Century on a Road Bike – How Hard/How Much Time?

These posts are making me feel very very slow!

I did an 80 mile cycle in 4:42:01 at an average of 17.25mph at the start of the year and was happy with that!

My regular route of 52 miles I can do in 2:35:46 at an average of around 20mph, hoping to do my first century in 5 hours flat sometime this month.

Would I be worth investing in chamois cream?

Yes. Assos probably the gold standard. I’m liking the Muc-Off CC one at the moment. May not make it that much more comfortable on the ride but will definitely help avoid post ride problems, especially if you are sweaty in the shorts department.

These posts are making me feel very very slow!
My regular route of 52 miles I can do in 2:30:00 at an average of around 20mph, hoping to do my first century in 5 hours flat sometime this month.

Another humble brag? 😉

If you’re comfortably riding 50+ miles at 20mph then you’re not slow.

These posts are making me feel very very slow!

You’re not the only one!

Yes chamois cream and a decent pair of lycra shorts would be wise.

None of you lot sound slow – I struggle to average in the low teens on local 45 and 50 milers (with around 3000ft climbing) in the Dales. 😥

In my own defence, people on this forum were saying that 15mph average, over an hour, on a 26″ MTB with nobbly tyres was an easy feat last week

There may be some that can do it, but would probably beyond the vast majority of forumites, and of those that could do it, a sizable proportion would probably be going eyeballs out.

so 22mph average on a road bike didn’t seem like a big deal

Its pretty damn quick for solo riding even riding hard. Definitely in road racer territory rather than casual rider. You’ll be able to find a goodly number of race pace training rides up and down the country where the middle groups only manage what you can do solo.

Would I be worth investing in chamois cream?

Yes

mrblobby – Member
Another humble brag?

Nope, my route is flat as a pancake! 83m climbing to be exact. 😆

And 20mph over 52 miles would be nothing compared to these guys doing 22+mph over a century.

So, like I said, I feel very very slow! 😛

As a comparison I have a mate who does a bit of racing, been doing some serious training this year and came 3rd in his last race. His usual average on solo rides is 19-20mph, did a ride a couple of weeks ago with an average of 23mph but in his words he had a fierce tailwind.

The OP can manage a similar pace into a headwind! Given that a lot of races are around the same distance the op is hammering out a 25mph average on he really should be racing, he would be mad not to.

None of you lot sound slow – I struggle to average in the low teens on local 45 and 50 milers (with around 3000ft climbing) in the Dales.

On a 140Km ride in the Dales riding solo I averaged 25kmh (not MPH!!), local club A rides over that sort of ground aren’t much faster.

Avg speed for rides unsurprisingly heavily influenced by terrain and quality of road surface!

My first road century was pretty flat (Manchester 100 for Christie’s) and we did it in a leisurely 8 hours including 2-3 food stops.

Done a few more since, usually audax events, and that seems a pretty sensible time and pace for an overweight MAMIL who likes a couple of proper cafe stops featuring real food.

Would I be worth investing in chamois cream?

Not necessary with a decent pair of shorts.

Not necessary with a decent pair of shorts.

but you really don’t want to find out 80 miles into your 110 that your shorts aren’t quite perfectly suited to your posterior. Belt and braces, I’d be using something even if only sudocreme/savlon.

My shorts are usually ok for a good few miles but on monday after a week off the bike I’d gone a bit hard on the commuting front so spent almost all of the nightride sitting and spinning, ended up pretty raw by the end 🙁

Not necessary with a decent pair of shorts.

Disagree. It’s not really the lubrication, more the antibacterial action and the neutralisation of acidic sweat.

Done a few more since, usually audax events, and that seems a pretty sensible time and pace for an overweight MAMIL who likes a couple of proper cafe stops featuring real food.

Audax always sounds like a very civilised affair. Really must do one sometime.

Not necessary with a decent pair of shorts.

It really is.

OP – You should be TTing with your speed, not riding centuries.

Let’s have a sweepstake, I’ll take 7.5 hours. What are you putting up as a prize?

Avg speed for rides unsurprisingly heavily influenced by terrain and quality of road surface!

Now that’s the truth, bet I average faster up a 2% grade on a smooth road than I do on some of the flat glorified cart tracks that fife council like to call roads.

Re: chamois cream. I find it’s as much temperature and humidity as anything. Don’t need any on a cool spring day or during winter but come summer then it’s pretty much essential for longer rides.

Audax always sounds like a very civilised affair. Really must do one sometime

Only managed one this year, annoyingly, but if you like different riding experiences, should definitely get on the Aukweb calender and find one to try.

A sportive is a load of 30 somethings pretending they are racing. An audax is a load of 60 somethings pretending they are not racing.

