Fifty Plus (50+) - First Century this weekend

Well the training is done, nothing left but to do it. My first Century is this Sunday, the MN Ironman Bikeride (http://ironmanbikeride.org/).

Looks like the weather will be reasonable, with a 20% chance of showers in the morning, temps hitting the low 60's.

I plan to report success here on Monday.

HooAh!

:thumb: Have a great ride. Looking forward to seeing the ride report Monday.

Century riders stay in the saddle longer.

Bloo*y He&&!!! Hope you know what you are letting yourself in for. The milage will not be a problem- The time you do it in will be immaterial- the butt ache will be gone when you finally get off the saddle.

The problem will be how are you going to get off that high in time to go into work on Monday and let the others know that you have just done something special- and then miss all the objects that are thrown at you after you have bored them silly after 3 hours of telling them that you climbed the 10% hill and never let your speed drop- the number of younger riders that gave up at the 50 mile mark- and that you sprinted the last 5 miles to get in at underXXX Hours just to give yourself a taget for the next Century ride.:innocent:

Trainings done- relax now and water load on Saturday and DON'T FORGET THE CAMERA.

Ride slow, stand up when your butt tells you too.
Have Fun.

Wave when you pass me. I'm still trying to decide between the 66 mile or the full century. It will probably come down to what time I hit the road and the wind.

We're all looking forward to the Ride Report, with pictures. We want to know HOW YOU FEEL!

I'll be doing a century this weekend, as well (Chico Wildflower). But it's not my first.

Rules for a century-
1) Replace the electrolytes - water alone doesn't cut it.
2) Eat - maybe more than you think you need - remember, you will burn approximately 5000 cals.
3) Don't start out too quickly - pace yourself and draft when you can.

If you follow these three simple things you will most likely have a very pleasurable day.

Good luck!

I hope the weather is good and the wind is always at your back.

Have a great ride. Will the rest stops have pie?

Can't wait to here the report!

Rules for a century-
1) Replace the electrolytes - water alone doesn't cut it.
2) Eat - maybe more than you think you need - remember, you will burn approximately 5000 cals.
3) Don't start out too quickly - pace yourself and draft when you can.

If you follow these three simple things you will most likely have a very pleasurable day.

Good luck!

Sports drinks give me the runs. I stick with water. YMMV.

Stop at most or all of the rest stops and take a break. Sometimes I feel like I'm starting to sag on a century and I"m not going to make it. After a nice 20 minute break, eating good stuff, drinking water, I'm ready for another 20-30 miles.

Don't be tempted to keep up with the fast riders. I used to get excited and ambitious and rode faster than I should have. It's great for the first half of the century, but you pay in the second.

If you can find a stranger to safely ride side-by-side with and have a friendly conversation, it helps the miles go by without thinking about them.

Take it easy the next day. You earned it!

The first ones are always memorable.........

Good luck -- relax and enjoy your fitness. :thumb:

Sports drinks give me the runs. I stick with water. YMMV.

FWIW I use an electrolyte replacement - NUUN, not a typical sports drink like Gatoraide, just provides the salts. Maybe why you have that sagging feeling.
Most sports drinks make me sick to my stomach on hot days & long rides, but NUUN does not - I can use that and not get cramps.

Sports drinks give me the runs. I stick with water. YMMV.


I find that the sports drinks are often too sweet and heavily flavoured, and dilute them about 1+3 with water. The heavy flavouring and sweetness can seem to turn into a lump like you swallowed a tennis ball, and it's bouncing around in there, this is even more common if the stuff has been sitting in a bottle for a while, with the sun beating down on it, so it's almost to coffee temperature. I've tried that with Gatorade, and my stomach sent it back whence it came.... :eek:

On those sports drinks--Or additives added to water- You have to find one you like and that likes you. I have found one called Lippin and have used it for years but the taste does get through to me after about 4 bottles. You need something to get the taste out of your system and I found that a Marmite sandwich works for me. You either love or hate the stuff and I hate it. One Marmite sandwich and it disguises the taste of the Lippin for about another 3 bottles.

I don't know if the OP is going to give a report or not, but here's my take on the Ironman. Left at 6:45 AM with the temp in the low 50s and raining. Quit raining pretty quick so I took of the raincoat about 6 miles into the ride because of overheating. Made the first rest stop at 23 miles in about an hour and a half and at that point had the choice of doing a metric or the full century. Decided to do the full.

Made the 2nd rest stop at 50 miles at about 11:00. Tailwinds really help the speed. From here on it got rough. Leaving LeSeuer I had to climb out of the Minnesota River valley to the flatlands up above where I was greeted by a 20 mph crosswind at it started raining again. I got to the 3rd rest stop at 70 miles about 1:00 PM. What made it interesting is during the last leg my calfs started to tighten up. By this time it had quit raining but was blustery and cold. Made the 4th checkpoint at mile 80 around 2:00 PM. This is where the metric and full combined for the last run back to the finish.

