My First Century

I decided to ride in the BBC Century just to see if I could do it. I had a couple of 90 mile weeks when I was biking to and from work as well as mountain biking on the weekends but had never hit the magic 100mile number. Last weekend I had met at Cahaba desiring to get in a 50 mile ride to see how I felt. I got there at 7 and only 1 other person showed up he only showed up last minute and I was going to be a little upset if I had gotten up early and no one else showed up. He was sick and not feeling well so we just did a slow 20 mile loop through oak mountain. We got back and I was told the ride time had moved to 9:00 so I hung around and figured I would hang with the beginner group and do another 30 or so. Unfortunately there was only about 7 people riding so it was decided that there would be one group. There was talk of a 50 mile ride and some of these guys looked pretty serious. I asked what the pace would be and I was assured no one would be dropped. They said they were riding to Vandover and I had no idea where that was so we headed out. I was feeling pretty good after my warmup and managed to stay with them while they had their "slow" pace. Vandover ended up being about 29 miles away and I got dropped a bit before we got there. Brian? (hope that is correct) from Cahaba, hung with me and the other rider till we got there. After a short rest we headed back and I was not ready to hang with them this time, so us slower ones and Brian (decided to keep us company) rode back. It was a good ride and I had ridden over 77 miles. I actually fely pretty good so I was determined to do the century the following weekend.

I had to get up early to be in Springville by 7, but registered to do the "easy" (bypassed a few of the bigger climbs) century. I ran into Lee and Joe C. and they said they were doing the mountain goat century and I should join them. I was not keen on this Idea at first, as I still don't really know what a steep hill is on a road bike but they assured me they were going to ride at a casual pace so I joined them. It started off really nice as it was pretty flat and we had a nice pace going, until the first big hill (walker's gap). I started off good, but as the hill kept going I started falling behind. As I was pushed closer and closer to my limits, my only goal was not to put a foot down. Lee and Joe pulled away, but I kept chugging along mostly having to stand during all the steeper sections. As I crested the top I managed to push it a bit and catch back up to them (It helped that they were waiting on me). This climb had a nice long descent down the other side and I played a bit drafting Lee and letting the wind slow me back down. I have only gone this fast on the Mtn Bike once (40mph) and I felt really uncomfortable then. The road bike however was much more stable feeling and I quickly felt comfortable going so fast.
Almost immediately we started the second climb (horse pens 40). As once again I began to struggle I had plenty of time to contemplate a few things such as: Why do I have to stand up? Why is he peddling so much faster than me? WTF, his front chainring has a much smaller gear than mine does! Why did I not research this? I will not put a foot down!.. Wait a minute, wasn't there supposed to be a rest stop between these hills..... We took a wrong turn! Is it getting steeper? I WILL NOT put a foot down! Is that the top? Thank the lord! What is wrong with my vision? After I recovered I caught up with them (as they peddled slowly waiting on me). And mentioned we missed the rest stop. This second hill had a better descent (it had a few slight turns and was not just one long downhill, but had sections. We continued on and finally after more than 50 miles we reached the rest stop. I still had a bit if drink left which I knew was bad. I was not drinking enough water so I knew I would have to start drinking more or I was going to have problems later. I think I was pushing a bit too hard through some sections and forgot to hydrate. The next section was pretty flat and we had a nice ride to the covered Bridge rest stop. A really nice lady there gave me a ziplock bag for my camera as I was starting to get it sweaty. The weather was just incredible. it was cool and overcast which kept the sun off us and I am sure helped my ride. I filled up my bottles and ate a snack and we once again set off. This part had the climb everyone had to do, but it was in sections of a bit of climb and then flat and then climb again. I handlesd this much better as I could power my way up the short hills and then recover on the flats for the next one. I must have gotten my second wind around here because I was really feeling great on this section.
At the very top was the last rest stop. It was at a small church and I decide to eat something. I am not usually a big fan of tomatoes (i will eat them but don't usually ask for them on my food) I ate a tomato sandwhich (tomatoes, salt, and bread) and it was perfect, just what I needed. I think we hung out here a bit too long as I was a bit slow feeling when getting back on the bike (or it could be that I had ridden about 90 miles). We were told it was mostly downhill to the end and I seem to remember that not really feeling true. I finally started to cramp a bit with about 5 miles to go. As long as I kept spinning I could keep them at bay. After a bit they started to pass. I got back to the end and my computer only said 98.5. Since we missed a bit on the rest stop I decided to get my 100 in so I continued up the road and went to the intersection of the first turn of the route. I figured this would be far enough and turned around. Somehow the small hill at the beginning had turned into a mountain. I rode back up it starting to feel the cramps again, but managed to make it to the top. Finally heading back in, I had right under 101 miles on the odometer. I was pleased and grabbed a beer to celebrate. There was a bluegrass band and I sat and listened to them while eating a Chick-Fil-A sandwhich or two.

I had a great time and am glad they talked me into the harder route. I don't think I would have been as chalanged on the easier one. I headed home with a smile on my face (probably from deleria) and knew I would sleep well.