Quote Originally Posted by rij73 View Post
Did you do the NYC Century? I heard mixed reviews about it... I chickened out after thinking about trying it.
i did the nyc century and while some of the views were amazing, i didn't enjoy it. my biggest issue was with the poorly laid out course - there were times we were climbing stairs (in cleats! not fun!) up bridges ... being dumped into serious intersections with no safe crossing (for peds or bikes) ... countless times we got lost since the green spray-painted Cs were hard to see or non-existent. and while i think it's great it's open to everyone, they may consider allowing groups to leave by experience level - a man who wasn't too savvy on his bike crashed in front of me going up a hill and took me out with him. my knee is a big swollen mess.

those things said, it was really fun to try out a velodrome (i think it was in queens?) ... ride down broadway through times square at dawn ... ride over the brooklyn bridge ... and through countless numbers of really beautiful ny neighborhoods. it was hard to keep a good pace, though, being so concerned with getting lost. in the end, it took 10 hours - which is absolutely ridiculous! i've done centuries in about 6 and was not prepared to spend all day on my bike.

anyway !!

in line with this topic - how fast do pro women riders generally go? i realize that is a broad question...but i really have no idea what to expect as far as a comparison.