The Imperial Century A Month Challenge Chatzone

[Rickshaw Phil]

Scraping in by the skin of my teeth, I got mine done yesterday. If I'd failed I don't have another day free for the remainder of the month.

107.56 miles around north Shropshire - yes, a very well repeated lot of riding but I needed something relatively easy having only done short commutes since finishing the Coast to Coast right at the start of September. 13.8 mph average, which I'm fairly happy with and the legs felt surprisingly good. @gavgav has invited me out for a ride this evening, so we'll see if I still think the same later on.

Ride report here for those who are interested: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/your-ride-today.173254/post-7501170

 

[footloose crow]

28th September

I am riding at the last minute again. Weather and laziness have combined to create barriers to solo pain. Sometimes it just feels too hard.

I thought I had planned a good route today with some new lanes that I hadn't been down before, forgetting the lesson I learnt last month about 'new lanes'. The reason I haven't gone down them is that they are narrow, twisty, broken and very, very steep. I have more height gain on this ride, than a similar length ride in Mallorca's Tranmuntana mountains which took in most of the major cols. I never got above 170m above sea level, just kept doing hill repeats on different lanes.

I should go the way I always go, they are easier roads! Lesson learnt, maybe.

This ride took me down to the Lizard initially, mercifully much quieter now that the main tourist season is over, but with un-forecast clouds and drizzle instead of sunshine. Fortunately the weather finally read the forecast and the rest of the day was in sunshine and whilst not warm, it was certainly not cold. Short sleeves and gilet weather.

The trek north from the Lizard (no other direction being possible on a promontory) is a slog. Against the wind and with a slight 1-2% gradient uphill until Culdrose Naval Station appears and it's possible to dive down into Helston, through the Penrose Estate path and into Porthleven.

Portleven looked picture postcard perfect on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Fishing boats bobbing, sea sparkling, happy crowds, music and food. Then up over the Penwith hills and a combination of unknown lanes until reaching the north coast again. Familiar roads following the cliffs, down into Portreath for an ice cream, the beach busy, up again and then down into Perranporth. Perranporth also still quite busy but now now the air was cooling and the beach emptying.

On and on along very quiet lanes, the sun low over the fields and shadows lengthening, legs hurting and I haven't stopped once to buy food or drink today because there were either no shops or they were closed or for some reason just I didn't want to stop. I found some gels in my handlebar bag and had packed some crunchy healthy bars I didn't starve, but by now I can feel the beginnings of a bonk. No matter because home is close and if you just keep pedalling you get there eventually. And so I did.

Nearly home now

Eight hours, 103 miles, 2200 metres of ascent. 20km/h average speed. 146w weighted average power - I am a weakling.

 

[ianrauk]

I am a weakling.

Far from it.
Very well done.

 

[13 rider]

. 146w weighted average power - I am a weakling.

No ,I've said it before the fact you keep riding centuries over Cornish terrain deserves immense respect and doing it in 8 hrs is not at all shabby . Just checked my 1 and only and never to be repeated Cornish imperial ton Strava estimated my average power at 127w

 

[robjh]

28th September

I am riding at the last minute again. Weather and laziness have combined to create barriers to solo pain. Sometimes it just feels too hard.

I thought I had planned a good route today with some new lanes that I hadn't been down before, forgetting the lesson I learnt last month about 'new lanes'. The reason I haven't gone down them is that they are narrow, twisty, broken and very, very steep. I have more height gain on this ride, than a similar length ride in Mallorca's Tranmuntana mountains which took in most of the major cols. I never got above 170m above sea level, just kept doing hill repeats on different lanes.

I should go the way I always go, they are easier roads! Lesson learnt, maybe.

This ride took me down to the Lizard initially, mercifully much quieter now that the main tourist season is over, but with un-forecast clouds and drizzle instead of sunshine. Fortunately the weather finally read the forecast and the rest of the day was in sunshine and whilst not warm, it was certainly not cold. Short sleeves and gilet weather.

The trek north from the Lizard (no other direction being possible on a promontory) is a slog. Against the wind and with a slight 1-2% gradient uphill until Culdrose Naval Station appears and it's possible to dive down into Helston, through the Penrose Estate path and into Porthleven.

