My First Century Ride

I am a 2 year Lapband post-op. I have been working this past year on developing my cycling skills. Early this summer I rode a 25 mile ride that was fairly hilly to get accustomed to road cycling with a large group of people (2,000). I did real well. In mid August I did a MS 150 mile 2 day ride and was pretty proud of completing it in oppressive 95 degree heat and humidity averaging 12 mph. Well, I decided to see if I could do a 100 mile century ride. This weekend I am registered for the Han**** Horizontal Hundred in Findlay, Ohio.

I was curious if seasoned cyclists could give me some tips on cycling 100 miles in a century?  I must admit I am a little leery of being able to complete this ride. I've come a long way in two years. I never dreamed I would be doing this. However, I still find myself comparing myself to the fast road cyclists and putting myself down.

I am going to do my best to make this ride a success. I want it so bad.

Tom from Ohio

Congrats!

A lot of it will depend on the course.  How many hills you have to climb etc.
Is there a time cut off?
How fast do you normally ride?  I see you said you averaged 12 mph is that a leisurly ride for you or is that nearing your maximum.  Thats 8:20 minutes in the saddle not counting any rest breaks.  See question about time cut off.
Will they be providing aid stations with real food and or beverages
Will you be riding with others?
Can you find a group of similar speed riders to draft off of.  You conserve about 30% of your energy if you have someone to draft with.  Everyone takes turns at the front.  You will also find that you ride faster with a group in a pace line.

Get ahead and stay ahead of your fluid and electrolytes.  I set my watch to beep every 10 minutes and I make sure I drink even if I don't feel like I want any.  Playing catch up is a hard way to go.

I chose this century because it travels very flat roads. 12 mph is my casual pace. I can do 14 mph. The ride has stops at 25, 50, and 75 miles. The mid morning and afternoon stops are snacks  with the 50 mile stop being lunch.  My hope is to get my speed consistently up to 14 mph. Time-wise, the ride starts at 7 a.m. and you must be off the course by 6:00 p.m. If I can get up to 14 mph, that is 7 hours of cycling. I am adding 1 hour for rest stops.  So, if I can finish by 3:00 p.m. I will be happy. 4:00 p.m. is actually acceptable. Weather wise it will be very comfortable with temps in the 50s at 7 a,m, and mid 70s by mid afternoon with little humidity. The head and humidity killed me on the summer rides.  

Thanks for your advice. When I did Pedal;l to the Point, I found myself cycling with the same group of people.
 

It sounds like you should be fine.  The only cautionary thing I would put in there is allow yourself some time for mechanical issues.  A flat could throw your time off.  I don't know if you get any G.I. issues, but with the amount of fluids you should be taking in, you should also allow yourself some restroom breaks.  For an 8 hour ride, If you aren't peeing, you aren't hydrating enough.

Also if you can get comfortable eating on the bike and you don't need the break, I would suggest skipping the 25 mile stop if at all possible. 

Personally, I ride worse after a stop.  My legs just don't want to get back on the bike and go again.  Don't overdo it on the lunch stop, remember to eat like a WLS patient, I also find that I tend to over eat on these rides, then I have a gut bomb in my stomach and that is certainly no fun to ride with.

You should do great and have fun.

 I am doing my first century this weekend.  My ride will pick everybody up after 8 hours, so averaging 14.5 mph is going to be a must for me.  Last weekend I rode 84 mile is 6 hours 45 min with an average of 14.08 mph.  I am not confidant i can do it as well....we will see.

Good luck to you.

ROY

Good luck, Roy! It sounds like you are very close to managing the ride.  -- Tom

my suggestion (to add to the already good advice) is to make sure you don't skimp on calories.  100 miles is a long time to ride, if you don't keep up with the calories you could bonk, same goes for hydration.  With only 3 stops, i would consider bringing fuel with you (gels or granola bar etc) to eat while you ride between stops.  Best of luck, you will do great.

Thanks for all the advice. I know I need to be more cognizant about hydration on this ride. The summer rides that were excruciating hot forced me to drink a lot. With a cooler ride, I need to remember to drink. I like using some sort of timing mechanism; maybe I'll do it on the 1/4 hour and any time I feel thirsty. Skipping the 25 mile break sounds enticing. I will need to see how I am doing at that point. I know on my last ride that the breaks came at the right point for me. I am packing some protein bars and trail mix and maybe a few bananas. I was pretty conscious of the time I spent at lunch on the last long ride. I don't want to linger too far since I know it';s hard to get going again.

It's been a good year for me. I have Kona Dew Plus (sport hybrid). I am considering buying a road bike for these types of rides next year. I suspect I would get 2-3 mph improvement with a road bike on these flat asphalt roads. Does anyone have any personal experience on what speed gain there is between a hybrid and a road bike? 

Another question I have  been pondering that I am going to ask the guys at my local bike shop: If I switched tires to a thin road bike tire for road rides, would I get noticeably more speed out of the bike? Any thoughts?

Tom

I know next to nothing about cycling, but wanted to congratulate you on your success so far, and for attempting this century ride!  I'm excited for you, and you sound pretty prepared.  Just be smart and enjoy yourself!

Hi Guys,

I wanted to give you an update on my ride this past weekend. I was not able to complete the century. I did complete the metric century (63.4 miles). The day was a perfect early fall day with sun and low70s temps. The problem was this strong 20-25 constant NW wind. I did extremely well in the first segments that were mostly south and east. The ten miles before lunch were a brutal westerly ride against the wind. I was worn down pretty well at lunch. I hoped to recover during the break. As I looked at the ride map, I saw that I had another 14 miles west right away for the century.  As I was ready to leave, I was faced with the arrow to the left for the metric century and the arrow to the right for the century. After some hard thought, I chose the left and the metric.

I had to stake stock of my energy level and mental state. I knew I could push on the finish the additional 20 miles for the metric century. I was very unsure of finishing the century. I had about 5 miles west and 10 miles north on my last 20 miles and they really took the toll on me. I had to rest 3-4 times. I was determined to finish and made the SAG wagons pass me. It was important to come in under my own power. Riding through the finish line with cheers and noise was so fulfilling.

I learned more about riding and myself on this ride. It was good training. I thought that "flat = simple". How untrue that is. I never knew the power of constant 20-25 mph wind. I guess I will take hills over wind. At least you can recover some on the hills where the wind gives you no recovery.  My speed was up a lot going into lunch. Afterwords, the wind took it's tool but I still ended up around 12 mph.  I now know i really want a road bike to do these type of rides. I am pretty sure I will get more speed. That will be my winter research and shopping. 

I know I will be back next year with more training and preparedness to finish a century. Thanks for all who gave me good insight and advice. I used a lot of it on this ride.

Tom