A Different Approach to a Century
 

A month and a half ago, my wife set riding a century as her 2015 riding goal. Her longest previous ride was 63 miles, four years ago in Ireland.

I offered to research a late summer, early fall organized ride without too much climbing. She said no, she wanted to do it without that much fanfare.

On an early Sunday morning ride in mid August, I added a couple sections to a familiar route that launches from and returns to the house. She doesn't track mileage. When we arrived home, I told her it was right at 34 and asked her if thought she could do it two more times. Her face brightened up, and she said yes. On Friday's last training ride, we found six more flat miles that stretched the base loop to 40.

Yesterday was the day. We launched with lights on at 5:30, and came in comfortably at 8:10. Forty miles down. I lost a coin toss with my oldest son, and he got to do the second loop with her, from 9:30 to 12:15. Eighty miles down. We waited to launch the last ride until our youngest daughter left for work at 2:30. By then, the weather had kicked up. We did the first section pretty much into the wind and then literally sailed home at 4:00.

101 miles! 6:55 saddle time. I don't think the extended breaks affected much, they were just a convenient way to break up the day.

Here's what I do think: that lady rocks!

Congrats to her! 100 miles is 100 miles. No problem breaking it up in stages. Finished in less than 12...all good!

Excellent riding and a team effort!

For the awesome MRS. who ROCKS!!! :thumb: :thumb:

For you :thumb: :thumb:

For the son :thumb: :thumb:

A true family affair.

You reinvented the Organized Ride and made it better. So what's her condition after the ride?

Fresh as a daisy might be stretching it, but only a little. The whole day went smoothly, right to the end, and it was a great confidence booster. I have a partner who's just getting back into riding this season after a fifteen year hiatus, and I'm going to suggest the same to him.

Now y'all have a shared family memory!

Good for your wife, Bandit, and good for you and your son, for the assists. This is the post of the month, hands down.

Bill

You wife is an animal. You go girl!

Congratulations to your wife and your whole family! What a great way to do your first century!

OUTSTANDING and a great effort. I started to copy and paste this to my GF......but thank GAWD my commen sense kicked in.

Thanks, and a good call on that. I'm convinced the only reason this, and prior goals have been reached, is she picks em. I'm just there to keep her company.

Wife and son at mile 77--still looking fresh.

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