Put on by Jacksonville's North Florida Bicycle Club, this century draws over 400 riders. Many do shorter routes, so the first arriving century riders find the parking lot significantly emptied on their return. The high school cafeteria staff provide a finishing spaghetti lunch, complete with watermelon. The century route is mostly flat, with a few rollers in Georgia between St George and Folkston. The large lead pack outran the support, arriving in Folkston before the food!
A community sponsored ride, with over 115 volunteers spread over the scenic rural course. It seemed that there was a rest stop every ten miles (the 25 mile stop was the third on the route)! In their second year, turnout was near 150. There was cafeteria spaghetti at the end, plus showers were available in the gym. This is a good warmup ride for the Gainesville rides, being so well supported and so close to town.
I didn't get to this one this year, but I can tell you from previous year's that "Hilly" is a very accurate description!
This was the fastest and the wettest century of the fall. The conditions did not slow down the lead pack, which used the tail winds to average over 23 mph over the first half century. A lead group, riding non-stop, then worked hard to finish the century in 4:24, several minutes faster than any of the other centuries in this list. This is probably the best century route of the bunch.
A traditionally fast ride, this year saw a slow start as few riders wanted to work into the moderate headwind during the first quarter century. The pace picked up after 40 miles, but by then the hills took their toll on the speed of the lead riders (and everyone else). I took full advantage of the best overall rest stop spread available in Florida.
This ride goes to the north of Mt Dora, up into the Ocala National Forest, and then winds through residential and farming areas, and some city bypasses. This year it was almost as wet as the Santa Fe, but loses because it wasn't raining when we started. The lead bunch settled into a moderate but not fast pace for the first 70 miles, even stopping en masse at a rest stop. Then the pace picked up and the attrition started. I was off when the pace went to a steady 28 mph. Mt Dora's biggest fast paced ride of the weekend is probably the Friday Battle of Buck Hill ride, which starts fast, and gets faster when it hits the hills.
The patch has one spelling, the t-shirt the other. Put on by the Spacecoast Freewheelers, this is a good scenic ride if you are doing it in touring mode. But the traffic, stoplights, twists, and turns make it a nightmare for the fast group. The fast riders on the Spacecoast do not know the meaning of "right of way." Support for the ride was good, and there were sandwiches for lunch at the end of the ride.
A production of Orlando's Florida Freewheelers, this challenging ride turns out over 400 riders. There are plenty of large hills to provide a challenge for the first 30 miles, before the terrain flattens out to allow you to rebuild your average speed. But the hills build toward the end of the century, culminating with a steep climb up to the Citrus Tower. This century wins the award for the best single rest stop in Florida. Around the 90 mile mark is the Oasis. For five miles previous, riders pass "Burma Shave" style signs enticing them to keep going as relief was just ahead. At the Oasis, they were greeted by waiters in formal attire with tablecloth covered pedestals sporting demitasse cookies and a champagne fountain, while being serenaded with violin music.
Other centuries for which we have no report were the South Broward Wheelers Century, Assault on Sugarloaf, Spaghetti 100, Lake Okeechobee Lark, and the Sea Side Century. Florida is the place to be to ride fall centuries!