Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Just rode my first century

From Montreal to Petit Lac Magog past Ste-Catherine de Hatley (Quebec) on my Surly LHT.

So, here's my question: Any of you experience a discouraging feeling during your first century? I felt like I wouldn't make it around kilometers 90 (mile ~55) to km 110 (mile ~70). Seems like once I reached mile 70, I realized I was almost 3/4 done and all went better from there (even though the terrain was increasingly harder). I suppose I felt like crap when I realized that the remaining distance was still pretty long and that I was starting to feel the effects of the first half...

Anyways, I'm really glad I stuck to it and got it done. I wasn't sure if it was realistic but in the end, I feel ok, yet very tired. It was a very hot and humid day. Would I do it again, yes... but not tomorrow!

Yep ... that's normal. Eating helps, but doing even longer distances helps a lot. :)

I frequently feel better at 65-70 than I do at 40-45. I don't know why, but it seems to be a consistent pattern. After 75 miles I can convince myself I'm almost home...

I know what you mean... It's best not to think about how far you've ridden, at least until mile 80 or so. By then, I'm usually commited to the century simply because I'm at least twenty miles from home.

I sometimes enter "the weird zone" at about that distance, where I start rationalizing trading my bike for a microwave burrito and a Mountain Dew...

Absolutely make sure you eat & drink enough on a long ride... You're going to expend 4,500 or more calories,
you can afford to eat a couple of bagels or energy bars.

My own secret weapon is a Snickers bar at or around the 90 mile mark. It gives me something to look forward to, and the sugar rush will get me through the next 10 - 15 miles, easy.

From Montreal to Petit Lac Magog past Ste-Catherine de Hatley (Quebec) on my Surly LHT.

So, here's my question: Any of you experience a discouraging feeling during your first century? I felt like I wouldn't make it around kilometers 90 (mile ~55) to km 110 (mile ~70). Seems like once I reached mile 70, I realized I was almost 3/4 done and all went better from there (even though the terrain was increasingly harder). I suppose I felt like crap when I realized that the remaining distance was still pretty long and that I was starting to feel the effects of the first half...

Anyways, I'm really glad I stuck to it and got it done. I wasn't sure if it was realistic but in the end, I feel ok, yet very tired. It was a very hot and humid day. Would I do it again, yes... but not tomorrow!

Good on ya! You are now an offical Long Distance Cyclist. :thumb:

I have yet to do a long ride (century or longer) where I DIDN'T have that feeling at some point. It comes with the territory. After all, "It isn't really an adventure if you don't at least once wish you were somewhere else." And, as you found, you CAN get through it.

Scott P
Bend, OR

Usually somewhere ranging between Mile 55 and Mile 75 I'd be willing to sell my bike really cheap! :thumb: I had been training running 75-80 mile runs, I had chalked it up to that's what my body was calling "the end" as a result. Good to know that it's not just me. Seems like in that range though, my shorts are uncomfortable, by saddle feels like a butt hatchet, and I begin to challenge my own sanity!:lol:

-R

Nice to know that other people go through the same thing. I guess I'll know what to expect the next time I do it. Hopefully, it will be easier. One thing I'll do though, is go to bed earlier, because I only slept 4 hours the night before the ride. That can't have helped.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

Absolutely. I've got a section-by-section report w/pics on my first century this past weekend at bikebeagle.blogspot.com (http://bikebeagle.blogspot.com), and despite lots of training, I was starting down into the doldrums around mile 45.

Absolutely. I've got a section-by-section report w/pics on my first century this past weekend at bikebeagle.blogspot.com (http://bikebeagle.blogspot.com), and despite lots of training, I was starting down into the doldrums around mile 45.
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who calls them the doldrums. :)

As others have stated once you do enough centuries this goes away. Usually it's eating and drinking correctly. Some of it is mental, which is why once you realize you've already done most of the work and have only a little to go the problem goes away.

Congratulations on your first Century.

I can remember how wiped out I felt on my first Century. I waited years to ride another, and that one was a bear, too. But that second one let me see that so much of the difficulty of the ride existed in my mind.

