Road Cycling - My First Century

3 Years , 11 months and 21 days ago, I woke up in a CCU unit after by-pass heart surgery. As I recovered, I made a decision that I would do everything possible to prevent a reoccurance.
Besides cardiac rehab at the hospital, I took up bike riding. I first purchased a mountain bike and rode it around the neighborhood. Then about 2 years ago, I bought a road bike and started some real adventures - a whole 20 miles sometimes. A friend talked me into riding in a rally with him and I was hooked.
Since then, I've ridden several metric centuries and try to get in 75-80 miles a week.
I wanted to do a 100 miler and I selected today, MY 60TH BIRTHDAY for the adventure.
I left the house this morning at 4:45 AM (to beat the heat and the morning traffic) and finished at 1:45 PM - 100.23 total miles. Actual saddle time was 6:49 - 14.6 MPH average- not as good as I would like but I had a head wind on the way in. A good friend rode with me part way and my wife met me a several places along the route to replenish gatorade, water and snacks. It was really hard for the last 20 miles but I kept churning and finished. I'm very tired now but looking forward to my next ride.

Wow! Congrats! Don't worry about the time so much. For your first time, just be happy to have finished!

Congratulations, Jaws. I hope to get my first century done sometime early next year. Reading success stories such as yours inspires me toward that goal.

haha! My first century (three months ago) averaged 13.8mph.

Congrats old man!

*mumbles something about the old dude being significantly faster* :D

That's awesome! Congrats. You story is very inspiring!

Good job! Sounds like you have a very supportive, albiet probably concerned about your well being spouse. Which is nice to hear.

I can relate in a small way. My family has a history of heart related health problems most of which could be related to lifestyle. My dad had a heart attack a 25 which put him in a coma for a week! I swore very early in life up and down that I would not allow my lifestyle to be a factor in my heart health. I almost failed. I remember being 22 and feeling chest pains which went away after a few minutes. I was a little scared and did not go to a doctor for sometime afterwards to get myself checked out. My blood cholesterol was threw the roof, I was 30lbs overweight and in poor physical health. So I started working out, rollerblading to work whatever to get back into shape and laid off the single guy takeout food. Today, I think I'm doing o.k. I would like to loose some weight however, I commute 40 km everyday, and on the weekends do my regular metric century. One day, I'm gonna do that full on Imperial Century. I just figure I'll do it during a vacation week in case I totally blow up! I just got a jolt of motivation though.

Sorry, I didn't want to hijack your thread. Good for you and schedule another one really soon.

Congrats Jaws!

Congrats from a 64 (almost 65) yo, who also did his first century about 5 years ago.

Good job, and GOOD TIME!

Very fortunately, I didn't have to have a heart attack to get into biking at age 58! Hope the non-heart-attack mode continues. :D

congrats

Great job! I probably won't get 100 miles this week.

Well done!

Excellent Job!!!! great motivation

If I'm doing centuries when I reach my 60th birthday (still a long ways off for me) I'm going to be mighty pleased with myself no matter how fast or slow I go. Congratulations and thanks for the inspiration.

woooohoooooo! and congrats!
very nice story of recovery and kicking some @ss on something that you could have let drag you down.
as has been said, if I'm anywhere near 60 and still riding like that I'm going to feel like a champ.
as you should.

Congrats on the ride. :bday:

jaws, thanks for the inspiring thread. A great accomplishment!!!! Keep up the good work and happy trails. David

Congrats on your 60th birthday and your century!

Looks like an annual tradition is born! Great job!

OUTSTANDING!! Happy birthday and many more.

As the 10th was my 50th birthday, your posting got my attention! I'm getting ready for my first century in November, or possibly October. I did 70 miles last Saturday & my pace was about the same as yours (15mph ave). Just under 6 hours total time, 4 hrs 41 min riding time, with a good share of stoplights. You shouldn't feel bad at all about your time. I haven't had any serious health problems so hopefully the time on my bike will help keep them away. Keep up the hard work!

Excellent job on the ride and congrats on the birthday!!

I bet you were a little worried about the temps during the planning stages for your century. It's a pretty good chance of being over 100 on Aug 10 in Plano! But you _only_ had to deal with a high of 97* :D

Awesome story, makes me wanna get off the computer and go ride right now!

Way to go!
Joe

very nice maybe ill do that one day........

My bike computer has a built in thermometer and the last time I looked it was 103. That was about 1:00PM and I didn't want to know if it got any hotter.


Thanks to everyone for the positive replies.

My bike computer has a built in thermometer and the last time I looked it was 103. That was about 1:00PM and I didn't want to know if it got any hotter.



haha, I sometimes wonder how much hotter it is at road level on a bike than what is reported on the "official" sites. Then my next thought is I really don't want to know ;) All I need to know on my afternoon commutes is that it feels like I am riding into a hair dryer!

Congratulations jaws! Here's to a first of many centuries...

Congratulations. What an impressive comeback!!!

Man, that's great! Centuries are quite a feat and much more fun with a bunch of riders. Keep it up!

haha, I sometimes wonder how much hotter it is at road level on a bike than what is reported on the "official" sites. Then my next thought is I really don't want to know ;) All I need to know on my afternoon commutes is that it feels like I am riding into a hair dryer!

and with all that concrete it feels like an oven with all the heat coming from below...thank goodness we had a 'cold' front come through here in DFW and the highs are around 82 ... makes rides a he!! of a lot more fun...

Good for you! What an inspiration.