Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - My first century

Two and a half month ago I started training for Vätternrundan (http://www.vatternrundan.se/default.aspx?lang=1), a 300 km ride.
On my first day of training I rode 15 km and was exhausted. I remember looking at my bike computer after the first five kilometers, thinking that I just had to stop and rest. Even considering that my bike had studded tires and a 42/19 fixed gear I knew I was in bad shape. Knowing that I used to be pretty fast twenty years ago didn't really help things either. :p

Last weekend I rode my longest training ride yet. 171 km/106 miles. It felt good, even when I had to face a nasty headwind the last 50 km. Despite that wind, the ride took me six hours, 21 minutes to complete.

I just wanted to boast a little :)

/s-o

congrats!

that's a hell of a fast time for your first century too.

Heck yeah! That's a really good time for your first one. What was the terrain like (hills, etc.)?

I've done 3 so far this year, and my worst was my first one, which took me over 8 hours and had the least climbing of the 3!

Congrats are certainly in order. 6 hours 21 mins sure is impressive for a first. I did my first century recently and it was over an hour slower than yours.

Thanks, everyone!

According to my Garmin Edge 305, I climbed slightly over 1000 meters that day, but that's not really a good measurement. Given enough small hills, the vertical meters seem to add up even on rides without real climbing.

I've attached the height curve for the ride up to the turning point at 85.5 km. As you can see, there is some climbing up to the 54 km mark, but the only real problem with those hills was that the wind increased enough in the afternoon that I couldn't just bomb down the hills on my way back. I had really been looking forward to doing that. :p

/s-o