Well ladies I almost completed my first century in Cartersville, GA. This was my second attempt at a century after the first one bombed..almost literally (note to others-do not eat a huge breakfast of cramberry pancakes on the morning of these events!) So I ate a bowl of Oatmeal and had everything ready to go on a day predicted to reach 94 degrees with a heat index of 114. I got there on time with time to kill and mentally relax. There were hundreds of riders and I was prepared to have a good time. As I looked across the glorious rainbow of helmet colors I thought how utterly cool it would be to ride with them.

I was in the middle of the group for the 100 mile participants. Well as soon as they said "GO", I was out of there with them. It didn't take me very long (about 1/2 a mile) into the ride to realize that this would be very much like an Olympic sport for a lot of the riders: People were starting off at 25MPH and up! Talk about a reality check when I realized that many intended to maintain these high pace rides. I've compiled a few thoughts before and after the ride.

1. Maintain your own pace and ride easy to the finish- yeah right! So I ended up in the back of the pack in what turned out to be poorly marked roads. Didn't know it till.. oh well, look further down.
2. You will find other people riding at your own pace- there doesn't appear to be a group of 15-17mph riders in GA who weren't already in a nursing home and they didn't show up for this century either.
3. Gently rolling hills- this is a subjective term based on whether the speaker LOVES hills that incline on a 8% grade or higher.
4. Meandering through the country side- winding roads with ambiguous road markings as you meander through several miles trying to find a street that actually has a name on it that matches the que sheet.
5. You don't really feel the heat because of evaporation, hill descents etc. True to a point, but then the trees opened up and there was the sky, blazing sun, camels in a distance or was that a mirage?
6.Skinny people are in better shape for a climb- frankly i wish I had more fat on my rump if it meant feeling less like ground up meat on the hill.
7.Getting lost- why is it that dogs seem to have a sense for lost riders? While I tried to figure my way back, I was chased 3 times by dogs. Luckily they backed off at a friendly "not today doggie!" but highly stressful wondering if Cujoe the bad a** dog was gonna be next.
8. Not all biking shorts are made equal- equally thick that is. I saw enough butt cleavage through riding shorts to make a Baptist blush. This apparently is an acceptable dilema in cycling as it is understood the thinner the shorts the cooler you will be in humid rides. Note to self-check rear view in outdoor mirror to make sure I don't have a similar cleavage issue which explains the long line of guys following this not so fast rider.
9. All chamois lubricants aren't applied equally either- back to butts (I had to focus on something else other than the heat, being lost, dogs,etc) Is it acceptable to let another rider know that their lubricant is now copiously oozing out of their black shorts? I'm sure it was lubricant and not laundry suds because as hard as he was puffing up the hill he probably would have blown some bubbles out the rear. Ok not nice, but do you tell them they have this uhm..issue? Not too much they can do about it until after the ride.
10. SAGGING- the deflated feeling realizing I only did 27 miles and had to take an A/C ride back from the organizers in order to avoid being lost and alone in the middle of nowhere. Also, wondering "Why the heck did I agree to this" Oh well, next century is 2 months away.

Would be nice if they had organized pace groups... but oh well! My hats off to everybody who completed their distance rides this weekend!!