10 centuries in 10 days

I always need a challenge. A goal to pursue. But this challenge seems a little extreme.

It's not so much the riding 10 days in a row part. I've done a few big bike tours, including an 1100 mile circumnavigation of Alabama over 16 days, a couple of 7 day 500 mile RAGBRAIs, and a bunch of smaller 2 and 3 day bike tours. A long multiple day ride is not what worries me.

It's the consecutive centuries. My century count is currently at 20 spread over the course of about 20 months. Some were ridden during bike tours and others part of some organized event or just a personal challenge. They're always difficult. The pain factor, for me anyway, seems to start increasing exponentially at around the 80 mile mark. I'm not fast at all, so for me a century involves a whole lot more seat time than it does for others.

Riding consecutive centuries is an even greater challenge. I've managed to do a couple of big consecutive day rides -- one consisted of back-to-back 140 mile days on easy rail trail -- and the other was 3 centuries in 3 days on a combination of road and rail trail. I was completely wiped out at the end of each.

But I'm fond of saying there's a certain kind of fun that can only be had by suffering.

For me to have a chance of success at 10 centuries in a row is gonna require several things, all critical.

I'll have to lose weight. Probably 25 or 30 lbs. Down to what I was when I left college.

I'll need a new lightweight bike. Total weight of around 20 lbs.

I'll have to travel with a minimum amount of gear and supplies. I'm thinking max of 25 lbs.

I'll need to increase my average speed.

I'll need a very favorable route and elevation profile.

I'll need to do some serious training. Likely 6 to 9 months worth.

And it'll still be one of the hardest things I've ever tried to do.

I've got this idea for a ride

"I've got this idea for a ride."

My buddy Hank and I were slowly making our way north in his truck on Forest Service Road 500 in the Talladega National Forest just east of Anniston, Alabama. It was February. Cold. Our mountain bikes were on the back of the truck. There was beer in the cooler. We were heading to the Warden Horse Camp to park and ride some horse trails and gravel roads.

Hank just stared ahead with a grin on his face, looking out the window. It was the kind of perma-grin he gets when there's nothing to think about except the woods, and trails, and riding bikes, and beer.

No rush for me to complete my thought. We were up here camping a couple of days early before the Skyway Beer Run, then in its 3rd year. Mostly just sitting around poking the camp fire at Cheaha State Park, talking about anything that came to mind, dozing off in our camp chairs, riding our bikes here and there, and drinking beer. No cell phone reception. At some point, you get so zoned out by the peace and beauty of it all that you can go awhile between thoughts and the articulating of thoughts, and that's ok.

So Hank just sat there with his perma-grin, crushing gravel under his wheels, surrounded by the forest, knowing at some point I'd tell him all about my idea for a ride.

"I think I wanna do a 9 day ride so that I only have to take off a week from work, and with the weekend before and the weekend after, it would be 9 days total. And I think I wanna try to do a century each day. 9 centuries in a row."

"Dude," Hank turned and grinned wider. He got a little animated and hit the steering wheel for emphasis. "You can't just do 9. You have to do 10."