Century a Month Challenge 2009

Fair play Frank, I got dragged kicking and screaming on a similar journey last Saturady. Did the Corrib loop (112kms?) in January and with only 14 hours left in Feb managed to complete 101km. Very similar route, Galway city to Moycullen, across to Spiddal, over Senaphaisteen(?) to Oughterard, back through Moycullen then over to Barna then back to Galway city! A bit over and back but had to be to make the ton! Delighted I did it as now still on track for the Ton a month! (a big thank you to those who waited for me at the top of the hills)

2 centuries only for me so far ( but I was off january for injuries )

Only got to 95k last month.

On a side note, where do you guys get more water when in Wicklow? Ran out of water just after 3 hours on the last trip which didn't work out too well.

4 so far
1 Jan
2 Feb
1 March

3 in January, 3 in February, 1 in March. A couple of these have been races including the warm up/cycle home.

Dave, if you have done 5 already this year the Wicklow 200 will be no bother to you, that is pretty incredible for a newbie. Good luck with the fundraising.

Húrin, well done on doing another, I am glad we didn't put you off cycling for life on the 21st!

dave.obrien wrote: »

thanks blorg! that spin i went out on with you, rok on, barrabus and emty, has been the toughest so far, i reckon, but there's probably an argument that hanging on your coat-tails pushed my fitness up a bit... i've done a few since, only around the 100-120km range, but i haven't struggled on them too much. have you gone out with the club at all yet?

I think it can help to extend yourself a bit beyond your comfort zone going out with others all right. Although I had done a fair bit of distance before I got a lot faster and really improved my climbing after starting to go out on the Boards spins last year. Haven't been out with the club on a Sunday spin yet but I have been racing with them, Club League opener last weekend and then the Cycleways Cup open race in Navan Sunday just gone.

dave.obrien wrote: »

cool, how'd you go?

Front of the first bunch behind the breakaways in the league race, which I was happy with. Punctured in the Navan race towards the end which was a pity. Learning a lot though, and it is a bit of a challenge. Scary though too, worse than mountain biking.

Just came across this thread recently!! I did my very first century today: 118km in total...and I am really pleased with myself! I have wanted to do something like this for ages and I finally did it, solo! I did 4 laps of the Rás Luimnigh Circuit and then the distance to get to and from there. It was my longest cycle yet, and a perfect one too! Paddy's day brought stunning shumshine and I had to make use of it. I went at a fairly fast pace, but wasn't really feeling dead at the end of it. I had the perfect amount of clothes on, just the right amount of food (1 Granola Bar, 1 Nutrigrain, 1 High5 Energy Gel, 1 Large Banana, 1110ml of water)!! The list goes on...it was simply brilliant! I have done 370km in the last week since I really got training seriously - my resting heart rate has dropped into the 40's for the first time. It was such a good feeling that I am going to try and do more of them if I can, and maybe a imperial century if I can! Attached is the data file from the cycle from my Polar CS200 CAD (I upload the info to PolarPersonalTrainer and keep my online training diary there)

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Well done fella!

Feels good breaking the 100km barrier eh?

Your stats there are very strong - 30km/h is really good solo for that distance and I'm sure the more knowledgeable folk than me will tell you that a cadence of 90 is good. Add in a resting heart rate in the 40s and you'll probably be flying around the Wicklow 200 in no time!

Ya it does alright, and thanks for that! I was just wondering what others think of this average speed? It was 29km/h after 100km and I pushed it for the last while to get it up to my usual 30km/h. This showed my that I even had some extra left in the tank if I needed it!!

Anyway, as you can see the roads I was on were crappy back roads. I usually cycle 70-80km on good roads, and always wanted to break the 100km barrier. I am absolutely astonished that I did it on these bad roads, and I still had an average of 30km/h. I reckon if I had done it right, I could have done the 150km on decent roads for the same effort! That's not far from my 100mile goal (160km)

I thought I would be wrecked after the cycle, but I wasn't! No stiffness whatsoever, I even did a 70km recovery spin today. I tried a 10km run the other day, and I was really sore afterwards. Just shows how my body has got used to cycling and that running uses completely different muscles. This just shows how fit I am getting as a result of this cycling, as I started off with 30km spins 1 year ago.

So, thanks a million to ye all on here for the great motivation! It has really made a difference, cheers.

P.S. I know most of ye can churn out these distances at ease whenever ye want, but for me this is a great achievement! Weekly distances increasing from 100km to around 300km is great for me, so thanks again!

They are some stats for a first century.

My first century gave me the following so feel proud.

Distance: 112.08km
Time: 6:01:43
Avg Speed: 18.6km/h
Calories: 5013
Avg HR: 143
Avg Cadence: 55.7

In my defence, we did stop a number of times for short periods during the trip

Home:Ballyhoura wrote: »

...I did 4 laps of the Rás Luimnigh Circuit...

What's the circuit like, seems pretty flat? I'll be heading down there next weekend.

Billy Whizz wrote: »

What's the circuit like, seems pretty flat? I'll be heading down there next weekend.

Ya, it's basically all flat! There is only one tiny drag uphill, its only about 30sec (actually, now that I think about it - it's not even a hill! :P). Surface is grand, but the odd deep pothole here and there! I was trying to memorize where they are so as not to crash into one on Sunday!

P.S. Do you know which direction it is being done? I just presume it is anti-clockwise looking from above as Limerick CC have their club spins around this area (a variation of this circuit) and they go this direction?

Highway_To_Hell wrote: »

I was pleased with my avarage speed until I saw Home:Ballyhoura's average.

I hope you don't mind me saying that ... but if you look at your max HR, you really took it easy... so, next time you're out, try a little harder and get that Max HR up the 170's.