My FIFTH Century is now done - THREE in the month of July

[Tri Girl]

Congratulations Mary!! You are truly an inspiration to me, as I have never even done one century- let alone 5 (and 3 in one month- wow ).
You are so amazing! We could all say "would've, could've, should've", but the fact of the matter is that you are incredible on your bike and have come so far in one year. You should feel a tremendous amount of pride in what you've done!!!!

Go Mary, go Mary, go Mary....

[kaybee]

Congratulations Mary! You are such an inspiration.

KB

[tprevost]

Mary, YOU ROCK! I've been keeping up w/your story via bikejournal etc. and you are such an incredible woman!

Thank you for sharing your stories with us

Great job on the ride!

Tracy

[eclectic]

WAY TO GO MARY ! ! ! ! YIP YIP YIPPY !

Great writeup
I have yet to even consider doing a century let alone in the heat. Sounds like you took care of yourself with some good cool offs

You ARE amazing

[Nanci]

Mary, you obviously are taking well to long distance riding- maybe you should think about doing a brevet series next year! When I did mine this year, I didn't think past the 200k (124 miles) but the series is spaced so the rides themselves build you up, (and you just do maybe a Century or something in between) and you end up, hopefully, being able to do the whole thing! The really great thing about doing long rides every weekend like you are is once you build that base, it's very easy to maintain.

Nanci

[mary9761]

Mary, you obviously are taking well to long distance riding- maybe you should think about doing a brevet series next year! When I did mine this year, I didn't think past the 200k (124 miles) but the series is spaced so the rides themselves build you up, (and you just do maybe a Century or something in between) and you end up, hopefully, being able to do the whole thing! The really great thing about doing long rides every weekend like you are is once you build that base, it's very easy to maintain.

Nanci

Thanks,
Other than the heat, they are getting easier (well at least the same route I did terrible on the ReUnion Century from Belvidere, IL to Lake Geneva, WI and back it was a hellishly hot day) I've been doing fairly consistent metrics for a while on the weekends and it became necessary to ride to the breakfast ride directly from home if I was going to be able to make it in time as the busses don't run early enough to get me far enough north to make it to the park by 8am. I have to leave the house NO LATER than 5:30 to get to the park on time (getting faster there too if I don't have to fight a major headwind). I'm getting faster on the route with the group too, but if I want to see them at all along the route, I have to leave early from the start and breakfast, then they pass me and if I'm lucky I catch up long enough for them to leave again from the turn around point. I hope one of these days if I ever get on a road bike that I can keep up legitimately with them. I'm the only one who shows up on a comfort bike (or anything less than a road bike for that matter) so I'm usually slower than molasses so I generally end up doing the entire club ride solo.
Luckily I know the route I've been riding off and on for the last year well enough that I know plenty of places for short cuts if necessary. It's still rough once I get past the 17 mile mark out if I need to SAG in, I'm on my own until I can get that far in again. I don't drive and neither does my husband. If I'd break down, I've got a long walk because if I called my family for help, I'd probably never hear the end of it if they had to come 40 miles away from home to get me and bring me home, so since I ride solo, I pray nothing happens while out on the road. It is kind of frustrating to go to a club ride, sign in and know that if something DOES happen, no one will know until my husband is looking for me to come home or at least check in several times. I try to check in at specific spots to let him know I'm ok and still on the road, etc or if I've made a detour.
Now that I know I can actually do the distance, when the weather cools down a bit more and hopefully I can get a bit faster/stronger that I don't need so many stops later in the day (hit the wall somewhere around 70-80 mile mark) I may try to stretch it out further. My longest century so far has been 109 miles. Just a little further and I could have a double metric. Hmmm wonder when I can do that?

[CorsairMac]

when I saw your thread title my first thought was "in THis heat?".....I still have family living in Indpls so I know what it's been like back there. I had one of those brutal centurys the end of August last year so I know what you mean about just wanting to call it quits - and yup....mine was 6 miles from home And that frigging climb I do every night after work. but like you I stuck it out and what a feeling of accomplishment!! You have come so far in such a short time - and you've done all that on a comfort bike........you are quite amazing.

I was also looking at your avatar and thinking........don't you need to post a newer one?.........show off your latest physique??


btw: I lived in Sheridan for 4 years - yup........I know pretty much where you were riding. :-D