A sportive is a load of 30 somethings pretending they are racing. An audax is a load of 60 somethings pretending they are not racing.

And one costs fifty quid, the other costs a fiver 🙂

You do 40 miles in 1:35 to 1:50? Er that’s over 25mph and 21mph at worst.

I averaged not far off 25mph at RideLondon and that was a flattish course (only 1300m climbing) on fully closed roads with no stopping and riding in a big bunch.

There is no way in hell I could average that on a regular century – on my own, open roads!

Oh dear..

I know sportives aren’t races. But if you consider them to be representative of what ‘average’ non-racing riders can do, it is pretty clear the OP would probably ‘win’ one, or at least finish top 10. I have no idea why he is worried about riding a ton.

A sportive is a load of 30 somethings pretending they are racing. An audax is a load of 60 somethings pretending they are not racing

Is the very best definition. 😆

I’m off to race masters tonight, but I have always fancied much longer Audax rides. It’s what I keep the Defy for (yes I know not a “real” audax bike, but I will be adding a Barley saddlebag).

110 miles with 1800m of climbing is a pretty solid ride.
Av fitness … 7.5hrs
Good fitness … 6.5hrs
Proper fit … 5.5hrs.

In my own defence, people on this forum were saying that 15mph average, over an hour, on a 26″ MTB with nobbly tyres was an easy feat last week, so 22mph average on a road bike didn’t seem like a big deal.

I was one of those people and the difference between 15mph and 22mph is massive. 15mph is the spot where wind resistance start to build and each extra mph gets harder and harder.

I average 15mph on a knobbly tired SS MTB on easy trails but I couldn’t average 22mph on a road bike when I had one. I would say 18-19mph on road was about the same.

40 miles has about 2500ft of climbing and takes between 1:35

1:35 to ride 40 miles is proper fast!! Especially if thats a looped ride.

I would love to see a Strava trace for 40 miles in 1hr 35mins.
That is very fast for a solo ride on open roads. It would probably equate to what a Cat1 racer would do , maybe with some intervals or hill sprints in the mix.
You would be one of the fastest guy in my road club ( 300+ riders ) with stats like that.
Sub 5hr century for you , if you get the pacing and fuelling right , and zero mechaniclas and punctures.

It’s always been the arrogance of the racing/club community that they are the fastest/fittest riders rather than just the ones that happen to like racing.

To be fair, 99% of the time the racing community are right

I did my first century on Friday. Took ages but it was great (hilly too 6,200 elevation).
For me the longer it went on distance was fine it was just the hills that became harder to face/tackle. Mind you the 60-80 bit was hardest, I found myself counting up to 80 but after that it’s a case of counting down the last 20 and in my simple head it felt good ticking off the last 20 miles.
In terms of how hard you can do it with little training – newborn addition to the family, illness and work mean I only managed 280 miles so far this year previous to Friday, and 30 miles in total in the last three months. Slow and steady.

I shouldn’t open these threads, they just depress me. My most recent long ride avg was just 14mph over 110 miles 🙁 (outskirts of Dundee to Linn of Dee and return).

It’s the stops that kills your average speed (obvs!). I did a wee test-ride recently and kept some notes..

http://www.blog.scotroutes.com/2016/07/10.html

Nice article Colin, I enjoyed that, not because it was anything new to me but interesting reading about someone else’s experience of coming to the same (and obvious when you think about it!) conclusions about longer distance riding. It’s not about how fast you ride, it’s about how fast you stop 😉

Well, it’s done and I thought I’d report back.

A couple of excuses first:

1. it was at night
2. it was into a min average headwind of 25kph
3. it was raining (quite badly)
4. I was solo for 75% of it
5. I had to use my commuter (alfine Di2) which with 37c tyres, lights, guards and bottles was over 27lbs…

Total distance 173km
Total ride time 7:06mins
Total time (8:16mins)
Average speed (25kph)

Total rests 3 (but one was a 5 min walk whilst I allowed my ass and back to recover)

I think better lights (or being able to run my existing lights at full power) would’ve made a difference, I was VERY slow on the descents, braking most of the way down as I simply couldn’t see through the rain.

Daffy.. very respectable time 8)
How was the last 20miles?

FTFY 😆

Mostly okay as it was flat, but anything with a hill had me in the lowest gears as my knees were in agony.

scotroutes – Member

Daffy »
Total distance 173km
Total ride time 7:06mins
Total time (8:16mins)
Average speed (25kph 20.9kph)

FTFY

**** me you’re slow. 🙂 Just goes to show hammering out 40 mile sprints does nothing for your endurance 🙂

Agreed…on both counts. 😥

Oh, and thanks Scotroutes.

Use a half decent road bike then smash it out again on a warm dry summer’s day.

My knee went on my first century.

Have you ever had a bike fit?