My First century: warning LONG

[DrBadger]

So, I am just copying what I put into the CA thread (there are additional photos there):
WARNING LONG!

So, as Jo already said, we did the Holstein 100 century route yesterday along with my roommate Amie and her friend John. It was a great day, with amazing scenery and great company!

The weather was great, except for the crazy wind that whipped up in the afternoon (it actually blew me over late in the day and I have the chain ring bite to prove it).

Amie, John, and I met up with Jobob, Leebob, Trekhawk and AKAKim at the Tomales high school around 7 am, got riding by 7:30 or so and quickly the sane people doing the metric spit off from us crazy century folks. The morning was great.... the views up Coleman Valley road were inspiring, the cows were on the road, and I made sure that Jobob knew what I thought of the climb (I was telling her that "Coleman Valley $ucks!" in the photo... my language got progessively worse throught the afternoon ) We then had a great decent after the first rest stop followed by lots of rollers (some a bit larger than rollers).

I started feeling pretty crummy around mile 60 or so, stomach feeling off all that fun stuff. We got to the top of a small climb and I asked for a break.... that is when Jo made me eat some clif blocks... wow, what an amazing food! I felt better within 5 minutes and was good for the rest of the ride (with additional food at the upcoming rest stops). Thanks Jo for making me eat! I have to say, it is really great to do your first century with someone who is experienced to help through all the little things like recognizing when you need to eat something when your body is telling you that you don't want to eat.

The wind really picked up in the afternoon, did a bit of drafting which helped a lot, but not with the crazy cross winds that would totally blow your bike around. Got the the last rest stop just before the Marshal Wall (at around mile 90 ) and they told us that if we kept going there wouldn't be any food at the end and we should just SAG in. My response was at mile 90 NO WAY was I giving up. Well, we started up towards the Wall thinking that like the other hills it would block the wind a bit.... OR NOT! The wind was whipping straight down and across the hill. Amie and Jo take off up the hill, I got part way up, stopped to rest my legs a bit, and when I went to start again the combination of the steepness and the crazy wind blew me right over. I extracted my self from my bike, noticed a really great chain ring bite on my right shin and that I was going to have a mother of a bruise on my left hip. I ended up walking the next steep section of the hill as there was no way I was going to risk getting blown over again. Got to a less steep section, and was able to climb the rest of the way up.

At that point Jo took off towards the finish (Leebob had been waiting for us at the finish after doing the metric). Amie, John and I took off down the long decent and then took the turn onto HWY 1 along Tomales Bay... by this point I was cursing up a storm as this section had a ton of small hills, but bigger than rollers. I was down in my granny gear on pretty much every hill and was cursing the race organizers at every turn. When I made the final turn towards the finish line I knew I had done it and sped up. When I rolled into the High School Parking lot, Amie, Jobob, Leebob, Trekhawk and AKAkim where there cheering me on! John came rolling in a bit after me, and then one final guy who was out on the course behind us, so I wasn't last!

After getting cleaned up a bit Amie, John, the Bobs and I went for dinner in Petaluma...mmmmmm.... Milkshakes! and then drove home and crashed!

So, the stats for my first century (from my new Garmin Edge):
Distance: 103.81 miles
Ride Time: 8:12:39
Avg. Speed: 12.6 MPH
Total Ascent: 8447 ft. (I think that this is a bit over.... I would say an average between Jobob's profile and mine is probably correct, so somewhere around 7000 ft.)

It was a ton of fun seeing everyone at dinner, and meeting Trekhawk! Thanks so much Jo for riding with us, I think that it made a huge difference for me to be able to do the full century, so THANKS! And Leebob, Trekhawk, and AKAkim, thanks for hanging out until we finished! That was a long wait!

THere are photos over in this thread: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...t=14961&page=8

[SandyLS]

Great job on the ride. It must have been fun having other TE gals to ride with. I did my first century today also, but had to ride alone. I don't believe I had as many climb as you did. I think I'll be asleep very soon!

