The Annual Lunacy (aka "I Don't Do Winter") Challenge Chatzone

[Alex321]

Thanks. I've heard the term often but never been sure what it means. 4 hours for 100k is impressive.

I've only ever done one, and it was 4:14 moving time (4:31 elapsed time) for 109Km (68 miles) - but that was with a group of 8.

 

[Dogtrousers]

That sent me scurrying off to my records. Fastest I've ever done 100k was a bit of a cheat. I knew there was a howling wind from the West. So I took a train to Gatwick and rode to Whitstable with the wind at my back. 4:39 moving and 5:24 overal for 114 km.

Slowest was ... er ... last weekend. My rain and hills fest on Saturday 6:26 moving with just under 90 mins of stopped time for bang on 100k. With some of the routes I have planned I expect I will break that record in the near future!

Incidentally, I looked up the term Gran Fondo and it seems to be used in various different ways. So it's not surprising I was never sure what it meant.

The official Italian meaning - and it's an Italian phrase so they get first dibs - is a mass-start timed event of 120km or more. But it's also used more loosely in various places to mean roughly the same as "sportive" with no strict definition. And there's the Strava definition of 100k that you mention. And there's the UCI Gran Fondo World Series, which seems to be a mega serious racing thing UCI-sanctioned races ... focusing on both very competitive riders who either just miss the skills and talent to become a Pro Elite rider or who still want to compete at a high level at a later age (link). But I'm not sure of the distances. So is it a timed event or is it a race? Is it 120km or more or less? Who knows?

https://epicroadrides.com/cycling-blog/what-is-a-gran-fondo-sportive-cycling-guide/

 

[FrothNinja]

Thanks. I've heard the term often but never been sure what it means. 4 hours for 100k is impressive.

Except I didn't do it
Frondo was a very niche pun - I like to listen to Bevis Frond and similar 'frondy' music

 

[FrothNinja]

I've only ever done one, and it was 4:14 moving time (4:31 elapsed time) for 109Km (68 miles) - but that was with a group of 8.

My elapsed time (as opposed to moving) was over 6 hours. The extra time mostly came in 10 to 15 minute chunks

 

[Dogtrousers]

Except I didn't do it
Frondo was a very niche pun - I like to listen to Bevis Frond and similar 'frondy' music

I didn't even notice the pun! My visual auto-correct cut in.

(Which also converted Bevis Frond to Beavis and Butthead on first reading )

 

[Alex321]

My elapsed time (as opposed to moving) was over 6 hours. The extra time mostly came in 10 to 15 minute chunks

Our paused time was almost all from one stop in Kidwelly to buy water (or slushies for some). The ride had been in temperatures of 22-23C and most of us only had two water bottles.

 

[UphillSlowly]

That sent me scurrying off to my records. Fastest I've ever done 100k was a bit of a cheat. I knew there was a howling wind from the West. So I took a train to Gatwick and rode to Whitstable with the wind at my back. 4:39 moving and 5:24 overal for 114 km.

Slowest was ... er ... last weekend. My rain and hills fest on Saturday 6:26 moving with just under 90 mins of stopped time for bang on 100k. With some of the routes I have planned I expect I will break that record in the near future!

Incidentally, I looked up the term Gran Fondo and it seems to be used in various different ways. So it's not surprising I was never sure what it meant.

The official Italian meaning - and it's an Italian phrase so they get first dibs - is a mass-start timed event of 120km or more. But it's also used more loosely in various places to mean roughly the same as "sportive" with no strict definition. And there's the Strava definition of 100k that you mention. And there's the UCI Gran Fondo World Series, which seems to be a mega serious racing thing UCI-sanctioned races ... focusing on both very competitive riders who either just miss the skills and talent to become a Pro Elite rider or who still want to compete at a high level at a later age (link). But I'm not sure of the distances. So is it a timed event or is it a race? Is it 120km or more or less? Who knows?

https://epicroadrides.com/cycling-blog/what-is-a-gran-fondo-sportive-cycling-guide/

Have had some arrogant keyboard warrior inform me that definitively, in no uncertain terms:
Century = 100 miles
No such thing as a metric century
Gran Fondo = 100km
I left that forum/platform.

Only managed 2 sub 4 hour 100km as I tend to cycle in lumpy areas:

I was very light just before lockdown and used to just go out and ride as hard as I could every time!

 

[FrothNinja]

Have had some arrogant keyboard warrior inform me that definitively, in no uncertain terms:
Century = 100 miles
No such thing as a metric century
Gran Fondo = 100km
I left that forum/platform.

