# Fastest Century!



## trumpetman

Mark your calenders for Labor Day weekend! On Saturday, September 3rd, the Clarksville Sunrise Rotary Classic will be held in Clarksville, TN, just north of Nashville.. While the event includes a 24 and 49 mile option, the main attraction will be the century. 

The course winds through a large plateau north of Clarksville through very gently rolling Mennonite and Amish farmland. Raods are excellent and trafic minimal. Last year, on a more difficult course the lead group smashed the previous course record completing the 100 miles in 4:01. This year, with the new and improved course I predict that the 4 hour barrier will be broken. In fact I predict that the finsh time will be sub-3:50!

This is a very enjoyable ride. It is a great first century. For those with a bit more experience and fitness it is a chance to set a PR for the 100 mile distace. And for us speed demons in the lead group it will be a chance to lay claim to the title of Fastest Century in the US.

Here is the link: http://www.clarksvillecentury.com/

John


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## deadlegs

Thanks for the post; looks like fun. Imagine that, a century with no major hills! I think I will be riding this one.


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## bill105

deadlegs said:


> Thanks for the post; looks like fun. Imagine that, a century with no major hills! I think I will be riding this one.



i did it last year. beware of wankers on tri bikes for the first 20 miles or so.


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## trumpetman

Bill:

Not only are the course and the Start-Finish new, but the wankers will be starting long after you. 

The 100-mile ride starts at seven, the 24-miler at eight, and the "49-er" at nine. Only the slowest of the 49ers and the slowest century riders will ever see each other on the road. 

Besides, the lead peloton will start around 7:50, about ten minutes ahead of the main body of century riders. At least one (quiet) motorcycle will escort the peloton, stopping to help at intersections that aren't guarded by cops. At least one other motorcycle with an extra rider will pass bottles from a truck that'll follow the lead peloton. Of course, there'll be plenty of SAG support for everybody else, and they'll get a police escort for the first four miles. The Rotary Club that stages the ride plans to take care of dogs, gravel, and other hazards.

Bryan Crow


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## trumpetman

*Wankers on tri bikes*



bill105 said:


> i did it last year. beware of wankers on tri bikes for the first 20 miles or so.



Bill, I just registered. I didn't realize when my buddy left Tennessee after posting from my computer that I'd show up as him when I replied to your post about "wankers on tri bikes." That was me talking and not trumpetman. I also misread tri bikes as "trikes." We always have some of those in the field, of course. I'm 66 and arthritic and ride a recumbent bike myself.

Now about your concern: I take it you found yourself among riders down on their aerobars. We'll probably announce on the website 
http://www.clarksvillecentury.com/default.htm 
(and also announce in a new edition of the flyer) that the use of aerobars will be forbidden in the lead peloton or in other large group riding fast in close quarters. 

We've resorted to separate starting times for the two shorter rides this year because of accidents over our 19-year history that have been caused by mixing riders of different abilities and caused by split-offs and re-merges for the shorter courses. 

As I mentioned in the previous post, we'll also be dispatching the lead peloton ahead of the main body of century riders again this year. There were about 35 riders in the front group that started early last year, and we expect many more this year--in light of the gauntlet they threw down by nearly breaking four hours.

I think we'll probably rule against riding on aerobars except for people following the rules of duathlons (no drafting or riding in close quarters). Our aim is to make our ride as safe as possible while also to making it easy to ride very fast. 

We started this event in 1986. We've been blessed with the largest fields in this part of the South. We've started thinking seriously about turning it into a truly big deal. We hope we can capitalize on our gentle terrain. Instead of promoting adversity the way the Hotter'n Hell and the Assault on Mt. Mitchell do, we hope we can attract riders who want to ride 100 miles very fast. We hope the ride also appeals to people who want to ride 100 miles with minimal effort. This goal might dictate a cooler date in the future.

