Cyclingmama, sorry to hear about your mom. I hope she's okay.

The course description for the Philly ride is here.

http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/s...se_Details.htm

Total climbing for the century is 8301 feet. Some of the hills are quite steep. So yes, it is challenging.

There is a time limit for the ride, which I think is 8 hours. The course is laid out in such a way that if you are not going to make the time cut, or if you're just not feeling like you have the legs to do the full 100 miles, you can switch to a shorter route along the way.

You have lots of time to train and prepare for the ride, which is good, especially if you can find some good hilly routes for your training. Since you've already done some 75-milers, you should be able to do a century.

I will admit that this is the hardest ride I have ever done, but I've done it 3 times (full century the first year, when it was a different route, and two 70-milers since then), and I'll be back for the 70-miler again this year. It's difficult but I also really enjoy it. It's one of the best organized rides I've ever done, and the rest stops are only 10-15 miles apart, so there's plenty of opportunity to stretch and refuel.

So I guess what I'm saying is that it's really freaking hard, but if you're able to devote the time to preparing for it, you should be able to do it. The more steep hills you can ride between now and then, the better prepared you'll be.

p.s. I should add - there are some nice downhills too. There is a reward for slogging up the steep slopes. And the scenery is great.