Strategy for a hilly century? Tell me I'm ready!

[fallstoclimb]

I'm registered for the Civil War Century in a month. Here's a description from the website:

"This hilly ride has about 10,816 feet of climbing with four mountain climbs and lots of up and down in between. This is a difficult ride. You must commit to training for this event. It should not be your first century. But, if you do get tired, you can bail out at 65 miles, skipping Gettysburg (and the last mountain climb) in favor of a scenic nine-mile descent back to the start/finish."

I am NERVOUS. I've done one century previously, but it was pretty flat and easy. I'm fitter now than I've ever been and I have been doing lots of hill work, but haven't had as much time as I'd like for long rides so haven't made it past 60 miles yet, and I haven't done anything near 11,000 feet of climbing in a day. I rode 330 miles in July, am hoping for 400 miles in August but since I'll have to start a taper towards the end I'm not sure if I'll hit that or not.

1) Tell me I'm ready for this. They sent out an email yesterday asking people not to do the ride if they aren't prepared LOL. How am I supposed to know I'm prepared?? And boy am I nervous about that 65 mile bail-out.

2) What would you aim for your longest ride to be before a century? For my other century, I think my longest ride was about 70 miles. I do wonder if I should be focused more on climbing than going long though. Pretty confident I could do a flat century today if I had to.

3) What should my day-of strategy be? I have this awful habit of getting competitive and picking riders to chase the whole ride, but my husband tells me I am not allowed to do that and I have to start slow, haha. However I'm more concerned about what my hill strategy should be, because there are a lot of hills -- should I go up them ridiculously easy to save my legs for later? Moderately easy? I also don't want to be out there all day, of course....

4) I'm thinking I'll aim for a very hard ride Sunday August 24th, and then just do my regular commute (11 miles roundtrip, 3 days/week) and the usual Saturday group ride in the two weeks before the ride on September 6th. Good strategy? I might skip some of my commute days that last week...

5) The ride is about an hour from where I live, and the century organizers have created a "practice route" that includes 2 of the major climbs. Should I do this beforehand or no? I can get a little mental about these things, so if I do it and its easy it would be a nice confidence booster, but if I'm really struggling I'll get even more nervous. I'm wondering if its better to not know *exactly* what I'm getting into.

[roo4]

1. You are ready.

2. 75 miles.

3. Stop being so competitive. Go out there and have a fun ride. Why would you attack the hills if you are worried about climbing?

4. Sounds fine.

5. Yes, of course you should ride the practice route.

Bonus 6. You knew the answers to all of these questions before you asked, didn't you? Relax, have fun.

[ny biker]

Ride the practice route. Based on that, you can decide if you want to go for the full century or switch to the metric route, which has way less climbing and no mountains. (Bear in mind that you would have to make that decision before you start, because the routes are not the same in the beginning.)

Whichever route you do, ride your own pace, and do not start out fast and burn yourself out early. There will be pacelines of fast riders who will be looking at the butts in front of them and not noticing any of the beautiful countryside around them. Ignore them, they don't know what they're missing.

p.s. The food at this ride is fantastic, and the Antietam Dairy ice cream at the end makes it all worthwhile. I'm doing the metric.

[khg]

You're ready--go for it, and have a fabulous time!

Definitely do the practice route. It's really nice to have some familiarity with a hard course, so you can tell yourself "go easy here, there's a steep part around the corner" or "power through, there's an easy bit coming up."

Keep eating. I am still surprised by how much caloric energy a difficult hilly course requires. More than once I have struggled on a hill, and thought my legs were just done by that point in the day, only to have later hills feel easy--after pausing for a large meal. I try to keep snacking as I ride, but sometimes in retrospect I can see that I obviously wasn't eating enough.

Try to pick a pace that pushes you a bit, but doesn't put you at your limit. And if you feel like it, on the last climb open it up and see what you can do! Don't get caught up by people whizzing past you in the beginning, unless there's a paceline that is a comfortable speed for you--if you can find your own rhythm and ride your own ride, you'll probably be passing a lot of people at the end. This has always been my experience, and I was interested to read yesterday in the NYTimes an article about women marathoners being better at pacing themselves than men. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/women-pace-marathons-better-than-men-do/

It sounds like an awesome ride, and a great accomplishment, whichever length you end up doing. Have a great time!

[fallstoclimb]

Ride the practice route. Based on that, you can decide if you want to go for the full century or switch to the metric route, which has way less climbing and no mountains. (Bear in mind that you would have to make that decision before you start, because the routes are not the same in the beginning.)

Whichever route you do, ride your own pace, and do not start out fast and burn yourself out early. There will be pacelines of fast riders who will be looking at the butts in front of them and not noticing any of the beautiful countryside around them. Ignore them, they don't know what they're missing.

p.s. The food at this ride is fantastic, and the Antietam Dairy ice cream at the end makes it all worthwhile. I'm doing the metric.