Portleven looked picture postcard perfect on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Fishing boats bobbing, sea sparkling, happy crowds, music and food. Then up over the Penwith hills and a combination of unknown lanes until reaching the north coast again. Familiar roads following the cliffs, down into Portreath for an ice cream, the beach busy, up again and then down into Perranporth. Perranporth also still quite busy but now now the air was cooling and the beach emptying.

On and on along very quiet lanes, the sun low over the fields and shadows lengthening, legs hurting and I haven't stopped once to buy food or drink today because there were either no shops or they were closed or for some reason just I didn't want to stop. I found some gels in my handlebar bag and had packed some crunchy healthy bars I didn't starve, but by now I can feel the beginnings of a bonk. No matter because home is close and if you just keep pedalling you get there eventually. And so I did.

View attachment 788455
Nearly home now

Eight hours, 103 miles, 2200 metres of ascent. 20km/h average speed. 146w weighted average power - I am a weakling.

No idea about power as I don't measure it, but 8 hours is my back-of-an-envelope benchmark for 100 miles even in less challenging conditions than yours, so well done.

 

[ianrauk]

October's qualifying ride all done and dusted. A ride following the Medway to the coast, then on to Whitstable, along the coastal wall to Herne Bay and Minnis Bay. Turning south past Manston airport to Sandwich where I had a sandwich.
Back west to Wye and onwards hitting the Pilgrims Way to home.
Lovely weather all day. Topped out at 16.9° with the sun making an afternoon appearence and no wind to moan about.
120 miles for the day.
Century ride #359
Imperial Century Month #179

 

[footloose crow]

12 October....somewhere new!

I did the Wessex CTC New Forest randonnee at the weekend. I was supposed to be doing it with my brother who lives in that area but he was moving house instead. We camped about 10k away so that gave me another 20k to make up a 180k ride overall - or 112 miles in imperial. A surprising 1360m of ascent, I thought southern England was flat? There were hills....

About a 1000 other riders on the event which gave a choice between 100k or 101 miles so bits of it were quite busy. I didnt find anyone going at my pace so I rode the entire thing alone. I was passed by serious looking, silent young men on shiny carbon bikes who seemed to be both deaf and dumb as they never responded to my cheery greeting as they passed. I also passed frequent gaggles of women chatting happily and small groups of club riders but all were either too fast or too slow.

I managed the 100 mile part in 6 hours and 51 minutes (moving) and the whole ride with stops, riding to and from the start, hanging around etc in 7h 41mins, so significantly faster than riding around Cornwall. I barely stopped at the controls as I had promised my wife I wouldn't be long and may have forgotten to mention I was doing the imperial rather than metric version. She was however very patient and understanding!

Lovely scenery which I didn't stop to photograph. Heath and woods, villages and a section of the South Downs and all in autumn colours.

I looked a bit haggard by the time I got back to the camper van!

 

[robjh]

October's is now in the bag, done on Wednesday 15th when I rode along the Dorset and East Devon coasts from Swanage to Exeter. I had made this trip especially in order to get this month's century on some less familiar roads with good scenery, and came down the day before by train, finished off by a ride through the New Forest and Bournemouth to get to Swanage YHA.

I knew it was going to be a hilly route, with numerous descents to sea level followed by stiff climbs back up, so left myself what I thought was plenty of time, and even got in a bit of sightseeing around Swanage and the hill fort of Maiden Castle outside Dorchester. Then, at about 35 miles my rear gear cable snapped, leaving me with only two gears using the front chainrings. I thought of abandoning at this point, and if I had had an internet signal to check the train times I might well have done so, but instead I managed to rig up the remaining cable to a bolt on the seat stays so that I could, by fixing this cable tighter, force the derailleur inwards and so set the two gears lower in the range for climbing, and then loosen them again on the flat. It was a very manual process but without it I would have never had a gear range sufficient for the steepest climbs and not cripplingly slow elsewhere.

I made it to Bridport for a quick lunch stop, concluded that it was OK if slow, and decided to carry on. Never ideal though and I did a lot of very slow grinding up hills, and later on changed my route to avoid the worst of them, but I made it to Exeter after dark, in just enough time for my 8pm train home. I was very glad in the end that I had left myself such generous timing.

Total 106.5 miles / 171.4 km for the ride. My 177th century ever, and 82nd consecutive month.
strava here

Start of the day above Swanage

Sunny spell near Lulworth

Gear cable bodge - attached to bolt on seat stay. I could adjust the tension by stopping, unscrewing and pulling it looser or tighter.

 

[13 rider]

October's is now in the bag, done on Wednesday 15th when I rode along the Dorset and East Devon coasts from Swanage to Exeter. I had made this trip especially in order to get this month's century on some less familiar roads with good scenery, and came down the day before by train, finished off by a ride through the New Forest and Bournemouth to get to Swanage YHA.

I knew it was going to be a hilly route, with numerous descents to sea level followed by stiff climbs back up, so left myself what I thought was plenty of time, and even got in a bit of sightseeing around Swanage and the hill fort of Maiden Castle outside Dorchester. Then, at about 35 miles my rear gear cable snapped, leaving me with only two gears using the front chainrings. I thought of abandoning at this point, and if I had had an internet signal to check the train times I might well have done so, but instead I managed to rig up the remaining cable to a bolt on the seat stays so that I could, by fixing this cable tighter, force the derailleur inwards and so set the two gears lower in the range for climbing, and then loosen them again on the flat. It was a very manual process but without it I would have never had a gear range sufficient for the steepest climbs and not cripplingly slow elsewhere.

I made it to Bridport for a quick lunch stop, concluded that it was OK if slow, and decided to carry on. Never ideal though and I did a lot of very slow grinding up hills, and later on changed my route to avoid the worst of them, but I made it to Exeter after dark, in just enough time for my 8pm train home. I was very glad in the end that I had left myself such generous timing.

Total 106.5 miles / 171.4 km for the ride. My 177th century ever, and 82nd consecutive month.
strava here

Start of the day above Swanage
View attachment 790333

Sunny spell near Lulworth
View attachment 790334

Gear cable bodge - attached to bolt on seat stay. I could adjust the tension by stopping, unscrewing and pulling it looser or tighter.
View attachment 790335

Well done on carrying on and a good roadside hack

 

[ianrauk]

Well done on carrying on and a good roadside hack

Yep, smart that. Well done @robjh *takes note*

 

[13 rider]

October's done 104 imperial miles Leicester to Rugeley a bit of Cannock chase and back . After last month smash fest I was back at my normal solo speed and was over 1hr and 20mins slower than last month . Was going to do this route last week but woke to very foggy cold conditions so gave it a miss , unfortunately in the week the wind changed directions so I had a headwind home instead of last week tailwind 😞

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I got mine done yesterday. 104.65 miles to Ludlow, Bishop's Castle and Montgomery. 5415 feet or 1650 metres of climbing. It was great to have some calm and not too cold weather for it.

The ride write up is here for those who like them: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/your-ride-today.173254/post-7515010

Some snaps that I didn't have room for in the report:

 

[footloose crow]

8 Nov

Got my ride done! Am I first this month?

A lovely day in Cornwall with clear skies and not much wind but unfortunately the hills remained the same size. From Truro a 50k westward slog over the spine of Cornwall, our own version of of the Pennines, and then lovely, quiet but somewhat muddy and wet lanes down to Marazion. A quick wave at St Michael's Mount and thence northward on a sneaky set of quiet lanes into the madness of Hayle. Now Hayle used to be a quiet, somewhat rundown Cornish fishing port which everyone ignored but recently it has become fashionable, probably because there is no room left in St Ives and as a result the traffic was horrible. I thought all the tourists and visitors had gone home, but I thought wrong. This meant the coast road from Hayle to Perranporth was also busy. I entered one roundabout making eye contact with everyone merging from the left and indicating clearly. One lady looked at me and then drove into me. I had to turn sharply right and we ended up side by side as she navigated the roundabout and then tootled off. I just went around again. I may have used some bad words and hand gestures.

After that it was much quieter. I passed through various places until I had gone far enough east, which was around the point I reached Roche. Roche was at one time a fine small town made wealthy by farming and mining with an elegant Georgian market square. Those Georgian facades have been replaced by a Co-op, a Chinese takeaway, a pasty shop, a roundabout and some derelict buildings of uncertain usage. It looks poor, it feels poor and according to the data, it is poor. Life is only going one way here and the only way out is to move.

