Century a Month Challenge 2009

cunavalos

Hi everyone,
Long time lurker first time poster
I spotted this on an english website and thought this might be a fun challenge for everyone and give everyone something to aim for in 2009

The challenge is very basic.
To successfully complete the challenge, all you need to do is ride one metric century, a ride of 100 km or 62.18 miles each month through 2009,

The guidelines are:

-Click reply to post and Add yourself to the list of participants before 31st January 2009.

-Keep only one post per participant and ‘edit’ your post after each ride.

-Complete your first ride by 31 Jan 2009. No late starters or double rides to catch up after 31 January 2009

-Ride one metric century each and every month.

-Each Metric Century is worth one point. Double metrics (200km) are worth two points and so on.

-For any rides lasting longer than one continuous day, the date the ride completed is the date posted. (Your post would look something like this,
14 May 4 Points 403.29 km Total Points 14 Total km's 1,429.76)

-Just keep editing your original posts and delete any commentary.


-Your post should look something like this.

08 Jan 1 Point 63.88m/102.73kmTotal Points 1 Total km 102.73
16 Jan 1 Point 65.27m/104.97km Total Points 2 Total km 207.70

12 Feb 1 Point 64.90m/104.37km Total Points 3 Total km 312.07
.

If you are in for the challenge, post your name saying you are in. Then just edit your post, using this as a guide to post your rides. Please don't use this thread for discussion until after 31st January 2009 otherwise it gets really difficult to follow everyones progress.

This might also be useful for determining boards cyclist of the year 2009

Regards
cunavalos

FrankGrimes

Great idea and just what I need for motivation - so I'm signing up!

Can each rider only post one entry per month or can they put in an entry for every time they do a 100km+ cycle? If the latter, prepare for some pretty long lists from some of the posters on here!

FrankGrimes

Surprised there's not more interest in this - is it because many of the posters here would generally do a couple of 100km+ cycles a month so it's no big deal? Am sure there's still plenty of folk on here that could benefit from setting a target like this every month....would be good if so cos we might get a group together every now and then to do some of the cycles (which may coincide with the Saturday/Sunday spins on here anyway).

TinyExplosions

I suspect it'd turn into a crazy competition to see who could do the most miles.... could get scary

blorg

Gavin

I'd be on for it. 100 a month is pretty doable.

Ryder

Sounds like good fun. Am on for it.

short circuit

Does it have to be a century in 1 go ... or can I do 30km in the morning and another 70kms in the evening ....

Come on .... long commutes ....

By the way ... isn't there a time limit on how long you can still edit a thread .. I think this post might be locked before end of 2009

tunney

short circuit wrote: »

Does it have to be a century in 1 go ... or can I do 30km in the morning and another 70kms in the evening ....

Come on - a hundred km in one go. Be glad its not an imperial century.

TinyExplosions

tunney wrote: »

Come on - a hundred km in one go. Be glad its not an imperial century.

Should be a century a day challenge... can you do 36500km in a year

Or, to make it easy, make it a work day, and give them 23 days holiday, so the plan is to do 500k a week, or 24000 in the year

scottreynolds

I'm definitely keen for this -- the century per month although I'd say 50-100 points will probably take it out -- I'll be aiming for 50 points.

TinyExplosions

Hmm, London-Edinburgh-London is about 14 points for one cycle... that's my years worth right there!

Can you get 'bonus' points for doing the miles on a fixie, or a unicycle for example?

uberwolf

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Can you get 'bonus' points for doing the miles on a fixie, or a unicycle for example?

half points tbh, less weight

short circuit

tunney wrote: »

Come on - a hundred km in one go. Be glad its not an imperial century.

At least with an imperial century .. I wouldn't be dreaming of doing one in a weekday ...

With doing it in 1 go ... I am restricted to weekend ... if it could be split .. even weekdays during summer might provide an opportunity

barrabus

I think those doing the marmotte would want to be doing at least an imperial century a month from jan on ...

hynesie

I'm in.

short circuit wrote: »

By the way ... isn't there a time limit on how long you can still edit a thread .. I think this post might be locked before end of 2009

If this is the case could we have a wiki page for it instead?

Chips Lovell

Do turbo trainer centuries count?

Could get very easy if they do.

blorg

el tonto wrote: »

Do turbo trainer centuries count?

No, no they do not.

I think to make it interesting there should be bonus points for every 500 or 1,000m of climbing.

