 60km ride every week. I also did a 100km ride about a month out to see whether my body was in any fit state to attempt 160km.
You can add me to the list… STP in 1999…
Also Jack Hughes!
-Dan
Bruce Dawson did somewhere around 120 miles on the first day of this year’s Seattle to Portland ride.
I haven’t. The most I’ve ever ridden was 85 miles in one day. If, at the end, you me I had to ride another 15 miles, I would have cried. I was told that the elevation gain was 5000ft, although I don’t think it was quite that much.
Scot Cooper, however, has hit the century mark.
but 15 miles is like nothin after 85! (: actually, I think if I did ride 85 miles, I would want to do the last 15 just to say that I did 100.
Peter Bier
David Stone
Roger Davies
Alan Chambers
Steve Colligan
Takayuki Koike (record holder 6hrs44min)
Lars Clauson
Ken Looi
Floyd Beattie
Johnnie Severin
Cathy Fox
Scott Cooper
Bruce Dawson
Jack Hughes
Dan Heaton
Keep them coming. We might have to make some T-shirts for the 100mile club.
I’ve added Mark Wiggins to the list as he was with Roger, Alan and myself when we completed our 1-1-1 (1 wheel, 1 hundred miles, 1 day) last year. Chris & Sam Dobbie were also with us on the ride, but unfortunately didn’t quite manage the 100 miles due to Sam having a nasty UPD.
When we did our ride last year we had a Strong headwind for 80 of the 100 miles. With all the effort we put into riding against the wind, I wonder how far we could have ridden for the same amount or effort without that headwind - certainly well over the 100 mile mark.
I certainly like the idea of T-shirts for the 100 milers.
I also still like the idea of doing the 100 miles within our original target of 10 hours. Hmmm… 
Without the headwind of course.
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
Scott Cooper
Bruce Dawson
Jack Hughes
Dan Heaton
Keep adding to the list
I can’t say “add me” yet but you can add Scot Cooper - he did it in LA a couple of years ago.
—Nathan
Nice thread. While we’re about it, I’ll slip myself onto this list. Ironically, though I now have a 36er, and got 1200 miles into it in its first month or so*, I don’t think I’ve ever hit 100 on it in a day. Nearest would be 94 I think. But I did get ~103 miles in a day on my 29er, at the start of this summer. That was due to having the idea of visiting friends in London, from Bath, and saving on train fare. Total time around 16 hours, though it might have been more statistcally impressive without losing the A4 several times in Reading and Slough. Never bother riding through Slough. It’s called that for a reason.
No detrimental physical effects apart from a healthy leaden-ness when finally getting to sit down on the Tube (the train variety) for the last part of the journey. Airseat worked fine.
That “100 in 10 on 1” sounds like a fun thing to do. Maybe more like Hardcore Silliness to try in December, but then again…
Sam
- Yes, I do still intend to write up my End to End properly, sometime soonish!
The 100 club:
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
Scott Cooper
Bruce Dawson
Jack Hughes
Dan Heaton
Scot Cooper
Sam Wakeling
Keep adding to the list
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
Scott Cooper
Bruce Dawson
Jack Hughes
Dan Heaton
Scot Cooper
Sam Wakeling
Joe Marshall
John Himsworth
I’ve added me and John H, cos we went on a little ride today.
On Saturday, I spent 6 hours yesterday walking and unintentionally scrambling in the Peak District, then went out to a mountaineering christmas meal. After the curry we got given loads of free wine by the restaurant, because they’d taken so long to get it all cooked and served.
So at 6 o’clock this morning, I left the house, feeling somewhat hungover, a bit stiff from the walking. I rode off 3 miles to meet John, feeling rough. At 6:25ish, we started the stopwatch and the cycle computer. At 16:15ish, we stopped it at Skegness, with just over 100 miles on the cycle computer due to our very roundabout route. Then we headed off for some well deserved chips and to catch the train home.
So, 100 miles, 9 hours 51 minutes, 1 wheel (each). In December. On proper roads, not round a track. Unsupported. Without any training. With a hangover. According to the trip computer, about 9.05 riding time, so only 45 minutes of faff for the whole day. That was helped by John navigating almost entirely while riding pretty darn fast.
It was dark for an hour or two from when we started and got dark just as we finished (as you can see by the picture we took shortly after).
Pictures in http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=165567
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
ps. Winter is a fine time to try this, because you don’t get too hot and don’t need to find too many water refill places (we drank two 2L camelbaks full each, so only one refill).
Wow, VERY impressive ride. You guys must have had almost nothing in terms of rests or breaks. Any serious training prior, or just your standard riding and then a “well since there’s a thread about it let’s just go” attitude?
I would like to add myself to the century list sometime in the next 4.75 years, but I’m not sure I have a fast enough cadence to ever pull off a 100:10:1.
What was the hill profile for your route…a lot of them, or mostly flat? Also curious the crank length each of you used.
