acaurora

So I completed my first organized century last weekend - the Chico Wildflower Century. The description said 100 miles, 4000 ft, and seemed doable for me. I thought I'd share my experience/thoughts: (I understand if you hit the "back" button ... this is a long post hah)

I carpooled with a friend of mine, and we showed up at around 6 AM (I live in Roseville so the drive wasn't so bad. Waking up at 4 AM was.). It was a lot colder than we thought it would be, so I was shivering most of the time that we were getting the bikes off the SUV and heading to registration. We checked in, got our swag bags (gym sack, water bottle, some magazines, and a bandana that had a map of the course), and headed out. Saw some familiar people, chatted it up, and then headed out.

In no less than 1.2 miles, my friend gets a cut on his tire (you hear that PSSHHH with every turn). Another friend of mine pulls up at the same time this happens, and we decide that he needs to walk back to get a new tire/tube (oy!). So he heads back while I leave with my other friend. This other friend of mine is big. He is training for the Death Ride, and does duathlons. Guy is big, and definitely has a lot of power. He told me that he had set a goal for himself to do the century in 5 hours, and having been on several rides with him and keeping up with him, I decided to just stick with him for the rest of the course. We also picked up another friend of ours over the next few miles leading out of Chico.

I am realizing how long this post can be so I'm trying to keep it short!
The first 10 or so miles wasn't particularly fun. The road was not very smooth, so it was a bit bumpy for quite a while. From there, there was the major climb that was moderately difficult. The descent was amazing, though. Going downhill extremely fast through all the turns, I hit a max speed of 51.5 mph (I think that is the fastest I've ever gone actually...). At this point the three of us were forming a paceline and maintained it throughout the rest of the course. There were some rollers after that, followed by the last 30ish miles being flat. The flat part was "fun", primarily because it was just the three of us plus whoever that chose to latch on / drop off pacelining it through the headwinds. My duathlon friend did a majority of the pulling, but everyone else including myself took their appropriate turn, and we all did this to the finish.

The post-ride meal was decent, with plenty of tritip/fajitas, pasta, and salad along with ice cream and cola/beer options. Several of the people that had pacelined with us for most of the course approached us and thanked us, though my duathlon friend really deserved the most credit.

During the ride, we went to all the rest stops / lunch breaks, and found how well they were all stocked, even with mechanics. I didn't know what to expect, to be honest. In retrospect, I do think that I did enjoy this century, although if I had not chosen to stick with my duathlon buddy I might have been able to enjoy the course more. However, it was still fun. Got to meet lots of people, see some new roads, and get some experience pulling/pacelining. Some people I talked to felt bummed that they were shortchanged a few miles short of 100 miles, I personally was a little puzzled by the extra 1k ft of climbing. Might do this next year...

All in all, we completed it in 5:18:50, with 4920ft of climbing, at 95.80 miles, with an 18.0 mph average (was 18.5 to the first stop, then 18.2 to the 2nd, then I stopped counting after that). Now that I'm done with it, it is quite an accomplishment, at least for me to have done this all in one go. I'm sure that all of you pro riders have had better/longer experiences, but this is a great first opportunity to me. Saw an astounding variety of riders, from a guy in a long sleeve tshirt with bibs over them to a guy doing the whole mildflower route in one of those hand-powered bikes that sits low to the ground. Even saw a hybrid flat-bar bike with clip on aero bars (oh my).

Can't wait for the other centuries I am doing in the coming weeks! (Tour de Cure Roseville, Sierra Century, Auburn Century 140)

Pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/acaurora...eat=directlink

icyclist 

Good report. I made the same ride and will put up my own report and photos in a separate thread. Thanks for sharing.

"Some people I talked to felt bummed that they were shortchanged a few miles short of 100 miles"

Having ridden the Wildflower eight times, I hear this every year. It's not that difficult to ride a few extra miles to post a full 100, not that I've ever met anyone - other than myself - who's been willing to do just that (well, once).

acaurora

Haha, thanks. As I heard them, I thought in my head "... well.. do some laps in the parking lot or something...", hehe.

Is Humboldt always the start for the Wildflower? I didn't like it

icyclist 

"Is Humboldt always the start for the Wildflower? I didn't like it "

Or as I heard someone put it, "This is Chico's Paris-Roubaix."

For me, it's all part of the challenge. I think Humboldt was added after the original route came up more than a few miles short. I'd like the route take riders past Bidwell Mansion and the Chico State campus and into Bidwell Park, but I wouldn't want to kill off Humboldt, because I love the run down HIghway 32.

acaurora

Ah okay. Well, when you post your report/pics, link it here also so I can read it. Maybe I might have met you somewhere along the way

acaurora

PhotoCrazy pics are up, forked over the $25 per It's my first century, so I will pay the outrageous price. Sierra Century has 2 for $15 total -_-;;

The guy in front of me is my duathlon friend. Also known by some as "The train", LOL

icyclist 

Hey, those are good pictures. I don't think you were heeding the stop sign in the second one, though.

I'm tempted to pop for one of the photos of me. The cameras were set up, I think, at the end of a long downhill, so I looked refreshed and could still smile.

Congrats on riding strong and finishing well.

acaurora

Haha, the stop sign was in the other direction.

Yes the cameras were set up at the base of a downhill, I think that was the long highway descent, but I could be wrong. I was initially afraid that the cameras didn't get a picture of me because I was busy talking with my friend that was in front of me and didn't know if the cameras would catch me since I was so close behind him. However I didn't realize that there was a camera on the other side of the road too. Luckily both shots turned out great, although the first pic could have been a little sharper, and the 2nd could've been a bit brighter. Oh well, still great pics for my first organized century.

milliron

Good report! I tossed mine, and a few photos, here:
https://jmilliron.blogspot.com/2010/0...r-century.html

icyclist 

And my photos of the ride are here.

icyclist 

"Luckily both shots turned out great, although the first pic could have been a little sharper, and the 2nd could've been a bit brighter."

Run your pics through one of the photo programs and they'll look they way you want them to.