Originally Posted by telebianchi

Well I had fun. Eight hours even. New bike. Liked the food choices at Hamilton (tons of orange quarters; fresh baked breads and cookies). More climbing than I've ever done in one day (much less combined with 100+ total miles), but while going slow up the hills never felt I was in trouble on them (and had an inner grin when passing a few people).

I found the loops based at Hamilton to be much less confusing once I was there and actually riding it. But it did mean riding a lot of the same roads several times over. And that probably meant missing out on some other nice roads in the area. This was my first Reston Century, but I have done a different century and a metric in the past and the rest stops were hit or miss. One or two stops were well stocked but others would barely have enough food to handle everybody (I even did a mountain bike ride where the promised rest stop was out of water). I understand from an organizational standpoint that running the one central rest stop would be a lot easier.

The long stretch on the W&OD was a let down. After riding the nice country roads it was annoying to have to again watch out for rollerbladers, joggers and strollers on trail that I often ride several times a week. I live ten minutes from the W&OD so normally I just accept those things as part of life. But for a big event it was a bit of a pain.

But all in all it was a great time. I'm definitely up for next year and will spend more time training the hills in the months leading up to it. Might even shoot for a double metric.