WillBikeforBeer

This is my first post ... glad to meet you all.

Saturday (9/8) I was able to survive my first century. I did the 100 mile route of the Amish Country Bike Tour out of Dover, DE.

I chose this particular event since the terrain is generally flat and the weather was supposed to be fairly mild.

I didn't count on the "Delmarva Mountains"; a steady 15mph wind which was inexplicably in our faces for probably 75% of the ride. Adding to the difficulty was the unusally "balmy" 94 degreeSeptember day.

Actual mileage was 101 ... bike time was 5hrs 55 mins ... 4415 calories burned. I lost 7 lbs even with drinking continuously and eating at every rest stop.

I now what mistakes I made that made this ride difficult. Although I ride 25-40 miles at least 5 times a week, I didn't do enough long distance riding; my previous long ride had been the Lancaster Covered Bridge Metric. Next year I will add a weekly long ride with steady increases up to 80 or so. We also started out way too fast; at one point we were doing 24 mph (on flat ground).

My two goals this first year of riding were to do a century and to ride my age x 100. I'm glad to get the first one out of the way. I've got 750 miles left to get to 5300 which seems like a piece of cake (or pie as the custom seems to be here).

All in all, this was pretty hard for me but having done it I'm not afraid to do more. With decent training and some more practice eating and hydrating, I'm looking forward to trying two centuries next year. I'd like to go back to the one I just did and I'd like to do the Civil War Century.

Cheers,

Bob

Terrierman

Heartiest congratulations from another guy who has also done exactly one century ride, and plans to do more. My time was a LOT more than yours though...

BSLeVan

Welcome, and cudos on your first century. You were riding through some beauitful country. Your last paragraph shows that your also a fast learner.

Tom Bombadil

And that was with 150 mph tornado winds assisting him!

bobby c

Congrats Bob and welcome to the forum. Yes, Delmarva can be windy - that's one of the reasons I like it (I'm a windsurfer as well).

Do you ride in the Columbia area? I live in Silver Spring and do most of my riding in upper Montgomery County (near Poolesville/Sugarloaf) but since I work in Columbia, I'm always on the lookout for a ride. This year I started riding the 25 mile Tuesday night ride that Princeton Sports sponsors - that is a great training ride and the first time I've ridden that fast with a group. It's a varied bunch of people, some of the extremely fast and some not so. I'd like to find more rides in the Columbia area for an after work ride - let me know if you have any suggestions!

Bob

stapfam

Well done first of all on the ride Bob- But don't get suckered into doing high milage to do a high milage event. I did a 100 mile offroad ride each year and to get fit for that we set out a 30 mile route. It took in some severe hills and some tricky single track but we trained on that. Once we got used to that distance- We started putting more effort in and once we got to 12mph average for that ride- We were fit. Our average for the ride would be 9MPH so the 12 was a significent increase.

Still get the training in but make it worthwhile training. Find the BIG hills and do the ride at speed but No point in doing High milage just to get used to it- Except for one ride where you go for time- 4 hours in the saddle non stop to get the Butt attuned.

Glad to see you got the priorities right in mentioning Pie but Pics of the pie and riders are also wanted.

WillBikeforBeer

Bobby C,

Yep ... most of my weekday evening rides start in Columbia. I live on the eastern side in the Huntington area. If you feel like a weekday ride some evening (or even afternoon; I'd rather ride than work), let me know.

On Wednesday evenings, I do a group ride with the Howard County Cyclists; nice folks with the typical A, B, and C groupings; no drop and beers afterwards. That ride starts in Glenwood and goes out into Carroll County (gorgeous rides).

On Saturday mornings, I do the monthly Princeton Sports rides or a weekly ride with a group of some of the HoCo guys.

The BBC has Tue/Thu rides out of Glenelg HS in Howard County. I've yet to do any of those as I don't think I'm quite up to their level just yet.

Bob

cranky old dude

Congrats and welcome!!!

momof4greatkids

Tremendous achievement, well done! Headwinds and heat....nasty combination but you overcame both w/tremendous aplomb!
Congrats!

cyclinfool

Another century addict is born. I have to agree - you don't need to do a 100 mile training ride to ride a 100 mile ride, you do need stamina and you need to know how to pace yourself.
Your ride time was impressive for a first time century rider. My first one was at about 14 mph average. I have never managed to get more than 1 a season in, mine for this year was last Sat., over 5000 ft of climbing. Welcome to the club - sit down, grab a piece of pie and enjoy the conversation.

rck

Congrats on the century. I will point out, however, that bicycle riding into a headwind is not at all inexplicable. It is, in fact, a naturally occuring phenomenon of our the physical world that is well documented somewhere.

jppe

5hr 55 min is pretty darn strong for the first time doing 100 miles-especially with the wind. Great job!!!