On Saturday I completed my first century in Deerfield, Massachusetts at the D2R2, a ride that is notorious for its difficulty in the Northeast. I started the ride with one goal: to finish (hopefully before dark and more hopefully before 12 hours).
The start was at 6 AM for the 112 mile/170K "long ride." Stage one was 35.9 miles and 5750' total climbing. According to the cue sheet: "This section is hard, but it is just a warm-up. Pace yourself accordingly."
I drove from my nearby friend’s house to the cornfield where the farm festival was to be held later that day. It was a cool morning and the sun had not yet risen.
The cornfield was a surreal scene of sleepy bicyclists wandering around in Spandex, stumbling towards the complimentary coffee with a contradictory but undeniable sense of anticipation for the ride ahead.
The mist in the valley was thick enough that I felt it upon breathing. On one of the first climbs there was a paddock, covered in mist, with two ghostly horses huddled against the cool damp air. They glanced at the pack of riders with an air of curiosity as we passed.
Right off the start, I met a nice fellow and we chatted amiably for a bit. He was definitely the faster rider though and quickly disappeared into the fog during the first few climbs.
Even though I wasn't trying to keep up with anyone, I was foolish, didn't heed the advice of the cue sheet, and was initially pushing a bit too hard. I was so caught up in the scenery and the experience that I wasn't eating or hydrating enough either. Because of this, by mile 40 my legs were starting to cramp up a bit. I was getting dropped on the climbs, but bombing the twisty dirt road descents—so much fun! Since I was already having some problems I took a good amount of time at the first rest stop to eat, drink and recover a bit.
Then began Stage 2, during which I took breaks at the top of climbs to eat and drink. I figured this would give my body time during the relative rest of the descents to get sustenance and hydration to muscles before the next climb. I moderated my efforts on the climbs as much as possible and eventually the cramping subsided, unless I was on a really steep and or long climb.
The next 25-30 miles were a series of beautiful woods and dirt roads. One road could only be loosely defined as such—the term "cow path" comes to mind—although the cue sheet mentioned a couple of "jeep tracks"—it must have been one of those. I quickly found that one of this ride’s great challenges was the varying terrain, everything from newly paved roads to single lane dirt roads to effectively ¾-lane dirt roads. Some of these were barely maintained if they were maintained at all; they more closely resembled wide, Northeastern woods singletrack than they did roads. My bike was well suited to this although my real concern wasn't the bike, it was the engine!
Near the end of Stage 2 were some awesome rollers along Green River in Vermont. I kept up a good clip on this section and was having a lot of fun. I took some time on the upwards sections of these rollers to look somewhere other than down the road in front of me. The sun was shining through leaves and making the dirt road take on a late summer hue.
The high-speed fun came to a stop at a covered bridge marking the just-over-half-way point and the lunch stop. I got to talking with a few people, took some time to eat and ended up taking too long a break, dropping me at the back of the 170K pack. Somehow the next 15 miles went quickly despite the long climb immediately after lunch (I was glad in retrospect that I took some time to digest my food.) I hadn't been looking at my distance on my cyclometer because I didn't want to get discouraged—I was mainly trying to maintain a 10-11 mph average. But curiosity got the best of me so I took a look and saw that I was at mile 80, five miles longer than my longest ride to date which was last weekend! Surely it would all be downhill from here. HA!
Despite the cramping early on and the long, hard climbs I was genuinely having fun until the real pain at mile 90 on Patten Hill, which should be notorious if it isn't. This was a brutal climb: long, steep and deceptive, looking like it was over two or three times before the actual crest of the hill, and even then the crest was not a sharp break, but a gradual hump that lessened out a simple, steady incline until it mercifully started going down the other side of the hill. Even before this gradual hump I was starting to fade, my legs were no longer cramping but my arms and legs started to become somewhat defiant, or at least not as attentive to what I was asking of them. I realized that if I didn't stop riding and walk for a bit I would likely not make it the rest of the way up that climb. I had to walk up approximately the last quarter of the hill.
Not long after this I stumbled via bicycle into the last rest stop before the finish. I arrived late and realized at the time that I would not likely make the qualifying time of 12 hours. But the volunteers stayed on until the last of the stragglers wandered through and kept us fed and hydrated. I had some nice conversation and realized at this point that I really was going to finish the ride! That and I was a mere 4 miles from completing my first century! I set off, simply intent on grinding out the last 14 miles. I had, as one of the volunteers said, "passed the crux of it," the crux being the hill I had just scaled.
The hill descended into a series of rollers and a few short climbs and then a rather speedy decent to a T-intersection. Near the bottom, I looked down to realize I was at 99.6 miles! I kept glancing down and just at the intersection at the bottom of the descent the magic 100 came up! I yelled "YEAH!" to no one but myself (I hope).
The most memorable part of the ride after that was the second, wide singletrack road, even narrower and more trail-like than the first. They do define the word "road" very loosely in some areas.
A short paved climb and then things started going downhill, literally, and for the best. There was a marker flag somewhere I didn't expect it to be. I checked my cue sheet and realized I was two turns and a little under two miles from the finish: the distance of my daily commute, but without the traffic, lights, pedestrians or other impediments.
The last two miles were surprisingly flat, although given the nature of the rest of the course I think this was more a product of necessity than design. I soon rounded the final turn and saw the tents set up around the Farm Festival that marked the end of the ride. I rolled up to the tent where the final checkpoint was and turned in my card... I was done.
Surprisingly I could still walk (somehow I didn't really expect to be able to after all this.) I took my meal ticket and downed a large and much needed meal, as well a nice cold beer. The food was really so-so but it tasted five-star. I spoke with many people who congratulated me upon hearing that I completed the "Long Course." Upon hearing that this was my first century, they informed me that I'd find most others easy, shook my hand, and sometimes told me I was crazy.
All in all, the weather was amazing, 85 degrees, and low humidity, but the heat wasn't too noticeable as the ride was mostly in the shade. The scenery and views were amazing. I grew up a few miles south of where this ride took place and I miss it very much. New England farm country at its bucolic best: dairy farms, sheep, and horses, fields, farmers, trees, covered bridges, and alleys of maple trees.
Surprisingly, I felt quite good although quite tired after the ride. My knees were a bit sore, although they stopped hurting while I road to work this morning—very weird, very unexpected, very welcome.
I'd like to thank everyone on the forums for their words of advice, caution, and support! One goal down...now I need a new one! I may even do this again next year!
Stats:
8932 calories
109 miles (according to computer 112 according to ride organizers)
Total climbing:
11,300 feet
Average speed 10.5 MPH
Max speed 40 MPH
Ride time 10:24
Total time 12:36
edit: Even after losing 5 lbs during the ride I was still at 205 lbs... still a clyde!
