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06-13-04, 10:21 PM
Well, Saturday was my first metric century. I rode the "Ride for Autism" in Freehold NJ. My GF and I packed up, and arrived at the start at round 9:00am. Got our maps/cue sheets, grabbed some of the free goodies and headed out. Our goal was to average 15mph (she is a marathon runner, who just recently started cycling). The first rest stop was at 16 miles, and we pulled in at just over an hour (1 hour 2 minutes). We filled up our bottles, each had a bannana, and ran into a friend who is doing the ride across america. She had her bike loaded up with 20lbs and was doing a little test ride, before she leaves on the 24th. The three of us headed out, and stayed together for about 5 miles (our friend was shooting for 14mph with the extra weight, so we rode together averaging about 13-14). Then Jen and I decided to pick up the pace a bit, and our friend wanted to slow down, so we parted ways. The freebie snacks were these new Powerbar bites, and I have to say, they arent suited well for riding. I'd rather just have one big bar to chew on, then have to go digging through a bag trying to grab the last few bites!! :) At about the 30 mile mark, there were 4 or 5 miles of slight climbing (nothing huge, but just enough to slow us down a bit) and a 8-10mph head wind.
We didnt see much of anyone until we hit the 40 mile rest stop. We pulled in at just over 2 1/2 hours, and stopped briefly to water up, and have another snack. We left with a group of 6 or 7. Jen was feeling great, and I was feeling like I needed to let my legs run a little, so she latched on behind me, and I pulled us along at about 18-20mph for 10 or so miles, before she wanted to slow down a bit. At the 52 mile mark, there was a third rest stop that we decided to ride through. The directions were pretty bad at this point, and we made a wrong turn, and went a good mile out of our way. We got back on track, and rode the rest of the way in. We pulled into the finish in just under 3 hours and 50 minutes, averaging about 16.5mph.
I was very impressed by Jen. She hasn't done much riding at all, but seemed natural on the bike. She has been riding once a week for the past month and a half or so (starting with a 20 mile ride, building it up each weekend, to 45 miles a couple weeks ago) but she was pretty strong the whole way. It was a very fun experience for us both!
-Mark
P.S. A good buddy of mine did the imperial century, and solo'd it in 4:55.. Guess it was a great day of riding for all!!! :D
We didnt see much of anyone until we hit the 40 mile rest stop. We pulled in at just over 2 1/2 hours, and stopped briefly to water up, and have another snack. We left with a group of 6 or 7. Jen was feeling great, and I was feeling like I needed to let my legs run a little, so she latched on behind me, and I pulled us along at about 18-20mph for 10 or so miles, before she wanted to slow down a bit. At the 52 mile mark, there was a third rest stop that we decided to ride through. The directions were pretty bad at this point, and we made a wrong turn, and went a good mile out of our way. We got back on track, and rode the rest of the way in. We pulled into the finish in just under 3 hours and 50 minutes, averaging about 16.5mph.
I was very impressed by Jen. She hasn't done much riding at all, but seemed natural on the bike. She has been riding once a week for the past month and a half or so (starting with a 20 mile ride, building it up each weekend, to 45 miles a couple weeks ago) but she was pretty strong the whole way. It was a very fun experience for us both!
-Mark
P.S. A good buddy of mine did the imperial century, and solo'd it in 4:55.. Guess it was a great day of riding for all!!! :D