# Marin century time. Poor? Average? Good? How to improve?



## Pokey (Apr 15, 2006)

So I did my first century last week. It was the Marin century. I did the standard century which I thought would be 6200 feet, But my altimiter said it was almost 7600 feet!

Anyway, I am a noob to Road biking. I have been Mtn Biking many years, picked up road Biking a couple years ago, but never lost any weight. I was 5'5" and 178lbs. 

This last winter I vowed to loose 30 lbs so I changed my diet and eating habits too. I am down to 147 now. I bought a new Road bike as a reward to myself for the weight loss (not to make me faster ;-) ) and rode the Marin Century. My goal this year was to ride a century - not in any particular time.

Stats were:

106 miles
~7600 feet of climbing
6 hours, 33 minutes of riding time
16.1 mph average speed (at the third rest stop, my average was 18 mph, but one of those last climbs into the wind just sucked the life out of me!)
Oh, and I'll be turning 40 in January, so I'm no spring chicken, but I am probably in the best shape of my adult life  


I have no idea if this time is average, above or below. I suppose that's not really important, but all I want to do now is ride a century faster and so wonder where i stand now and how I can improve my times.

I rode with a small group and we did not do much pace-lining/drafting stuff. In the third leg, I pulled ahead on my own and rode solo for most of the remainder of the ride. I did get caught in a big group for about 5-6 miles that was passing and it was surprisingly easy to keep a 28-30 mph pace in the midst of them all. But I was too tired to stay with them for too long.

Anyway, improvements in my speed were very noticable as I lost weight, but now that I have lost almost all that I can, I find increasing my speed from here is difficult. I seem to be faster than some folks on the climbs, but on the level, they seem to pass me. Especially those guys with the stretched out handlebars and aero-rims. They are surely in better shape than me anyway, but do aero rims make a noticeable difference? My rims are very shallow box-type so definitely not aero at all.

Anyway, the century was a great experience and I'll be doing more. I am signed up for Levi's Granfondo in Oct.


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## Kevin_in_SB (Mar 7, 2009)

Anything around 6 hours is good and that was some pretty good climbing.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Ty doing some race-oriented group rides. You'll get some interval work, which will help your speed, and practice riding in a paceline, so you don't get blown off the back.

That will improve your speed much more than any equipment you can buy.


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

RoadBikeRider.com has an article on this.. they are hawking their $3.99 ebook which comes with a training plan. I haven't bought it or tried it but if you're looking for a training plan, it's probably as good as any!

http://www.roadbikerider.com/index.htm


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## Chef Tony (Mar 2, 2004)

At your height/weight it makes sense that you will climb better, and that the inertia of larger humans will overtake you on the downhills. Red Hill was a slog for me too & I was glad for a rest only 9 miles from the finish! Congrats on a good century; you achieved you goals and good on that, no need to compare to others. I made my mark too; not as fast as you (7 1/4 hrs) but I've got over a dozen more years and over a dozen more lbs on you!


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## grrrah (Jul 22, 2005)

How much drafting/paceline riding were you doing the century. 

If none at all, then 16.1 mph with that much climbing is not bad at all, especially for your first century. If you learn to draft/paceline, you can probably get that up to 18-20mph average without much more effort. 

If you did it without much paceline, and want to continue to do so, then yes, the aerobars and wheels would be beneficial, but not as much as riding in a paceline.


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## Pokey (Apr 15, 2006)

grrrah said:


> How much drafting/paceline riding were you doing the century.
> 
> If none at all, then 16.1 mph with that much climbing is not bad at all, especially for your first century. If you learn to draft/paceline, you can probably get that up to 18-20mph average without much more effort.
> 
> If you did it without much paceline, and want to continue to do so, then yes, the aerobars and wheels would be beneficial, but not as much as riding in a paceline.


Thanks... I really did very little pacelining. maybe 10 miles worth in all. I kind of tried to avoid it - I wanted to do the ride on my own accord and not mooch off of others' energy too much. It was important for me to do it with no help. I don't really want to do aero bars and wheels - I was just curious about them. One of the guys I sort of rode with, I'd shoot ahead and after a while, he'd catch up when he joined a paceline

I want to improve the human factor first.

BTW, Grrrah are you on MTBR too? Your name sounds familiar...


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Pokey said:


> I don't really want to do aero bars and wheels - I was just curious about them.


Clip-on aero bars do give a significant bang for the buck. If properly fitted so that you can get a good time-trial position they are worth 1-2mph, or to put it another way you can ride the same speed for about 5-10% less effort (watts).

The down-sides are significant and well-known - poor bike handling, worse visibility, harder to brake, harder to change gears, harder to change direction, and they're useless/dangerous on significant descents, climbs or technical courses. You also risk looking like a tri-athlete dork. You should never ride in a group while using aero-bars, and as a general rule never fall into a pace-line with someone using aero-bars either, especially someone you do not know in an organized ride! In general, a well-organized pace-line is more efficient than aero-bars.

