August 16, 2004 - Tour de Cure Century ride
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| After Conquering Our First Century Ride!!! |
You guys are probably thinking, Bob has gone totally bats! Why would he want to ride 100 miles on his bicycle in one day? What will he try next?
I love the way Ryan Wood puts 100 miles in perspective (http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/how-long-is-a-century-ride):
A 100-mile century ride is not something any Joe Schmo can hop on the bike and crank out. It takes training, it takes sound nutritional preparation (before and during the ride) and it takes some physical and mental toughness. If you want to put the century-ride distance in perspective, consider:
- 100 miles is roughly the distance between Philadelphia and New York City.
- It's also the distance between Hartford and Boston, which could send you through three states depending on your route.
- Chicago and Milwaukee are just about 100 miles apart, too.
- It's like biking around a high school track 400 times.
- Several countries, including Portugal and Italy, are about 100 miles wide, meaning you could bike from one edge of an entire nation to another within a century ride.
We arrived at the Boulder County fairgrounds around 530am. There were about 200 riders doing the Century ride so it wasn't too crazy busy. Parking was easy and the bathroom lines were short. I was real impressed with the food options available at the start area. They had everything from fruit to bagels to breakfast burritos. If you took off hungry, it was your own fault.
The ride started pretty much right on time at 6am. They played the national anthem and then we started riding. The first mile we were all bunched up and going slowly. It was a good chance to chat and find out about some of the other folks riding. The weather was a little cool but not at all cold. It was dark out but not to the point that you needed a light.
The entire course was well marked and there were volunteers or Police at every intersection keeping us safe and making sure we went the correct way. Julie and I stopped at all but one of the rest stops on the course. I think there were 10 that we stopped at. The stops were all well staffed and had plenty of food and water. One stop was out of Gatorade but all the others had plenty of everything! The volunteers at the stops were friendly and helpful. I remember one young man offering to hold our bikes while we ate and drank at one of the rest stops.
The first 75 miles or so were fairly easy. Lot of hills and plenty challenging but we seemed to have the energy and strength to push through. Some of the climbs were steep but I'm proud to say we never walked any hills. The scenery on the course was incredible and breathtaking. The last 25 miles were especially tough. Mostly because we were tired, it was hot out, and we just couldn't seem to get the correct nutrition. We both felt like quitting at times but wouldn't allow ourselves to. When you think about the temporary pain of riding bikes for 7.5 hours, it is nothing compared to what diabetics go through on a daily basis. I can't imagine having to check my blood before every meal and then give myself a shot.
Our time was slow (7:26:26 ride time, 9:03:48 total time) but we weren't racing so we were happy to just mark the Century ride off our bucket list. I don't know if we will ever do another one. I really need to learn the keys to nutrition for the longer events. My stomach starts complaining after about 3 hours of exercise and nothing seems to help. I'll keep looking for a solution!
Here are the details from our ride.
What's next for me?
September 27: Monument half Marathon in Nebraska (state number 9)
October 4: Tour of the Moon Metric Century Bike ride in Grand Junction
November 1: Monumental Half Marathon in Indianapolis Indiana (state number 10)
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