My first Century Ride!
For those who don’t know a Century is a 100 mile bike ride. That’s 100 miles of pain to enjoy. Sunday August 14 was a great day for a ride. Blue Cross of Idaho organized a charity ride (cost $30) with the proceeds going to obesity education (i.e. You’re FAT go work you’re a… off before you eat another cheeseburger!).
Alright back to the ride. It started at 7:00 am and most of the guys (and a few ladies) out there all looked pretty serious, lots of team wear and stuff. I was a little concerned, but not for more than my life. The ride started at a mild pace (until we got out of the parking lot). Then the pace picked up and up… to maybe 23 mph average. We went out south Cloverdale, which has some small hills and stuff. The leaders didn’t slow down much for the hill which means the rest of us in the pack didn’t get to slow down much either. On a couple of the little down hills we were over 30 mph in a pack of 50 riders. If you have never ridden in a pack it is a very fun feeling and with all the masses to draft off of you can go much faster than you would be able to by yourself. There were no breaks or slowing down (thanks to full police support at each intersection for the main pack). I managed to stay with the pack for almost 19 miles before I was about ready to die. When I got dropped we were close to Swan falls rode (and the first rest stop). I rode from there and drafted off of a lady (yes, there are some very strong women out there) to the next rest stop. Turns out the century was just a training ride for her and she was planning on riding the lotoja in a month. We got to the first rest stop and I ate a little and was off again. Prior to the next rest stop there was a decent little climb which was kinda fun. Seems all the training I have done on bogus has made me good at climbing, I was passing most everyone I could see on the way up. Second rest stop was much the same story as the first, eat a little refill the Gatorade bottles and head on out.
Somewhere around the 60 mile mark I was on my own for a while on a long uphill stretch. I lost my focus a little and slowed down… Finally, I made it out past the hill and the dump and back towards lake Lowell and started to get into the rhythm again. The third rest stop was a site for sore eyes by the time it rolled around. I stayed there a little longer and focused on stretching the legs, getting more Gatorade, eating some fruit and pretzels.
Back on the rode again I hooked up with a reality guy from Kuna. We stayed together for the rest of the ride. Somewhere out in Canyon county we took a wrong turn (missed a turn actually) and were a bit confused when we came to a T and there were no arrows telling us where to go. Fortunately I had a map and even better we were parallel to the route we were supposed to be on so it didn’t cost us anything.
Eventually, we got to the forth rest stop in Kuna and again, the same routine, eat stretch and get ready to go again. As we were heading for the final 15 miles we picked up a third guy who was slightly stronger than either of us. He picked up the pace on us and got a pace line going. We averaged about 19 or 20 mph the rest of the way in. Finally, we got back on the side streets headed for the finish line. We all let up and started chatting a little and crossed the finish line together (if Steve had been there, we would have been sprinting to the end). Total time was 6.5 hours with a ride time of 5.75 hours. It was a good experience and I have learned enough about my body to be able to maintain the hydration and salt intake sufficiently for longer rides. Next year maybe I will be able to do the lotoja (it’s a 200 mile race in one day with 6,300 feet of climbing).
Maybe next time up bogus I will beat Steve…