Originally Posted by The Historian
Hi Ben,
With all due respect - and much respect is due, the only mistake appears to be one of "pushing hard." As I understand it, a century is about endurance, not speed. Pace yourself and enjoy the ride. Yeah, it's hot out. So ride slowly and take frequent breaks. Drink a lot of water and Gatorade.
Neil,
In retrospect, I believe you are very correct! Two of us have talked about it, and we both agree that we won't be doing that on a long ride again. Rider 1 did his first century on his single speed 29er MTB, and half of it was the route we took, with the other half being climbing the rural hills of Nebraska. I had joined him for the first leg, and we took it quite easy - averaging under 15mph. On the way back, the rider joining him bonked very hard, so their average was well under 13mph, probably around 10, giving him a break. Temps weren't as high, but definitely weren't perfect
.
So yes, I do believe that our failures were not in the breaks, but rather the 15 mile hammerfest that we engaged in for one reason or another.