just another neat trick to learn while riding, it can save you,but its hard on wheels!

High speed and hit them perpendicular. Unless you are climbing Mount Something or other in the Riverbank Century ride out by Mocasin and Hetch Hetchy. There are about 10 of those suckers on that ride.

Another great century in a few weeks is the Tour of Napa (Eagle Cycling Club). I'll be doing the Holstein 100 (metric)/TofN (miles) double. Also doing the Auburn Century (70 miler) which I hear is wicked. though I've already ridden part of it in the Auburn Tri.

Matt--For next spring, Tierra Bella is a nice one.

Good list here:

http://webpages.charter.net/...arroll/2005Rides.htm

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

just wanted to note that in a century over the weekend here in GA a paceline went down (20+ bikers) and i saw a broken shoulder, 3 or 4 bikes being carried away in a pickup, and some pretty pissed riders. apparently the team was trying to weave through the slower riders and some of the slower riders tried to hop into the pace line. somebody got spooked, everybody went down. didn't look too pretty.

Yeah, like that.

It's one thing to go down in a race; but you have to get there first and hopefully in one piece. Get your paceline experience elsewhere IMHO.

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Mr. Uncaptured External Costs

Fossil carbon is planetary poison.

and don't be looking at a map or anthing else.

Indeed cows are dumb, but how would a painted version work on a cow that had never encounterd a real one?

~Matt

http://outside.away.com/...e/0796/9607wild.html

Because cows don't have good depth perception, they can't readily distinguish between a real guard and a painted one. "Any sharp edge between light and dark can throw them off," explains Penn State agricultural engineer Bob Graves. "When a hose is lying across the ground, they'll look at it and wonder if it's a hole they could fall in." All the same, Graves doesn't put much faith in painted guards. He says there's a good chance you'll run into the occasional cow who "hasn't read the book that says they won't cross them."

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Life isn't measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take your breath away.

Ok a few things...

First doesn't a paceline take a bit of confidence in ones fellow riders? and since it does are you going to find that with a group of strangers?

Second most of the centuries I've done are mostly "social riders". I've run into a couple of packs on a couple of them and for the most part I'd say they simply were "out of place" and a bit of a danger. I suspect a well organized group would be a bit safer but you're rarely going to put together a "well organized group" on the spot. Even a well organized group is not going to be all that safe under your typical "Century ride" conditions, in my experiance.

Thirdly, are triathletes supposed to be doing a pace line for 100 miles? What does that train? Not being a smart ass seriously curious.

~Matt

Cathy,

Del Puerto Canyon Road has a set of cattle grates right at the top of a 16% pitch. Gotta be smooth on the pedal stroke or you will spin out - even in the heat of the day (which would be over 100 today...)

Why do a paceline Century?

on my first century, I tried twice to catch a small group that has just whisteled by me. I rode like heck for a while and lost ground. Just wore me out. I guess that if I had been aware, I would have sped up sooner.

Big pace groups scare the *#@^ out of this greenhorn.

(Last week I tried to get in with a friend with the big Rose Bowl group. I couldn't make myself sit in the middle of 40-50 guys (and 2-3 females) in a double/triple line at 30 mph average. I couldn't keep up when I went to the outside of the pack. I had to let them go. cluck, cluck.)

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Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.