Lynn Morrow and I were talking this morning about the Rando ride concept, and that she's interested in trying longer rides, but is intimidated by our typical postings of 17+ pace.  Now considering that she did RAGBRAI this year, putting in over 600 miles in a week, I don't really think she's got much to worry about, but it's a valid point, nonetheless, because you don't want to be left for solo on something like that if you can avoid it.
 
SO....  that got me to thinking we could arrange an RBENT "Newbie Century" ride sometime in the spring, aimed at those riders who have perhaps thought about doing a 100-miler but either have never done it or have only done it once or twice and though "never again"...   This would be a relatively flat course, with various rest stops scheduled, and at a CONTROLLED, no-drop pace averaging maybe 14-15 mph overall.  We might even approach it with one of the LSR Populaire route events, I dunno -- but it seems like a fun idea to me for some weekend day.  Heck, we might even get Sadowski out for it...    
 
Thoughts???

I would like to build up to some centurys during 2009.  I don't know if I can average 15 mph right now.  What is a good pace for a Stratus?  I know you can go faster on the SWB.  I probably will never be a Rando but I would be interested in 60 to 100 under the right circumstances.  I enjoy reading the Rando rides but probably don't want to devote the whole day to something like that.  I pay on hitting a lot of the pay rides during 2009 so maybe that will be enough to satisfy my riding desires.

I just had a thought.  Though it would be nice to have some planning assistance, encouragement and company from the guys that ride centuries for breakfast, we could get a few of us together to train for it ourselves.
 
How about starting with a no-drop ride of 30-40 miles.  See what our avg speed is and then as a group set goals to improve.  
 
I know that I can easily do 20-25 miles on the Trinity Trails.  They are relatively flat and my avg speed the first time was 11.7 MPH on a 22 mile ride.  I feel really comfortable that I could extend that to 30-40 miles and pick up the pace to 12-14 MPH over a couple of rides.
 
Anyone interested in a no drop 30-40 mile ride on the Trinity Trails in Jan. (weather permitting of course)?  Or any other relatively flat route suggestions?  I've never ridden the Airport loop that is talked about here, but I understand that it is relatively flat as well.
 
The goal of the first ride would be to establish a benchmark for the group in terms of avg speed and then to determine appropriate goals that lead towards riding centuries with the big boys and girls.  
 
 
 
 
 

Obviously, any particular "challenge distance" can be organized...  I was proposing a century, but the "100K" 62-mile concept is another good target, especially for spring...   My first-ever century (on the EZ-1!) was actually a January ride that the GDB organized by taking their normal "Airport Ride" and extending it to three loops around the airport, with rest stops at the Shell...   Up to that point, I had never done a ride longer than 50 miles, but was doing 40-milers fairly consistently on the GDB Distance Builder rides every weekend.

The other thing that should be pointed out is that while LSR is one of the biggest randonneuring groups around, and has a bunch of very strong riders, there are lots of randonneurs who aren't racers, and you don't have to be that fast to make the course time limits. Obviously, it is nice to have others your speed to ride with, both for safety and help in case of a mechanical (besides being more fun). There's no better place than the shorter populaires, and even a 100 mile one like we're discussing here, to get started and find other riders who are near your own speed. Once you have randonneuring friends near your speed, you can favor rides which those friends are doing. That's what most of us do.

John and I had talked about doing a Whiterock Hundred. Just start early and make laps for a hundred miles. Stop when you like. Something easy just working on distance.
 
RichardC

I really like the idea of some longer, but not fast rides.  I would prefer rides starting at 100k and working up to 100 miles at an average speed of under a 15mph .  I normally ride about 55 miles with the Eastside ride on Saturdays (including the distance from home to the start and back) so feel very comfortable at that distance.  I need the longer rides to work on my nutritional balance.  It was a lack of sustained nutrition that almost did me in on my first and so far only century on Labor Day.

I am so glad Paul started this topic.  I have been wanting to do longer rides for quite sometime but will not ride alone on public roads.
Safety in numbers and all that.  I don't care if we start at 100k or 100m.  Lets just do it.  We will all get better and faster.