Trailnet.org Ride the Rivers Century St. Charles MO

[Slowspoke]

Has anyone done this ride? I sort of challenged my cousins to do this with me for my 50th birthday. They are younger, and guys, could be the death of me LOL. It would be my first century and it says some big hills. I wonder what that means? Being from Michigan, big hills here are not what others consider big at all.

[ny biker]

I don't know if this will help, but I found three routes on ridewithgps.com for the 2012 version of this ride. The elevation gain varies for them, from 3200 to 3750 feet. This one is in the middle, with 3350 feet of climbing. (I assume the differences are due to Garmin uploads or something like that, though I haven't looked closely enough to see if all three routes are exactly identical.)

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1812597

Anyway it looks like the climbs are near the beginning (~11 miles in) and near the end (~85 miles) with a long flat section in the middle.

[Skippyak]

http://www.mapmyride.com/us/saint-charles-mo/ride-the-rivers-century-2012-trailnet-route-146605751

http://www.mapmyride.com/us/saint-charles-mo/ride-the-rivers-century-ride-route-53798146
http://www.mapmyride.com/us/saint-charles-mo/ride-the-rivers-century-2012-route-145908827

SAYS 1500. I would call this a nice flat century according to that info. That looks lovely. I think the fact that there is no climb data is because there are no real climbs.

[rebeccaC]

Even using ny biker's elevation and grade map the climbs are reasonably short. If you have a hill around you that's 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile long at around a 4 to 7% grade, train doing repeats up and down it and you should be able show those boys what a 50 year old can do :)

edit...Looks like you have 3 months to get ready so just enjoy the training rides and be thinking you'll do well!!

[ny biker]

Yeah I was thinking about this last night. I just did a 70 mile ride with roughly the same amount of climbing. Over 100 miles, it's really not bad.

Although "flat" and "hilly" are very much in the eye of the beholder, and very much related to the terrain you're used to riding. The more you're able to ride hills beforehand, the better prepared you'll be.

FWIW I've done the Sea Gull Century which is on the eastern shore of Maryland, where it really is very flat. And I hated it. It was boring and there was no opportunity to coast at all. With hills at least you get to enjoy a downhill now and then.