Fullcount

I accomplished something I have been waiting on since I got back into cycling two years ago. I rode my first century on the Capital 2 Capital ride between Williamsburg, Va and Richmond, VA. Took me about 9 hours, but I did it. I had a few challenges, so I thought I would post them here for member comments.

1- My butt aches now. Not actually sore, but I have two nice circular rash burns that baby Desitin seems to help with. When I finished the ride, did notice anything. I had to zip off to meet my wife who was taking pictures for my daughters prom. I did not get a chance to change my riding shorts for about three hours and of course...they were damp.

Question, do most long distance riders change their shorts immediately after a ride? Would the damp shorts/ gel liner, create this nice "circular ring"....or could it have been my seat? Keep in mind, I did not apply any butt butter as prior to this, never had to. Shucks, prior to this, I did not even know for sure where to apply it. Would this have helped?

2 - Food and hydration: I think I did okay on hydration and probably brought too many snack items in my trunk bag. About every ten miles I stopped and ate and drank, whether there was a feed station or not. I did stop at the feed stations, but only to drink or use a porta-potty. I was trying to consume my on board snack supplies. When I got to Richmond, they were not serving the noon meal yet, so instead of waiting for 45 minutes, I took back off again with the intent of getting out of Richmond traffic and finding a convenience store that served warm food.

That was at mile 48. I did not find anything until mile 80 and iwas struggling from mile 70 to 80. Questio, how far can one go subsisting on Power Bars and othe sweets, bananas, etc. before a hot meal is needed.

3 - Electronics. I was trying to record my trip on Strava via my smart phone. Battery crapped out at about mile 65. I brought one of those Halo chargers with me, but found I could not rig it up on the bike without the cord dangling in a bad spot. I was bummed that I missed recording my ride.

Question, anyone have any good battery reports on the Garmin Edge? I hear you can record on this and upload it later.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

clasher

I've started changing out of my riding shorts right after the ride. If I'm putting the bike in the car, the shorts come off. I'm going to bring some wetnap type things to give the downstairs a good cleaning next time but even changing out of my shorts feels so nice. I've never had rashes or anything.

Food is different for everyone, I like to have smaller meals like a rice burrito or something every couple of hours but I am finding that a good meal would probably be nice too. I bring a lot of food with me since I'm picky and don't know what corner stores will have. Sometimes the randonneur rides pass through lonely country areas that only have closed shops or nothing at all so I like to have backup supplies. Some people seem to do rides eating nothing but gels, gatorades and bars. Keep trying new things and you'll find a formula that works well for you. My rice burritos are an adaptation of the Lim rice cakes (videos on youtube)

I don't have any electronics with me but I use ridewithgps since you can just draw your ride on the map you don't need a gps, despite the name of the site. I suppose one could say you can just draw any ride and claim it but I'm only keeping track of my rides for my own sake so most of them are private anyway.

rhm

I don't know how these gps programs work, but my experience with Strava has not been good. It stops recording at randomly chosen moments and uses more battery power than other similar apps. So I too have moved to RidewithGPS. Strange to say, but that program seems to become more efficient over time; it used to record only 50-70 miles on one offline charge, and now goes over a hundred. Perhaps I'm just faster now. Lol.

As for your posterior... what saddle? If it's a padded saddle, I'd blame that. Padding causes friction, and friction causes discontent. But it's a very individual thing; different riders find different solutions.

steve-in-kville 

Congrats on your first century! I plan to do a metric later this summer, then possibly a full century in the fall!

JerrySTL

I'll add to the congrats. Your first century is something to cherish!

1. You want to get out of the cycling clothing ASAP and clean up quickly. Baby wipes work for a quick touch up. The various butt creams do help and you know where to put it now.

2. Hot meals? I seldom eat anything hot on a century or other long rides. I did eat fried chicken once on the Hilly Hundred. And sometimes do stop for pancakes on more social rides. I can get through a century on sports drinks, candy bars, PBJ sandwiches, and the occasion GU gel pack if I'm starting to feel weak toward the end.

3. That's one of the problems with using cell phones for a bike computer. Your idea of using a battery pack was a good one. You just need to figure out a way to mount it in advance. I have a Garmin Edge 705 and it's good for about 10-12 hours when fully charged even though it's many years old. I'd think that the new Garmins would have even better battery life. I upload it from my PC to Garmin Connect which automatically updates Strava also.

dual650c

Congrats on your century.
As to your questions/concerns.... Different people have different reactions to their saddles/shorts over different distances. When I was riding a DF, my shorts and saddle combo made little difference up to 60 miles. After that distance, I found nothing comfortable... It was part of the reason I switched to recumbents.

