Ride: 100 milesTerrain: flat, rollers, and a couple of multistage mountainsTime: 07:22:10 (including SAGS) 06:15:40 (on the bike)Pre-Ride Glucose: 138 mg/dlPost-Ride Glucose: 166 mg/dlIntake: 12 oz. milk (pre-ride); 10 oz Hammer gel, 2.5 bananas, 2 oranges, 1 thick PB&J Sandwich, 10 pretzels, 64 oz Powerade, 1 powerbar Ride Pump Status: 30% of Normal Today's event finally has come to fruition. I'm glad. I helped out a lot more this year then I did last year and got to see the pieces slowly coming together for the event over 6 months. We'll see what happens next year. The weather started out cloudy, so I wore my sunny happy shades (they have yellow lens's so they tend to lighten things up on a cloudy day making things much more visible. Red Riders started the event and three of us were sticking together for the century. It wasn't a race so drafting was mandatory in my book. It helps a lot and I wanted the other two guys to reap the benefits also. I was given an all-in-one Accucheck meter for the event by a friend, and it was nice to have it.
I started out the ride like it was a race or something, but wisened up within the first 3 miles. The milk I'd drank before the start was wearing off quickly and I pretty much bonked before even getting to the first SAG. So, I loaded up at the SAG and headed out again. The boys were itching to get it moving.
Once some of those nutirents started to get digested I got back on the ball and kept an average of 20-24 mph ongoing. That felt good. I also vowed I would stop at every SAG this year. I would do a manual glucose check, rehydrate, and refill my bottles at each SAG. It paid off pretty well, but at the end of the day I could tell I still hadn't eaten enough.
At about mile 52 the skies finally opened up and it rained cats, dogs, and cows for like an hour. Grin and bear it. That's alright I needed to wash all of that sweat off anyway. There were some very gusty winds (about 20-25 mph) and the rain came in heavy sheets and pooled to about 1/2-3/4 of an inch on the road. Whaooooo! Better stay off the lines and it's a good thing it had already been raining and washed the surface oil away. I averaged about 15-19 mph in the deluge until we got back to the turn-around at the Cove, about mile 64. Time for a much needed lunch.
After lunch we rode out at a good clip for the next 10 miles keeping it at about 21-24 mph and all feeling super good. After the next SAG I started to feel like the tank just wasn't anywhere near full or half full. The lower back was getting to me from being in "the drops" for so long. thinking back I should have stretched at each of the SAGs also. Hindsight is 20/20. So, the last 15ish miles were less thean my best cycling. Oh well. My teammates were always within 1 mile up the raod and within visuals at all times. I came around a corner once to find them waiting for me and I thought "oh, well, that's nice of you two". Unbenounced to me one of them had a flat, but neither really had a good grip on changing a tire or fixing a flat. That's OK we patched her up and got moving again.
By the end of the ride I was ready for a good long break. Although I didn't know it yet I would still mow the lawn and plant a garden the next day. But, some things were different this year compared to last year. One, I hadn't trained as much the longest trainging ride I'd done was like 40 miles). Two, I felt far better post event this year then last. Three, I hadn't paid enough attention to my caloric burn-off. I didn't look at it until post ride. Dumb....just dumb. I'm going to try and make a habit of keeping an eye on that during training and said events in the future. You can't expect to keep going the same pace for such a period of time and yet not keep enough fuel in the tank. Lesson learned. No real issues except that first bonk with glucose levels for the entire ride really. I look forward to the next one.