Now, because I know I can ride a hundred miles, even with as little as a couple of weeks of training, they seem much easier each time I ride one than that first century. For me, there's always a wonderful sense of accomplishment at the end of 100 miles, and almost always along with that feeling is another - that I'm sorry the ride is over.

Nice to know that other people go through the same thing. I guess I'll know what to expect the next time I do it. Hopefully, it will be easier. One thing I'll do though, is go to bed earlier, because I only slept 4 hours the night before the ride. That can't have helped.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

When I'm upping my distance, or have a hard course ahead of me, I can never get more than about 3 - 4 hours of sleep the night before. (I typically function on 5 - 6 hours, though.) I slept 4.5 hours before my 200km a couple weekends ago. I slept 4 hours before my first 7000+ climbing century. I probably won't get more than a 3 hour nap before my double next month.

I also get slumped early on in a ride, more so if I'm riding alone. If I've got 100 miles to do, it usually happens around mile 30... then I'll start feeling better after 50, and by the time I've hit 75 I'm back up to full power because I'm in the home stretch. I do find it's easier to avoid a case of the "blahs" if you're riding with a group.

In the beginning of the season I feel a little down around mile 70 of a century. Once I get a few under my seat I no longer have the problem.I also have a similar problem around mile 160 - 180 during a double century. Of course this may be because we have a nice 20 mile section we call the doldrums. It's in the NJ Pine Barrens, usually it's in the heat of the day, in direct sun and the scenery doesn't change. Mentally this section is very tough. This year we had more humidity and we had the normal headwind that start at mile 100. Combine this together and the fact that the Pine Barrens are around mile 125 - 150 it's no wonder.

BTW, I usually only get around 2 hours sleep the night before the double century. I function fine but I slept well this year. Since I do a lot of centuries in the summer I have not problem sleeping the night before.

Exactly the same here. At about mile 40 it started raining, and I was looking at the map to work out how to cut the ride short, and really wondering if I could make it. The friend I was riding with persuaded me to keep going, and round about mile 60 it just all became doable and I realised I would make it, although there was one rather nasty hill toward the end. Before then the longest I had ever ridden in a single day was about 60-70 miles, so this was quite a jump.

It was almost a year ago, and I still look back on it with pride.

Congrats on your first century!

I suffered on my last one (second ever) on Saturday and felt like calling it quits a couple times. The climbing was harder than I was expecting and I think I went out too hard. Add to that I couldn't eat much (probably becuase I was going to hard) and that made for a painful final 10 miles or so limping in. Plus I cramped a lot (but worked through them). I only ate about a 700 calorie breakfast a couple hours before and then 2.5 bottles of cytomax (350 cal), almost one banana (100 cal), one pb&J (maybe 250 cal?) and one fig bar (65 cal). Definitely not enough.

I'm planning a 210k ride some time in the next two weeks. I am going to watch my heart rate very closely to make sure I am not working too hard (pacing) and make sure I eat enough. We'll see how it goes!

Hi JP....first, congratulations on your first century :thumb: that's am amazing accomplishment, bravo!

I experienced the same feeling as you on my first century, but it was a little later along. I rode it on an ill-fitting aluminum hybrid and I was hurting the last 20 miles or so....especially as I was getting pretty tired and we turned into a dispiriting headwind.

But, I persevered, like you did, and finished. The feeling of accomplishment was much greater (and longer lasting) than the pain I experienced.

Let us know how number two goes!

Colleen



So, here's my question: Any of you experience a discouraging feeling during your first century? I felt like I wouldn't make it around kilometers 90 (mile ~55) to km 110 (mile ~70). Seems like once I reached mile 70, I realized I was almost 3/4 done and all went better from there (even though the terrain was increasingly harder). I suppose I felt like crap when I realized that the remaining distance was still pretty long and that I was starting to feel the effects of the first half...

Anyways, I'm really glad I stuck to it and got it done. I wasn't sure if it was realistic but in the end, I feel ok, yet very tired. It was a very hot and humid day. Would I do it again, yes... but not tomorrow!