# Sunrise Century 3:44:55



## Bryan Crow (Jul 2, 2005)

Gotta be the easiest 100 miles in cycling. See video at
http://www.tvclarksville.com/2008sunrisebikeride.html

Yesterday, Saturday, September 20, 21 riders finished the Sunrise Century in less than four hours. 
http://www.clarksvillecentury.com

*Doyce Johnson crossed the finish line in 3:44:55.311 with 13 other riders accompanying. * Another seven finished under four, the slowest in 3:56:12.929.

The Buttar timing-chip website http://www.buttar.com/events/results/index.htm
has complete results.

That makes 49 sub-fours over the past four years, beginning in 2005. In 2004, on a tougher course, a peloton of 35 finished together in 4:01. 

The 2005-2006 course was notably flatter, and the 2007-2008 course is still another 9% flatter. The 1986 course was easy but comparatively hilly, yielding no better than 4:15. The organizers have aimed for easier layouts in recent years.

Is the distance legit? The Sunrise Century is the only 100-mile ride measured with a Jones-Oerth-Lacroix counter, following USATF procedures—much more accurate than GPS, software, or bicycle computers.


----------



## trumpetman (Dec 9, 2001)

*Great Job!!!*

This is an incredible result. I rode this ride twice, first in 2004 and then again in 2005. My best time was 4:11:27, which beat the previous record but was slower than the lead group which finished in 4:01.

This ride is probably the best run fast century in the country. The people who run it are obsessed with making sure that every detail - from the measurement of the course - to the chip based timing - to lead cars to ensure safety - is totally up to speed. This is the closest thing to riding in a pro road race.


----------



## Bryan Crow (Jul 2, 2005)

Thank you for your generous comments, trumpetman. I hope you and other forum members will help the Clarksville Sunrise Rotary Club think through a few things about their Sunrise Century. 

The club is disheartened by the 2008 turnout. Since 1986, most prospective riders in the Nashville area have ridden this ride, 1000 as early as 1987. There seems to be a limit on local saturation. How many nearby cyclists can the event draw? This year, the century attracted more _elite _riders than ever. They travel to Clarksville from farther away, and snagging more of them seems the most promising way to build the field. The trouble was that the number of entrants in the freestanding century September 20 was smaller than for the centuries of 2005 through 2007. Until this year, the century has been combined with shorter rides on the Saturday before Labor Day.

Given this setback, the members of the CSRC have decided to recombine the 100-mile ride with the 61-miler plus some shorter ride. We cyclists should not blame them. Most of the club’s members are workaholics, but they find it harder every year to recruit volunteers like motorcycle escorts and course marshals who guard intersections. Would some of you Nashvillians be willing to lend a hand?

I am not concerned about running the shorter rides on the same day, even though that entails starting the 61-mile ride at least 90 minutes after the century launch—to prevent those riders from intercepting pelotons and other very fast riders. It also entails starting the shortest ride immediately behind the century ride in order to ensure that those riders beat the lead peloton back to Rossview High School. If the club sticks to this year's 32-mile distance, those riders will have to average 8.5 mph. Inevitably, some would fall short. I’m not a Rotarian, but I will beg the club to shorten the shortest ride from 32 to 20-something. 

Or would it be simpler to have those riders sign a promise to pull off the road while being overtaken by fast century riders—if it becomes necessary for the motorcyclist escorts to ask them to? Can we trust them without some way to enforce the policy? Should we have Guthrie, Kentucky, police stop cheaters? If that strikes forum members as draconian, please trust a guy who has watched very slow cyclists cheat and start shorter rides with the century starters and then shortcut ahead to Highland Road. Is that such a big deal?

In 2005, I rode in the service truck behind the lead peloton. We overtook several cheaters obliviously riding abreast across both lanes of the road. The motorcyclists and I asked them to pull to the edge of the pavement. When they didn’t, the peloton had to let up while negotiating a path around them. This impediment probably cost the peloton no more than a few seconds, but it was neither considerate nor safe.

In 2006, I stopped five people from taking the 61-mile shortcut. They had signed a release promising not to use it until their ride started. They would have beaten the record-setting pack to Highland Road leading into Guthrie, Kentucky. They were miffed at being stopped, possibly for being caught breaking their promises. They scolded me for the separate starts. Maybe they knew I had insisted on them for the sake of safety but also out of fairness to our much more numerous century riders.

“Suppose it had been real hot today?” they said. “Starting at 8:30 would have left us out on the road after the sun got hot.” 

Not nearly as long as many century riders. I have ridden a blue ton of centuries and metrics—in places as diverse as San Antonio and Spartanburg. When I established this ride in 1986, no century listed in _Bicycling _started before eight. 

Most years, more people have ridden our century than all our other distances combined. Is holding back the 61-milers unreasonable? What do you think? We tossed this around on the Southeast forum in 2005. Some forum members threatened to boycott because of delayed starts and the omission of the metric, but they showed up and said they had a great time. I appreciated their cordial follow-up posts after the ride.

I will stop here, but I have a more pressing issue to set before you. I report with regret that the CSRC has decided to go back to Labor Day weekend. That dismays me—for reasons besides heat and the greater probability of rain. As a part of this thread, I will soon post about not hanging on to the later date. Meanwhile, I hope some of you respond about the delayed starts.


----------

