Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - First Century, my longest ride by far

I completed my first century (101miles with 4800ft elevation) yesterday on my Trek 520 touring bike. I’m feeling pretty good today, but I slept a lot yesterday after the ride and felt pretty drained. I definitely plan to do more in the future.

It was an organized ride with an open start time from 6:30am to 9:00am. So I started early at 6:45am because I didn’t know what to expect or how long it would take me. I wasn’t feeling very well the couple of days leading up to the ride, but once I got riding I actually start feeling better. I didn’t really do much bike training other than my 30-60miles per week commute. My longest ride this year was 30 miles in one go with my longest ever about 55miles. A friend of mine who does long bike rides warned me to do more training rides, but I wanted more of a “survival” like experience. I do other sports and don’t have a lot of extra time for training and I’m in pretty good shape for 43 years old so I decided just to go for it.
I tried not to go too fast because I didn’t want to burn-out but I found riding behind others made it a lot easier. I actually had a 16mph moving average at the 44 mile rest stop. Then the hills and rain started and I bonked at about mile 70. At the final rest stop at mile 75, I took a little longer rest and ate a lot. It really helped, and I was able to finish without as much trouble and I didn’t care about my time anymore, just finishing. Looking back, I think I didn’t eat enough early on at the first two stops and I just ran out of energy. But I’m very happy with my effort, finishing in 7hrs 20min (6hrs 47min moving time).

All in all, it was harder then I expected, but still very enjoyable.

How does this compare to your first Century?

Congratulations on your century ... and it sounds like you discovered why many of us recommend doing a ride up around the 70 mile point before attempting a century. It's not so much a training thing, it's more about figuring out bicycle fit (and it sounds like you had that) and nutrition to make for a more comfortable century.


I talk about my first century here:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?233725-Remember-your-first-century-(100-miles)

First, kudos and welcome to the club! :thumb:

Yep, it sounds like you learned the hard way about nutrition on the bike. My first century was a cakewalk by comparison, but I had time to do 70-80 mile training rides to prepare, so I had food/fluids dialed in reasonably well by the day of the event.

When's your next one going to be? :D

My first century was a lot flatter and slower, if that helps. Congratulations on the ride.

Thanks for the comments. I have my eye on a couple of additional events this summer but haven't scheduled any yet. I wanted to see how my first one went before I committed to additional ones.

I feel like I should remember my first century... I'm thinking it was probably from Roanoke VA to the Peaks of Otter and back on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

You will remember the first one for ever. Congratulations on a milestone reached. The next one you will be wiser and will make changes from the first and the second will be easer. Of course things change that you have no control over, like gale force winds, driving rains, and dust storms. They add a little something to the experience that make each one memorable.