The Metric Century (100KM) A Month Challenge ChatZone

[GuyBoden]

I had a very pleasant slow ride in Cheshire today, usual route, some roads had signs stating "Road Closed", but I rode along them anyway and only saw some high vis chatters in trucks. Nice day out.....

 

[Donger]

Oooh. I've just discovered something exciting. My metric Eddington number is now 100.


Your metric Eddington Number is 100
You need to do 1 ride(s) of at least 101 to increase it to 101.
You need to do 9 ride(s) of at least 102 to increase it to 102.
You need to do 12 ride(s) of at least 103 to increase it to 103.
You need to do 20 ride(s) of at least 105 to increase it to 105.
You need to do 36 ride(s) of at least 110 to increase it to 110.
You need to do 93 ride(s) of at least 150 to increase it to 150.
You need to do 190 ride(s) of at least 200 to increase it to 200.

Only 190 more double tons to go then! Well done on getting to 100 .... something I know I never will. I'm floundering on 52 at the moment, and should get to 60 by the end of the year, when I'm due to stall completely. (99 more tons needed to get to 100 !)

 

[Sea of vapours]

Well that's February done. Had I not messed up my snow level estimations it wouldn't have been done, but I did mess them up, so phew. I thought the snow level was about 500m; it's not, it's about 400m, meaning that about 5-6km of the road over Fountains Fell was bedecked with white stuff. Melting white stuff, to be sure, but unnerving on smooth tyres. It wasn't helped much by having to roll along at walking pace for a fair way since a large flock of sheep was being moved along the road, just at a point when I'd warmed up nicely from climbing a few hundred metres and had about 12km of downhill to do - my clothing today wasn't intended for being stationary at 0C with a brisk wind for quite a long time.

All that said, an excellent ride and agreat view of the Lake District hills, from the Cross of Greet, looking like a proper, spiky, snow-clad mountain range in the distance :-)

Metric Eddington's are definitely the way to go. Mine's taken over a year to leap from 101 to 102. 103's going to be a while too I feel.

 

[Donger]

Just keep on keepin' on ...

This is metric Eddington by the way.

Didn't realise that ....Still very impressive though. I wouldn't know what my metric one was without going back through ten years of records!

 

[13 rider]

Didn't realise that ....Still very impressive though. I wouldn't know what my metric one was without going back through ten years of records!

If you use strava . Search for Eddington number and use Swinney.net and it works it out for you

 

[ColinJ]

Decided this morning to go for the shorter of two routes I have through former Lancashire mill towns and was quite glad I did. Left home at 6.30 in a hard frost and it was not until 80 kms in, on the return through Bury at around 11, that I began to feel that the sun was providing some warmth.
Planned a toilet and feed stop at the top of the hill between Todmorden and Bacup. Whilst this can be a welcome stop over point after the slog up the hill, where I find a skirmish ensues between legs and lungs on one side and on the other side, brain,which knows what is coming up and eyes which see how many gears are left, today was not one of those days.

A bit bleak and cold:
View attachment 396110

View attachment 396111

I used to ride over that hillside on my mountain bike; IIRC that trail is called Flower Scar Road. It joins up with Tower Causeway between Sourhall and Portsmouth, on a hillside above the A646 between Todmorden and Burnley.

There was a lot of construction going on up there a couple of years ago. I'm not sure if they were building a windfarm?

 

[ColinJ]

Oooh. I've just discovered something exciting. My metric Eddington number is now 100.


Your metric Eddington Number is 100
You need to do 1 ride(s) of at least 101 to increase it to 101.
You need to do 9 ride(s) of at least 102 to increase it to 102.
You need to do 12 ride(s) of at least 103 to increase it to 103.
You need to do 20 ride(s) of at least 105 to increase it to 105.
You need to do 36 ride(s) of at least 110 to increase it to 110.
You need to do 93 ride(s) of at least 150 to increase it to 150.
You need to do 190 ride(s) of at least 200 to increase it to 200.

Oh, I hadn't really looked at the metric version ...

Hmm - I am currently on M103! I already have 6 rides longer than 109 kms planned for this year so I should end 2018 on at least M109. I will probably stretch some of the other metric centuries enough to push it to (say) M111 - M113.

I am most interested in getting more imperial century rides done for my life target of >= I100. I am currently on I70 and already have 4 rides of at least 100 miles planned for this year.

 

[Sea of vapours]

Hmm - I am currently on M103! I already have 6 rides longer than 109 kms planned for this year so I should end 2018 on at least M109.

