Almost all—but not all—spring century rides have been cancelled or converted into virtual events where you do a ride on your own; some are entertaining postponing their rides to the fall and the result is a very dense selection of events in September and October. Postponing is risky because the future state of the pandemic is not easy to predict. Will stay-at-home orders and social distancing still be in effect in the Bay Area and will local governing bodies refuse to give out permits for large events? Club or organization volunteers also need to feel safe enough to be willing to staff an event involving a lot of social contact.
The prospect of centuries during the summer is more likely than spring but that still doesn’t mean clubs are fully committing to hosting their rides. Despite problems with vaccine distribution approximately 2.5 million Californians, or about 6% of the state, has received at least one shot, which will provide them with at least partial protection. Those folks will receive their second shot within weeks if not already. It’s also good news that the current approved vaccines are providing some protection against the known variants such as the UK, Brazil, and South African. We can expect vaccinations to accelerate with more FDA approvals and the distribution system to improve with time. Even at the roughly current rate of about 6% per month, by end of June only about 40% of the state will be vaccinated; by end of September about 60% of the state will have been vaccinated, which is getting close to herd immunity. So things are looking good for fall. (But we thought the same last year and were blindsided by a surge in early summer.) The tricky one is summer: will the threat have abated enough that rides can proceed? These clubs and organizations have more time to ponder their future, so we may be pleasantly surprised come June with open events.
To view the current status of spring and early summer centuries, go to an earlier post. I’ll try to keep this post updated as I have the earlier one.
?Saturday, June 26: Giro Bello. No word yet. Rescheduled to Saturday, September 25. Registration to open on June 1. Due to the conflict with the Wine Country Century, the events have been combined. See listing for Wine Country Century below for details. SOLD OUT.
Saturday July 17: Death Ride. $169-149. Registration is open.
Saturday July 17 to Sunday July 25: Santa Cruz Mountain Challenge. 127, 102, 45 mi and 100k routes. Will either be cancelled or a virtual event. The 2020 CZU fire damaged sections of the routes. 100- and 50-mile options. Now a virtual event; registration is open. No fee but donations appreciated.
Saturday July 17: Fall River Challenge. No word yet. 200k, 100-mile, 100k & 25 mile routes. $75-50. In 2020 this century was postponed from 6/14 to 7/18 and actually took place. Registration is open. Limited to 500 riders plus no more than 100 day-of-event registrations.?Saturday August 7Saturday October 2: Marin Century. The sponsoring club, Marin Cyclists, is not yet hosting rides of any sort and the Marin is not on their club calendar. Unlikely to happen. Now calendared for October 2! Registration is open now. 122-, 96-, 86- 51- and 26-mile routes. $130-$90.
Saturday August 7: Cool Breeze Century. 30-, 60-, 100-, hilly 100-, and 125-mile routes. $95. Registration is open. No Class II or III e-bikes!
?August: Crater Lake Century. 100 or 62 mi. No word yet. CANCELLED
?August: Tour of Napa. No word yet. CANCELLEDSaturday Sept. 11 & 18: Ride The Rim. 33 mi. Registration is open, free but $10+ donation encouraged. Sponsored by Crater Lake National Park, Friends of Crater Lake, and the Klamath Visitors Bureau. About two-thirds of the route is car free. “POSTPONED to 2022” (ie. cancelled!)
Saturday September 11: Best Buddies Challenge. 100, 62, 30, 15 mi. Raise $1,550 ($50 reg fee) reg is open. Event is capped at 50% capacity compared to previous iterations. POSTPONED TO OCTOBER 30.Saturday September 11: Mammoth Gran Fondo. $99-79. 102-, 70-, and 42-mile routes. Reg is open. Somewhat far away but riding on the eastern Sierra is scenic. CANCELLED.
?Saturday September 11: Tour de Fuzz. $79-99. 50-, 100k-, and 100-mile routes. No info yet except you can reserve a spot without paying. Registration is now open. Limit of 1,300 riders. SOLD OUT.
Saturday September 11: : Gold Country Cycling Challenge. 100, 100k, 42 mi, 10 mi. $90-70; reg open now. Postponed from June.
Sunday September 12: Eroica California. $220-150. Rescheduled from April. Registration is not open yet. Registration is open now. SUPPOSEDLY CANCELLED but website not updated as of 9/1. CANCELLED. Next Eroica is 4/29/22.
Sunday September 12: Grizzly Peak Century. 50-, 75-, and 100-mile routes. $75. Rescheduled from May. Also a virtual ride from August 28-September 11. Registration is not yet open. Limit of 1,000 riders. CANCELLED; next one is May 1, 2022.
Saturday September 25: Lighthouse Century. 100-, 75- and 45-mile routes. $75-85. Tentatively scheduled; final decision to be made by June 1 whether to cancel. Limit of 1,000. Registration is now open. SOLD OUT.
Saturday September 25: Wine Country Century. 50k, 100k and 100-mile routes. $100-75. Rescheduled from May. Now combined with the Giro Bello. SOLD OUT.
Saturday October 16: Tour delle Vigne. $55. 30k and 60k. Rescheduled from May. Registration is open.Saturday October 2: Best of the Bay. Double century through the East Bay hills and Diablo valley. No information yet except the date. CANCELLED. Next one is October 1, 2022.Saturday October 2: Konocti Challenge. 100-, 85-, 65-, 40- and 20-mile routes. $90-40. Reg is open. This is the last time the Konocti Challenge will be offered. CANCELLED
October 7-10: Sea Otter Classic. $90-115. Registration opens June 28 is open now. Rescheduled from April.
Saturday October 16: Foxy Fall Century. 100-mile, 100- and 50-k routes. $70-35. Registration will open sometime in June is open now. Capped at 1,500 riders and no day-of-event registration.
October 22-24: Campovelo. $795. Women-only version of Chris Cosentino’s velo and food event.
The Chain Letter 