A tale of the Century

Sunday was the big ride. My first century and IronBenny coming down for his first outdoor century. I wasn't nervous about the distance, I have quite a few 80's under my belt so my plan was to figure out pacing and nutrition.

Things did not start off well. I did a recon of the area Saturday afternoon and found out that a Greek festival with carnival was parked smack dab in the middle of the parking lot we stage out of. We ended up having to met somewhere else which cut 3 miles off each loop. Not a big deal. The weather was supposed to be cloudy with a cold front moving through. We started at about 50 degrees and six hours later it was around 65 degrees. Perfect riding weather except I forgot to sunscreen my legs and I have some interesting burns to show for it. Oh well base for summer I guess.

Loop one my goal was to go out nice and easy, which I did, I actually felt like the course was easier than times I had ridden it in the past, a good sign. I felt great coming back in for a bottle change. Average speed 18.3 mph. I was very confident that loop two would be similiar.

Loop two, I pushed a little harder on the outbound and noticed a uptick in average mph going uphill however the winds picked up and my downhill mph slowed about 5-10 mph. All things considered I will take a hard wind while going downhill at 19 mph than a hard wind while going uphill at 8 mph. I finished loop two at 18.2 mph.

I was not happy finishing loop two. I checked my bottles and realized that even though my water consumption was on track, I had only consumed 75% of the liquid calories I should have. The other bad news was that I had not urinated in 80 miles, (about 4.5 hours of training). Not a good sign and I kicked myself for the lack of discipline. This ride was to be about practicing nutrition and staying hydrated enough to enter the run fresh.

Thankfully Benny was gracious enough to stay within a few minutes of me during the loops and we enjoyed a ten mintue rest stop after loop two. Bagels and PB&J and my first bathroom break.

Loop Three started off pretty good for me. I got a rear flat which was changed in twelve minutes and kept a pretty steady pace going out to the turnaround. The headwinds really started to blow and coming back into high winds was a bit frustrating. All of us have had those moments where the bike is gusted one direction and you think your going to tip over, then is immediately hit from the other side think your going to tip over the other direction. That kind of wind conditons.

The last six miles were tough for me. I have felt much worse finishing shorter rides but my main thought was, "Can I get off the bike and run a marathon right now?" As if reading my mind, Benny asked the question to me. Hmmmm?

As we were putting the bikes away and patting each other on the back for the accomplishment, I had my answer to that question. Given about fifeteen mintues in T2 I could run. Give me that time and some rub down for my neck and hammys from the therapy tent and I could run well.

The positives of the ride were that I finished it and answered the nagging question, if my conditions are similiar on the bike, I can finish a marathon in five hours. I am confident in that assesment. Further tests including a century ride followed by a half marathon bike will be on my agenda. Also my body did well taking in only liquid calories for the distance excluding said sandwich.

The negatives are that I did not urinate, which shows a lack of hydration on my part. Also that I did not use proper sunscreen and burns will affect running. Plus I need to change my liquid calorie mix. I do one bottle for about 550 calories per 2o miles riding. The mix I used worked physically but not optimumly.

All can be adjusted or sustained between now and Ironman. Train on.