I just did what I consider to be my best century to date over the past weekend! 5:45 on the bike computer of moving time, but most importantly I felt good for the last 20 miles. Usually, those are the hardest for me. I still had some nagging pain on the outside of my right knee - which I think a cleat adjustment will fix. I don't know if it was the chance to break 6 hours, a sugar rush from pie and ice cream at the final rest stop, or trying to beat impending weather, but the last 20 miles I ended up pulling an almost 20 mph average, I felt that fresh.

Nutrition wise I didn't do anything special. I had a little bit of this, a little bit of that (sports beans, honey stinger waffle, some home made muesli bars), Skratch in one water bottle, and some provided snacks at rest stops. I didn't eat nearly as much as I would in the past.

I was extra surprised because I had been off the bike for 5 weeks while I was away for a work trip and only had 1.5 weeks to prepare for this ride. Should I always have a 4 week trip to Canada before a century??

At the moment, until the knee pain gets solved, I don't see myself wanting to do a double, or really anything much longer, but I think I am building up to it at last.

The ride was the Sea Gull Century in Salisbury, MD. 2nd time I have done this particular ride. The bike I rode was a Cannondale Synapse (carbon) with a Brooks B17 Narrow (sit bones felt fantastic all day - that is no longer a limiting factor for time spent in the saddle).

How do you get past the point of thinking 100 miles is seriously enough? I started thinking that at mile 85. At mile 90 there was a free beer stop, and that was like Popeye eating a can of spinach to power through those last 10 miles, but I was still very happy to be done. I would like to start doing longer, and with more elevation, but getting past 100 miles is a mental block to me.