100 Miles

09.22.2008

A year ago this month I convinced my wife to let me buy a bike. Not just a target special, a run-of-the-mill cruiser, or a yard sale bargain ... I bought a mid-level road bike worth ever dime of the ::::cough:::: I paid for it. That was a year ago. Since then I've clocked almost 2000 miles of Kentucky's beautiful countryside slowly transitioning from a newbie cyclist to a not-so-newbie cyclist. All in preparation for this past weekend, the Clarksville Sunrise Century. The "Century" part being a reference to the length, 100 miles in a day.

I had worked up my fitness over the spring and summer of this year to manage 65-70 miles without killing myself. I've done several 50 mile rides and completed a very hilly 70 mile tour just a month ago. So the prospect of my first century ride at this point in my fitness wasn't insane, just challenging ... very challenging.

I got up at 4am to meet a friend and make the hour long journey to Clarksville. The ride started at 7am. This meant, for me, that I would be tired from the start. We pulled in, got geared up and lined up with about 300 other riders all poised to make the distance. My motto was "pace yourself" which was promptly, nearly comically thrown out the window when I experienced what a 50 cyclist pace line is like. In short ... it makes going 23mph feel as easy as going 12 mph alone. The first 38 miles were a blur. By far the fastest 38 miles I have ever done. The next 18 or so were a similar tour-de-force of pace lines and fast speeds. I was pushing myself faster than I was fit to handle. At mile 65ish I began cramping in my right leg. Like driving a 4 cylinder car with only 2 working. My pace plummeted and quickly the last 30 miles took almost as long as the first 70. I couldn't keep up with or contribute to pace lines and no matter what I ate or drank ... the cramping didn't go away.

The slower pace was actually rather nice. Riding 20 mph in a pace line is an adrenaline rush ... but it's also quite nerve racking and takes 100% attention. Your front wheel is inches from the bike in front of you and the guy behind you is the same. So the only view you get to take in is the butt in front of you. Once my cramping ensued, and my pace went from rocketeer to mouse-ceteer, I was able to relax on the bike and really enjoy the very rural areas I was riding through. I rolled across other riders taking their time and got to have some brief conversations with them. For the most part though, my last 30 miles was a solo crawl across corn and tobacco fields and through a few one-horse towns on the KY/TN boarder. The weather was a tad windy but otherwise partly sunny and bright.

My first century was very much a challenge. My goal was to finish, which I did. I throughly enjoyed every mile and now possess a better understanding about what it takes to ride that sort of distance. Keep in mind, in the tour-de-france they ride over 100 miles a day, racing, and for 3 weeks in July. That blows my mind.

My finish time was clocked at 7:09:08 ... which included a few rest stops. I should be able to destroy that time next year if I don't cramp. A pace line of about a dozen riders set the record time this year at 3:44:16 .... that's over 26 mph, no stops .... Most impressive.

I bet they don't remember any of the views.