18
votes
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
If you are doing 80 km once a week right now, I have absolutely no doubt that you can do 100 km tomorrow, if you want to.
What's so special about riding 100 km in a single ride?
Here are some ...
- 873
14
votes
Accepted
Does a bike-stalling speed exist?
The trick to pulling a track stand is that you are not in fact stationary. You rock forward and backward slightly. So it's not accurate to say that the minimum speed on a bike is 0. In any case, very ...
- 27.4k
12
votes
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
100km is a nice number and it demonstrates that you have put time in to cycling a decent distance. Not everyone wants to put enough time into cycling to achieve a 100km ride, even though my belief is ...
- 12.4k
12
votes
Why do base kilometers help with time trials?
It’s all about maximizing the positive effects of training while minimizing recovery time and injury risk
You want to target different systems in the body as effectively as possible. A naive approach ...
- 25k
11
votes
Does a bike-stalling speed exist?
There is another kind of "stall" speed, which is to do with the maximum grade you can effectively climb.
As the road pitches up, your rear wheel takes more weight and the front wheel has ...
- 114k
10
votes
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
People like to get achievements that others can understand. The actual number is pretty arbitrary - in the case of a marathon, the reasons are more mythological than historical, but that's a sort of ...
- 52.5k
9
votes
Does a bike-stalling speed exist?
Best control of a two wheeled bike includes some forward momentum. By design (trail)--and physics (caster)-- the front wheel of a bicycle will want to maintain a straight line when rolling. That's a ...
- 8,722
9
votes
Does a bike-stalling speed exist?
A bicycle "stalling speed" does not exist because bicycles do not stall like an airplane. Stalling is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as the angle of attack increases....
- 19.4k
6
votes
Why do base kilometers help with time trials?
I think what you are asking here is what's the better training routine:
Ride 40 km at max effort (for that distance/time) - i.e. a 'time
trail' every time
Ride some shorter more intense rides mixed ...
- 75.1k
4
votes
How to get a decent workout on a mid sized, flat parking lot?
This problem has been solved by many intrepid flatlanders, just tow an old car tyre.
- 319
4
votes
How to get a decent workout on a mid sized, flat parking lot?
Consider constructing a parachute similar to those worn by sprinters: https://www.amazon.com/SKLZ-Speed-Chute-Resistance-Acceleration/dp/B002CLK21C
This would generate significant drag at moderate ...
- 103
4
votes
Accepted
Why do base kilometers help with time trials?
It would be nice to understand what exactly happens when one rides at a leisurely pace, that eventually improves time trials. Do, for example, glycogen stores in muscle cells become gradually capable ...
- 17.8k
4
votes
Should I add my base metabolic rate to a calorie estimate from a ride?
Summary
All the numbers above are estimates. You should interpret things more like: given your weight, height, and sex, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is 1,700 +/- a couple hundred calories. The ...
- 24.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
In other words, do the benefits of base kilometers not max out at some point?
The benefits of base kilometers scale up to very high volumes of riding. However most people living normal lives (non ...
- 17.8k
4
votes
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
No one has actually said in it any of the current answers, I argue it does not matter. What matters to people is personal, and the more un-important it is, the more personal it is if it matters. It ...
- 46k
3
votes
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
For another perspective, sports should ideally have an achievement ladder with goals that are not too far apart in difficulty. Imagine that running's marquee distances were 10km (6.2 mi) and the ...
- 24.9k
3
votes
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
Competitions and personal bests: People just like to challenge themselves, set goals for themselves and boast about their achievements.
For some people riding 20km is already hard and they’ll be proud ...
- 25k
3
votes
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
Your question caught my eye as it really hit home.
I have completed several (metric) centuries this summer (with the help of my local club) but these days, I no longer feel the incentive to go for ...
- 31
3
votes
Does a bike-stalling speed exist?
I think there are two speeds to quote here - uphill and flatland.
I have a "basement speed" of around ~3.7 km/h on my recumbent, measured by riding up a steep driveway. Incidentally, I can ...
- 114k
3
votes
Accepted
Do you oscillate your diet along with your riding?
Either is fine - in fact on this timescale there's not much difference.
My suggestion:
I suspect that what's most satisfying for your body and your desire to measure will be somewhere between the two -...
- 52.5k
3
votes
How to get a decent workout on a mid sized, flat parking lot?
As your description implies that you'll be spending a lot of your time building up speed (i.e. stop-start riding), adding weight will add a fair bit of resistance. Ideally you'd fit 4 panniers with ...
- 52.5k
2
votes
How to get a decent workout on a mid sized, flat parking lot?
Here are a couple of options I can think of.
If you have access to some lumber and some blocks, you could build some ramps to provide you with a bit of incline to give you extra resistance. This won'...
- 1,169
2
votes
Fitting Shimano pedals into a 3/4" crank socket
I've never heard of a 3/4" thread on a pedal on a bicycle. It sounds like they intend for you to buy pedals from the maker of your exercise bike.
However if you are handy, it may be possible to ...
- 114k
2
votes
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
enjoying more time on the saddle
For me this should be the main qualifier! If you lose the enjoyment of riding after eg. 80KM, then just don't.
Sometime it can be fun to push yourself beyond the ...
- 1,412
1
vote
Should I add my base metabolic rate to a calorie estimate from a ride?
Assuming the estimates are accurate you’ll have burned 3700kcal on that day and have to replenish them with food.
As Weiwen already hints, don’t just eat after a ride, eat before and during the ride ...
- 25k
1
vote
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
Giving the impressions of an overweight bloke approaching 60.
Completing a century is just a natural goal. I did it with friends back in '79 as the first day of a tour we had planned but had to call ...
- 201
1
vote
Take away bragging rights, Strava's kudos, and the sense of achievement, why does the pursuit of a (metric/imperial) century matter?
Having done about 100 km yesterday, to collect my cycle (velomobile) from the place best suited for repairs.
In this case I have had to ride my VM there one week to go and collect it the next. My top ...
- 3,566
1
vote
Does a bike-stalling speed exist?
The stall I've felt going uphill was when my foot couldn't get over top dead centre before I ran out of momentum.
That really is a minimum speed for the circumstances, but depends on the gear. This is ...
- 52.5k
1
vote
Does a bike-stalling speed exist?
Stall Speed
We define Stall Speed as the lowest speed at which a given cyclist can ride on a flat terrain without losing balance.
There does exist a minimum speed—the Stall Speed—but that speed is an ...
- 8,168
1
vote
Do you oscillate your diet along with your riding?
This is a difficult question to answer without being a sports nutritionist, however my advice would be to worry less about daily totals and focus more on timings of when you take in calories.
I focus ...
- 17.8k
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