As far as food, I always carry a mixture of backup food for any ride over 60 miles. I can go twice that with what I carry. Further if there are open convenience stores or fast food outlets along the route. On brevets, I plan on being self-sufficient for 125mi/200km and if that turns out not to be necessary, so much the better. I find that a 12-inch Subway/po-boy(I am in the South, ya know!) will fuel me for that distance quite well (along with what I carry as backup). Backup includes bananas, nuts, gummy bears, trail mix, etc. I'm not into gels.
You need to find out what works for you.

Dunno what to tell you about the Garmin Edge. Probably depends on your particular model. I have, but no long use, a 300. I switched to an eTrex 30 and have zero power issues for 18 hour rides or longer.

Again, congrats on your century. Mark it on your calendar!

Added: I have "stolen" the following procedure/idea I learned from a California surfer friend. BIG bath towel in car - wrap around self. Change shorts. Enjoy post-ride stuff.

StephenH

People are different on the bike shorts/saddle, so hard to say. I normally don't use any cremes, when I get done with the ride, I drive home still in my bike shorts.

I normally don't have a "hot meal" anywhere along the ride. Usually, we stop every 30 miles or so for food, drink, supplies. I might eat a corn dog or something like that somewhere along the ride. (Had a barbecue sandwich at mile 58 on the most recent ride.)

woodcraft

My Garmin 500 lasted thru 13 hr ride recently.

Buddy's newish smart phone (not apple) ran strava for same time w/o problems. I think he turned off a bunch of stuff on the phone to save battery power.

Fullcount

Thanks everyone for the input and good words. When I saw the odometer turn over from 99.9 to 100.00, it was great to see.

On the other stuff, rmh asked about my saddle - it is a Brooks B-17 with about 1200 miles on it, so it is well broken in by now. During the ride, I did not experience any discomfort other than my family jewels going numb a couple of times. That is probably due to angle of the seat? I also had some discomfort behind my left shoulder blade. Legs, lungs & frame of mind were all good.

After reading everything here, I am going to attribute my posterior issues to wet shorts. If infants experience this same issue with diaper rash, then no wonder they holler with gusto. I know when I jumped in the shower and the salt ran down my back and hit my backside, I felt like crying like a baby. The two days of Desitin treatment has worked and all pain is gone. Still have nice red racing stripes on the derriere, but pain is gone. I guess I cannot display these badges of accomplishment in public (ha ha....unless I want to visit the county jail).

As far as electronics, it is a love hate relationship. Yes, you want to record the ride in order to learn from it later, but I also find Strava kinda frustrating to work with. The user interface is not too good. I like Map My Ride better, but seems like some of my friends prefer Strava. I guess I will have to check out the Garmin Edge as the eTrex 30 is no longer in production. Ride With GPS is still a phone powered app, so same batter issues could apply. Ah, there is always a better way to skin a cat, just have to find out what works good for me.

Once again, thanks to all who have commented and sent out congrats. I guess I will always remember my first century.

Fullcount

Best of luck Steve. It is well worth the effort if this is your first one. I am sure you will have your own special remembrance of the event.

ThermionicScott 

Congrats! If I have a comment on anything, it would be this:

There is a tendency for long-ride newbies to put extra pressure on themselves to "put in a good time" on their first attempts. The problem is that it leads them to start off with too fast of a pace, threatening the successful completion of their ride. It's far better to take your time and focus on completing the first one before getting competitive about it. 9 hours isn't even a bad time, sheesh!

bmthom.gis

Question with your phone...did you have the screen on the whole time? That will kill battery life. For me, I usually keep it tucked away in my jersey pocket instead of having it out. My last phone which was not waterproof also went in a ziplock baggie. If you want to know your current miles, speed, etc you should get a bike computer - just something simple like a cateye or sigma. I have seen plenty of Garmins run out of battery at the 60-70 mile point, and my phone charges seem to last me a whole century, especially if it charge it on the way there, and turn off all unnecessary services (auto sync, wifi, bluetooth, make sure my email programs aren't pushing refreshes. The only thing I want my phone to do is use Strava, be able to call/text and take photos).

Great job! I try for an imperial century once a year. I find that after doing one I want a week or so off the bike as I have had enough time in the saddle to last me lol.

