Three Days Notice

Or How Not To Do Your First Century Ride

I called my friend Gallant on Wednesday to give him an investor update on Karmic. He was in Italy, but we managed to find a time, and had a good chat. At the end he dropped that he was flying back that evening, and would be doing the Marin Century on Saturday. That’s cool, I said. Then he asked if I wanted to do it. Like a fool, I said why not. YOLO as the kids would say.

This is the story of my first century ride. One hundred miles. On a bicycle. A Hundo, a Tonne, 161k’s if you’re British (or live outside the US). A Gran Fondo, a Cyclosportive, or often simply sportive. The epitome of endurance riding. It’s not a race, but you get a number, and there’s a cut-off time. It is a very long ride, taking even the fittest riders 4–5 hours. Despite my numerous cycling tweets, I am not a fit rider. Not even close. I really should have said no.

I think he’s laughing at me for doing this ride on short notice.

The Route:

It wasn’t going to be an easy ride. I guess no century is, but this was definitely a challenge with 6600 feet of climbing over 102 miles. There are five designated rest stops, but we decided to roll-through the first one since it was early at only 12.8 miles from the start. It was also crowded and busy. We’d stop there on the way back, as the fourth, and last, stop of the day.

The Marin Century route with marked rest stops.

Ride Report:

7am roll-out. We got on the back of a good group, double-paceline, everyone is in good spirits.

15 miles — we hit the base of the second climb. I’m still feeling pretty good. Rolled up ahead and pulled over to take some pictures of my buddy GC as he rode past.

27.5 miles — first rest stop of the day. It was small and busy as well. I packed up my jacket and applied sunscreen. Changed out my water with OSMO.

29 miles — my legs are starting to get the twinge of cramping, just as we’re starting up the biggest climb of the day. Realized I haven’t drank anything.

49 miles —second rest stop of the day. GC is scarfing down PBJs, bananas, etc. I’m not used to eating on the bike, so tried a piece of beef jerky. Instantly felt sick. Had another gel, and topped off the bottles (I’m over-hydrated by now).

69 miles — third rest stop of the day. Refilled the bottles and grabbed a Coke and a stroopwafel. Tweeted it and a couple people replied appropriately.

70 to 88 miles — these were what I would call garbage miles. It felt like a tacked-on loop just to get us over the century mark. Small climbs sucked.

89 miles — final rest stop for the day. Also marks my longest ride ever (previous best was 88miles). I was finally feeling confident about finishing.

The moment when I realized I would finish.

The last 15 miles was the final climb up and out, but coming back this way meant a more gradual climb, and so my gearing choice wasn’t as terrible. Once we crested the top, it was all downhill back to the start/finish line. The rush of adrenaline (and GC’s desire to finish before 4pm) meant we drilled it back into town. It was also the only part of the ride where we passed people, and not the other way around. I was giving folks the signal to latch on and get a free ride back, which a couple of guys did. It was a rare moment of Type 2 Fun, where I was actually having fun in the moment. It felt so great to finish!

Highlights:

I got a ‘Serious Cyclist Tan’ in just one day! (crisp lines)

I lost 5lbs, and am lighter than I was in college (60kg)

I got to hang out with my friend for a whole day (this is quite rare)

Some woman rode up next to me and said I had the best-looking bike and kit!

If you’ve read all this and *still* want to do your first century I would recommend watching the videos from GCN and Bobke’s Three Tips.

Here’s all the things I did that I would advise AGAINST:

1. Do it without training or base miles (YTD mileage before the ride: 300)
2. Do it on very little sleep (I got about 4hrs because of the early start time)
3. Do it without eating or drinking (I had 4 gels, a waffle, a Coke & 5 bottles)
4. Do it on a brand new bike (this actually worked out okay)
5. Do it with new equipment (my toes were cramping in my new shoes)

I’ve got more thoughts on why the Century in Cycling is so much more daunting than a Marathon is for Runners. Having done both (with similarly poor preparation!) I would say the marathon is 5x harder (at the time I did it) and probably 10x harder for a middle-aged person (at my age today).

Cheers,

Hong