Only managed 2 sub 4 hour 100km as I tend to cycle in lumpy areas:

View attachment 701817

View attachment 701818
I was very light just before lockdown and used to just go out and ride as hard as I could every time!

Been looking for decades and never seen a native British snake - used to see loads back home

 

[UphillSlowly]

Been looking for decades and never seen a native British snake - used to see loads back home

I was stunned. Never seen one before on a road and not seen one since. Wouldn't be surprised if I never do. Was probably the highlight of my lockdown cycling experience

 

[steverob]

The only place I've seen a native British snake was in a football ground, although admittedly it was empty at the time. I used to follow a non-league club where during the off-season they'd ask for volunteers to come round and help with tidying up/painting/repair of the ground etc. in return for a free ticket. With the ground having been quiet and peaceful for two months (and it was right on the edge of town next to countryside and a river), all sorts of wildlife temporarily moved in and basically used the terracing as a sun trap. As I came round to the far side of the ground with my paintbrush one day, I saw two snakes (which later I identified as grass snakes) but once I got within 10 yards of them they slithered away through a gap in a fence. The groundsman confirmed he'd seen them before himself but assumed their nest was outside of the ground.

Back to cycling however...

Incidentally, I looked up the term Gran Fondo and it seems to be used in various different ways. So it's not surprising I was never sure what it meant.

The official Italian meaning - and it's an Italian phrase so they get first dibs - is a mass-start timed event of 120km or more. But it's also used more loosely in various places to mean roughly the same as "sportive" with no strict definition. And there's the Strava definition of 100k that you mention. And there's the UCI Gran Fondo World Series, which seems to be a mega serious racing thing UCI-sanctioned races ... focusing on both very competitive riders who either just miss the skills and talent to become a Pro Elite rider or who still want to compete at a high level at a later age (link). But I'm not sure of the distances. So is it a timed event or is it a race? Is it 120km or more or less? Who knows?

The only time I have come across the term Gran Fondo (except for the Strava challenge which probably doesn't count) was also as part of the UCI Gran Fondo World Series, namely the Tour of Cambridgeshire, which was essentially the UK qualifier for the Worlds event. Now they had a "Race" and a "Grand Fondo" over the same course and both could be used to set a qualifying time, so what was the difference you ask? The Race was split by age categories which went off at five minute intervals and if you were a first over the line in your age group, you won. The Gran Fondo however was a mass start (after the racers had already long gone) and was based on electronic chip time at the start and finish lines, e.g. if you started 10 minutes behind me, but finished only 8 minutes back, then you beat me by 2 minutes.

Now strictly speaking I was in the Gran Fondo on at least one occasion at the ToC but I had no intention of trying to qualify (or indeed the ability to either) and was happy to do my own pace at the back. I think the organisers got the message as in future years there was now a third "Sportive" category - once again same course, same chip time, but no qualification on the line and so therefore a much more relaxed pace.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I'm going to put "really fast sportive for serious people or Strava badge" in my mental dictionary for Gran Fondo.

 

[FrothNinja]

I think I may have set a new PR for going through the same place doing a half-century away from Pendle. I went through Gilsland five times. I did see 3 castles & poop loads of Roman stuff. Also blethered with many folks...
There was also a lot of overlap with the previous days rides. Heck of a lot of dead ends in the area if you avoided the A69 - I stayed north of that scary tarmac strip of doom.

 

[Alex321]

Ride number 9 today. Didn't set out expecting to do 35 miles, but once I was out I just felt good (in spite of the wind) and decided after Moulton to extend it (if I'd headed home the most direct route from there, would have been about 20 miles total distance).

Still had to take a circuitous route around the village when I got back, to make it up to the 35 miles

So my shortest ride to meet the target, at 35.09 miles.

 

[lazybloke]

Went out at dawn for 63ish miles yesterday through Richmond Park and some quietways through Fulham and Chelsea, along Milbank and alongside St James's Park & Green Park, a circuit of Hyde Park, then headed back for home through Battersea Park and Richmond Park (again). So many parks, and so many deer.

Passed someone who hates traffic even more than I do.

After the bike ride, I took my son to Croydon to see the painted/decorated 'giraffes' in Croydon, before going to a showing of Oppenheimer at the Imax. Too many hours sitting on saddles, train seats and cinema seats - so my tailbone was in agony by the end of the day!

 

[Sea of vapours]

That's another Lunacy Challenge completed. Five done now. That said, whilst my target is 150km, and I've done thirteen, my stretch target is 161km, AKA an imperial century, and I've posted twelve of those, so I certainly hope to get the thirteenth ridden sometime in the next few weeks