Here's my ride report for the Reston Century. Please share yours as well!

A friend and I arrived at Reston Town Center around 7:15 AM. There was quite a line in order to check in, so we didn't get started until 7:45. While we were waiting, we met another friend. The three of us set off together.

Although I had my cue sheet in the cue sheet holder, the three of us decided to follow a group of about 10 riders for the first couple of miles. This was a mistake. They ended up missing the turn to the W&OD trail, so we had to improvise and take another route that involved walking our bikes through a dirt field in order to make it back on course. We lost about 3 miles while doing so.

The ride to the Hamilton rest stop was fairly uneventful. As I recall at this portion there was one major climb on Woodburn road that a lot of people struggled on. Also, while we were on the W&OD, one of my friends got down in the aero bars and pulled ahead, so that left my other friend and I riding together.
At the Hamilton rest stop (for the first time), I drank a lot of gatorade and ate two peanut butter granola bars. After that we set out for the Taylorstown/Stumptown loop. There were some major climbs on this 28 mile loop. I only averaged 14.7 mph on this section. There were a few places where my cadence got down to around 50 rpm because I was unable to shift into my small chainring. A few people were walking their bikes. We also had to stop because some cyclists apparently crashed one one of the descents. There were emergency vehicles there - an ambulance and a fire engine. We eventually got through and continued.

The ride was organized as a series of a couple of loops, each ending at the Hamilton rest stop. In total the century route visited the rest stop three times. The second time I arrived I had some more peanut butter bars. My friend wasn't feeling well and decided he would head back to Reston Town Center at that point. At that point in the ride we had gone approximately 60 miles. So for the rest of the ride I was going solo.

When I continued on the southern loop, I was hoping for a flat ride. No such luck. The ride went to the Snickersville Turnpike, which contains lots of rolling hills. I was glad to leave it. As I approached Hamilton for the third time, I came to a four way stop sign in a small town. There was no one coming from either direction, so I rolled through the stop sign. About 40 yards after that, a large pickup truck backed up out of a driveway at a high rate of speed, nearly hitting me. I swerved into the grass to avoid him. The drive then began screaming at me for not stopping at the stop sign, moaning something about how if cyclists want the same rights as drivers then they need to obey the rules, yada yada. He also said he'd be glad to hit me, and followed me when he heard me yelling back at him. I pointed out to him that if he was backing out of a driveway, he had to yield to vehicles on the street. Anyway, I'm sure that idiot comes to a complete stop in his gas guzzling truck every time he comes to a four way stop with no one there. Eventually I just said "whatever" and went on my way. However, I was a bit shaken by the encounter when I arrived at Hamilton for the last time. At that point, I didn't have much of an appetite, so I just downed some gatorade and didn't eat anything.

It was probably a mistake not to have eaten. On the ride back my energy levels got very low. Although most of the trip back to Reston Town center was along the W&OD, at the end I was only able to limp along at 14 - 15 mph. I was quite glad when I arrived. They had food and drinks there, which was good. I arrived at 3:35 PM. My riding time was over an hour longer than during the Tour de Cure. It's true that I went 6.5 miles further, but I still wish I could have gone a little faster. My speed was undoubtably affected by the fact that there was about 1300 feet more of climbing on this century than the Tour.

My riding time ended up being 6:53, with a total time of 7:50. Total distance 106.62 miles, 6858 feet of ascent. My average moving speed was 15.5 mph.