1st century accomplished

On Sunday I completed my first long awaited century ride. It was a great day especially for the fact that most of Long Island saw major thunderstorms in the afternoon, but they stayed west and we were riding east. The sun was shining with lovely blue skies, temps in the mid 60's and winds in our favor.

At about 80 miles clouds started coming in and we thought rain might follow so we picked up the pace and that is when my legs were tiring out. I also knew the ride would end with a roller coaster of rather steep hills. So I started sucking on those sport beans as now there were no more rest stops. At mile 95 my friend got a flat so we changed that, but for me it was good thing. I needed that bit of rest and time to stretch. While desending down the first hill I worked my gears so I was just moving almost effortlessly up and down the rest of the hills. I felt like I got my legs back. It just sprinkled it bit when we ended the ride (Montauk Point) so I guess the storms just went out to sea and missed us. I am usually not that lucky.

I took a vacation day yesterday, road a 20 mile recovery ride and watched the hightlights of the Giro Italia in the afternoon. I feel wonderful and looking forward to my next organized ride in August then again in October. :)

~ JoAnn

Congrats - that's an awesome accomplishment! And hopefully that means that your shoulder is totally mended too.
--- Denise

Awesome job, JoAnn! I've been waiting to hear your update and I'm glad it went well. It sounds like you were well prepared!

Congrats!

Congrats on your century!:D :D :D :D

Yeah for Sports Beans!:) :) :)

Woo-hoo!! Congrats!

Awesome. Congratulations. When's #2? :)

Good job! (she says, with carefully concealed envy)

JoAnn!!!!!!


Whooo Hooo! Wonderful Job and congratulations! Was it easier or harder than you'd imagined?

That is just WAY cool!

Tracy

Thanks everyone.

Denise-the shoulder is as good as it is going to get. I lost some close body range of motion, but it does not bother me to do the things I need and enjoy to do. thank you for asking.

Betagirl-#2 will be in August although my husband will be joining us and it will depend on how what he is up to riding at that time. It may be a metric century, but I am ok with that.

tprepost-I took it one rest stop to the next instead of thinking of 100 miles. Up until mile 80 I felt great and it went just as I expected. I did not think my legs would tire as they did after the 80 mile mark because the rest stop was at mile 73. I guess I will toss it up to picking up the pace at that point to hurry to finish. But I learned a lesson in that there is nothing wrong with taking a short break when your body tells you to. That little break at mile 95 to fix my friends flat did wonders for my legs and my legs were back to normal.

Yes, Bike Goddess, I am sure those sport beans helped also. I plan on always having a package on me for all my rides.

Just want to add my congrats. I suspect you might start thinking of your rides and cycling with a tad different perspective now...at least I did. One of the perks of completing your first century.

Way to GO, Jo-n-NY!! Here's a Snoopy dance in celebration for your accomplishment!

Wow! That is great. Amazing that you felt so good for so long, too. Impressive. :D

Great stuff! Congratulations.