Centurion Cycling 100 Mile Race - Sept 19
IronMan USA went well last Sunday. 12hr; 21min; 09sec.
Signed up for the inaugural Centurion Cycling "Grand Fondo" 160km race at Blue Mountain next month. www.centurioncycling.com
Anyone else going?
Alain
Yes, I am going up in the next 2 weeks to pre-ride the course. Still in major recovery mode from IM. But, hope to be out tonight for the Tuesday night ride.
Mike. You are consistently strong and fast on those Tuesday night rides. You can do it. The key, I think, will be pacing and nutrition. Don't blow up those climbs, keep the HR in Zone 3 and be sure to take in 300 calories an hour. Try to get a few 4-5hr rides in on the next few Sunday's.
I was reading the "Club Team" option. Sounds interesting if 5 WCC people of similar ability/training would be willing to work together. This is what it says:
"Club teams: Look for this to be among the most popular categories, allowing cycling clubs the chance to truly ride as a team. Each club can designate team leaders and workers, then emulate the tactics of top professional teams. There’s no minimum size, but you must have at least five members for placement in the club division. The finishing times of the top five riders are added together to determine total time."
I always wanted to be a "super-domestique" ! ;-)
Alain
Sounds like a pretty fun event. I'd be up for a club team for the 50 mile.. not sure if I'd be good for the full 100, at least not competitively. 50 I can do at a good competitive pace. Just putting it out there.
hmmm...
I had to cancel out of Muskoka IronMan 70.3 in order to do the Centurion event. They are one week apart and I had to choose.
IronMan 70.3 is Sept 12. Centurion is Sept 18.
I'm crazy, but not that crazy to do both...unless...I switch to the 50 mile Centurion and play a supporting role for someone else?
That way, I could still do IronMan 70.3 and still have enough left over for the 50 the following weekend.
It's not cheap. The cost is $95 a person. And you'd probably have to stay over night because there is no-race day registration. Race kit has to be picked-up the day before (attach numbers and timing chips on bikes etc). Plus, the team would have to be up very early the next morning...5am to eat...6am to pump tires/warm up ride and be in the start corrals at 6:30am for the 7am start. No different than a Marathon.
Let me think about it. And see if anyone else chimes into this conversation. We'd still need 6 or 7 similarly matched riders to ensure we have at least 5 at the finish line at the end of the race. We would have to train together a few times over the next few weeks to see how well matched we were and normalize some team instructions. But, that could be really exciting and a nice way to end the season!
Alain
i've signed up as solo thus far; i do know of another rider who is going to and we both ride grp 2. another guy we both know is doing it but not a club member.
i have a summer place on the route so i ride those roads quite a bit. let me know when you are pre-riding; maybe we can hook up
Thies
At this point, I'm riding with my Brother-In-Law (not a member). We expect to ride the course next week. Are you at your summer place next week?
I'm a solid Group 3 rider. I got crushed by Group 2b last Tuesday. Then I went out on the Thursday night ride which consisted of mostly Group 2 riders. Were you in that group?
We went hard for 73km...but I couldn't hold that speed for 160km. ;) For reference, the average speed for the first 54km last Thursday was 38.6 kph with 7 guys. Double-paceline…3-5 minute pulls at the front. I was at 96% MHR for most of my turns. Final average was about 36kph. For the race, we'll be looking to find a "sensible" group willing to average ~32-33 kph and try to finish strong.
But, a good pre-race recon ride with someone who knows the roads is an offer I can't refuse.
Again, let me know if you are up there next week.
Alain
Just looked at the confirmation list.
275 currently entered for the C100 (160km) distance. Average age is 45 !
Cervelo has sponsored a video summary of the first event race in Colorado. Looks pretty much like a Triathlon, only no explosion of water and fists of fury at the start. ;)
sorry alain, didn't check the forum...i am up here for this week and the weekend except for wed. the 26th; planning on longer ride on friday the 27th with some others who are riding the 100. That group will probably do about 100km of the route. keep in mind that those avg speeds you mention work in waterloo region, aka the flat lands; i'm happy if i can avg 30kph for about 120km up here doing the climbs such as Grey 19, Epping and from Clarksburg to the top of Scenic caves via Ravenna and Banks. I'h hoping to do a century sometime this week on the route.
try contacting me at thies1@rogers.com
I'm in Baysville right now. About a 2hr drive to Collingwood.
We rode most of the Muskoka IronMan 70.3 route yesterday. About 82km. We were going to wake up early and do two loops, just to get the miles in.
Average was under 30kph ! So, no worries about the pace. ;) Are you guys racing as a group?
I'll e-mail you off-line at your rogers account.
If we miss each other tomorrow, then I'll likely take a day off work next week to go up and ride the course.
Alain
Sept 2, 2010, The Ontario Cycling Association is pleased to announce that it will be sanctioning the Centurion Canada to be held on September 18/19, 2010. After much dialogue between Centurion Cycling's Dan Mainguy and Ontario Cycling's Executive Director Jim Crosscombe, the concept of having the first Association-sanctioned granfondo of this magnitude has come to fruition.
http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/news1/newslisting.php?id=2713
'Sanctioned' meaning a UCI license or one event license will have to be purchased to register in the future.. add ten bucks to the fee, thank you very much.
Bad news. Brother-in-law is out of the Centurion next weekend. :(
We've been training together and worked out a drafting and pacing plan to get us to the end of the 160km feeling strong.
So, I'm scrambling to figure out a new strategy with 7 days left.
I could just "ride" the 160km solo. And jump in to groupetto's when it makes sense.
