My first Century Report or a story of a mentally ill person riding her bike.

[FreshNewbie]

My first Century Report or a story of a mentally ill person riding her bike.

I was trying to gather my thoughts so I that my ride report would be structured for at least an hour at work today, but given the “frozen brain” state I am in now, I am not sure it’s possible. So, whoever reads it please be aware that it will be long and written by a person who can’t put to words together right now.
Somewhere in April of this year ( my second summer of riding) I decided that I need a goal for the summer – to ride my first century by the end of summer. Given that I am not a natural cyclist and never did “hey mom no hands” trick when I was little: riding a century would be one of the best physical achievements in my life. Almost every weekend I would ride outside and think of ride reports I read on TE and amazing accomplishments each and everyone achieved, and thought that a day after my century would be done someone on the other end of “www” would sit in front of their computer and read about my ride and how I accomplished my goal, and maybe my report would make someone more motivated, more eager to get out and ride and enjoy themselves.
Well August 27th –Forecast-Pouring rain, 60F, SUCKS!
Woke up at 3 am after not being able to sleep very well, ahh all that excitement!!! Looked out the window and it’s not raining yet. Quick shower filled the bottles, FOOD, got my stuff together and out the door. As soon as I got out it started raining, however the hope that it will clear up was still alive.
Thank god for personal drivers A.K.A boyfriend- slept for another hour in the car. Got to the ride start at 6am, registered, and called the girls who were supposed to ride with me, WHO WERE 1:30 min LATE. On a scale from 1 to 10, I am 12 for waiting for them. Started the ride at 8 am ( NOT RAINING ) and got to first rest stop at mile 19 2 hours later, where we found some tiny lara bars, peaches, bananas, oranges, graham crackers with PB and jelly ( JoAnn this is for you ;-) THEY ARE GOOD). For the first time in my life the line to men’s bathroom was long while there was no one waiting next to women’s. Back on the road again, the skies are dark, it’s about 18-20mph headwind and three of us are on mile 22 now, where 66miles riders were supposed to pill off and take short cut. Well, so did the two girls for who I waited wasting an hour and half. I am on my own now…. At mile 24 it started raining, at mile 26 it started pouring, and when I say pouring I mean you can only see a wall of rain in front of you and about 15 feet of road. At this point I had to have a talk with myself, put things in order, and keep going. At mile 35 I saw a guy half mile in front of me, by mile 38 I caught up and asked to ride with him. It didn’t stop raining for the rest of my ride, pouring on and off, raining hard all the time. I know some of you who have done long distances say that you hit a mental wall at mile 80, well I hit it at mile 30 and had to break it brick by brick for the rest 73 miles. I wanted to give up many times, thought that the reason I am doing it in this weather is not why I wanted to ride it, imagined laying on a couch and drinking hot tea about 1000 times. But something in my head told me that this will make me stronger, I might not enjoy the beautiful places we rode by (and it was gorgeous even in the rain) but I will come out a stronger person, stronger rider, knowing that I CAN do it.
By the time we came to 3rd rest stop at mile 67 the staff was packing everything back ( 1:30 pm ) and they heard that 90% of people stopped riding. So, instead of waiting for the people who need it the most they PACK and decide to leave. Thank god I packed enough bars with me for a 3 day trip. Mile 92 -4th and last rest stop on Orient Point Park of Long Island. The rest stop was located on a tip of long island; the road was surrounded by ocean from two sides, the was something amazingly beautiful about the waves of the ocean, dark skies, and knowing that I will be done in an hour  Got more Graham Crackers in me, some gel, water and off we go. Last 10 miles I was going 18-20 mph, my legs didn’t feel tired anymore, I was happy, I felt strong, I was glad I stuck through it and did it, accomplished my goal. At mile 100 I looked at my computer and thought that I would definitely do it again but never in the RAIN.
Thank god there were hot showers at the end after which Dan (the guy I rode with), my BF and I went to get lunch-dinner.
In the end I have no regrets that I did it, I regret that the weather was not sunny, that I was not able to take pictures of the places I saw, not able to take off my eyes of the road and look around and enjoy myself as much. But I came out much stronger cyclist than I went in and in my book it counts. I am glad that I found one person to ride with to the end, which helped tremendously given the conditions. Right now I am sitting at work, my butt is sore, I have heat patch on my lower back, but a smile on my face as I am writing it. Thank you to everyone who will read this, who will reply, who helped me set a goal, thanks to my BF-Ed, who was very proud of me.

