mollusk

OK, I have to say up front that today is not my birthday. My birthday is still a fortnight away when I will turn 52 years young.

As I usually do I got up before dawn, let the dog out, filled his bowls with water and food while drinking my first cup of coffee of the day. Last night's weather forecast was showing a 20% chance of thunderstorms in the morning so I wasn't sure if my typical Sunday morning ride was still a "Go". Also one boy was off at a friend's house and needed to be picked up at noon while my other son had a friend over for the night and he needed to get home around 9:30. I wouldn't feel right sneaking out the door and leaving all this kid transportation to my wife. First I check the latest forecast and the weather looks great except for some patchy fog. Next I ask my still slumbering wife if she needs help with driving kids around in the morning and she says "No. Go for a ride" so I suit up, fill the water bottles, stick a Clif bar in my back pocket and I'm out the door at 7:15.

I'm feeling really good this morning. I do a couple of miles to warm up and decide to time myself over a 100 km (~62 mile) course. (Actually it is a 50 km course that I was going to do twice.) It's early and the fog is still pretty thick. I take off my glasses and stick them in a jersey pocket as they are fogging up pretty bad. My eyesight is borderline for requiring glasses to drive, so it isn't too bad to be riding without them. Lots of rabbits, deer, and turkey out and about in the early morning light.

The legs are feeling great and I settle into a nice cadence. The miles go whizzing by. I make the turn, put my glasses back on, and start the ride back on my first loop expecting a slight headwind, but the wind was calm. COOL! I keep ticking over the pedals and make it back to the starting point for the second loop in 1 hour 28 minutes and 14 seconds total elapsed time. That was faster than I intended on riding the first loop, but there it was and I still felt very good. In fact that time is only 3 minutes and 4 seconds off my personal best time for that loop.

As I start the second loop I open up the Clif bar and eat half of it and stick the other half back into my jersey pocket. One thing about Clif bars is that they sure make you drink a lot of water to get them down and that was a good thing. Now it was starting to get warmer and the sweat was pouring off me. Since it is later in the day there is less wildlife and more humans out and about. I also start thinking about the possibility of completing a solo metric century in less than 3 hours which is something I have never done before. I don't set my heart on it, but I decide to ride at a strong enough pace to do it and see what happens.

At the final turn around I saw would make the sub-3 hour time if I rode the last 25 km in less than 49 minute and 50 seconds. Now I knew that it was there for the taking: Just stay in the drops and kep the legs churning. With each passing mile it became clear that not only would I finish sub-3 hours but I would do so easily. As I clicked the stopwatch on my cyclometer at the end of 100 km it read 2 hours 54 minute 54 seconds. Last fall was the most recent time that I had timed myself over this sourse for 100 km and my time was 3 hours and 12 minutes. I guess that today must have been one of those days when everything was just working right. It also helped a lot that there was virtually no wind for the entire ride. And it probably also helped that I did this ride on my 2003 Lemond Zurich while the previous one was on my 20 year old Cannondale teeth-rattler.

Anyway I feel great except when I move. My legs are SORE, but in a really good way. It is a great feeling to accomplish something that you thought was out of reach.

Now back to grading.

stapfam

What a ride, and what a wife- Still why did you get her a car if she couldn't help out with the chores occasionally. Nixce to get out early and see all that wildlife about. The only wildlife I got this morning was a couple of Foxes- Never used to see them at all in the hills but We have a Hunting ban in the UK now. And these two were not bothered by us at all and just slunk away.

Just think---- In two weeks time you can do it again!!!! and on the old Cannondale to make it worthwhile. Really- well done and the best rides always come when you make just that bit of effort to get out on the spur of the moment.

Just to confuse our new members.. The birthday ride just started as a "Ride your Age" ride. Hopefully somewhere around your birthday but that is not important. You imagine having a birthday in January with 6 ft of snow all round you or temp at 20 degrees. The idea is that you ride your age- and that does not mean your mental one D.G.- Sometime in the year. Allright for you youngsters at just on 50 but look at what it has done to Will- He just doesn't know his age any more, and definitely isn't acting it, so is getting all his birthdays in in one go- just in case he forgets a year.

mollusk

Agreed, especially about the wife part. She truly is my better half.

Dakota

Great report mollusk. I enjoy reading about great rides almost as much as riding a great ride. Give your wife an extra hug today, as she was the reason you were able to do this.

stonecrd

Excellent ride, I was up your way in mid March and sneeked out after a business meeting to ride 30mi on the Hawthorn Trail. Some real scenary compared to the flats we have down here. I saw a armadillo, two snakes and it was nice riding in the trees.