[DrBadger]

Great job on the ride. It must have been fun having other TE gals to ride with. I did my first century today also, but had to ride alone. I don't believe I had as many climb as you did. I think I'll be asleep very soon!

I saw your post earlier... great job, especially riding alone, and it sounded cold!

Go to bed... I couldn't belive how tired I was last night... I am not really sore today though, so that is nice... just hungry

Congratulations!

[makbike]

Congratulations! You do realize you have now been biten by the "century bug" and there will be many more to follow.

[michelem]

CONGRATS!!!

I enjoyed the photos. Looks like you had lots of fun despite being blown over. Hope your bruises heal soon.

[Trekhawk]

And Leebob, Trekhawk, and AKAkim, thanks for hanging out until we finished! That was a long wait!

I had to wait and congratulate you all. You girls really did an amazing ride - that wind was tough.LOL you know its windy when your lunch is getting blown off its plate.

Give yourself a big pat on the back you deserve it.

Imagine how easy the next one will be.

[jobob]

Ellen was so much fun to ride with! About 15 or 20 miles from the end, after the unexpected and tough climb on Pt. Reyes-Petaluma Road before Hicks Valley Rd., she knew she was going to finish her first century and was really jazzed, declaring "I so OWN this ride!"

So you should have seen her reaction soon thereafter when the guys at the Walker Ranch rest stop suggested we SAG from there to the finish so that we'd make it back before they stopped serving lunch. It was a hoot.

Amie was great to ride with too. I noticed she was descending a bit tentatively, and I asked Ellen if she was ever involved in a crash while descending. Ellen explained that no, it's just that she has been riding for only 6 months. Well good grief, she was descending pretty darn well for someone who's been riding for such a short amount of time! She was such a strong rider that I just assumed she'd been riding for a lot longer than that.

John was such a trooper! He wasn't as well prepared for this ride as were Ellen & Amie, so he had a tough go of it at times, but he had a great attitude and was always cheerful and upbeat and enjoying the experience.

You guys did super on your very first century, a mighty tough one at that. I had a great time with you all, and I'm glad to have shared that experience with you. Booyah.

[DirtDiva]

I started feeling pretty crummy around mile 60 or so, stomach feeling off all that fun stuff. We got to the top of a small climb and I asked for a break.... that is when Jo made me eat some clif blocks... wow, what an amazing food! I felt better within 5 minutes and was good for the rest of the ride (with additional food at the upcoming rest stops). Thanks Jo for making me eat! I have to say, it is really great to do your first century with someone who is experienced to help through all the little things like recognizing when you need to eat something when your body is telling you that you don't want to eat.

If in doubt, eat - one of the more, er, prominent philosophies of my life...

Well done. Must wander over and have a look at the pics.

[Tri Girl]

Wow- congrats on a long and tough ride! Sooooo proud of you!!!
How nice that you got to ride with new friends and have a blast. Now, like DirtDiva, I need to go check out the pics!

[Christopher]

Well done Badger! May you do many more. I enjoyed your write-up, and that does not seem an easy century either!

[aka_kim]

Great job crazy century person! If you can do 100 hard and windy miles you can do just about anything. There's a double in October you might be interested in...

Well, I was loudly proclaiming on my short and much easier 100k route how I would NEVER do the 100 miler at Holstien - that any ride with both Coleman Valley and Marshall-Petaluma is just WAY TOO HARD.

[DrBadger]

There's a double in October you might be interested in...

HA! That is funny! But gee, darn, I won't be in CA anymore Not sure doubles will be my cup of tea... but I will never say never... maybe a 200k will be the next step....(but even that will be a while).

Got to focus on moving and getting setteled in a new place first, then we will see. Perhaps I will come back out to CA in the future to ride with you all again on a long ride!

[bikerz]

Way to go Ellen!!!

I posted on the other thread too, but wanted to let you know what an awesome achievement that is! I'm sorry I couldn't be there to cheer you in!

And congrats to the annoyingly strong Aimee too!