I'm going to drive up with another WCC rider doing the C50. I might change to the C50 (80km) and race it a little harder than I would have the C100?
Do we have a final confirmation of WCC riders going up?
Current count is 415 for the C100 and 315 for the C50.
Hi Alain,
It was good to ride with you today - even though it was brief.
Here is the link to the touring company that we took to France this summer -
http://www.sportstoursinternational.co.uk/cycling
I would recommend them highly. I had a great experience.
I will let my friends (Todd, Malcolm & Alan) know about this post so they can contact you about the Blue Mountain Centurion.
Have a great time. Let me know if you have any more questions about Sports Tours International. I would be happy to tell you more.
Corrie
Yes, it was good.
Looking forward to hearing from your friends about Centurion.
Your experience with STI sounds really good. I'll check it out. I was looking at the following trip next July.
http://www.thomsonbiketours.com/trips/Tour-de-France-trip-01/index.html
Alain
Just wanted to say good luck to those who are riding this weekend! Hopefully you get some good weather!
Thanks Tom,
Tommorrow (Sat) looks like rain, but Sunday looks great!
It looks like a pretty high production value event. 54-40 and The Watchman will be playing at the site. Helicopters to record the race.
There are curently over 1000+ people registered to start at 7:30am on Sunday. Riding in a Peleton of that size for the first 4km is going to be something else. The first 4 km are controlled by the lead pace vehicle. The vehicle will signal the end of the neutral zone by waiving an orange flag just prior to the climb up Grey 19.
Then the fun starts for the next 164km. ;)
Tell you all about it next Tuesday.
It was epic.
Beautiful day for a sufferfest. Over 1000 people at the start line yesterday morning. Split evenly between the 50 and 100 mile course.
There were many cyclists from WCC and KW at the start. I hope the guys don't mind, but I'll post this photo from the start corral. Todd, Alan, Malcolm and myself (Alain)...just as the sun came up at 7:25 am in the morning. I also bumped into Theis and others after the race.
For many of us this was our first road race. I have discovered that road racing is completely different than triathlon cycling (Time Trialing). Completely! So many different phases to the race. The climbing, the decents, the peleton, the groupetto's, the breakaways, the attacks, the suffering. Far, far more intense and "strategic" than IronMan.
The climbs were great. There were 4. Here's a picture (sorry, don't know who took it?) of the 5km long King Of the Mountain (KOM) climb at the 130 km mark. Took me 14 min,55 sec to climb it. Winner did it in just over 10min. ;)
The speeds were incredible. I only averaged 31.3 kph...but that doesn't reflect the fact that we jumped into about half a dozen Groupetto's going 40kph on the straight aways. We consistently hit 80kph+ on the descents. I lost my chain once doing 65kph on a downhill.
The distance was something else too. I WISHED it was a 100 mile (160km) race. But, I passed the 160km sign at 5hr:05 min just as the road started heading back up the escapement for the 4th time. I looked up after 5 more km's of suffering to see a sign that said, 10km to the finish? It was 175.3km by the end. I think that killed a bunch of people as the peleton exploded around 160km. Those extra 15km were harder than the first 160km.
As for my results. Made it in 5hr:36min. Hey, Simon Whitfield beat me by only 34 mins. I'll take it. ;)
FYI. They've moved the race to July 9 next year. Anyone interested?
Awesome job Alain, sounds like it was a great time - I wish I could have went! (Great pics too)
I was looking at the weather network and giving a sigh, I knew I missed out.
Next year for sure, that July date will work great for me. Putting into the training plan notes tonight.
Awesome job, so jealous, will be joining you next year in July, we can use the Tour du Grand and Waterloo as warm up :P
So, we can team this sucker next year then! Something to work on at the start of next season.
Thanks Alain for the pictures and recap of the 100 mile event. Fantastic job out there.
We had an awesome day as well, Todd Kutz, Allan Venema and myself tackled the 50 miler. A few other WCC fellows where seen at the finish line. As Alain mentioned over 1000 riders left the Village Square area of Blue Mountains, started with about a 4km neutral start before the orange flag was dropped. The race was on with a steady climb on Grey Rd. 19 up the escarpment, what a way to get the lungs fired up !! Then the trains started forming with snaked and group pelotons until the next climbing began.
As an FYI, the OCA has now sanctioned this Gran Fondo style ride, so fully expect a big group of powerful racers to show up next year in July. Use the Tour de Waterloo in June as a warm up ride, then you'll be ready to rock Centurion 2011. Also a couple of great bands played in the Village Square on the Sat. afternoon, so make sure you book a room and do the weekend. Simon Witfield, Graham Fraser (older Canadian Olympian), Mike Richter NY Rangers goalie, Bob Nystrom xNHLer, and other VIP riders took in the event. Kind of cool with the King of the Mountain split time to see how one did against the field and also age group placing as well. It was a blast.
Malcolm Steven
Alain, Malcolm, Alan & Todd,
Wow! Great riding. It sounds like you guys had a really good time. Wish I was there.
Next year for sure.
Corrie
Alain - did you make any decisions about your France trip next summer?
Next Year for Sure !
Just signed up for the 2011 edition of this Gran Fondo
That makes two of us. Can't wait.
Here's the Video of the Canadian Event last year for a little inspiration.
Congrats on the IronMan :)
Would love to to tell you yes, but I'm really intimidated by the course and the length, might do just the 50 mile.
Are you still planning on going up? From Waterloo to Blue Mountains google maps is saying the 145km drive would take 2:45 minutes, and bing maps, is saying 141km would take 2:05 minutes.