There surely must be much flatter courses than ours in the Plains States and Florida and on other flat terrain, but when I've traveled to those places, I've always found heavy traffic, lousy pavement, or high winds--or all three. I've been riding organized rides since 1980, and I've never ridden a century as fast (or as easy) as our old courses. The new course requires 3400 feet of climbing--less than any of our previous ones, including last year's course, which the lead peloton finished in 4:01:13. The average grade is shallower, and instead of 63 turns, there'll now be 40. These improvements will surely facilitate higher speeds. 

Come set a new 100-mile record for the event or set your own personal record for 100 miles. 

Bryan


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## trumpetman

*4 Hour Barrier Smashed!!!*

The Clarksville Labor Day/Sunrise Century was held today and the 4 hour barrier fell despite a highly variable 10-15 mph wind. A group of 10 elite riders survived to the end, finishing in 3:53.  This proved to be an excercise in humility for me as I tried to ride with the lead group until mile 23 when I had to acknowledge that this 50 year old body had no business in that group. We had covered the first 23 miles - which was actually not flat at all - in less than 45 minutes. I use an SRM powemeter, and I was putting out around 350 watts just to sit in, and with any acceleration or hill I was hitting peaks of 500-650 watts. When I noticed that my heart rate was essentially at max and that we had 75 miles to go I sat up.

I finished in 4:36, well off last year's time of 4:11 but spent a lot of time either riding in the wind alone or trying to drive the pace in the first pursuing group - until I cracked at around mile 60. 

This is a great ride and is the closest I will ever come to a flat stage in a european road race.

Next up Six Gap - time to take off the 11-21!

John


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## trumpetman

I'll be back.


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## spookyload

Don't know about the fastest century. Was at hotter than hell 100 a few weeks ago and there were a bunch of sub four hour finishers. Probably close to 100 finished in under that time. I know the fastest finisher was 3:38.


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## Bryan Crow

Wow, Spookyload!

The Hotter'n Hell Hundred is our ideal and role model here in Clarksville, Tennessee. It's everything we want the "Sunrise" Century to become: big, famous, and beautifully managed. I keep promising myself to go out to Texas and ride it. Unfortunately, they stage it the week before the "Sunrise" Century, just as our last-minute chores pile up.

There are bigger bicycle events such as the Moonlight Ramble in St. Louis and the Critical Mass in San Francisco, but they're hardly 100-mile rides. I think the Moonlight Ramble would be a lark. The Critical Mass makes a political statement, and I'm not sure how much riding the participants do. We'll never know how big the Assault on Mount Mitchell would be if there were no limit on the field. It's certainly a feather in the cap or helmet of any rider who rides all the way from Spartanburg to its highest point. But the biggest century in the United States is the HHH.

We're grateful to trumpetman for his enthusiastic endorsement of our ride. He's an extremely strong 50 year-old rider, a senior racer, and a knowledgeable fan of bicycle racing. He has ridden the "Sunrise" course twice and thinks it could be ridden in 3:20. I'm going to buy the Topo USA CD-ROMs for the western half of the United States. I'm curious to know what the terrain is like on the Hotter'n Hell century course. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the course is more nearly flat than our distinctly un-flat course. 

What does surprise me is how few organized 100-mile rides there seem to be in parts of the country with relatively flat terrain. I'm probably just not finding them. Having lived in Oklahoma for two years, I know that rural roads in the Plains States are generally not very smooth, and the wind out there blows all the time. It's windy in Florida too, and the traffic is terrific. This isn't a good year to mention wind, since we had some uncharacteristically stiff breezes at our own ride this year. 

I hope other four members will submit finishing times from other centuries. I always assumed that the four-hour mark had been broken numerous times. Lots of riders could do it even on somewhat hilly courses, I suspect, although not on mountainous courses such as Mount Mitchell. 

I had planned to ride the September 25 century in New Orleans. The president of the New Orleans bicycle club told me their course is very fast. I can believe it. I spent a summer there, and the terrain is almost flat. I love New Orleans. There's no place like it. I love its distinctive music, dialects, food, and its Big Easy attitude. I love to visit, and I'm yearning to see its people come back and put their lives and their city back together. I don't doubt the century there will be a terrific ride, and I hear it may still be held before the end of the year. The weather down there is mellow right up to Christmas.

