This past weekend I rode in my first century in over 12 years (Albuquerque Century). I literally got back on the road this past February. I did the metric which turned out to be 69 miles (The full century was 106) which is kinda depressing when you are looking for the finish.

Anyway the ride was good except for the two flats I got within 1 mile of the finish.

At around mile 30 there was a climb that was around 600-800 feet over a four mile stretch. Kicked my butt, but then again I am a Clyde, I was happy to get to the top without getting off the bike. What motivated me the most was the lone bag-pipers playing at about 1 mile intervals.

I have never seen anything like that before and it was really damn cool.

Unfortunately they were not on the second big climb for those doing the full century. My understanding is there was a guy with buckets of water at the top of that one though.