Well, today was the day. I've been riding for just under 3 months now, and I've been putting a lot of time and effort into it (and seen a lot of improvement) with hopes of riding a century next year. Something inside just sort of hit me, and even though I wasn't sure I was ready, I decided I would try and get one in this year before it gets cooler.

My friend/trainer :) took me on this ride, it was just the two of us.

Anyway, for anyone familiar with Western Washington, we started south of Arlington (at a parking lot on the Centennial Trail) and rode up to just past Snoqualmie Falls and back. The way there we went down through Monroe. The way back we took High Bridge Road.

For those not familiar, the ride was a combination of rollers and the occasional short steeper hill -- except for the climb up to Snoqualmie Falls and the first hill on High Bridge Road, those were more serious climbs -- though not the worst I have done.

It was VERY cold this morning, in the high 30's, and we rode SLOW to minimize the windchill. We probably averaged about 10mph for the first 10 miles. That I'm sure killed the average, but that wasn't what I was looking for today.

Stats:
Time 6:54:52
Dist 100.35 miles
Avg 14.5 mph

We stopped for a few minutes about 3-4 times (mostly just to relieve ourselves, a couple times just to break). We stopped at the half-way point for lunch (Turkey Sandwich). Even though we were well-supplied with Clif Bars, Bananas, etc. we did not eat anything else. I went through about 3.75 bottles of Gatorade.

I didn't finish as strong as I had hoped, but I finished and that was good enough to meet my goal.

Only carnage: I lost a spoke on my front wheel (nipple just unscrewed ???).

All in all, I am exhausted, but so happy that I did it. As I've mentioned before, I picked this up for exercise and then I fell in love with it. This board has helped not only educate me - but to inspire me to work harder and do more.

I feel like a real roadie now -- even more than when I got my clipless pedals!

Thanks everyone! :D

Adam

Udaman!

:)

Ahhh....I remember my first century....this is a good one, BTW....

Was about 15 years old at the time; in fairly good shape as my buddy and I played tennis every day for at least 2-3 hours, but not cycling shape. While I would borrow my neighbors 1970's Raleigh racing bike (about 3 sizes too big for me, and with platform pedals) once in awhile and go riding, I didn't train at all. To make a long story short, 12 hours and 120 miles later, me on the big-ass road bike and my buddy on his Murray mtn. bike from K-Mart (weighed about 50 lbs with the rack and bag on the rear) finished.

We had left at 4 a.m. in the morning, complete with a flashlight duct-taped to my handlebars. Had on a pair of cotton shorts (not cycling shorts) that really started to chafe after about 8 hours. Fortunately we thought ahead and went to Caldors the night before and picked up a POS bike pump and spare tube, which was good since I got a flat tire after about 70 miles.

It gets better. We barely drank anything on the ride down (we planned on stopping at Hammonnassett Beach in Madison, CT for lunch and our turnaround spot), and managed to take a 30 mile detour by going the wrong way and ending up in East Haven. As we neared the beach, I traded bikes with my buddy for about a mile, as the road gearing was proving to be a bit "tough" on some of the hills around the halfway point of the ride. Sure, he may have had a triple with really low gears, but my bike was about 30 pounds lighter so I quickly traded back. I have no clue how the hell he managed to finish that ride. Needless to say by the time we reached the beach (around 11 a.m.), we were pretty toasted. We had some bananas, fruit, and granola bars in the pack on my buddies bike (along with my SLR camera for pics :D), and some Gatorade. We gulped down the Gatorade and ate, and left around 11:30 a.m.

It was shortly therefter that I got the flat tire (rear), and proceeded to change it, which took awhile. It really sucked since the pump we had was so crappy, I could barely get any air in it. I estimate the pump was good for about 30-40 psi on the road bike tire. It had schrader valves, so about 15 miles up the road we stopped at a gas station and topped 'er off. It was also around this time when my legs started to chafe really bad, and we still had at least 50 miles to go. We were both wasted at this point, our pace maybe 10-12 mph.

For anyone familiar with Connecticut, we stopped on Rte. 5 in Wallingford for some Burger King - wolfed down a Whopper /w cheese, some fries, and a large orange soda. The drink was rather refreshing. However, about 20 minutes later, my legs began cramping badly, and had to stop to stretch them out. This passed, and we were soon on the home stretch, back in town (Southington).

As we were about 2-3 miles from home, 12 hours on the bikes, I felt this huge rush of energy come over me, and felt strong - pace picked back up, and we were going at a good clip. Got home, ate a bit and drank, and crashed on the couch.

So, to sum it up, did a 100+ mile ride on no training at all, barely any liquids and food, and on a few hours of sleep. Ah, to be young and dumb. You also learn a lot in how you can really push your body past what you thought was possible.

Oddly enough, a few years later when my brother and I were seriously into cycling and had logged some decent distance, we would never even try that ride. I would like to try it again someday....but not under those same circumstances :D.

Thanks guys -- I'm a little tight today, but it feels great to have this under my belt now. Only thing I wish I would have done different is invited everyone I know to be at the finish so they could all see me. :D

GuitarWizard - I only moved here about a year ago from CT. I lived in Woodbury most of the time I was there, but worked in nearly all those areas you mention. I know them well. :)

Yeah...I lived in Southington. I miss Southington, as you could actually ride some fairly non-hilly rides once in awhile around there, unlike where I live now.....as well as for a multitude of other reasons. BTW, riding a bike on Rte. 5 in Wallingford sucks. Rte. 68/70 through Chesire is fun.....heart attack hill was always a welcome sight halfway through a ride.

Cool. For awhile I was doing centuries every weekend, however it just gets too damn boring being on the bike for 6 hours at a time that often. In fact i've only done 8 this year, and the last one was late July.

I'm only doing one more, at the end of October. A nice 127 mile brevet.

Some of my riding friends are up over 30 centuries for the year. That's crazy. You can tell who has kids and wife and who doesn't :D

well done. have done several metrics now, and each time think the same thing at the finish: 'man, can't imagine going another 40 miles...!'

Thanks again guys.

30 centuries this year? I don't know if I'm up for that. I think maybe a few a year will satisfy me. For now. :D

Ostuni - I don't know enough people to know if anyone ever feels like their ready to push up to 100 miles the first time, so you might want to just do it. Pick a nice day, plan for it, and go have fun (or at least finish :)).

89Mustang - good stuff. I want to do the full century, but with less hills then today.

Guitar Wizard - I live in Farmington, much flatter than your side of the state, thankfully.