ROK ON

blorg wrote: »

I think to make it interesting there should be bonus points for every 500 or 1,000m of climbing.

Not a bad idea.
I think that there should also be a handicapping system though. Experienced cyclists with a lot of mileage in the legs should get fewer points than newbies and relative newbies.
Could be decided on avg amt of kms/week in past year, no. of years cycling etc. Whether a club cyclist etc.

tunney

blorg wrote: »

No, no they do not.

I think to make it interesting there should be bonus points for every 500 or 1,000m of climbing.

Why wouldn't turbos count? Because unless you whack the resistance up a notch or two it's not as tough as riding outside? In that case should we rule out miles done on continental roads as you roll 3-4kph faster on them?

I think not. 100km is 100km. No gimmicks. No bonus points.

One point per 100km done in a single ride.

TinyExplosions

Can euro rules apply a multipling factor....

Chips Lovell

tunney wrote: »

In that case should we rule out miles done on continental roads as you roll 3-4kph faster on them?

Shhhh. Don't talk too loud about that. It's so true.

ROK ON wrote: »

Not a bad idea.
I think that there should also be a handicapping system though. Experienced cyclists with a lot of mileage in the legs should get fewer points than newbies and relative newbies.
Could be decided on avg amt of kms/week in past year, no. of years cycling etc. Whether a club cyclist etc.

We are now dangerously close to getting wattage into equation.

Funkyzeit

I'm in....Although will be on the turbo trainer until Feb....:o

blorg

No air resistance. But more to the point you are not "going" anywhere. I would support allowing turbos but only if a suitable certified power or heart rate graph is included

+1 bonus for doing 100km on a SS, +3 for a fixie.
-1 for every kg your bike is under 10kg.
+20 for doing the Wicklow 200 in a mankini (you know who you are.)

As I am not a club cyclist I will slot in well in the handicap system

ROK ON

blorg wrote: »

-1 for every kg your bike is under 10kg.

How about +1pt for every 5kg the cyclist is over 80kg?
Also, +1kg if cyclist is certifiable asthmatic.

(Not that I fit into these categories btw):D.

blorg

+1 if cyclist is asthmatic, -5 if cyclist is taking salbutamol (we will need a testing regime.)

ROK ON

blorg wrote: »

+1 if cyclist is asthmatic, -5 if cyclist is taking salbutamol (we will need a testing regime.)

What if cyclist has TUE.

Gavin

1 point for 100km on real roads irrespective of weight, bike, gearing, sex, hair colour. If someone chooses to cycle 100km in circles around their estate or go into Wicklow and go up and down kippure 30 times or something, so be it !

Although 2 points for a 200km ride doesn't seem equal to 2 points for 2 x 100 km rides.

The thread editing is a good point, it does get locked after a time period and I don't see any way for mods to change that. Could be a site-wide configuration. Options are the wiki or a new subforum with training logs like the various other exercise related forums

I shall begin in January ! And I shall log it all with my new Edge 305 in the post.

DAEDULUS

I'll take part in this, total newbie to cycling.. haven't owned a bike since I was 12-13 so for christmas I fixed up my brothers old racer, and have all the gear now

Will mainly be doing this to lose some weight but I will be aiming for the 100km a month

Any tips for a proper newbie attempting this kind of thing?

petethedrummer

DAEDULUS wrote: »

Any tips for a proper newbie attempting this kind of thing?

My first boards spin was over 100kms and I didn't die. Its not as hard as you think, with encouragement from others of course.

cunavalos

Good to see that this idea is generating a bit of interest and discussion, i hadnt realised that there is a time lock on editing posts i suppose one way of getting around this is to create a new thread for each month of the challenge this way each entrant can copy their totals from the end of january and enter that as the first entry for february and continue on that way and then by december you will have a total for the year.

As regards scoring i agree with tunney and 100km is 1 point regardless of whether it is completed in the alps or in your garage on a turbo so long it was completed in one effort (stopping for refreshments is allowed)
Please free to provide suggestions or alternatives before we all get going but it will quite interesting to see who can log the first century of the new year

blorg

I think this is calling for a New Years day spin

DAEDULUS

in one effort? :O as in, the 100km cant be broken up over the month? then count me out / I have nowhere near enough experience/fitness to compete in this then

FrankGrimes

Think cunavolos' intention was for this to be a motivation for novices to make an effort to get out and do a decent ride every month...but it's clear the competitive spirit is alive and well and there'll be plenty of folk eager to rack up a decent score.