RE Nutrition - I don't like using the typical bar/gel more than a few times. I find they mess with my stomach later and don't provide me with anything more than short term bursts of energy. For these, I recommend Honey Stinger products. I would rather eat wholesome snacks like pb&j sandwiches, bread, fruit, veggies. I also try to not have sport drinks very often. Maybe every other rest stop I will fill one bottle up, and often cut it down to half power. In lieu of it I like to get coconut water and dilute it down - 1/2 bottle of that and 1/2 of regular water. There are lots of electrolytes there and cutting with water makes it a little more palatable to me when riding. I prefer buying the ones that have other juices as well, such as pineapple or mango. Very tasty! I want to experiment more with food though - I tend to get tired of PB&J sandwiches, and after the coconut water runs out I am down to water and whatever mixed sport drink is provided. Gatorade isn't bad diluted down, but I really don't like drinking Hammer or one of the other mixes one tends to find in their LBS. Another thing I do at rest stops is drink whatever is left in both of my bottles, even if I am not thirsty. I tend to do well in the beginning half with hydrating, but fall off during the 2nd half.

Fullcount

Yeah, I may have had too many programs running at the same time. Not sure if I will go with a phone app again, but maybe better battery management would help. The HALO did give me some juice at the end of the ride to take some pictures and I noticed that even inside my trunk bag, Strava did record. Maybe I just need to mount the phone to the back of the bike on the trunk bag and plan on taking the HALO with me as a battery back up inside the bag. Just leave the cord inside the bag so it does not get fouled up in moving parts. Post ride wisdom....did not think of it in Richmond when I was tired and antsy to get back on the route. I was rushing thinking that if I stayed too long in one place, things would stiffen up. I had that happen on my first loaded bike camping trip. Road 30 miles....took a ferry across the river that put me sedentary for 45 minutes and things got stiff.

I was reading another thread about remembering your first century and someone talked about bicycle weight. So, I had to check my bike weight post ride. It came in at 44 lbs 14 oz after I ate some of my snacks during the ride. I guess that is on the heavy side. I ride a Surly Long Haul Disc Trucker with racks front and back, fenders and a Topeak trunk bag with my ride supplies. Hmmmm.....sound like a carbon fiber bike in my not too distant future.

But in all reality, that was the motivation on this ride. I knew if I could do this one in this bike (unloaded)....I might be able to accomplish a multi day tour loaded with all my camping supplies somewhere in the 50 mile per day range. Shucks, I am even thinking a Rando event of 200 km now. Need to start looking for a brevet in my neck of the woods for this fall.

Thanks everyone.

dual650c

I bought my eTrex 30 off eBay... Still works fine.

flr

Yes, you can record it and upload it latter. My Garmin 810 still had about 35% battery left after 9.5 hours of riding. I guess it could last 11 hours. The device was set as follows: i) the luminosity of display was set to minimum possible ii) temperature and pressure sensors on, iii) I did not used any additional memory card iv) the wireless for power-meter/cadence-sensor was set off and v) basically the device communicated with GPS satellites and recorded the ride on its internal memory utilizing the default settings for such recording.

rowebr

That is a lot of weight, but as you gain experience you can probably reduce it significantly as you figure out what gear you really need to bring and what stuff you can leave behind. When I first started doing brevets I carried way too much crap with me. Also, if you like your Trucker there are a number of ways to get it lighter and faster without getting a new bike. If you are running heavy touring tires on it right now, you could try the new Compass tires , many people (myself included) really like them.

joewein

Congratulations on your first century completion!

I virtually never have full meals on long rides. Mostly I eat bananas, bread, pastries, yoghurt that I buy at convenience stores. My minimum is 1-2 bananas an hour. For stretches without convenience stores I always carry some dried fruits (figs, mango strips, raisins) so I'll never run out of food.

For GPS logging I use both the Strava and RWGPS websites, but not using the phone for recording. I started out with Android apps, then bought a Garmin Edge 500 and finally an o_synce navi2coach. The .fit files from either the Garmin or the n2c will work on both Strava and RWGPS. Each website has its own strengths and the blend of both works best for me. I think I got up to 16 hours of my Edge 500 when it was new. The Edge 500 needs a special cable if you want to charge while recording - the bundled cable or other standard USB cables don't work with that. The Edge 510, 800, 1000, etc. don't have that problem and neither does the n2c. I carry a 10000 mAh USB battery pack in my front bag for keeping both the GPS and the phone going all weekend (even on 2 day events).