Hey Everyone.. I became part of this forum in July this year when I finally got back into cycling. I just completed my first metric century on Saturday and it felt great. It was less than perfect riding weather... cloudy, a cold 16 degrees C (60 degrees F) and it rained for about 90% of the ride. As I'm new to this, I didn't have the appropriate wet weather gear, but I had a running suit which kept some of the rain and wind out. There were a ton of hills, both long and short and a couple of steep ones as well - One rider said it was a 16 (whatever that means).. That was the hard one!
Anyways, the main reason for posting this is to thank everyone who has posted advice in various areas on BikeForums.net . Without reading your advice and suggestions on training, nutrition and hydration, who knows if I would have successfully completed the ride and enjoyed it. I never felt overly tired or wanted to quit. Even at the end, I could have kept going. (I know the metric is only 65 miles, but I'm pretty sure that I could have done the additional 40 miles with all the training and advice everyone has provided). My next goal will be to do a 150km ride, although that may need to wait until next year due to the weather and my schedule. Tears of joy at the end were combined with the jokes about a 50yr old man on a 30yr old bike finishing in the top half of the riders! Again.. Thank you everyone for all of your contributions in this forum.

Congratulations! I wish I had your weather for the metric I rode on Saturday. Mine started out in triple digit temperatures, and by the time I realized that I shouldn't push myself to hard, I was wasted. Thoroughly enjoyed the first 50k ride to the beach, but limped home due to heat exhaustion and finished in the dark on an unlit bike path through the wilderness.

The first one feel good, huh?

Yes -- we have been having a hotter-than ever summer in southern Calfornia. My younger son and his girlfriend did an offroad run/obstacle course on Saturday at noon in Temecula (also low 100s F). They did OK, but the race got shortened from 14 miles to about 10 because so many folks were getting heatstroke.

Congrats on the metric -- that's about a birthday ride for many of us.

Congrats!

Now that it's getting a bit cooler here in the desert, I've been thinking it's getting close to metric time for me too.

Congratulations to you, that is a great accomplishment on your part.

Bill

Congrats on the ride and toughing it out in rainy weather. Love the comments about the 50yr old man and 30yr old bike and strong finish. I relate to that, totally.

Nice work!

Excellent job, well done!

Wind / cold / rain / hills - what's not to like?!!

Same here -- I have been riding the 1959 Capo lately -- combined age of bike and rider is 119 years.

Wow, I'm impressed! It takes a lot of HTFU to keep going in that kind of weather.

As noted by others above, we've been having a hard-core version of the opposite (very hot & dry) which can be just as bad overall.

Regardless, congratulations on your finishing first metric while at the same time realizing that it was (kind of) a training ride for you first 100 mile ride.

Rick / OCRR