Might be worth breaking it into 2 categories:

Category 1. Fair to Middlin': aim is to complete one 100km+ cycle per month. 1 point for 100km, 2 points for a 200km cycle (I'd be in favour of making that 2.5 though). So max possible is really 24 points but as this section is about Completing Not Competing, most will be aiming for a healthy 12 points.

Category 2. Great Expectations: pfft, 100km? Easy!.....with 1 point per 100km ride and 2 per 200km ride (or 2.5?), aim here is to rack up as many points as you can or want to. Could make an argument for bringing difficulty/climbing into it but it might get complicated. Fair enough it'll likely get competitive, but if it motivates people to go and do an extra ride they may have put off, it's not a bad thing.

As for me....I'll be in Category 3: does 100km up mountains carrying the bike on my back :P......but until then you'll find me in Category 1 just to throw everybody off the scent!

FrankGrimes

DAEDULUS wrote: »

in one effort? :O as in, the 100km cant be broken up over the month? then count me out / I have nowhere near enough experience/fitness to compete in this then

You'd be surprised Daedulus - if you're doing regular cycling pushing yourself to do a ~70km is more a mental thing than a physical thing in my opinion, particularly so if on a flatish course. True, that extra hour or so in the saddle to do the last 30km odd is physically tough at first, but if you get a couple of longish spins under your belt you'll realise it is achievable. Hopefully that's the case for a few people on here anyway and that this challenge helps motivate them to do it.

TinyExplosions

cunavalos wrote: »

As regards scoring i agree with tunney and 100km is 1 point regardless of whether it is completed in the alps or in your garage on a turbo so long it was completed in one effort (stopping for refreshments is allowed)

So 20k on the turbo, break for lunch, another 20k, tea break, 3rd 20k, more tea, 4th 20k, Dinner, and a final 20k before bed counts as one point

I think we should put in more scoring modifiers -say -.5 if it's on a turbo, but if you do more than 100 there should also be a modifier of .5 for every additional hundred, so 2.5 for a 200k spin, 4 for a 300 etc etc to count for the difficulty. I think a bonus point for every 1000m of climbing is good too

TinyExplosions

blorg wrote: »

I think this is calling for a New Years day spin

In as a very in thing for that one

Húrin

The Imperial Century 1815 - 1914

kenmc

Should be in for this....

Wylie Luke

Total Newbie, totally doing this...

DirkVoodoo

Looking forward to attempting this on the 10th, have been off the bike for what must be nearly a month now and I don't like it much.

goods

def a good idea

kenmc

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I think we should put in more scoring modifiers -say -.5 if it's on a turbo,

i dunno - I think turbo kms should count double or even triple, to counter the mindnumbing boredom and sweat-loss. If someone can do 100 on the turbo, and still know their own name, fair feckin play.

Raam

kenmc wrote: »

i dunno - I think turbo kms should count double or even triple, to counter the mindnumbing boredom and sweat-loss. If someone can do 100 on the turbo, and still know their own name, fair feckin play.

What about on rollers?

kenmc

defo danger points for that then.

dub_skav

This is a great idea, I'll give it a go. As I haven't been on the bike apart from commuting since the rugby season started in September I'm not sure how I'll fair but if I can squeeze in a 100km spin in January then I reckon I'll give it a good go.

As a motivational tool for newbies/lurkers 100km may be a bit daunting, should they be allowed 1 50km (or 70km) spin in January to get them going and then have the 100km rule after that?

Raam

dub_skav wrote: »

As a motivational tool for newbies/lurkers 100km may be a bit daunting, should they be allowed 1 50km (or 70km) spin in January to get them going and then have the 100km rule after that?

Good thinking. I would be wary of people burning themselves out too early by trying to do too much. This will ruin your motivation for the rest of the year.

TinyExplosions

I'm a beginner!!!! Can I do 50 this month

Maybe for people starting out, let them do 2 50's to add up to the ton?

Raam

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I'm a beginner!!!! Can I do 50 this month

No you're not and no you can't. Just for your insubordination, you have to do 200.

TinyExplosions

Raam wrote: »

No you're not and no you can't. Just for your insubordination, you have to do 200.

All at once?

all I did was beat Blorg up the Glandon and you think I'm a superman.... /grumble

AstraMonti

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I'm a beginner!!!! Can I do 50 this month

Maybe for people starting out, let them do 2 50's to add up to the ton?

Great idea! I can do that