We don't know whether we can leverage the "Sunrise" Century's absence of adversity the way the Hotter'n Hell has leveraged the Texas heat or the way the Assault on Mount Mitchell has leveraged its climbing elevations. There are other hot bicycle rides and other difficult climbs, so it's not their trademark adversity alone that sets those two great rides apart from most. From what I hear, the organizations behind them put on great shows and take first-class care of their riders. 

It's interesting how similar in size those two communities are to Clarksville, Tennessee. According to the 2000 census, Clarksville and Wichita Falls, Texas, are identical in size. Spartanburg itself is smaller, but the metropolitan area it belongs to is larger the ones in Texas and Tennessee. 

Now that the Clarksville "Sunrise" Rotary Club has taken the reins of our 19-year-old event, I think it has every chance of meeting its goal of 5000 riders within a few years. That would still be only half the size of the biggest Hotter'n Hell turnouts, but I think it was smart for the club to start with a realistic goal. 

I hope you and other members of this forum will answer some questions about the HHH. 

How many riders showed up in Wichita Falls this year? How many exhibitors showed their wares at the Expo? How many racers rode in the criterium? How many different routes did the event include? What was the maximum temperature this time? How far along the 100-mile route is Hell's Gate? I understand there's a maximum time for reaching that point and that riders who don't make the cutoff aren't allowed to proceed the rest of the 100 miles. How much time do you get? How many rest stops are there along the 100-mile route? What do they serve? How quickly do they take care of everyone who stops? How do they mark the courses? Does anyone get lost? Are there so many course marshals that, even if you stray, somebody immediately puts you back on course? 

How many people work the ride? How many registrars, aid station workers, course marshals, SAG personnel, law enforcement officers, and bicycle repair personnel do you see? I understand there used to be a very rough or graveled section somewhere around the airbase. Has that short section been improved or bypassed? Did you hear of any wrecks or injuries? How do the organizers manage the starts with so many bicycles? How much automobile traffic is there on the course on ride day? How about dogs? Was it windy this year? How windy is it usually? Where does everybody park? How much is the entry fee?

Is there plenty of lodging in Wichita Falls? How are the restaurants? I've been told that community spirit and enthusiasm for the ride runs very high. True? It's amazing that this huge bicycling event started almost accidentally as something of a joke.

I always enjoyed riding with a few friends. I even enjoy riding our century route all alone while listening to recorded books. On the other hand, I think most of us occasionally enjoy the thrill out of riding with huge numbers of other riders. I'd think that would be one of the attractions of riding the Hotter'n Hell. 

What you all think it is about organized rides that people like? How much of it has to do with having arrows and course marshals to guide you? How important is it to have refreshments at rest stops around a course? How important is it to most riders, do you think, to have emergency medical personnel available and to have repair services and people to take you back to the assembly point if you bonk or suffer a mechanical breakdown? How much do you think the Expo, the concert, and the criterium have to do with the popularity of the Hotter'n Hell? When you travel out of town to ride in an organized ride, how much do the difficulty of the course, the smoothness of the pavement, the effectiveness of navigational aids such as course-marking arrows, and the attractiveness of the countryside have to do with how much you enjoy yourself?

Thanks again for telling us about that fantastic Texas finishing time.


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## Bryan Crow

"Sunrise" faster than HHH? Maybe it is, after all. We're not the least cocksure, but read the Hotter'n Hell Hundred's own official web site. 

http://www.hh100.org/

It mentions no finishing time nearly as fast as 3:38. The winning time, according to the site, came out of the professional male racers' divisions 1 and 2. According to the first article on the site, the time was 3:59:40. According to a second article, it was 3:59:10. Either number would be six minutes slower than this year's "Sunrise" Century. Our lead peloton finished in 3:53:00. Many people at the ride will tell you the time was 3:52:22. An official forgot to start the timing display at the finish line the moment the starting signal sounded. I kept the official time. So did other people.


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