Unless you are already maintaining 25mph+ and looking for every second (i.e. racing competitively), I don't think aero wheels are worth the investment. The aero gain is pretty small compared to aero bars. Aero rims add weight. If you go too aero they compromise handling significantly when there is a cross wind component (and if there's any wind some of it is usually coming from the side in my experience).


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## grrrah (Jul 22, 2005)

Pokey said:


> BTW, Grrrah are you on MTBR too? Your name sounds familiar...


yeppers. I waste a whole lot more time over there than here..


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## WMBigs (Aug 29, 2009)

Good job and thanks for the mamaries! I did that one back in the day. That was my fastest year. Hooked up with a firefighter from Oakland, rode a bit in the pacelines- we dropped them. 5 hour ridking time, fastest ever for me. To ride fast, you have to ride fast! Do the intervals at close to max, recover and do it again and again. It will make you faster. I am a toad now, busting my butt to get back in it. Knees don't seem to be cooperating. Lots of good rides in the Bay area. Death Ride, Davis Double, Hotter than Hades, and many others. That was the year I dropped down to 148 lbs and I was eating, eating and eating. Vicous cycle- kick in the butt!!
Keep at it and you'll get it!!


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## Pokey (Apr 15, 2006)

Wow! 5 hours is flying. nice work. I have the Levi's King Ridge Gran Fondo coming up in Oct. We'll see how I do.

I am at the point where I have gotten fast enough that I don't have anyone to ride with any more :-(.

I need some folks that can kick my butt and push me harder. I could do some solo rides too though. But after a bout of tires blowing off the rim, I am apprehensive about getting back out on my own on the more serious climbs (Montebello road). It's not the climbs I worry about but rather the steep, bumpy, twisty descents. Don't need a front blow-out there. I switched to a different model of specialized tire, and have not had any more issues, but I might switch brands altogether. Maybe some pro race 3's?



WMBigs said:


> Good job and thanks for the mamaries! I did that one back in the day. That was my fastest year. Hooked up with a firefighter from Oakland, rode a bit in the pacelines- we dropped them. 5 hour ridking time, fastest ever for me. To ride fast, you have to ride fast! Do the intervals at close to max, recover and do it again and again. It will make you faster. I am a toad now, busting my butt to get back in it. Knees don't seem to be cooperating. Lots of good rides in the Bay area. Death Ride, Davis Double, Hotter than Hades, and many others. That was the year I dropped down to 148 lbs and I was eating, eating and eating. Vicous cycle- kick in the butt!!
> Keep at it and you'll get it!!


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Pokey said:


> I am at the point where I have gotten fast enough that I don't have anyone to ride with any more :-(.



You just need to ride with faster people. Try a racer-oriented group ride. AltoVelo B ride or Chain Reaction ride are safer for beginners. Maybe Pen Velo but I haven't been on that.



Pokey said:


> But after a bout of tires blowing off the rim, I am apprehensive about getting back out on my own on the more serious climbs (Montebello road). It's not the climbs I worry about but rather the steep, bumpy, twisty descents. Don't need a front blow-out there. I switched to a different model of specialized tire, and have not had any more issues, but I might switch brands altogether. Maybe some pro race 3's?


Don't ride the brakes. Brake hard when you need to slow down, then get off the brakes to let the rim cool.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

I ride out to one of the hills around the South Bay for a couple of hours almost every Tuesday and Thursday lunch times. I'd be happy to hook up for a ride if that time slot works for you. I head out from Mountain View, and typically aim for Highway 9, Montebello, Altamont hill repeats, Page Mill or OLH. I'd be glad of the company, and it sounds like we'd be pretty well matched. Evenings and weekends tend to be much more unpredictable for me unfortunately.


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## Pokey (Apr 15, 2006)

ukbloke said:


> I ride out to one of the hills around the South Bay for a couple of hours almost every Tuesday and Thursday lunch times. I'd be happy to hook up for a ride if that time slot works for you. I head out from Mountain View, and typically aim for Highway 9, Montebello, Altamont hill repeats, Page Mill or OLH. I'd be glad of the company, and it sounds like we'd be pretty well matched. Evenings and weekends tend to be much more unpredictable for me unfortunately.


I'd like to get together some time. Days for me are really tough right now - Bringing on a new client at work and I am managing the operational integration - ugh!.

Evenings and weekends are better for me. But let me check my schedule. I could try blocking some time out. I live/work in Mountain View so the location is good. 

Just rode today - starting at 7:45 at Alpine/Portola
Down Portola, Up OLH to Skyline, Down OLH, 84, Pescadero road, stage road through San Gregorio to 1, Tunitas creek to skyline and down Kings portola to Alpine.

Ride stats are:
57.14 miles
Av Speed: 13.7
Riding time: 4:08
Altitude gain: 5,922 feet

Had to take the last 15 miles super easy as my friend was cramping up pretty badly. Otherwise av speed would be a little higher. Made the climb up Tunitas 7 mins faster than one rider and about 17 faster than the other, but as I said he was cramping.

Good times. I love riding in this area...


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