What is the average duration of...

[Nanci]

I want to do the Valentine Century in Sanford, Saturday, if the weather is nice. It's about 120 miles from my house. There's one Sunday, too, in White Springs, the Sweetheart Century, but I'd rather ride on a Saturday.

You're down in the "mountainous" part of Florida, so anything near you will probably include some hills, but I wouldn't think very many, and relatively short, though steep.

It takes me about 7.5-8 hours to ride a century- less than 7 for the actual riding, but lots of stopping and eating at the SAGs. The fast people are in the 5-6 hour range.

If you look at the Florida Bicycle Touring Calendar

http://www.floridabicycle.org/fbtc/

You can find a whole bunch every month.

Nanci

[CorsairMac]

base it on a workable avg spd for You. My very first century I planned on 10 hrs, hoped I could do it in 8, was pleasantly surprised when I did in it 7. Since then I've got my time to 6:15 and was overjoyed, but I Still plan on 8 hours just to be safe.

ps: I've never done an organized century so my rest stops are short and sweet coz it's just me! and organized ride would probably add more overall time.

[bcipam]

In order to calculate your time for a century you need to take into consideration the actual length (some centuries are longer than 100 miles) and the elevation gain. If the route is hilly, how fast do you normally climb hills? 10 mph, 8, 5? Considering the descent and give yourself 10 - 15 for a sag stop every 20 miles. Fast riders can do a century easily in 5 - 5 1/2 hours. Average time is around 6 1/2 - 7 and for hilly or first time centuries expect 8 - 10 hours. My fastest century (I'm a slow climber) was just under 7 hours (that includes all the stops) and the slowest was 10 1/2 hours when I did The Ride Around The Bear which had 9000' of climbing. I had quite a few stops on that one. Also I don't like to stop more than 5 maybe 10 minutes for a sag. Some folks like to take longer. So if you normally do a 50 mile hilly club ride in 5 hours, expect century times closer to 10 hours. If the route is flatter, and you normally do flat 50 milers in say 3 1/2 - 4 hours expect a 7 - 8 hours ride.

[SimpleCycle]

My first century was actually 104 miles and it took me 9 hours total - 7 hours 40 minutes on bike. The middle part is a really big climb, so that slowed me down quite a bit. We stopped four times, including a lunch stop. This wasn't an organized century.

My second century was 109 miles and took 7 hours with 6 hours 20 minutes on bike time. It was less climbing - mostly rollers - and organized so there were lots of riders around to keep me motivated and moving faster.

So, it all depends on the amount of climbing, how many stops, and your general pace.