General Cycling Discussion - my first century

We had a 100+ mile group ride planned for several weeks. We would all leave the bike shop (20 people planned on going), with a support van behind us, and ride to another city, in which we would eat dinner, pack the bikes up and take them back to the bike shop, riders as well. We started off on our trek at 8am yesterday morning. Awesome weather, slightly overcast and cool. The fall colors were almost in peak, so it was beautiful. The ride was off to a nice start.

Nice that is up until I got a flat tire around mile 30. I didn't have a repair kit or pump, but luckily about everyone else in the group of 10 other riders did. So two guys raced to repair my flat while I watched thinking to myself "isn't it great when I didn't even have to say anything, two people just jumped at the chance to repair my flat?"

Well, fixed the flat and pedaled about 1 more mile into a gas station parking lot to regroup with the other riders that didn't have a flat. Looked at my tire and it seemed a bit low, pulled out the floor pump, put some air in it and realized that the tire was slashed. It was a GP 3000... only saw about 350 miles *sigh*. Replaced the tube and tire... back on the road. Well that was until I had a low speed crash in the parking lot. Did a nice little number to my shifters, but they still work. So back on the road.

About 15 miles later I somehow ran into a ditch. How? I don't know, probably looking at the ditch while thinking to myself "I really don't want to ride into that ditch." And since I was looking at it and thinking that, I did.

Then we stopped at another gas station... when I was adjusting my shorts I somehow ripped them. Now the chamois is only half connected inside the shorts. Great.

Around mile 55 I saw the support van pass me, with a nice trail of behind. I make it to the van and see a nice pile of blood... er I mean transmission fluid. It decided to give up the ghost so that means... 1) no support vehical 2) no way to get from our destination back to bike shop

I ride and catch up with the front of the pack at mile 84 who had no idea we had van problems. We decide to call it a day and end up calling some people to come get us to give us a ride back. One of which was my mother, who drove about 1:30 hrs one way to pick us up, then another 1:15 to drop us off. Moms rock.

I'm disappointed that I didn't get to make my first century, because I felt ready to go, not tired at all. I was also disappointed we didn't make it to our desitination because that's what kept me going the whole way... all you can eat catfish dinner!

Better luck next time. Chalk it up to one of those days!
You know I hear the same thing and have seen the same thing with Conti 3000GP's all the time. They have fragile casings. I keep telling people they are race-only tires and I see alot of them with cut sidewalls.

Next time, get the Conti Armadillios. They are, as the name suggests, tough.

I hope you get on the century soon. I feel like the toughest spot for beginners comes around the 60-70 mile point. After that, you will be ok.

Hey, next time bring a tube and CO2 cartridge!
What kind of shorts do you wear? Sounds odd to have them fall apart like that.

Wow...talk about bad karma! dude! I had to laugh when you went into the ditch..I do the same thing!!! "i don't want to go there ..or I don't want to catch my tire on that ledge...and BOOM I do it!"
Next time you can do it. Sign up for an organized ride sometime. It's a great way to complete a century..lots of support and food along the way.
Sarah

Originally posted by RacerX
... You know I hear the same thing and have seen the same thing with Conti 3000GP's all the time. They have fragile casings.
I had a pair of Contis blow out as well. Switched back to Michelins and have been happy ever since.

Originally posted by RacerX
Better luck next time. Chalk it up to one of those days!
You know I hear the same thing and have seen the same thing with Conti 3000GP's all the time. They have fragile casings. I keep telling people they are race-only tires and I see alot of them with cut sidewalls.
yeah I can see that! only reason I had them on there was because they came with the bike.

I hope you get on the century soon. I feel like the toughest spot for beginners comes around the 60-70 mile point. After that, you will be ok.
I didn't have any problems other than a sore knee which would act up only going up hills. Other than that I felt like I could have gone forever. at 84 miles, I know I could have gone another 25 or more.

Hey, next time bring a tube and CO2 cartridge!
What kind of shorts do you wear? Sounds odd to have them fall apart like that.
Already bought co2, pump, tubes, patches, and little bag to go under the saddle!
I had the 8 panel shorts from pricepoint. seem like a good short but I kept having to pull on the back to keep them from riding foward. I just pulled in the wrong spot one too many times and wripped the stiching out. they are fixable, if i knew how to sew.

Originally posted by Bbmoozer
Wow...talk about bad karma! dude! I had to laugh when you went into the ditch..I do the same thing!!! "i don't want to go there ..or I don't want to catch my tire on that ledge...and BOOM I do it!"
Next time you can do it. Sign up for an organized ride sometime. It's a great way to complete a century..lots of support and food along the way.
Sarah

Yeah that's good advice! I've always ridden solo until this group ride. It was so much fun to ride in a pack. Talk about going fast with not much effort. I think I'll try and do an MS ride the next one that comes up

Ritalin,
If you have to tug at your shorts or if they are slipping forward than they are not good shorts. 8 panel is good but it sounds like the wrong pair of shorts for you.
Try some online stores and get some Castelli, Pearl Izumi or Voler shorts. Not the cheap ones but look in the $80-$130 range retail. They are usually on sale so you can probably get them for $50-$90.

If you haven't tried bib shorts, I will highly recommend them as well. They are the most comfortable.

I will highly recommend the Castelli bib shorts with progetto Y chamois.

Believe me, they will seem cheap once you try them. Total comfort and they will last longer than the cheap shorts.