I finally did it! 100.2 miles
We had the century option on the 5th day of our tour. 60 miles into the ride there was a 22 mile out and back option then about 18 into town.
I had decided early on that I would make the decision at the rest stop depending on how I felt, how the weather was (wind, heat, rain) and what the terrain would be. The main part of the route was along the Missouri River through what we call the Missouri breaks, rolling landscape with a few longer valley climbs.
I took it easy on the hills coming into it and didn’t worry about keeping a certain speed but just tried to conserve some energy, Our LBS owner was the mechanic for the tour and he warned that the last 30 are tough because of loss of power. That I did discover was pretty true, hills that seem easy at the beginning were pretty tough at the end. AND I had already riden about 250 miles the preceding 4 days so the legs were a little tired
I had a good lunch at the last rest stop and decided to go for it. There were no major climbs and the day was cool with a reasonable (about 10 -15mph wind)
A brief rain shower came during lunch but passed over, there was a headwind for 11 miles that was tough but I just thought this is no worse than an easy 11 mile training ride and it will be a tail wind on the way back. On the turn around there was a hill that seemed very steep I could barely make 5mph and thought Oh Oh but somehow you make it up and keep going.
I made it back to the rest stop, had a little break, waited out another brief shower (now that was timing) and headed to town. Suddenly the energy appeared and I was going 16 mph on average. there was a great downhill coming into town and made it up to 38 mph. Once into town I discovered I still had the energy to sprint lights (more survival than anything, I had to stop at one and it was a little tough to get the momentum up again)
Got to the final destination at 99.6 so did a tour around the parking lot of a mall and pulled into camp at 100.2
I was tired but not exhausted (I must admit my personality was a little testy), We went out for a celebratory beer and a great dinner.
total distance 100.2, total riding time a little over 7 hours, average speed 14mph
Sense of accomplishment - priceless