I must get up earlier....but I did have lights just in case

Then back west for thirty kilometres over some unnecessary hills (also known as 'bonus hills') at which point it was getting dark. I must, I must, I must get up earlier. I like cycling through quiet lanes in the dark, the tunnel of light, the way dirt thrown up by the tyre catches the light, the silhouettes created by the departing sun. Apart from a few kilometres from Probus back to Truro where it was busy but well lit, I enjoyed having the lanes to myself. I guess everyone had gone to Hayle for the day.

101 miles. 2050m. 8 hours riding at 20km/h average. 9 hours overall.

 

[robjh]

8 Nov

Got my ride done! Am I first this month?

A lovely day in Cornwall with clear skies and not much wind but unfortunately the hills remained the same size. From Truro a 50k westward slog over the spine of Cornwall, our own version of of the Pennines, and then lovely, quiet but somewhat muddy and wet lanes down to Marazion. A quick wave at St Michael's Mount and thence northward on a sneaky set of quiet lanes into the madness of Hayle. Now Hayle used to be a quiet, somewhat rundown Cornish fishing port which everyone ignored but recently it has become fashionable, probably because there is no room left in St Ives and as a result the traffic was horrible. I thought all the tourists and visitors had gone home, but I thought wrong. This meant the coast road from Hayle to Perranporth was also busy. I entered one roundabout making eye contact with everyone merging from the left and indicating clearly. One lady looked at me and then drove into me. I had to turn sharply right and we ended up side by side as she navigated the roundabout and then tootled off. I just went around again. I may have used some bad words and hand gestures.

After that it was much quieter. I passed through various places until I had gone far enough east, which was around the point I reached Roche. Roche was at one time a fine small town made wealthy by farming and mining with an elegant Georgian market square. Those Georgian facades have been replaced by a Co-op, a Chinese takeaway, a pasty shop, a roundabout and some derelict buildings of uncertain usage. It looks poor, it feels poor and according to the data, it is poor. Life is only going one way here and the only way out is to move.

View attachment 792346
I must get up earlier....but I did have lights just in case

Then back west for thirty kilometres over some unnecessary hills (also known as 'bonus hills') at which point it was getting dark. I must, I must, I must get up earlier. I like cycling through quiet lanes in the dark, the tunnel of light, the way dirt thrown up by the tyre catches the light, the silhouettes created by the departing sun. Apart from a few kilometres from Probus back to Truro where it was busy but well lit, I enjoyed having the lanes to myself. I guess everyone had gone to Hayle for the day.

View attachment 792345

101 miles. 2050m. 8 hours riding at 20km/h average. 9 hours overall.

Some nice nighttime photos there. I started my ride on the 7th but finished on the 8th, so whether that beats yours for first of the month I can't say!

 

[robjh]

November's is now done, overnight from 7th to 8th November, but mainly on the 8th as my start time was 10.20pm on the Friday night.

It was the Moonrakers and Sunseekers 300k audax, from Bristol to Poole and back, which I also did last year. The bonus this year was that the weather was a real treat, clear moonlit skies at night (though at times mist on the ground), and a gorgeous sunny day to follow, so that the lanes and rolling hills of Dorset and Somerset showed all their best autumn colours. It's a big event - someone mentioned about 300 riders, and though I can't judge that figure there were certainly a lot of us - and is well organised with copious refreshments at various points on the route.
The nighttime half runs along smooth, traffic-free main roads, until the final few km picking your way through potential sand drifts on the Bournemouth seafront. I reached Poole for breakfast at 6 am, then tackled the much lumpier daytime half up and down hills on minor roads back towards Bristol. By about 1pm, after Glastonbury, I started feeling tiredness catching up with me, but then after a sit in the warm sun at the last control it was back to Bristol where I arrived at 4.15. My ride total includes a last couple of miles back to Bristol YHA, where I had an early night.

It was a quite brilliant ride. Glad though that I now have disc brakes and good wheel clearance as the off-road (shared path) sections left the bike caked in mud, and last year I was almost spooning the stuff out of my rim brake calipers just to keep going!

Total 194 miles / 312.2 km for the ride. My 178th century ever, and 83rd consecutive month.
strava here


The start - my batch left at 10.20.

Bournemouth seafront

Dorset, on way to Milton Abbas

More Dorset

The bike. Not too muddy at this stage, though with some Bournemouth sand in the mech

Avon gorge, Bristol. Slightly off course here but I couldn't resist the view