Here's an update on the century we rode last Saturday from team member Brian:
Once apon a time there was a bicycle tour called the 100 Grand. It took place in Grand Rapids Michigan, this is no longer the case. We now have the 110 Grand!!!
It started on the way home from work on Friday night. I stopped in at the Kentwood Village Bike Shop to take a look at some of the road bikes that I would NOT be riding in the next days race. WOW, what a difference a road bike makes. Anyway I found a couple that I liked but didn’t have the money, so through all of the sales pitches I just walked out of there with a spare bike tube for my Mountain bike and a bike bag to put it in, and a pair of riding gloves.
I woke up the next morning at 4:30 AM, ate a bowl of oatmeal and loaded up my Camelbak for the days ride. Then after putting my bike on the car I left to go pick up Crash to car pool to the ride. To his surprise I was actually early, but he was ready anyway so we left REAL early to find out where this ride started. Once we arrived at the school I started to get excited about the tour. This was going to be fun. Crash and I waited around for about 30 minutes and then Squeaker arrived and we went and checked in. After checking in we loaded up out Camelbaks, met Paul who asked to ride with us, and then hit the rode. I think it was about 7:15 AM when we started.
The first road had a big hill that we hit and that was going to be the sign of the day. The four of us started out together on our ride and wondering how we were going to not get lost. Actually the route was well marked but we had to figure out how to read the symbols and not miss any. After about 5 miles or so Paul and I broke off from the pack and averaged about 17.1 mph for the first 20 miles until the first stop. They had quite a variety of food to eat, Gatorade, and water. Then it was back on the bike.
John and Paul had sprung off for the lead on this leg of the trip with Crash and I taking up the rear. The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny, about 70 degrees, just gorgeous!! This leg took us to our old training stomping grounds of the Muesketawa Trial. This part of the tour wasn’t as hilly as the first but the hills were on their way. By the time I caught up with Squeaker and Paul we were at the next stop, lunch break!! The food was again pretty good and plenty of it. I refilled by Camelbak with PowerAid and stretched out a bit. My legs had started to tighten up as well as my back which is an issue that I have had to deal with for a couple of years now. Also, a reminder to stretch and drink as much fluids as I could! We were then ready to get started again, but Paul had already left and Squeaker was riding off as well so Crash and I started out ready for the next 40 mile loop, or so I thought it was going to be 40 miles.
I wasn’t sure on this leg if all of the food that I ate was going to slow me down so I told Crash that it would probably be slow going for me for a while. Sorry Crash, I guess I lied! I felt better than I thought, and then the hills hit. Each hill was coming at me like a challenge that I just had to meet, so when they came I rode as hard as I could to get to the top, and then rested once I was up there. It seemed like there were FAR more uphills than downhills. About 10 miles in I past Squeaker and kept going. I was passed by many a Rapid Wheelman on this part of the ride, most made comments about how hard it must be for me. Did I mention that I was riding a Mountain bike?? Yeah, that’s right, with the knobby tires! Smart, probably not, but it is what I had at the time.
At mile 55 there was a HUGE turtle, probably 18 “ across. I was hoping that Crash would stop and get a picture of Maurice the Moose on top of the turtle, but I guess it wasn’t there by the time he came by. I guess those turtles aren’t THAT slow. :-) There was a HUGE hill at mile 62 that I thought I was going to have to get off my bike to get to the top of it, but I eventually got there.
Then it hit. At mile 70 my left knee started hurting. By mile 72.5 I was starting to wonder if I was going to be able to finish. I still do not know what made my knee hurt, but I had to do most of the pushing on my right leg for 10 MILES!!! During this time I was trying to drink a lot to see if that would help and also pulled out some banana chips that I brought along to in case I was low on Potassium. Lucky for me at mile 80 it started to go away and I was able to start riding normally. This really slowed my overall time/average for the ride down. It seemed like this loop was NEVER going to end. I watched the miles tick down to where we were supposed to stop and the mark came and went and still no end in site. I met Paul again (going up a hill of course), he looked pretty tired at this point but still moving along. This 40 mile loop ended up being 48 miles, 8 of which I was mentioning words that I can not repeat here about where the next stop was. I was totally out of fluids, really needing a bathroom, and I was worrying about my knee still. Finally I came over a hill and I saw the enterance to the park in the distance. I was overjoyed! I waited there for about 20 minutes for Squeaker to show up, and probably another 10 for Crash, but we ate, took a little longer break and plotted our way home.
There were two routes to get back. One was 100 miles and one 106 miles. We took the shorter of the two. We only signed up for 100 miles and that was what we were going to ride, or so we thought. We started out thr four of us all together again . . . for about 2 miles and then I took over the yellow jersey! I started thinking about that half gallon of Moose Tracks that was waiting for me at the finish!! It was only 15 miles right so no problem. I hit it hard for the next 13 miles and started getting the idea that 15 miles wasn’t going to be exactly correct. I had 4 more Rapid Wheelmen pass me and thought what the heck I was going to draft off them to help me finish. So I got in behind them and we went the last 10 miles together. Finally 110 miles from the start I FINISHED!! I could SMELL the Moose Tracks!! I rode in to my wife Heiki, and Nicki taking pictures and cheering me on. It was great! I pulled in the parking lot and waited for Squeaker, Paul, and Crash to come in and then finally after all the waiting and dreaming. . . I got my Moose Tracks!
It took me 6 hours 47 minutes and I averaged about 17.1 miles per hour, with a Max speed of 33.5 mph! I can’t wait for the Holland Hundred to see if I can beat that in the heat of July. And who knows maybe there will be a road bike in my future! Maybe even before the Holland Hundred!
This is my story, and I’m sticking to it!
Brian Cunningham
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