Current Century Challenge Standings 2008
About the Challenge
                         
"One who seeks out new challenges; shows dedication towards a goal; and has the courage, desire, and endurance to succeed."
                       		This is the Big Dog Credo, as stated by UltraBigDog Wayne Hanno at the beginning of the year 2000. The Big Dogs had existed as a small cadre of endurance cyclists in eastern Iowa and Central Illinois for several years. They had been riding together through Iowa and Illinois, across Texas' Hill country and in the French classic brevet Paris - Brest - Paris.
But it was in the fall of 1999 - near the end of the 20th century that the first Big Dog Y2K Century Challenge was issued! The idea was simple, a bit unusual perhaps, but as it turned out, it was an idea whose time had come. No one is certain just who first put it in words, but it was Wayne that made it public. A short paragraph in a local cycling newsletter challenged cyclists in Iowa and Illinois to ride a century a month for every month of the year 2000!

Fourteen riders met the challenge that year, and a tradition was born. In 2001 the rule requiring that only rides done in Iowa and Illinois was removed, and Big Dogs from several other states joined the pack. The number of 100 mile rides and the number of riders increased and the Century Challenge was established. For 2002, the goals of the Big Dogs remain generally the same. To promote long distance cycling! The Big Dogs are not a bike club per se, we are a loose knit group of riders who seek out challenges and share the experience. The degree of the challenge is up to you. Test yourself,sign up now. You won't regret it!
 
Century Challenge Rules
 To complete the Big Dogs Century Challenge for a year the rider must ride at least one 100 mile ride per month for the entire calendar year. Simple in concept, but sometimes not so easy to carry out!
  • The Big Dogs year is a 12 month calendar year starting January 1 and ending December 31 of the same year. Riding a century a month from October to October of the next year - though an admirable feat, does not count as an official year of centuries.
  • Registration on the Big Dogs website is required to log miles, and centuries. This is a free registration open to any one over 18 years of age.
  • Centuries must be logged on the Big Dogs website to be recognized as official Century Challenge events.
  • Century Challenge rides are done on the honor system. We do not require proof of the completion of a century.
  • Challenges to logged centuries may be submitted to the webmaster. It is up to the webmaster to decide if a century that is disputed is, in fact, a illegitimate entry. Since most rides are accepted at face value, it requires a preponderance of evidence to disqualify a logged ride. Although there is generally a certain amount of competitiveness in the Century Challenge, the challenge is a personal one and the primary challenge is to oneself.
  • A "day" in this context is a single 24 hour period. This timespan can extend into more than one day (midnight to midnight) but we discourage riders from taking advantage of the rule to ride 50 miles one afternoon and the second 50 on the morning of the next day. That scenario represents two 50 mile rides, not a single century. The reason for allowing the overlap, is to accomodate riders that ride at night, past midnight.
  • Our position is that, whenever possible, a century should be completed as a single ride, not broken up in segments, and definitely not into consecutive days. In the case of solo personal Centuries this is not enforceable, and we assume that Big Dogs will adhere to the spirit of the rule, and not take advantage of it.
  • A century is a 100 mile bike ride as recorded on a properly calibrated cycle-computer, odometer or GPS device - or a 100 mile ride on a course is known to be at least 100 miles.
  • All Big Dog centuries must be completed using non-motorized, human powered cycles. In general, all types of human-powered cycles are legal. This includes road and mountain bikes, tandems, recumbent cycles and hand cycles. Tandem Riders accumulate points independent of their tandem partners. This allows a rider to ride with different partners and to ride solo rides, without having to maintain separate records for each.
  • In 2008 we are changing one rule - in the past, a single century has been awarded for a ride over 100 miles regardless of the actual distance of the ride. In other words, a 100 mile ride was awarded one century and a 200 mile ride was awarded a single century. There was, originally, some sort of rational for this, but we are changing the calculation starting in 2008 to award centuries based on the total distance of the ride, divided by 100, any remainder is discarded. So, a 200 mile ride will finally = 2 centuries!
  • Awards or prizes are not a part of the Challenge, and are presented soley at the discretion of the Big Dogs webmaster and the owners of our parent LLC, Ultra Midwest, LLC.
  • The results of yearly Century Challenges will be published on the Big Dogs web site in January of the year following the Challenge.