Ummmm...... are you quite sure about that, Colin? It certainly could be true, but that requires that you've already done 109km 103 times. I just looked at mine and, whilst currently on 102, it's going to take another 57 days of 109km to raise it to 109 ;-\

 

[Donger]

This challenge is the thing that has stretched me to extend my rides to 100km (62 miles), so whereas I always used to make do with rides of 40-50 miles, I have now done 51 rides of 60 miles or more, but only ever 2 rides of between 50-60 miles! Every time I hit 50, I just have to extend the ride to a metric ton or 62 miles. Every challenge ride I do this year will add an Eddington for me now, but soon after the end of the year it will peter out at 62 and I'll probably never even think about it again. For me, time in the saddle is the killer, and the day after every challenge ride I feel like I've been sitting on an anvil. I doubt whether I'll ever want to extend my rides beyond 70 miles again, but I'm full of admiration for those of you who keep knocking out hundreds. I think my target will naturally change to riding in as many different places as I possibly can instead of going for distance.

 

[ColinJ]

Ummmm...... are you quite sure about that, Colin? It certainly could be true, but that requires that you've already done 109km 103 times. I just looked at mine and, whilst currently on 102, it's going to take another 57 days of 109km to raise it to 109 ;-\

D'oh, of course - you are right!

That's what is so interesting about Eddington ... Any rides I do now < 104 km make no difference whatever to my score.

For me, time in the saddle is the killer, and the day after every challenge ride I feel like I've been sitting on an anvil.

I used to have that problem too. It used to kick in after about 50 km and just got worse and worse as the distance increased beyond that.

I sorted it out eventually by ...

• Losing weight. 17+ stone created too much pressure. I'm just over 13 stone now.
• Adopting a more stretched, less upright position. (That helped reduce backache too.)
• Finding a type of saddle that suited me better. I liked the original design Fizik Ariones but I broke 2 and they were too expensive to keep replacing. I discovered that Planet X Superlights are almost the same shape, are just as comfy, much tougher, and are much cheaper.
  
• Taking time to adjust each saddle properly. I had been sitting too far forward, so the narrower part of the saddle was going walkabout where I didn't want it to! I moved the saddle forward so I now sit on the widest part of it. That produced another comfort problem - 'saddle nose in the nads'! I now tilt the nose down slightly and that makes a huge difference. (I don't overdo that though or it feels like I am slipping forward all the time.)

 

[Donger]

!!! Only 7 stones to go!!!!

 

[ColinJ]

!!! Only 7 stones to go!!!!

IIRC you are about 4 inches taller than me so it probably wouldn't be a good idea to get your weight that low? (I'm 6' 1")

 

[Donger]

You are right, Colin. 6' 5 1/2" and currently about 20 stone and no danger of getting down to 13. Feeling the fittest I ever have, but just never lose any weight cycling. One unusual side effect of having done nearly 20,000 miles over the last 9 and a bit years is that I'm finding it difficult to get trousers that fit .... my thighs are getting too big for my work trousers and my calves are getting too big to get my jeans off! When I look around the shops there are plenty of clothes for little fat people and plenty for beanpoles but very little for people of my build. If I ever have to go to a wedding or a funeral I'll probably burst out of my one and only suit like the Hulk! I recall musing on this forum some years ago as to whether I might be Britain's largest audaxer. Somebody mentioned a "Big Jason" in Scotland, but I've yet to actually meet anyone my size on an audax myself ... or to find out where they get their cycling clobber or other clothes!.

 

[ColinJ]

One unusual side effect of having done nearly 20,000 miles over the last 9 and a bit years is that I'm finding it difficult to get trousers that fit .... my thighs are getting too big for my work trousers and my calves are getting too big to get my jeans off! When I look around the shops there are plenty of clothes for little fat people and plenty for beanpoles but very little for people of my build. If I ever have to go to a wedding or a funeral I'll probably burst out of my one and only suit like the Hulk!

Beware those tight trousers!

Mine almost killed me - the damn things acted like tourniquets and cut off the blood flow in my legs resulting in a DVT and the more ghastly consequences that followed.

I had felt uncomfortable, but kept telling myself that it wouldn't be long before the trousers fitted me again so I might as well put up with the discomfort rather than buying a bigger size which I wouldn't need a few weeks later. (That actually turned out to be true, but for the wrong reason - I lost more than 2 stone in less than a month after I collapsed!)

I can see why you find it hard to find clothes to fit, but I would keep on looking!

 

[Bazzer]

I used to ride over that hillside on my mountain bike; IIRC that trail is called Flower Scar Road. It joins up with Tower Causeway between Sourhall and Portsmouth, on a hillside above the A646 between Todmorden and Burnley.

There was a lot of construction going on up there a couple of years ago. I'm not sure if they were building a windfarm?

Yes there is a windfarm. My bike was parked at the entrance. I had come up Bacup road past Navigation Supply and was up the old road so I could be discrete for a pee. It looks like a trail goes around the windfarm, but neither my bike nor cleats were suitable for exploring.