Ahhh....I remember my first century....this is a good one, BTW....
Was about 15 years old at the time; in fairly good shape as my buddy and I played tennis every day for at least 2-3 hours, but not cycling shape. While I would borrow my neighbors 1970's Raleigh racing bike (about 3 sizes too big for me, and with platform pedals) once in awhile and go riding, I didn't train at all. To make a long story short, 12 hours and 120 miles later, me on the big-ass road bike and my buddy on his Murray mtn. bike from K-Mart (weighed about 50 lbs with the rack and bag on the rear) finished.
We had left at 4 a.m. in the morning, complete with a flashlight duct-taped to my handlebars. Had on a pair of cotton shorts (not cycling shorts) that really started to chafe after about 8 hours. Fortunately we thought ahead and went to Caldors the night before and picked up a POS bike pump and spare tube, which was good since I got a flat tire after about 70 miles.
It gets better. We barely drank anything on the ride down (we planned on stopping at Hammonnassett Beach in Madison, CT for lunch and our turnaround spot), and managed to take a 30 mile detour by going the wrong way and ending up in East Haven. As we neared the beach, I traded bikes with my buddy for about a mile, as the road gearing was proving to be a bit "tough" on some of the hills around the halfway point of the ride. Sure, he may have had a triple with really low gears, but my bike was about 30 pounds lighter so I quickly traded back. I have no clue how the hell he managed to finish that ride. Needless to say by the time we reached the beach (around 11 a.m.), we were pretty toasted. We had some bananas, fruit, and granola bars in the pack on my buddies bike (along with my SLR camera for pics
), and some Gatorade. We gulped down the Gatorade and ate, and left around 11:30 a.m.
It was shortly therefter that I got the flat tire (rear), and proceeded to change it, which took awhile. It really sucked since the pump we had was so crappy, I could barely get any air in it. I estimate the pump was good for about 30-40 psi on the road bike tire. It had schrader valves, so about 15 miles up the road we stopped at a gas station and topped 'er off. It was also around this time when my legs started to chafe really bad, and we still had at least 50 miles to go. We were both wasted at this point, our pace maybe 10-12 mph.
For anyone familiar with Connecticut, we stopped on Rte. 5 in Wallingford for some Burger King - wolfed down a Whopper /w cheese, some fries, and a large orange soda. The drink was rather refreshing. However, about 20 minutes later, my legs began cramping badly, and had to stop to stretch them out. This passed, and we were soon on the home stretch, back in town (Southington).
As we were about 2-3 miles from home, 12 hours on the bikes, I felt this huge rush of energy come over me, and felt strong - pace picked back up, and we were going at a good clip. Got home, ate a bit and drank, and crashed on the couch.
So, to sum it up, did a 100+ mile ride on no training at all, barely any liquids and food, and on a few hours of sleep. Ah, to be young and dumb. You also learn a lot in how you can really push your body past what you thought was possible.
Oddly enough, a few years later when my brother and I were seriously into cycling and had logged some decent distance, we would never even try that ride. I would like to try it again someday....but not under those same circumstances
.