I completed my first century almost 40 years ago.
Or so I thought.
It was the summer of 1976. I was 17. We practically came of age during the bike boom; and pretty much lived on them. Riding just about everywhere; but never any really long distance.
Then the word century entered our vocabulary.
We’d read about them; and thought how cool it would be to do one. But there just weren’t many organized rides back then. The ones that did exist were too far for us to travel to get to them.
So, using an old Rand McNally, my nephew, friend Steve and I mapped out what we thought was 100 miles.
And that was my belief until a trip through Google map land indicated we fell short; by about 8 miles.
Damn.
Hopefully St. Peter will forgive me for all the times I’d uttered, “Yeah, I’ve done a century!”
Fast forward 32 years. Time spent on School, job, marriage, and kids replaced time spent on a bike saddle. I had grown sedentary, and well, grown.
Eventually we were empty nesters and I suddenly had some free time. I stripped, cleaned, lubed and replaced bits on my old Motobecane Grand Jubilee and began to ride again. The miles began to add up and the pounds began to decline. I discovered Spandex, and clip less pedals. I started signing up for organized rides and dreaming of distances traveled again. Planning for my second, er first century.
7 more years passed.
In those years I have completed countless rides that exceed a metric century. I have flirted with that magic number 8 times; but have never been able to breech it.
Until this year.
Thanks to Ice cream.
Young’s Ice Cream Charity ride is a yearly fund raising event for some very worthy organizations. It is a 2 day event with riders traveling 85 miles up to Ada and spending the night at Ohio Northern University; then returning back to Yellow Springs on Sunday. This is my fourth year to complete the ride. Recently they have added an additional loop for those who want to make it 100 miles. I had hopes of doing the extra miles last year; but between one of my team mate’s bronchitis and myself nursing a sore knee, settled for the usual miles.
But this year I was determined to do it. This was the year to check 100 miles off the bucket list.
We set out knowing we had to be at the last rest stop, mile 78 by 2:30. We finally had real July weather. It was hot, and it was humid. Alyson our trio’s captain and mathematician calculated how long we could stay at each rest stop and for lunch. Despite the heat, and spending longer at the rest stops to fill water bottles, we hit the last rest stop at 2. We signed the log sheet indicating our intent and off we went.
The heat and humidity was starting to take its toll. As mile 90 approached we were beginning to fall off our pace. Our trio was now 6 as we came upon more riders feeling the effects of the heat. The couple I ride with have completed rides of 100 miles, so seeing them suffer the same as I was, was at least a little comforting. We finally made it back to the last rest stop. 8 more miles before us but determined to finish. It was then that the northern skies turned black; a fierce wind threatened to blow away the canopies. We helped take them down and joked to each other that it would not be the Young’s ride without rain at some point on Saturday. We waited a about 10 minutes for the wind to die down before pushing off again. We had traveled less than a mile when it started raining. A hard stinging down pour. But none of us had any intentions of quitting now. We finished the last 8 miles in a rain storm. The effects of the rain were almost therapeutic. We rode those last 8 miles at a much quicker pace. One of our group even joked, “Hell, let’s add another 20 and make it 200k.”
That evening after dinner, I was walking about the campus, reflecting on all the times my wife and I had come up here when my daughter attended ONU. I called her to inform her I had just heard the bells chime, but mostly just to chat. She lives in Texas, so time spent on the phone is precious time.
She asked me all about the ride, how many miles, how I did, how I was feeling. She asked if I felt good about the return trip, I said yes, it was only 85 miles on the return. She laughed as she echoed me, “Only 85 miles!” then added, “Pop’s you’re too cute.”
I thought about that conversation later. “Only 85 miles” I said it, and I meant it that it was no big deal. And maybe so. Maybe those extra 15 miles were a small matter. But when you add them all up, 100 is a big deal.
Now for all of you that like to know the grizzly details.
Total actual miles, 104.09
The total time spent in the saddle for those 100 miles was 6 hours and 5 minutes.
Total time at the rest stops, lunch stop, and wind delay; 1.5 hours.
Considering the heat and humidity, I guess that’s not too bad for a 56 year old, with only 700 total road miles for the year prior to this ride to get his first century for the second time.
I just hope I don’t wait another 40 years to do it again!