I DIDN'T KNOW THERE'D BE ICE CREAM. Score!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah I mean honestly there's no way I'm going to decide to do the metric haha. I've been training for this ride all summer. I'm just nervous, but shortly after I posted I looked at the elevation map which calmed me down -- looks like theres only two MAJOR climbs, one at the beginning and one at mile 57. I can do this.

[fallstoclimb]

Keep eating. I am still surprised by how much caloric energy a difficult hilly course requires. More than once I have struggled on a hill, and thought my legs were just done by that point in the day, only to have later hills feel easy--after pausing for a large meal. I try to keep snacking as I ride, but sometimes in retrospect I can see that I obviously wasn't eating enough.


Yeah I'm a little worried about this. I did a 60 mile 5500 feet climbing ride a couple weeks ago and my legs just were barely working at the end -- I ate 2 cliff shot blok bars (so 12 shots), a payday (lol) and 2 baby potatoes, plus gatorade. At the time that seemed like plenty but at the end of the day I wondered if that was my issue.

When I did the century before, I was too nervous/excited to eat much in the beginning, and by the end had a real hard time getting any food done. I'm really hoping to eat consistently on this one. Unfortunately I don't have a fancy computer that can beep every X minutes to remind me.

[Veronica]

I do have the fancy watch that beeps at me and it's great! But you could use your cue sheet as a reminder.

Veronica

[ny biker]

FWIW, I have lots of friends who have done this century. They usually ride in southern Maryland where there are no mountains, and it's doable for them.

And yes, ice cream. :D

[rebeccaC]

Looking at the elevation map I’d pre-ride from around mile 25 to around mile 75 to see how the short steep climbs and the middle long climb goes. I'd also break that into sections in my mind for short goals i can meet to keep my mind on positives. The last 25-30 miles look like they should make for less energy used towards the end.

Climb at your own pace and in your comfort zone. Going anaerobic to keep up with others means you may not recover from the effort…..just know your limits and listen to your body. Climbing drains your body of glycogen and liquid so I make sure I’ve stored up glycogen and fluids, especially the night before, and during the ride eat and drink at constant intervals what I’ve found to work for me during long climbing rides. For your ride I’d have a good breakfast a hour and half before and take in more carbs the first half where the climbs are. Taking in carbs on the right schedule gives immediate glucose and can help protect glycogen stores.

Have a great day of riding and just enjoy the experience!!!!!!!

[Becky]

That's a great ride. They may have changed the course since I did it last, but at one time, there was a significant climb right out of the gate. Do whatever it takes to silence that little competitive voice and pace yourself. Hammering that first climb will not make for a good day ;) As I recall (again, years ago), the last 20 miles or so are flattish, but more exposed. Keep eating and drinking.

Eat more than you think you need and drink often. You're going to burn an insane number of calories. I do better with "gut-approved" solid foods on long rides than I do with gels and blocks. YMMV.

Regardless of the distance, it becomes a mental game at some point. For me, it's invariably at the 80% mark, when I am ready To.Be.Done.Period. Be prepared for it...pack a special snack, tape a photo to your handlebars, whatever it takes to distract you and keep you going.

Above all else, take a deep breath, smile, and have fun. This is one of the best centuries I've done: route, scenery, food, support...all of it!

[fallstoclimb]

Yes it still starts with that big climb. They've changed up a little of the course this year but I think the elevation is roughly the same -- big climb at beginning, big climb at middle, not much climbing at the end THANK GOD.

Eating really is key I think. Yesterday we did 80 w/ 5K feet of climbing (still nowhere near the CWC amount), and I did pretty okay through the whole ride because I basically just ate as much as I could tolerate. It seemed like a ridiculous amount of food at the time, but I didn't go into the dark place! I'm feeling a lot more positive after that ride.

[Becky]

The year I did it, my rear derailleur cable decided to go slack on that first climb, leaving me without my lowest (biggest) cog! That was not fun. If you did the ride in 2009, I was the lady working on a bike hung from the state park sign at the first rest stop :D

[rebeccaC]

Be careful about eating too much…we can transport glucose to our bloodstreams only so fast. Ingesting too many carbs won’t increase the absorption rate and can give you digestion/stomach problems etc., especially towards the end of a longer ride. On a long ride I’ll keep to around 40 to 60 g’s of carbs per hour (towards 60 the harder the ride) with solid food the first half+ and then gels for quick energy and carbs the last part of a long days ride. That’s what works for me anyway.…..I also drink lots of fluid over the entire ride.

If you do count carbs per hour make sure you add up everything....food, gels and sports drinks etc.

[fallstoclimb]

UPDATE:

I (more or less) finished! The day was absolutely brutal though. After a mild summer, it was the hottest day of the year -- 95 and humid. A long stretch coming up to the mile 50 rest stop was exposed and riders were being sagged left and right. They added some new climbs on this year's route in the first half too -- a couple short and very very steep sections. Half the riders I saw walked one of the hills -- I zigzagged it but was suffering.