Congratulations!!!
TB
Before the ride I was assured by mr navigation that there are absolutely no hills in Lincolnshire. This wasn’t quite true, there were about 4 noticeable hills and a few undulations. But it was a very flat route in the main. I rode with 110s and John rode 125s. The one really steep little hill he made it up and I didn’t.
We didn’t do any training or anything. However, we do both do a fair bit of exercise generally. I ride about 8 miles most days on the muni at the moment and go swimming 3 days a week and do canoeing, plus extra rides most weekends, John rides coker most days and does mountain biking too, and also spent summer riding 30 miles on a bike every day, so we’re probably both starting from a quite high level of base fitness. We didn’t really have time to train or taper down our riding as I only thought about it on the 27th when John posted up on here and that Sunday was the only convenient day for a while. To be honest I figured however much training you do it’ll be hard work turning the wheel 56 thousand times whatever, so we might as well just go for it now, I think it’s mainly about mental stuff than physical fitness. If we’d thought about it too long we might have changed our minds about it being sensible. I guess part of me wanted to do it before anyone else over here did it too.
I’d never done 50 miles in 5 hours before this, so I was kind of surprised myself that we managed 50 miles in well under 5 hours, at which point I realized we actually could hit the 100 in 10, rather than just going 100 miles. We actually got there about an hour before the train we were aiming for. I think distance riding fast is much easier if there’s some other idiot to keep the pace up and to stop each other taking long breaks, otherwise it’s easy to drop back into a comfy pace and take nice long relaxing breaks. I think having a too big group wouldn’t be good though, as you’d inevitably have mechanicals or extra faff.
I’m not sure how super fast your cadence needs to be to ride this, you just need to be able to crank out a decent cruising speed forever. Our riding average was about 11mph, and the max was only something like 13 or so. I think a lot of coker riders can get those kind of riding averages, especially with short cranks. The main challenge is not taking breaks and still managing to eat lots. We took about 2 to 3 minute breaks, at first every 1 hour 20 or so, then going down to every half hour for the last 40 or 50 miles. Being okay at navigation and being able to do it on the unicycle is important here, as is being able to eat food while riding. I had energy drink in my camelbak, John has webbing on the side of his rucksack stuffed full of jelly babies and malt loaf. We reckoned we ate at least 3000 calories of food each during the ride.
The other thing about navigation is that you shouldn’t be too worried on a ride like this about getting navigation perfect, if there’s a bunch of little roads going towards somewhere, it doesn’t matter you go on any exact one, we had a few moments at the end where we just went down a random road in the right direction, we were riding a silly long route to Skegness anyway to make up the 100 miles. If you’re heading for a particular speed it’s better to keep riding than to have to stop to make navigation decisions.
To be honest though, while it’s nice to have done this particular challenge, if i wanted to do 100 miles again I’d take it slow and stop at nice pubs for lunch and lunch part two and maybe a nice tearoom for afternoon tea rather than heading for an average speed. Riding super fast is nice every so often, but you do miss out on the tea and cakes mentality of a normal ride.
Joe
I disagree. No amount of thinking would have changed my mind. It was a very silly idea from the start, and could never have been anything else.
The main thing for rides like that is definately to just keep going at a steady (ie not too fast) pace, and to take fairly frequent but quite short breaks. I don’t think we had a single break longer than 5 minutes.
I should also point out that navigating while riding should be done carefully to avoid flying off a coker at speed with a map in your hand. Also, map reading and eating cake while riding is possibly not the best idea, no matter how good the cake.
And we were both on stock cokers, except for seats, pedals and cranks.
John
I’ve sort of ridden two centuries. One was 102 miles on a Coker in 11.5 hours (in 2002), the other was a daytime ride of 90 miles in 11 hours following a night ride of 13.5 miles, both on a guni – so it was 103 miles in 24 hours (2005).
In both cases, the ride (basically the same route) was extremely hilly. I took almost no breaks for the far-less “mountainous” first half of the ride and completed about 50 miles in great time, like 4 hours. In both cases, I had false hope that I’d complete the whole deal in 9 or 10 hours, and in both cases, the hills absolutely killed me. [The ride coordinators could have made it much more doable had they started it off in the hilly section so that the end of the ride was flatter – this was one of the many problems with the ride.]
In 2002, I’d been commuting up to 100 miles a week on my Coker (mostly 60-80 miles a week). My commute changed so that by this year, I was riding only about 50 miles a week. Other than that, I did no training at all for the long rides.
Had the hills been softer, I have no doubt I could complete the ride in 10 hours, and I think I could manage 9 hours if I had a really flat ride, like in Utah, but part of the fun was seeing all the sights, passing bikers uphills, and stopping to chat with friends en route. I don’t think I could stomach a super-long ride without a friend. Maybe my bro and I should ride a century together.
Thanks for that great write-up, John and Joe!