Strategy for a hilly century? Tell me I'm ready!

[ny biker]

Congrats on finishing!! 103 miles was more than enough.

The weather was quite brutal on Saturday. I did the metric with a friend. Rather than going into the mountains, our route went south for a bit, circled around to a stop near a covered bridge, then went up through Emmitsburg to an area with a series of short but steep climbs. Our second rest stop -- the Fairfield fire department -- was also a stop on the century route, and from that point on the two routes stay together.

The sweat was literally dripping off my face, which does not usually happen to me, and I had a headache for most of the ride. It was the headache I often get at the end of a ride at the beginning of the summer, not in September and not for the entire ride. We made an additional stop at a nice coffee shop in Emmitsburg because we needed more ice water and a chance to stand in an air conditioned building for a few minutes. At the last rest stop, I put a zip-top bag filled with ice inside the back of my jersey and poured water on the sleeves of my Cool Wings, which helped to cool me down.

We got caught in the first storm as we were heading southwest from Gettysburg back to the start in Thurmont. At first it wasn't bad, just refreshing rain. When the winds picked up and the storm was really on top of us (thunder almost immediately following the lightning) we were lucky to find a couple of empty buildings with front porches, and a bunch of people took shelter there (including me and my friend). We saw some pretty dramatic lightning. After the rain stopped we finished the ride; we were about 6-7 miles away from the end at that point.

We met up at the picnic with a few friends who had done the century. They're faster than me, and I had seen them pass us at the last rest stop. While we were eating and hanging out, three more friends finished the century. One had done the Mountain Mama ride not long ago, and she's done the CWC before, but she actually thought the weather made this year's CWC far more difficult than anything she's done lately. She told me later that if we hadn't been there to greet her at the end, she probably would have sat down and cried.

By this point the sun was out again. We went back for one more scoop of ice cream and then packed up the car. At that point I noticed the sky was getting dark again. The first storm was really just an appetizer, and now the big one caused by the approaching cold front was approaching. We packed everything up, stopped at the High's gas station for drinks and a bathroom with running water to get cleaned up, and headed for home. I could see a very dark sky in my rear-view mirror as we headed south for Virginia. The storm reached my house a few minutes after I did, and when I went out afterwards to finish getting the gear out of my car, it was much cooler. We didn't get much rain but I know that other parts of the area got soaked, and there were a few power outages. I think your husband was wise to insist on coming to get you, even though you were just outside of Thurmont.

Despite the weather, I look forward to doing the metric again. I will never want to do the full century, but my friend does want to try it. I told her I'd meet her in Fairfield and ride with her from there.

Although you missed the ice cream, I hope you were able to enjoy the tomato sandwiches and fresh fruit at the rest stops. The nectarines were especially good this year.

Also if you'd like to visit the area again for a much less hilly ride, keep an eye on the Oxon Hill club ride schedule for a 50-ish mile ride that I'm hoping to lead up there next month.

[fallstoclimb]

Yeah, I think next year I'd like to try one of the shorter routes, so I have a chance of enjoying the ride and eating the great food!! In that heat I could barely stomach anything. It's a hike for us to get out there but it is really beautiful and I loved the lack of traffic on most of the roads!