Century Ride

As the free hours during my weekdays creep closer to zero, I’m finding less and less time to update this sucker. Yes, work is busy and of course the month of May is my big training month but this delay had nothing to do with those issues. I got a new phone last week and it’s taken three days just to figure out how to upload pictures and post them on my blog.

Fortunately for you readers, the new phone means I will have plenty of pictures to post during all of my fun training rides and runs so get ready!

Last Saturday I participated in my first sanctioned century ride. I’ve done a couple long stints in the saddle that got up near the 100 mile mark but never as part of a race and definitely never in an area so beautiful, and windy.

view from the starting line

I decided to sign up for this race on Wednesday of last week when I knew a few other DC tri folks were headed out there. I was already planning on hitting a 100 mile ride that weekend anyway so a race was the perfect was to get this over with AND take advantage of race support. Plus, this would allow me to push it more than I would if I was out there alone and away from any form of worst-case-scenario support.

I trekked out to the southern coast of Maryland at the fun hour of 5:00am and saddled up with 600 other riders a little past 7:00am. The race itself wasn’t competitive – no timing chips, rolling start, different distances – but I knew I was in the mood to tear up my legs so I pretended like I was competing against everyone I saw (*note: if there was a timing chip I estimate that I would have finished within the top 5 based on my “humble” observations). Also, the race scenery was very similar to Coeur D’Alene so I felt right at home. Countless miles alongside the water and through a huge wildlife refuge made for amazing riding but also some fun stories.

The first 80 miles were fairly uneventful. Because it was a rolling start, I probably passed 200-300 riders that started before me. Most were recreational and only a few were riding tri-bikes or riding in fast pelotons. Either way, I was cranking some serious watts and averaging over 22 mph. The scenery made for nice views but also made for hours of solitude that caused my mind to go crazy. I can only think about so many things while riding before I need some entertainment. Lucky for me, that was provided around mile 75. As I was passing a few long stretches of farm land, I heard some odd noises coming from my right hand side. When I looked over, I noticed two young deer chasing each other at the same pace I was riding at – talk about beautiful. Well, that is until after about ten seconds of that, the lead deer decided to speed up and make a run for the road. Holy #@!$, this was not good. The deer jumped about 5-6 feet in front of me and I slammed on the brakes and struggled to stay on the bike. “No way did that just happen!” I’ve never come close to hitting a deer while driving and now I almost get in a crash while on my bike.

the view from the aid station at mile 38

crowded aid station at mile 49

gorgeous scenery along the ride

After checking all my vitals and making sure my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, I continued on to the last pit stop. The mile 80 aid station was serving banana splits but I wasn’t having any part of that after hours upon hours of training so I refilled my bottles, grabbed a couple gels and moved on to finish the day. 20 miles? No problem.

Ugh, the ten miles between 80 and 90 were the absolute worst miles of my life. My back started aching, my neck was in knots, every road seemed like a false-flat and, worst of all, the infamous eastern shore winds decided to kick in. I felt like I was biking backwards. The miles ticked away at a snail pace and I didn’t see a single person or car for 45 minutes. I was in cycling hell. I kept telling myself that come June 28th, I’ll have moments where I’m feeling much worse so I need to push through this but really I just wanted to quit.

Fortunately, I somehow managed to make it through that brutal stretch and coast to the finish. My legs felt fine afterwards so I immediately dashed over to the post race spread and cut to the back of the line. Forget the chips, sandwiches, and sides, I was headed straight for the dessert table.

Ugh, the ten miles between 80 and 90 were the absolute worst miles of my life. My back started aching, my neck was in knots, every road seemed like a false-flat and, worst of all, the infamous eastern shore winds decided to kick in. I felt like I was biking backwards. The miles ticked away at a snail pace and I didn’t see a single person or car for 45 minutes. I was in cycling hell. I kept telling myself that come June 28th, I’ll have moments where I’m feeling much worse so I need to push through this but really I just wanted to quit.

Fortunately, I somehow managed to make it through that brutal stretch and coast to the finish. My legs felt fine afterwards so I immediately dashed over to the post race spread and cut to the back of the line. Forget the chips, sandwiches, and sides, I was headed straight for the dessert table.

guess how many of these I ate after the race