Flying Wheels Summer Century Report

Well, it's not a race, but I've got a report anyway.

Yay century! It was awesome!

I felt great start to finish - unlike on the Daffodil Century, where I was doing the fractions to see how done I was (1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, etc - including the harder fractions, like sixths and eighths) and where I wondered whether I could actually finish from around mile 33 on. Here, I knew I could. I guess there are some differences:

1) I was with a larger group today (five people) and the group contained only one person who was a stronger rider than me, at least today (Danielle)
2) I had ridden half of the course before, and 3 out of the 5 major hills, and I did that last year when I wasn't as strong a cyclist, so I knew I could do it
3) I'm thinking the training I've done since the end of April, when I rode Daffodil, has paid off.

We started out slower than I could have done, but eventually we sped up and dropped two of our five people (we met up with one again at rest stops, but after about mile 50, I never saw the other again). I think that helped, too. There were some amazing, joyful, exciting miles - a bunch of the way had fabulous rollers, net downhill but it feels amazing to be going slightly uphill at 30 mph. I ate A LOT on the route - I think that helped my mood, too (I didn't eat nearly the number of calories I burned) but I ate a bagel and cookies and a banana and a PowerBar and a Pop-Tart and who knows what else - I was keeping track earlier in the day, but then lost track. So how do I know I didn't eat the number I burned, you ask?

Simple: I burned from exercise 3300 calories. Add that to my metabolic rate of 1400 (which I think is actually low - I think my metabolic rate is more like 1800 now), and it would be pretty much impossible to eat that much and a) be able to ride and b) not puke. I was very hungry when I got home, though, and I indulged in Chinese takeout: chicken and broccoli plus fried rice (a treat!).

So, a few things of note:

The route has five major hills. The first comes at mile 4.5. I wish I could do this hill when I've had time to warm up - as it was, I did it and it was fine, but I could have done even better.

The second hill is nothing. I had to convince one of my riding buddies that it actually was a hill. The third was even less than nothing.

I don't remember the fourth. Oh wait, yes I do - again, not significant. Then there was an extra one in Duvall to re-route around an accident (not sure if it was a bike accident or car). We had to make a sharp right uphill from a downhill slope. I was in my hardest gear, and unfortunately decided to downshift in the back, not the front, because I didn't know how steep it would be. Well, it was VERY steep, so I couldn't big-ring it, so I had to unclip and walk for a minute until I got to a driveway, could shift into a reasonable gear, then get back on the bike and go. That sucked.

So, the fifth hill. It comes at mile 80. The cue sheet said it was a three-mile climb. I remember last year not believing the hill was still going up - it's winding, so I kept thinking it was over, and it wasn't! I remember thinking it was absurd.

I was ready for it, but maybe too ready: it was easy! I mean, I did have to use my easiest gear some of the time, but not all of the time, and after the first 1.5 miles there's a 1-mile downhill that was fast and fabulous, then you go up again for another half-mile. No big deal!

Now, because we stopped and waited a lot for people, elapsed time was about 8.5, almost 9 hours. Riding time was under 6 (but I only rode 93 miles - the total route was 97, but John picked me up before I got to the very end because he was late somewhere and I felt worse about making him late than not finishing the ride). I didn't feel I needed my trip odometer to say 100, because I felt so good at 93 that it was so obvious I could have done more. In fact, I could have run a marathon, or at least a half-marathon. We averaged 15.7, but my average speed kept rising for the last 50 miles due to the faster pace we were able to keep (on flats, we were doing 18-20 mph consistently - I pulled a lot, too, and only drafted a little).

I tried drafting in the aero bars. I barely had to pedal. That was cool. But I liked leading better than drafting, but I'm a poor leader on hills. I push too hard and expend a lot of energy. I'm thinking I should practice chilling out on the hills a little more and pushing harder on the flats. But I love hills!

Okay, it's 10 p.m. now and I'm so tired I can't see straight. Tomorrow I'm doing my first Olympic triathlon. Yes, the day after a century ride. Whatever. :-)