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Well, the century was last Sunday (I know I'm a little late, but it's been a busy week) and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. I'm very proud of my accomplishment, but I felt the event itself had some organizational flaws.
Getting Up
We found some information online that said we needed to be at the event at 6:00AM, so at 4:30 my alarm went off and we started getting ready to leave. I had packed my bag and laid out my clothes the night before, but getting up that early meant that I still had trouble getting my act together until 5:00 when we had to leave.
Unfortunately, when we got to the event, we discovered that they were barely ready for us to check in. Getting there so early meant that speedy check-in was completely meaningless, but considering there were only about 30 people doing the 100 mile ride, it wouldn't have been that relevant even if I had shown up at 6:30 when we originally planned. It wasn't all bad, though, as the additional time allowed me to get ready at a leisurely pace.
Starting
Other than half the cyclists (including me) nearly missing the first turn, the beginning of the race was incredibly nice. The first 20 miles flew by, as we had a strong wind at our back the whole way, and I rolled into the second rest stop (I skipped the first because I was feeling so good) ahead of the main group.
Adrianna met me at the second rest stop, and I took some time to down a Gatorade and recharge for the next stretch. While I was resting, the main group passed the rest stop (I guess they decided to stop at the first stop but not the second) while I was taking my break, but I was still feeling pretty strong about my progress.
Challenging Hills
I got to the third rest stop before the main group had left, and shortened the rest so I could ride with them for the next stretch. This was better in theory than practice, though, as this part of the ride represented the most challenging climb of the century. I kept up with them fine, but at the first hill everybody pulled ahead as I struggled to push my higher weight over the hills. I caught up with them again at the third rest stop, but was so exhausted that I couldn't leave with them. We weren't quite done climbing, and I wanted to be rested for the work ahead.
Plaistow
The Plaistow stop was a little over half way, and by this time I guess the main group had completely broken up anyway. By many accounts, this was about when stamina started failing. I was extremely exhausted by the climbing we had done thus far, and that made the smaller climbs remaining feel as hard as the most challenging climb from earlier.
The attitude of the riders at the rest stop in Plaistow represented this very well. At the fourth rest stop people were still very talkative and excited, but now the mood was more one of grim determination. There was a chart of the elevation, and so we were able to see the hard climbs still to come.
80 Miles Down
Adrianna met me again at the 80 Mile rest stop, and by this time I had fallen back to the last group. I wasn't really aware of how far back I had gone until I noticed that they were packing up the rest stop as I was recovering. It was somewhat hurtful to not even wait until I had left to start doing so, and made the last 20 miles psychologically difficult.
This was about the time that people started telling me "almost there." This did help me push through to the end, but the last bit still dragged on worst than any other part of the ride. At 10 miles left, I found myself constantly glancing at my cyclometer, as if I could will the distance to diminish faster by doing so.
Finish
I was one of the last to actually complete the century, with a few coming in after me and a few picked up by the van. I ended up above my target speed, but still exceeding the time limit due to time spent at rest stops. Fortunately for me, the limit was changed from 3:00 to 4:00 in the last week before the event, so I still had a half hour left before they would have picked me up.
Adrianna met me at the finish line, with one of the staff members, and I got a medal for completing the event. Being exhausted and more than a little hungry, we headed indoors to eat some of the end-of-event food.
While I was in the early stages of recovered (I'm still sore as I write this on Wednesday), I had the unfortunate experience of one of the organizers complaining very loudly about the last group finishing at 3:30, and how they shouldn't even bother attempting the 100-mile course. This upset me more than a little bit, but she was the only person in the whole event that was rude, so I can't complain too much.
Conclusion
I worked very hard for this event, training nearly every day for the past 10 weeks, and I am proud of what I have accomplished. I am in now in much better shape than I was when I began the training, and I'll always be able to say that I rode 100 miles in one day.
I couldn't have done any of this without all of the people who supported me. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everybody for their financial and emotional support.
