The Official Century

After my unofficial century last weekend, I was looking forward to a for real century ride. One with SAG stands and a large group of people and a well marked route. And no need for a cell phone.

I picked one that my friend Stan suggested and was also riding in, three hours away in Asheville. It was advertised as a "flat, fast course," one of the fastest centuries this side of the States. I went with no expectations, and Stan said he was going to shoot for a nice, 17mph average.

Quoth Stan: It's too pretty to go any faster than that.

Or not...

The night before I had a lovely pasta dinner with Monte, a GSO A rider, and Stan, a GSO strong B rider, and carbo loaded like a champ with some Greek Meatballs on the side.

Btw, have you ever had greek meatballs? Because they are probably the best meatballs I've ever had in my entire life.

Come morning, I awoke at 5:00 unable to get back to sleep, ate breakfast (Apple Cinnamon Cheerios), snagged a banana or two, and went over to the start location. I wasn't nervous, but I also had no idea what to expect. Riding a century, non stop for 100 miles, is definitely a milestone event.

I had pockets full of Gu and Shot Blocks, and water bottles full of Nuun. I was so ready for this.

Scarfed down the banana right before the start. And off we went!

The start? Not good. I think I'm learning more about my body when it rides, and my body when it rides needs a good amount of time to warm up. Too much too fast sends the heartrate too high too quickly.

And we were going pretty fast. Faster than 17mph, that much I knew for sure.

Eventually, I settle down into a pace and get myself under control. We're still moving along at a good clip, with no sign of slowing down. I don't even look at the computer. Sometimes I get dropped, sometimes I surge ahead, sometimes I pull, sometimes I draft. I'm feeling awesome.

The first rest stop comes up at around mile 48. Only then do I allow myself to glance down at the average speed.

20.1mph.

Holy Moly!

I fill my bottles, shove half a brownie, a banana, and 2 fig newtons into my mouth, and continue onwards.

The pace never slacked. Two more rest stops of face cramming action. After the final stop of three at mile 84, I lost track of my friends. One surged ahead, the other dropped back unbeknownst to me up a steep hill.

I kept waiting for my energy to lag, or my pace to drop, or my legs to give out. But guess what? They didn't. Not only that, I felt stronger the more I rode along. Several times, I pulled people up to the group ahead of us. I was clocking 24mph drafting at times. I conquered the long uphill section at the very end without maxing out my reserves. And honestly, I wasn't expecting to ride so well.

That being said, at mile 98, my left calf said, "I think I'm done now thank you very much" and proceeded to turn itself inside out. Had I any real mileage left, it would have been slow going.

But as it was, I had no mileage left. And it was fast going.

19.6mph average fast. For 100 miles.

Lunch? Lovely. Of me and my male companions, I was the only one to clean my plate completely. Chicken salad with cranberries and celery, black bean hummus with pita bread, pasta salad, and a peanut butter cookie.

I also got a post century massage, which took the edge off my calf immediately, along with my ice pack and compression socks. Can we say Sophie was actually prepared for once in her life?

So, here are some things I learned along the course of my first century:

1) My saddle is amazing. My butt didn't hurt once, not ONCE.

2) Eating on the bike is so so so important for long hard rides, because your body can only absorb about 30% of the calories you eat.

3) You can overeat on the bike if you're not careful, because you don't process all of the food, which can lead to bad things if you take in too much fat.

4) When coming up to a hill, downshift to an easier gear than you think you will need. That way, you can hit your stride halfway up without spiking the heart rate, and then have power to upshift and climb OVER the hill at the top. I know, I know, so they say, and guess what, it works.

5) Turning fast is hard but necessary to learn how to do if you want to ride with fast groups.

6) Golf courses mean hills. If you ever come across a golf course on your ride and don't want to climb, turn around.

7) Watch out for dropped water bottles/cliff bars/gu squeegees during century rides.

So now that my first official century has been properly slain, what's next for me?

Mountains.

As in Climb Every.

Not as in The Sound of Music.