How to ride a fast century

[GuyGadois]

Suck the wheel of Danny Pate and Tejay Van Garderen.

http://img.skitch.com/20101023-jb75e9e7ausgpeda53nk1k1ahq.jpg
SLO Grand Fondo

[Steve in SLO]

Nice one, GG!
I saw GuyG pull in with the lead group of 100 mile riders in about 5 hours. Not bad since the route features a fairly protracted climb. It sounds like everyone had a great time, even the guy who used my registration.
I'll be there next year.

[GuyGadois]

Nice one, GG!
I saw GuyG pull in with the lead group of 100 mile riders in about 5 hours. Not bad since the route features a fairly protracted climb. It sounds like everyone had a great time, even the guy who used my registration.
I'll be there next year.

4:48 moving time with a couple of quick stops to refuel. It was a fun ride.

-GG-

[regularguy412]

4:48 moving time with a couple of quick stops to refuel. It was a fun ride.

-GG-

Woo, very good! I did a century 2 weeks ago in a ride time of 4:50 (5:07 total time). There was a bit of climbing in that one too, tho nothing really long,, just several short, steep ones.

http://beta.mapmyride.com/route/detail/17588800/

Mike in AR:beer:

[akelman]

4:48 moving time with a couple of quick stops to refuel. It was a fun ride.

Wow, that's really fast. Congratulations.

[onekgguy]

Or, from today's ride...this always helps. (http://vimeo.com/16133137)

Kevin g

[GuyGadois]

Or, from today's ride...this always helps. (http://vimeo.com/16133137)

Kevin g

Very cool. That sounded exactly like Danny Pate.

[rwsaunders]

Wait, that can't be a pro....he has a saddle bag.... :cool:

[AngryScientist]

that's one quick hundo, good work.

[GuyGadois]

...and Danny Pate was a really nice guy. We chatted for a while about his move over to Columbia HTC (Specialized/Highroad) and he just seamed really down to earth and quite smiley. Tejay lead the group out for at least the last 25 miles into a fair stiff headwind at about 24 MPH. I don't think he even broke a sweat.

-GG-

[benb]

Woo, very good! I did a century 2 weeks ago in a ride time of 4:50 (5:07 total time). There was a bit of climbing in that one too, tho nothing really long,, just several short, steep ones.

http://beta.mapmyride.com/route/detail/17588800/

Mike in AR:beer:

Holy cow.. guess it shows how different various geographic areas can be! 1161 feet of climbing in a century is so flat I can barely wrap my brain about it.

It'd be very hard for me to ride out of either my driveway or the office and go 20 miles without climbing more then that. I would certainly have to use the computer to try and plan a route that was as flat as possible to attempt it.

It puts a lot of perspective on average speeds...

[Bob Loblaw]

I love the picture. Given the wind and terrain in the SLO area, that 4:48 is quite a feat, drafting pros or not. Nicely done, and I love the picture!

BL

[Waldo]

[QUOTE=benb]Holy cow.. guess it shows how different various geographic areas can be! 1161 feet of climbing in a century is so flat I can barely wrap my brain about it.

It'd be very hard for me to ride out of either my driveway or the office and go 20 miles without climbing more then that. I would certainly have to use the computer to try and plan a route that was as flat as possible to attempt it.QUOTE]

Ditto, most of our rides in Oakland/Berkeley hills are ~1,000' of climbing per 10 miles.

[leooooo]

Woo, very good! I did a century 2 weeks ago in a ride time of 4:50 (5:07 total time). There was a bit of climbing in that one too, tho nothing really long,, just several short, steep ones.

http://beta.mapmyride.com/route/detail/17588800/

Mike in AR:beer:

Yikes! That's flatter than Long Island.

[roydyates]

[QUOTE=benb]Holy cow.. guess it shows how different various geographic areas can be! 1161 feet of climbing in a century is so flat I can barely wrap my brain about it.

It'd be very hard for me to ride out of either my driveway or the office and go 20 miles without climbing more then that. I would certainly have to use the computer to try and plan a route that was as flat as possible to attempt it.QUOTE]
Ditto, most of our rides in Oakland/Berkeley hills are ~1,000' of climbing per 10 miles.

Isn't 1000 ft per 10 miles the official definition of a hilly ride? :)

Seriously, if the 1161 is a mapmyride calculation, I would guess it's an underestimate. The flattest of flat rides in the South Jersey Pine Barrens does more than that.

[GuyGadois]

The SLO Grand Fondo wasn't very hill at 4500 but the wind made up for it.

[dd74]

Is the Grand Fondo a yearly ride? I'd like to try it next year.

[Bob Loblaw]

Yeah, MMR usually under-reports the climbing of a route by at least a half. GG has a Garmin that will tell the true tale. 4500 (as he mentioned above) sounds more like it to me.

Also, SLO is famous for wind. I've been there and ridden with Guy a time or two, and damn, the wind is ferocious. I live near the coast in CT, and the wind we have is nothing like what they have.

BL

[Volant]

If you want a FAST century, come out to Clarksville, TN in early Sept. and see if you can top the current best of 3:44:55. Yep, 3 hours and 44 minutes!
http://www.clarksvillecentury.com/lead_peloton_2008.htm
Sub 4-hour for the top guys almost every year!

[Waldo]

Damn, 26.67 -- that's fast. What do they do for lunch? I mean they're done by noon if not earlier, right? BTW, is that a metric or English 100? :)

[JMerring]

Damn, 26.67 -- that's fast. What do they do for lunch? I mean they're done by noon if not earlier, right? BTW, is that a metric or English 100? :)

spanish meat; not from the basque country, though, since theirs is not tainted.

[Volant]

Damn, 26.67 -- that's fast. What do they do for lunch? I mean they're done by noon if not earlier, right? BTW, is that a metric or English 100? :)

Nope, not metric. Full 100 miles!!!