WhooHoo!! My First Metric Century!
I am so happy! I completed my first metric century on my first attempt. I started riding last year and only put a total of 789 miles on my bike. My modest goal for this year was 1000 miles. Then I found this web site. The accomplishments of all the women on here just encouraged me so much. I learned so much from reading the advice given here to other women and to myself. The idea of a century crept into my mind. I decided I wanted to ride the tour I did last year again this year. It was the one and only tour I’d ridden. I was pleased with myself for making it 30 miles last time. So I wanted to ride the same tour but go for the 100K. I still haven’t been putting big miles on my bike. Most rides are between 20-25 miles with about 3 rides over 40 miles. And this year I only had 488 miles on the bike (I thought I had more than that-better get going if I want to reach my goal of 1000 miles. This is nothing to most of you ladies!) Anyhow, the start of the ride was cool, mid 70s, but by noon it was 94 degrees. The rest stations were set 10 miles apart. I stopped at each one. At the 40 mile rest stop I had to decide whether to go the 100k or just head to the finish for a 50 mile ride. I went for the full 100K. The next 10 miles were very hard. But I remembered Nanci’s advice about the mental aspect of it and pushed on. There was a pretty big climb with about 4 miles to go. I just went into my granny gear, put my head down and pedaled…not looking at the top-and I made it! When I got to the point with about 2 miles left I kicked it up a couple of notches and cruised across the finish line. I was exhausted but ecstatic! It took me 4:29 of ride time, 5:30 total. My avg. speed was 14.2. It was a fairly hilly course so I feel pretty good about the whole thing. I owe a lot of thanks to you ladies. Because of you I actually believed I could do it. Thank you!!