FreshNewbie ( well not so fresh anymore! )

[yellow]

What a great accomplishment!

And a great report! It sounds like those conditions were pretty brutal. Extra extra extra kudos for riding in it. As a fair weather rider, I cringe when I hear about "walls of rain".

And I think you should maybe think about changing your forum name. "RainPrincess" or something like that!

Congratulations. The next one will be easier!

[Veronica]

Woohoo! What an adventure!

So when's the next one?

V.

[jobob]

nah, not mentally ill, tenacious - congratulations for sticking it out !

[mimitabby]

You've got what it takes. To endure 70 odd miles IN THE RAIN!
your fantasy about the couch and the hot tea is funny. I never get that far.
I just fantasize about STOPPING, (sometimes falling) and getting off the bike.
what kind of injury or malady would be sufficient to get me off this bike?
but tea and a sofa? mmmmmmmmm

someone needs to talk to the support crew. That's not right that they abandoned the rest stop.. They have a responsibility to the riders even if most of them gave up!

[FreshNewbie]

When we got there there were still people who were coming by, not a lot but there were few, mind you these were the people who needed it most because the rest stop was only for people who rode 100 miles. I know it's pouring outside, its cold but they have trucks and cars there, they can load everything in the truck and sit inside, I am sure there would be letters, many of them...
Couch and hot tea were one of the things i thought about, there were many other crazy ideas. I even thought how much more I would rather ride in the heat

[KSH]

WOAH lady! That is some hardcore riding right there!

If you ask me, that sounds 100 times worse than my ride in 100+F degree heat. I would NEVER have even started trying to ride 100 miles in the rain!

Gosh, I feel so whimpy for not making my 100 miler now! Then again, I didn't really have a choice, as they cut the route off, but still... I don't think I could have done it. I certainly could NOT have done what you did!

Great job for sticking it out. You are amazing for having completed that ride!

[Veronica]

someone needs to talk to the support crew. That's not right that they abandoned the rest stop.. They have a responsibility to the riders even if most of them gave up!

Well I agree that they should stay until the last rider has come through, we need to remember these are volunteers - not paid positions. I would expect that on a large century it's impossible to keep track of whom has abandoned. The SAG drivers were probably kept busy driving folks back, rather than following the last riders. So the folks at the rest stop may have had no way of knowing how many riders were left.

V.

[short cut sally]

congrats on a job well done, you are a farther stronger woman than i would've been..i would've been home on the couch with the coffee..watching tv after about 2 miles of heavy rain..great story..

[FreshNewbie]

Veronica, you are absolutely right- they are volunteers, and I really do appreciate people who wake up at 3 am, come out to help put the ride together. At the same time I been to couple triathlons, which are much harder to organize, at the same price for the event, the events were better organized for three times as much people. If you asked me, I would rather pay more knowing that these people would be rewarded for their job, but there would be more of them to help. Another thing that I didnt mention is that there was bus service that took riders from Manhattan to the ride and back (3hours ride) , there were supposed to be 3 buses going back to manhattan at 2, 4,6pm. Well 6pm bus was cancelled for unknown reason, and riders who finished after 4 and were supposed to be on a bus at 6 were left without a ride home. All the hotes around were booked...

[spokewench]

That's absolutely wonderful - it is always great to accomplish your goals.

You probably would not have forgotten your first century, BUT, now with the rain and the bad conditions, It will always be one of your fondest memories!

Great Job!

[Jo-n-NY]

You know I wish you major congratulations. Reading your post I felt like I was reading part of a suspense novel, lol. I knew you would like the p&j grahams. Needless to say, you deserve more than tea.

I hope we both will be able to ride the pumpkin patch and will be able to meet up with one another, although I might have trouble keeping up with you!

~ JoAnn

[chickwhorips]

great job! glad to hear you stuck it out and broke down that wall brick by brick!!!

[Bikingmomof3]

Congrats on sticking it out. Way to go!

[Lise]

I am really impressed at how you did with all that rain. I think "Water Warrior" might be a more appropriate handle now! What kind of bike do you ride? How did your wheels feel on the road?

One thing I love about these athletic accomplishments is that they are always in you. You did it, and nothing can take it away.