This was my 1st century, also. The rest of the posters pretty much covered the generalities, but one thing in particular stood out to me. At every rest stop, and I mean every one, the enthusiasm of the volunteers was teriffic. I've done a few supported rides before, but this was the first one that as you were pulling up to the stop, someone came out to meet you asking what you needed. I had people taking my water bottles off to refill and return them before I could lay my bike down. I'm just an amateur/enthuiast, but I felt like a king!

The course turned challenging at about the 60 mile mark. The Fortson Road section was really tough; not to mention the condition of the road surface itself. I passed more than one cyclist who was walking it.

One last item, about 5 miles from the finish back into Burns Park, I got behind a Father and his young son. I noticed the dad rubbing both his hamstrings and slowing down, so I pulled on around them. A mile later, I noticed he was on my wheel so I dropped back to talk with him. He was 13 years old, his dad got him into cycling 4 years earlier and this was his 1st century. He said it was hard but was enjoying it. I said, "You should be very proud of yourself," and I was pointing him out to the cops as we would ride past them. At the park entrance he dropped off so he could, "Wait for dad." Very impressive, I thought.

My stats: 102.26 miles, 6 hrs 10 min, 16.4 avg. on a Selle Italia SLR Carbon saddle. Talk about a sore butt!

If the future rides are as good as this one was, its well worth checking out.

My .02.