First imperial century

Trojan

I know it aint a big deal for a lot of you gear heads, but I'm delighted I managed to do what I think is my my first imperial century (100 miles) - Dublin to Carrick-on-Shannon on Friday.

Not sure how long it would take on a road bike, I did it on my Surly CrossCheck (touring spec), started out at 7.50am, arrived in Carrick around 17.45.

I followed the old N4 route most of the way, dropping onto the new dual carriageway routes when possible. Stopped for breakfast at Mother Hubbards and lunch somewhere between Mullingar and Longford.







My pace is nothing like the what the regulars here do, but I reckon I've got the confidence now to come along to one of the Saturday spins (with my 4 tonne Cross Check)!

/does maths in head

Well done!

Trojan

Dónal wrote: »

/does maths in head

Well done!

My computer reckons my moving average was 21.1 km/h.

Which probably says that I stopped for far too long for breakfast and lunch

FrankGrimes

Fair play Trojan!

No matter who you are or what way you look at it, even having the balls to take on a challenge like that deserves respect. Just think about it: Dublin to Carrick-on-Shannon.....when you were a teenager you'd probably thought that was only possible by superhumans!

With so many people on here capable of pounding out 150km on a regular basis, it's easy to lose context of the distances -but I'm pretty sure that for 95% of the broader population the scale of the achievement is not lost on them.

My girlfriend's home place is in that neck of the woods so now you've just given me the crazy idea of attempting to follow in your footsteps from here to there sometime! What route did you take?

Lumen

Nice one Trojan!

I did an imperial century once, many years ago, on a steel hybrid. All I can remember is that it took all day, and hurt! Still working up to my second one. Don't leave it as long as I did

Al Wright

Fair do.
What route did you take out of the city, eg. across the M50.
Last year, a couple of visitors cycling West, asked me for a route. I decided that crossing the M50 on the N4 was too risky, I guided them thru Phoenix Park, Clonsilla, Dunboyne Summerhill & Killucan. They were in no hurry and enjoyed the route, despite the rain.

Húrin

superness! that's a long distance! I probably would have been pedalling into the night!

Ryaner

Well done. I know I'm not yet capable of doing a distance like that.

niceonetom

Fair play! And 21kph avg is not bad at all for that kind of distance. Well done.

TinyExplosions

niceonetom wrote: »

Fair play! And 21kph avg is not bad at all for that kind of distance. Well done.

+1 on that, particularly on your own.

Chapeau sir!

Raam

These are the only kind of centuries that we should be counting!

beans

Does this make you an Imperial Centurion?

now that's something to aim for

scottreynolds

Raam wrote: »

These are the only kind of centuries that we should be counting!

Agreed ......... A century by any other measure is not a century. I alwyas thought it a bit cheap to call 100kms a century and now that I have done a 'century' I realise the difference.

Lumen

scottreynolds wrote: »

Agreed ......... A century by any other measure is not a century. I alwyas thought it a bit cheap to call 100kms a century and now that I have done a 'century' I realise the difference.

Pah. If we're talking "proper imperial", then surely the Century of Ancient Roman Leagues should be the measure, which is 222km apparently.

RobFowl

Well done Trojan. Remember my first one , got home at 1730 went straight to bed and woke up at 1100 the next day.

Caroline_ie

@ Trojan: is that a round trip? Do you have to cycle back up to Dublin?

seamus

Caroline_ie wrote: »

@ Trojan: is that a round trip? Do you have to cycle back up to Dublin?

He's a superman, but he's not that good . Troj's parents are out that way; Did you get a lift home then Al?

Good job any road. I'm strongly considering going to the dark side and buying an FCR for commuting and sticking the full sus in the attic with knobblies on it for some weekend spins. I imagine that trying to keep up with this lot on a 35lb MTB would be a killer after 10km, never mind 30 or 40.

blorg

seamus wrote: »

Good job any road. I'm strongly considering going to the dark side and buying an FCR for commuting and sticking the full sus in the attic with knobblies on it for some weekend spins. I imagine that trying to keep up with this lot on a 35lb MTB would be a killer after 10km, never mind 30 or 40.

I'd consider going all out and getting something with drop bars, would be better for the longer distances.

Well done Trojan, no mean feat, particularly this early in the year.

Trojan

I'll stick the route up on Gmaps Pedometer later when I get a chance. Essentially, it was the closest you can get to the M4/N4 motorway route while on a bicycle (no backroads).

I was lucky with the wind - never had a headwind at all, the worst was perpendicular, and a nice tailwind for some sections really helped with the average speed.

My folks live in Mayo, and while I intend to make the 180 miles to their place someday, I'm happy with the first bit for the moment I was thinking about cycling back but have to get the train up today - I might do at the weekend.

Oh, and thanks for the encouragement - I know a lot of you could do this in your sleep

Signal_ rabbit

Well done, the most I've achieved is 90mile. I've decided to do the Westcork200 this year which is 125mile and I'm absolutely bricking it!

seamus

blorg wrote: »

I'd consider going all out and getting something with drop bars, would be better for the longer distances.

Indeed, SCR is what I meant. Not down with the roadie lingo.

Hungrycol

Well done. I struggled with 50 miles on Sunday morning!! I have a lot of catching up to do if I'm going to punish myself with the Wicklow 200. It's only three months away... oh dear.

Wez

I've been contemplating doing this exact trip myself, but I doubt I can do it in my current state, I'm grand for a couple miles, but anything over an hour or two would be new territory for me! It's something I've to get working on actually!

Respect!!