A century?

My colleague Rich and I are up for a century tomorrow - we're training for the Dragon Ride, the thing is,  what constitutes a century in the UK today?

Are we up for the full 100 miles? or will a mere 62 miles (100 km) do?
We could do a 100 furlongs but it would be only 12 odd miles.

Hey ho we'll set off at 11 o'clock and see how far we get, my training needs are a lot less than Richards, he's signed up for numerous 24 hour mountain bike endurance races as part of the 69er Collective, the Dragon ride and not forgetting the the Etape du Tour and the Megavalanche in the same week!

By the way he needs some geeing up to succeed at all the rides he's committed to - if you sponsor him he'll have to finish every one and obviously MacMillan Cancer is a truly worthy cause.

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Update

We made it, and it was an honest full Imperial one too.

Probably the hardest thing I've done on a bike, over six hours in the saddle is tough, it was a good job we stopped for a pint at half way.

Here's the map of our ride, just in case anyone else is daft enough to give it a go.

Century Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

The Value of History

This is kinda 'The Folding Stuff' pt. 2, but really it covers something that has a wider relevance than me poking fun at an old folding bike. As I said in the earlier post, there is a story to go with the bike which started me thinking about how these stories imbue an item with more value than the mere cost of the item itself. Intrinsic v. historical value. In the video below, you get a sense of what I mean- the shop guy is looking at what the bits that make up the bike may bring in dollars, while Chad, the bike's owner reacts in a way that shows it's true value.
It happens frequently in cycling, you've probably experienced it yourself. You have an old mountain bike or road bike that took you faithfully through some tough rides or happened to be a companion in hard times. The collection of metal tubes, bearings, tyres etc, take on more value because of what both you and the bike have experienced together. If you come to sell that bike, it comes as a surprise how little someone else is willing to pay for your memories, but that's not what they're buying- they're buying the tubes and wheels and the bike has yet to take on the stories from that rider; the slate's wiped clean, ready to start again. Enjoy the video, poke fun at the odd bike but know that we all have similar stories and that someone else will return the favour.