bobthib

Today was the title event. The weather was nice, but the winds were out of the ENE at 20. Our route was NNE, so we were fighting the wind most of the way up to Palm Beach Inlet.

The ride started by heading south and then west over the 17th street causway. That was easy and I was able to hang with the lead peleton. After the bridge we went about 2 blocks and I got myself in a good position to make the u-turn. However I forgot to downshift so I found my self in high gear on the big ring and trying to accelerate. I lost the peleton. That was the last I saw of Tommy until I saw him leading the straggling peleton heading south as I was about 10 mi from the turn around.

I was able to link up with a good group and eventually caught several members of my club that were doing the metric and has snuck out early, so they were ahead of me. We were doing 18 - 22 despite the heavy wind. I was encouraged enough to think that perhaps I could come in under 5 hrs of ride time.

We stopped at the 31 mi rest point. There most of my group turned back for the metric. I set out solo after waiting a few min for a group to join. Over the next 10 mi I caught 2 riders, one who hopped my wheel for about a 1/4 mi but dropped. The second one, Ray, jumped my wheel and held on. We ended up completing the ride together.

We made the 52 mi turn at 2.5 hours, so again I thought that with the ENE wind I could come in under 5 hrs. I was fine until about 60 mi when I got a bad cramp in my left leg. I slowed down and spun it out, and eventually caught Ray again. At 80 mi we both had to stop for water, and then a paceline went by. Ray and I jumped on the bikes and finally caught them. We stayed with them for the rest of the ride.

Alas, we began to hit a lot of traffic and lights as we approached Ft. Lauderdale, and our speed slowed. I was also struggling to avoid cramping. The 5 hr point came and went, and 1/4 mi from the finish I cramped again bad. I slowed again and spun home. 5:12 but only 98.6 mi. I was not up to putting in the extra mile and a half to hit the 100.0 mi mark like I did on the my first century 2 yrs ago.

qcpmsame 

Glad you made the ride, though shortened a slight bit, okay. Sorry about the cramping but I'll wager you still rate the ride as a success.

Bill

bobthib

I was the only one in our club to do the 100 (well, ok, 98+) mi ride. Everyone else wimped out on me and turn at the 31 mi point. I suppose I should have, but it was 2 yrs ago when I did the 2009 KIDS ride as my first century. As I approached the finish I say 99.7 on the odo. I did a loop in the parking lot to get it to 100.0 as I passed under the finish line at 5:15 ride time. I was hoping to beat that, but not this year...