Century a Month Challenge 2009

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

dub_skav

2 50s/1 50/1 70, Whatever everybody thinks is fair, it would just be a shame to put somebody off a year long challenge because it was daunting to start with.

Perhaps if every newbie who would like to take part posts what they think would be achievable for January with their current level of experience then we could either motivate them to go further or accept it as a good start to kick them on into 100km in Feb.

By the way no hidden agenda here, I am firmly in the 100km category I just remember all too well when I started out last April how difficult it all seemed.

Chips Lovell

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.

I did over 80km on a borrowed turbo one day over Christmas. Mind numbingly boring, even if you have it in front of the tele.

niceonetom

maybe a silly question (that has probably been asked and answered before) but, how are people measuring distance on the turbo?

my speed sensor is on the fork and no matter how hard i pedal on the turbo my speed never seems to exceed 0 kmph. :mad:

Chips Lovell

niceonetom wrote: »

maybe a silly question (that has probably been asked and answered before) but, how are people measuring distance on the turbo?

my speed sensor is on the fork and no matter how hard i pedal on the turbo my speed never seems to exceed 0 kmph. :mad:

The turbo I was using comes with its own computer. Was kind of nifty actually as it picked up my HR from my polar monitor strap.

Gavin

niceonetom wrote: »

maybe a silly question (that has probably been asked and answered before) but, how are people measuring distance on the turbo?

my speed sensor is on the fork and no matter how hard i pedal on the turbo my speed never seems to exceed 0 kmph. :mad:

I just use my gps

Hermy

Attach the rear wheel to the fork.

MCOS

Newbie

TBH 50km is a just bit low. I've done a bit of running and if lets say if I'm cycling at 20mph for 20 miles which roughly equates to 6.9 miles running (roughly as per below I'm not a scientist!). This would mean a 50km (30 mile) cycle is about 10.3 miles running.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Does-a-Mile-of-Running-Equal-Four-Miles-of-Cycling?&id=125169

Although a 10 mile run is no mean feat, most avid runners could do one easily enough as I guess most avid cyclists could do 50km easily enough.

While a newbie may not achieve a 10 mile run in their first month they could build the endurance quite quickly to sustain a 10 mile run once a month.

100km on the bike in the same vein would be 20 miles of running and only runners preparing for a marathon event would be doing one or more of these in a month.

Actually both a 100km cycle and a 20 mile run would be over the 3 hours for me, although a 20 mile run would be a bit tougher to recover from.

Oh and is a century 100km or 100 miles?

Raam

MCOS wrote: »

Oh and is a century 100km or 100 miles?

A baby century. 100 miles is a tall order.

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

The turbo I was using comes with its own computer. Was kind of nifty actually as it picked up my HR from my polar monitor strap.

Same here... or maybe it's the flywheel that does it, cos mine has a power output too....

FrankGrimes

So whatever happened to this idea - anyone out there still doing it (apologies if I've missed another thread on this)?

I missed out on doing it in January as I spent most of the month without a bike after selling mine and waiting for a delayed delivery and I got a late start on cycling in February due to business travel but did 60km last weekend and thankfully brought the bike with me to Galway at the weekend and managed to do the 100km on Saturday 28th February.

I cycled from Moycullen to Oughterarhd then over An Seaneafesitin (or however you call it) then onto Spiddal and back to Moycullen bringing it to 75km total and then did another 25km to Ougtherwhatever and back to bring it to the full 100km. Main motivation for pushing on to do the 100km was with this challenge in mind so already it's worthwhile for me and I'm definitely hoping to keep it up.

Beautiful scenery, particularly between Ougtherarhd and Ballinahowen, some decent bits of clims over An Seaneafestin too...nothing like Wicklow but a decent workout all the same.

My cousin was with me until Spiddal and was on a mountain bike and struggling so waiting with him made the first 62km was done at 22km/h. I covered the last 40km at 28km/h which I was pretty happy with given the terrain and wind and so I wasn't too worried about the overall slow time - this was very much about getting the first 100km of the year under the belt by hook or by crook. 960metres total ascent shown on my Garmin though a good bit of that was on rolling terrain so maybe a little misleading.

Anyways, I hope there's others out there using this as a motivation cos I definitely wouldn't have pushed myself if I didn't have something like this, trivial as it may seem, to work towards.