Kid-Cycle
10-20-07, 09:22 PM
Attempted my first century today and bailed at 62 miles. I have some excuses but basically I did not train enough and didn't hydrate properly. I went with a neighbor and his friend who are some pretty good cycles and have several century's under their belts. I had been training by riding a many 40 to 50 mile rides and when time didn't permit I would ride 20 to 30 miles. I was feeling pretty good about things and also talked to the guys I was riding with and we agreed to a pace of 15 mph so that we could pace ourselves.
Started out this morning, beautiful day, at 7:30 am and after a couple of miles all of a sudden "let's just catch the group in front of us" started happening. We caught every group and then passed them and on to the next group. We were riding 18 min and mostly 20 mph for the first 25 miles to the first rest stop. We take off and then we are riding into a headwind and hit some rolling hills. I had some food and a gu and thought that would be fine. Apparently not, all of a sudden my legs started cramping as I approached the second rest stop at mile 42. We took off and continued fightin more headwinds and more rolling hills which began to fill like real hills. By the time I reached the lunch stop at mile 62 my calfs, quads, and hamstrings were cramping as well as my stomach (I don't think cytomax and gu's suit me well).
Anyway, at the lunch stop the last thing I wanted to do was eat and thats when I quit :mad: because the next part of the ride was 8 miles up cardiac hill and my legs were toast.
On the way to the finish line in the sag vehicle the driver asked me how much water I drank. I said "I drank enough" and then she asked me if I ever had to pee during the first 60 miles. I said "no" and she told me I was cramping from dehydration not a lack of salt or electrolites.:(
I'm a little disapointed I didn't make the century but I guess I can say I completed a metric century:).
Anyway, I can't really blame my shortcoming on my partners, it was my own fault for not training more and for not falling back and riding with a group that rode at a pace I could maintain for 100 miles.
I do plan to go out to where I stopped and ride from there to the finish line just to do it and then I will train harder/better for my next century and I will definately start drinking more water on my rides.
I was not looking forward to posting a dnf for my first century attempt but hey, at least I feel comfortable enough to share with my fellow clydes/athenas.:o
PS there was a pretty good showing of clydes and athenas who looked to be doing quite well through the century.
Started out this morning, beautiful day, at 7:30 am and after a couple of miles all of a sudden "let's just catch the group in front of us" started happening. We caught every group and then passed them and on to the next group. We were riding 18 min and mostly 20 mph for the first 25 miles to the first rest stop. We take off and then we are riding into a headwind and hit some rolling hills. I had some food and a gu and thought that would be fine. Apparently not, all of a sudden my legs started cramping as I approached the second rest stop at mile 42. We took off and continued fightin more headwinds and more rolling hills which began to fill like real hills. By the time I reached the lunch stop at mile 62 my calfs, quads, and hamstrings were cramping as well as my stomach (I don't think cytomax and gu's suit me well).
Anyway, at the lunch stop the last thing I wanted to do was eat and thats when I quit :mad: because the next part of the ride was 8 miles up cardiac hill and my legs were toast.
On the way to the finish line in the sag vehicle the driver asked me how much water I drank. I said "I drank enough" and then she asked me if I ever had to pee during the first 60 miles. I said "no" and she told me I was cramping from dehydration not a lack of salt or electrolites.:(
I'm a little disapointed I didn't make the century but I guess I can say I completed a metric century:).
Anyway, I can't really blame my shortcoming on my partners, it was my own fault for not training more and for not falling back and riding with a group that rode at a pace I could maintain for 100 miles.
I do plan to go out to where I stopped and ride from there to the finish line just to do it and then I will train harder/better for my next century and I will definately start drinking more water on my rides.
I was not looking forward to posting a dnf for my first century attempt but hey, at least I feel comfortable enough to share with my fellow clydes/athenas.:o
PS there was a pretty good showing of clydes and athenas who looked to be doing quite well through the century.