On Saturday, June 4, I rode in my first official “Century” (a bike ride of 100 miles). It was the 100 Grand and started west of downtown Grand Rapids and then went all over the countryside. I rode with two friends and teammates -- Scott and Brian. Today, I'll share my experience and I've asked Scott and Brian to share theirs over the next few days. Here are the details from my perspective:
I was up at 5:15 am, ate breakfast, finished packing, and headed out around 6:15 am. I got to the school where the event started around 6:30 am, the same time Scott and Brian arrived. We all registered, and Scott and I checked our tire pressures one last time. We also met Paul, a man in his 60’s who was trying his first century. He asked to ride with us and we said “sure”.
We were off by 7:10 am or so. The first 20 miles, Brian and Paul took off (Paul may have been an older guy, but he was in great shape), and Scott and I stuck together about five minutes behind them. It was a quiet ride for the most part (still early in the morning, not many people out), and it was relatively cool (about 65 degrees). I felt “ok” during this period, but not great. The reasons: I was afraid I was going too fast too early (we averaged about 16 mph for the first 20 miles), and there were some killer hills. If the rest of the day was this hilly, I was in for a long ride.
Scott and I caught up to Brian and Paul at the first rest stop (at 20 miles). We ate some food, filled up with Gatorade, and were off after about 10 minutes. We held together as a pack for the first few miles, then Paul and I gradually pulled away. We kept up a steady pace (actually faster than the first 20) for the second 20 miles. (In truth, I was simply keeping up with Paul, and he just kept going and going). Brian and Scott were a few minutes behind us most of the way, then Brian caught up to us just as we pulled into the second stop at 40 miles.
This was the main stop of the day, and while it was only 10 am, we ate lunch and filled up with liquids. After eating, Brian, Scott, and I went to the rest room. When we came back, Paul was gone (we later found out that he thought we had left him and he took off before we got out of the bathroom). Brian wanted to stretch out a bit and Scott was waiting for him, so I started warming up just by pedaling slowly on the next leg of the ride (I thought I might as well warm up again on the bike and get whatever miles out I could – I figured I’d go slow enough for Brian and Scott to catch up with me relatively quickly).
Brian did catch up with me – about 2-3 miles into the next leg. I asked him where Scott was and he said “back there a ways”, and then took off. I then spent the next 20-25 miles about half a mile behind Brian until he eventually pulled out of sight. (I never did see Scott). I saw several other people as they passed me (most were avid cyclists), but for the most part, I rode from mile 40 to mile 85 (the next, and last, rest stop) by myself.
It was a long part of the ride for several reasons (other than the obvious fact that it was 45 miles in one stretch). First, the organizers did not allow walkman radios, so I had no music to listen to. And since I was alone, I had no one to talk to. It was pretty boring. Second, the wind kicked up in spots, making the riding very hard. Third, the hills were pretty bad in this stretch. But it wasn’t too hot and was fairly overcast, so that was nice. Overall, it was just gut check time. It was the long, tough stretch in the middle of the ride when I just told myself “keep going”. Eventually, one mile built upon another and I ended up back at the second check point (which was also the third check point – it was the same place we’d had lunch a few hours before).
Paul and Brian were there when I arrived. We ate and drank. Scott pulled in after I had been there five minutes or so. We all got refreshed and headed out for what was supposed to be the last 15 miles of the ride. However, whoever determined the mileage didn’t count correctly. By the time we hit 100 miles, we knew we had at least 5-6 miles left (and it turned out to be 10 extra miles)!
When we started, it wasn’t a few minutes until Brian was out in front of the pack (and eventually out of sight). I rode most of the time with Paul, and Scott was a few minutes behind us. The last 10 miles, we rode mostly together and we finished around 4:15 pm. Scott’s and Brian’s wives were there to meet us with Moose Tracks ice cream, so we were happy to have the event over and to enjoy some treats.
We ended with a good pace – 15.4 mph for 110 miles. And overall, I felt like it was a good experience. My muscles were tired that night and I went to bed around 9:45 pm, but I was about 80% by noon the next day and about 100% by Sunday at dinner time.
Here are the things I learned on this ride:
1. You have to listen to yourself and your body. -- No one knows how you feel better than you do yourself. You know when you can and should ride, how fast you should ride, etc. So while you're a part of a team (or a group), everyone eventually needs to ride his or her race in his or her style. To do otherwise is to risk failure.
2. I hate hills. They seem to go up much more frequently at steeper inclines and for much longer durations than when they go down. I told one of the organizers that I had signed up for the "downhill only" century. She thought that was funny. Little did she know I was delirious when I said it. :-)
3. I hate the wind more than I hate hills. You can ride up a hill, it just takes effort, but sometimes it was nearly impossible to ride against the wind gusts. And hills are at least something you can see, prepare for, and know when they end. The wind is not nearly as kind. And why does the wind ALWAYS blow right at me and never blow from BEHIND me???????
4. Get your miles in early. We had 40 miles done by 10 am or so, and it was good to have than many under our belts while the day was still cool. This will be even more important for our ride in July.
5. You can get farther, faster if you work as a team. For the most part, we didn't do this. I did draft quite a bit behind Paul from mile 20 to 40, and that helped a lot. But we could all have done better. At least Scott and I could have -- I think Brian just wants to "go" and will always be out alone in the lead.
6. I can't rest too long at stops. I have a 10-minute window to stop, eat, and drink before my muscles start to tighten up. So I have to make my stops short and sweet.
Well, that's it. One big century down, and one to go. Stop back over the next few days to see what Scott and Brian say (as well as see some pictures of the event). It should be fun to see if what they say is the same or totally different than what happened to me.
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