horizondesire

Well, I was pretty pumped for my first attempt at a mountain century... unfortunately, I think I bit off more than I could chew. I made 82 miles and just about collapsed.

Im not too disapplointed, though. My path took me from a start point at 4400 feet (Sandy, UT) straight up to 7000 feet (Parley's Summit) in the first 25 miles, then back down to about 6400 feet (Park City, UT)over 10 miles, then back up to 6900 feet in about 10 miles. Then down to about 5600 feet (Heber City, UT), where I pretty much stayed (+/- about 100) for about 15 miles. Then down a canyon, but fighting about a 20 mph wind so I had to pedel the whole way (GRRRRRRR!). back down to about 4500 feet, but I didnt make it home... I honestly think I would have made 100 without the hills... hills are hard!

For what it's worth; no bonk... just pure exhaustion. My muscles are very sore, but still responding. I appreciate the advice on this site; to eat continuously along the ride. I stopped every hour for about 5 minutes to stretch and down a PBJ or PowerBar. I had diluted Gatorade in my Camelback- about 50/50 with water.

very tired now...

tekhna

Sorry to hear that... I am trying my first century on Wednesday, and I finished my first Triathlon this morning, so it's a week of testing myself!

Not to mention finals on Monday and Tuesday...

Grrr

mscycler

Don't give up. Keep trying. I went to my local hill riding place this morning (about a 45 min drive). The loop I do is like 16 miles, and I was going to ride 3 or 4 loops. The guys I were riding with hoewever had different plans. The ride is in the Vicksburg National Battlefield Park...at the "back entrance", you can actually ride out into the city. There are some decent climbs (for MS at least) in the park. But, we decided to ride out of the park down to the river and back and tackle some hills. There were two in particular that really beat me up. On one, I remember looking at my HR monitor and the read out said "Dude, get off the bike now and walk up the rest of the hill....my display won't go that high."

So, I wound up riding one loop with a little extra on some of the other climbs for a total of 20...I was totally beat...

Don't let it discourage you. I am going to Tahoe in June and have not prepared for any hills like that out there...there just aren't that many to test on over here...

mscycler

Trekke

Pace yourself man.. centuries can be tricky. If you are real pumped up you may over do it te first 30-40 miles and not be able to recover. Marathoners have to force themselves to pace slower than their hormones may be telling them to. Over the course of the ride (or run) the pace can be adjusted to conditions and training.

reneuend

You really punished yourself with a tough course for a 1st Century try. Look at it this way, You finished a Metric Century this time!

You had a good workout. Give yourself a day rest and train for the next one. You'll need to do 50 miles or so during your training with some of those same kind of climbs. This way your body will be ready for the next punishing century. And remember, if you do this century with these punishing climbs, any other century will be a lot easier!

You only had 18 miles to go? You should have dragged your bike to the end!

HigherGround

Well, it sounds like you made a valiant effort! Remember that the only way you get better is by challenging yourself and pushing your limits. Unfortunately that occasionally involves biting off more than you can chew and having a slice of humble pie. But after you recover, you will be stronger and have more experience for the next attempt.

.:Jimbo:.

ah, if at first you don't suceed, try, try, try again. I have my first century in may, its a flat one so i won't have to endure all that climbing that you have. Anyways, its quite an achievement to commit to a century so congrats on that, and good luck if you give it another go in the future.

jjmolyet

YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF YOUR 82 MILES! A little more training on the hills and you should be golden, and remember those 82 miles are in your training bank account. I have yet to do a Century, I am training for the Horizontal 100 in Ohio in the late summer/fall.To this point my high is 77 miles. I am reading Carmichaels training book, but I believe the Cyclist Bible and other books deal with days leading up to the century, this can be just as important. I would research this if I were you. Congrats on your 82 miles, I can only be jealous of you achievement.

Ostuni

i bet you were cussing at that wind... good effort and an experience that will make the next one better... good luck!

2manybikes

That was just your first practice run. Just keep practicing. There's no penalty for not going 100 miles, you went on a pretty awesome ride I think.

Jakey

Great job. On a ride like that...run the gatorade full strength, or find another sports drink that you like. You need as much of that stuff as you can take.

silversmith

"fighting about a 20 mph wind" + 82 miles = Wow! Good job.

GuitarWizard

Wow....how much vertical gain did you attain for the 82 miles? Sounds like an impressive ride. I know you didn't reach your goal, but I wouldn't be upset with your accomplishment.

I did a 43 mile ride on Thursday with 2,011 feet of climbing, and that was a fun ride.....minus 8-10 miles of badly paved road which made for an assload of extra rolling resistance, which also wasn't exactly flat. Legs are feeling really strong though now. Just be sure to recover well, and you'll be back even stronger.

johnny99

Good job. On a hilly ride, I think total elevation gain is a much more important measure of difficulty than mileage. A mountain century with 10,000 feet of climbing is easily 2 or 3 times harder than a century with just rolling hills.

horizondesire

thx for the motivation gents (ladies?)... I actually am hoping to try this again next weekend and every weekend until i finish.

I do think I pushed the initial 30 miles a bit; I used to ride this climb way back in the day on my mountain bike and was trying to push the pace pretty hard. Even with a flat rear tire (15 minute delay), I beat my best time by about 20 minutes on this section, but may have hurt my long run endurance.

As for the last 18 miles, to be honest, I was running about 10 to 12 MPH by that time (pretty spent) and was looking at about 1.5 to 2 hours and daylight was getting scarce.

And yes, I was very "verbal" with the wind!

zarigia

Would you mind mapping out that route? I just moved to Utah from Colorado and as of yet haven't found a really good long route. I live in Orem and have just this past weekend gone up American Fork Canyon over the loop down into Provo Canyon and back to my house, but that is only around 50ish miles. (I think I cut off a few miles on accident). I would love to ride out from park city to heber and down through Provo Canyon. Hmmm Ideas!

horizondesire

Lets see if this work... like I said, I stopped at 82 miles (on my GPS), so didnt finish the last leg; Yahoo maps freeways, but there is a frontage road that goes through on that last section. You can ride up I-80; it is open to bike traffic, but right now, DONT GO DOWN; the surface is torn all to crap!

This is my path:

leg 1 (7.3 miles):


leg 2 (27.0 miles):


leg 3 (16.1 miles):


leg 4 (25.6 miles):


leg 5 (28.6 miles):


This isnt a perfect route; a bit of construction, some narrow shoulders, but if you are careful, its very doable with a TON of great scenery and variety of path. If you need a riding buddy, PM me... I am very new to road riding, but pretty excited about it.