Around mile 64 we pulled off to a grocery store to wait out a storm, but its good that we did because if we had continued on we would have been forced to take the bail out -- for a bit they were sending everyone that way due to the storm. A lot of other riders were bailing because they were just plain done. By the time we hit the bail out the storm was in Thurmont so the volunteers let us continue on. That was the hardest part though...knowing that we would be more or less alone for the rest of the ride and still having 40 miles to go. THANK GOD the climbing was mostly over at that point, and the storm did cool things down.

On the last 10 miles coming in, we were racing another storm. Winds were buffering us all over the place and it started raining again (and man did it hurt when my shorts soaked through and the wet touched my poor chafed behind). With just about 3 miles left to go - at mileage 103, this century was actually 106 miles - I made us pull off and hide in a shed because lightning was hitting way too close to us. While we were in the shed there was actually an electrical current or lightning strike (?) that made a pfzzz noise and jumped from one lightpole to another, directly in front of us. At that point I called my husband to update him -- he had been spending the whole day volunteering so he could see us off -- and he insisted on coming to pick us up because he had been worried sick about us. But I definitely COULD HAVE done another 3 miles, obviously, so I'm still gonna count this one as completed.

Honestly can't believe we made it though, especially with the number of stronger riders getting sagged and bailing. It was ten times harder than I thought it would be and I can't really say it was fun at all, and WORST of all I missed the ice cream!!!!! But I've never been so proud of myself. That was hands down the most physically and mentally challenging day of my life and I kept going when I didn't think I could.

[ny biker]

Congrats on finishing!! 103 miles was more than enough.

The weather was quite brutal on Saturday. I did the metric with a friend. Rather than going into the mountains, our route went south for a bit, circled around to a stop near a covered bridge, then went up through Emmitsburg to an area with a series of short but steep climbs. Our second rest stop -- the Fairfield fire department -- was also a stop on the century route, and from that point on the two routes stay together.

The sweat was literally dripping off my face, which does not usually happen to me, and I had a headache for most of the ride. It was the headache I often get at the end of a ride at the beginning of the summer, not in September and not for the entire ride. We made an additional stop at a nice coffee shop in Emmitsburg because we needed more ice water and a chance to stand in an air conditioned building for a few minutes. At the last rest stop, I put a zip-top bag filled with ice inside the back of my jersey and poured water on the sleeves of my Cool Wings, which helped to cool me down.

We got caught in the first storm as we were heading southwest from Gettysburg back to the start in Thurmont. At first it wasn't bad, just refreshing rain. When the winds picked up and the storm was really on top of us (thunder almost immediately following the lightning) we were lucky to find a couple of empty buildings with front porches, and a bunch of people took shelter there (including me and my friend). We saw some pretty dramatic lightning. After the rain stopped we finished the ride; we were about 6-7 miles away from the end at that point.

We met up at the picnic with a few friends who had done the century. They're faster than me, and I had seen them pass us at the last rest stop. While we were eating and hanging out, three more friends finished the century. One had done the Mountain Mama ride not long ago, and she's done the CWC before, but she actually thought the weather made this year's CWC far more difficult than anything she's done lately. She told me later that if we hadn't been there to greet her at the end, she probably would have sat down and cried.

By this point the sun was out again. We went back for one more scoop of ice cream and then packed up the car. At that point I noticed the sky was getting dark again. The first storm was really just an appetizer, and now the big one caused by the approaching cold front was approaching. We packed everything up, stopped at the High's gas station for drinks and a bathroom with running water to get cleaned up, and headed for home. I could see a very dark sky in my rear-view mirror as we headed south for Virginia. The storm reached my house a few minutes after I did, and when I went out afterwards to finish getting the gear out of my car, it was much cooler. We didn't get much rain but I know that other parts of the area got soaked, and there were a few power outages. I think your husband was wise to insist on coming to get you, even though you were just outside of Thurmont.

Despite the weather, I look forward to doing the metric again. I will never want to do the full century, but my friend does want to try it. I told her I'd meet her in Fairfield and ride with her from there.

Although you missed the ice cream, I hope you were able to enjoy the tomato sandwiches and fresh fruit at the rest stops. The nectarines were especially good this year.

Also if you'd like to visit the area again for a much less hilly ride, keep an eye on the Oxon Hill club ride schedule for a 50-ish mile ride that I'm hoping to lead up there next month.

[fallstoclimb]

Yeah, I think next year I'd like to try one of the shorter routes, so I have a chance of enjoying the ride and eating the great food!! In that heat I could barely stomach anything. It's a hike for us to get out there but it is really beautiful and I loved the lack of traffic on most of the roads!

[rebeccaC]

UPDATE:
That was hands down the most physically and mentally challenging day of my life and I kept going when I didn't think I could.

for me that feeling seems like a reward for the effort!!!:).....i have a few of those that i keep in my mind to pull out when needed on a tough climb :)

congrats on the ride!!!!!