The wind must have had some effect because the rest stop was full of people who didn't look like they were going any farther. There was a school bus loaded up with people pulling out to head back to the start and another one loading.

At this point I'm thinking 3 1/2 hours to do the last 20 miles. No sweat. I forgot two things. I'm now headed directly into the 20 mph wind and I/m climbing. From here to the finish a lot of us looked like we were suffering, and I will admit, I walked up one hill. It really helped loosen up my calfs for the rest of the ride. Finally pulled in to the start/finish at about 4:30 PM and people were still straggling in at 5:30 when everybody was supposed to be off the road.

BTW: This was my first century and the farthest I had ridden earlier this year was 50 miles. If it hadn't been for the wind it would have been a fairly easy ride.

Steve,

That was a long day. I sure hope your next century is better, I also hope the OP had a better time of it.

Steve, Sounds brutal, especially with the rain and headwind. here's to better times for the next one, even if it's next year.

Well done sir! :-)

Steve, your ride qualifies for the "Did you HTFU today?" thread. :beer:

Great Job! With the wind and temps it makes it a harder. Now you're ready for the next one.

Wow, HTFU accomplished indeed! :thumb:

That's quite a day for your first century. And only 50 miles as your longest training ride? That gives new meaning to the phrase "buns of steel"...

Steve got a lot of the basics with his report. He started in front of me, but I must have passed him up on the way. I started at about 7:00.

Light, scattered rain to start, with the wind blowing from the back crossing from right to left. Not too bad at all, just a few gusts that made you think the bike was going out sideways from under you.

After the first rest stop, the route turned so the wind was generally straight at our backs, and overall, I think we lost elevation. I know the hill outside of LeSuer was great! I hit about 38mph going down that!

Unfortunately the pain train arrived at LeSuer. Coming out of there, the wind was in our face, crossing from left to right. And the hills all seemed to be up. Roads were wet, and road spray from other bikers really made grabbing a wheel a mixed blessing. The plus here was my wife and son drove by, gave me a honk and a wave! Grunted it out to rest stop three, where the wife and son met me, gave me a cheer, and took some of the 'just in case' things that I had carried with me (balaclava, extra base layer, sunscreen.)

Wife and son took a couple drive by pictures after this, then went on to the finish. Pushed on to the 4th and final rest stop, through the wind gusts. The 4th rest stop featured hot pasta, but it seemed to me that the pasta would sit in a lump in my stomach the last leg, and just weight me down. So settled on a cup of coffee, a banana and a bag of peanut M&M's. (yum!)

The last leg was a real battle with the mind. The wind seemed to be directly in your face most of the time. It was so bad that at times you liked being at the bottom of a hill, since the hill itself blocked the wind! The odometer would say about 12 miles to go, and my speed was 12 mph. Then it would say 11 miles and my speed was down to 11mph! AKKK! But there were downhills, and a few turns so the wind moved out of the face and speed picked up a bit.

I finished!! with an average speed of about 16.5 for the event, which met my goal of at least 16.

I learned that it is really difficult to fish stuff out of the back pocket of the jersey, from under the jacket, while wearing full finger gloves. I found that putting some chews under the cuff of said gloves made it a lot easier to get them out when I needed some. I probably didn't hydrate enough while on the road, a combination of the coolness, and struggle against the wind just made me less inclined to reach for those bottles than I should have been. I also found that the seat which has been ok for rides to 65 miles, might not be the right seat for these longer efforts! Things are still a little numb.

When I see how the pictures my son took turned out, I may put them up here too.

HRM track for about 3/4's of the ride. I somehow stopped the thing during the ride.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/31356676

Loren

Great job fellas!! Sounds like the elements were definitely not in your favor. I'll take a hill over a headwind any day.

Steve got a lot of the basics with his report. He started in front of me, but I must have passed him up on the way. I started at about 7:00.



I was one of the three people I know of on the course wearing street clothes. One was wearing Zubaz, one was riding I believe a Trek with a milk crate on the rack, and I was riding a Raleigh Clubman with a trunk bag. At least I wasn't that poor fool trying to buck the wind out of Lonsdale riding a fixie.

16.5 mph avg on your first century. :thumb:
You would have passed me, too.

I was one of the three people I know of on the course wearing street clothes. One was wearing Zubaz, one was riding I believe a Trek with a milk crate on the rack, and I was riding a Raleigh Clubman with a trunk bag. At least I wasn't that poor fool trying to buck the wind out of Lonsdale riding a fixie.

I remember the milk crate guy. But not the Zubaz or the trunk bag :(. I had the red blinky light on the back of my helmet. A few pictures:

Before the ride:

148172

And shots from the "team car" ;)

148174148175148176http://www.bikeforums.net/images/misc/pencil.png

Nice report

Good job Loren:thumb: