Another First!
Skip and I completed our first Century ride on Sunday and managed pretty well. It was not without it's "moments" however.
The morning started out clear and cool in beautiful Watsonville California. First gripe of the day... we got to the school early and they directed us to park in the furthest corner of the lot... now how is THAT fair??? So right off the bat we rode extra to get to the starting point of this 101.5 mile ride. Oh well.
On to the ride. The first 10 miles or so we cruised through town with TNT mentor Joan leading the way, trying to get the body warmed up before we turned onto a Rural road and started into the "rollers". Rollers is one of those terms that varies widely in interpretation. In my book, these were mostly hills, but beautiful ones with redwood trees surrounding us and very little vehicle traffic. The hills were very doable however and we tried to ignore the mountain before us as we rounded each bend to see another uphill. We mostly climbed for the next 20+ miles but the scenery was so pretty that we were not complaining. I did not really expect redwood forest so I was pleasantly surprised.
We pulled into the first "rest stop" at mile 14 and had a couple of snacks and used the facilities. At this stop we discussed the course with a local woman(while in the porta potty line - where all important conversations happen). She informed us that we had a few more miles of "rollers" and then 2 serious climbs (complete with false summits) before the next rest stop at mile 30.
We headed out a little concerned about what was in store for us. The serious hills were enough to get our attention and put the legs into full throttle but we managed them pretty well. At this point I was very glad we have been climbing the road into Lake Del Valle on a regular basis. The only really bad thing about this stretch was the road was more patches than road so it was very rough. Some of the views from the top were spectacular and the next rest stop had an even better selection of snacks, bagels, fruit, etc.
Pulling out of rest stop number 2 we had several miles of what most were calling "sweeping downhills" on Soquel Road with very nice pavement and a decent shoulder. Although it had quite a bit of traffic, people were polite for the most part (excluding the truck driver that did not yield the right of way to Joan - YIKES) This part was pretty nice as you might imagine and I managed to stay a little more relaxed than usual for a downhill (descending is not my forte).
We started heading for the coast with our next rest stop at Calfee bikes (home of the bamboo bike) at La Selva Beach (never heard of the city before). This was mile 54 and at this stop we were served espresso drinks (Skip had a carmel latte - I declined), biscotti, PBJ, olives, nuts, fruit, etc. You can see that the rest stops are getting better and better. It was about this point when I became a little concerned that I had not done too many rides over 50 miles so I was wondering how I was going to handle it. The only option was to just keep peddling so that is what we did.
The next stretch was pretty long. We were pushing to the next stop at mile 78 where we would be served lunch. Are you starting to get the idea that we are riding from feed trough to feed trough - exactly right - food is an excellent motivator.
We had some great stretches in this part of the ride where we could get into the aero bars and cruise along at 20+ mph with clear roads and sea breezes. This all came to a very sad end when we turned off the farm roads and faced the VERTICAL WALL at mile 75. Now, this wall should really have had an escalator, elevator, or at least a rope tow. I have never imagined that I would try to ride a bike up a road like that. Right away I noticed the people walking and thought "I'm not walking this thing" and the next thought was "How am I possibly going to ride this thing?" We put on brave faces and worked the first part of the hill out of the saddle, when we sat down and shifted to the Granny gear we immediately started crawling at about 5 mph. It went on for a LONG time, I changed gears and got out of the saddle again for about 12 cycles and then sat down and changed back to the granny. It was at this point that I realized that if I went any slower I would just fall over. I was about 2/3 of the way up when I bailed out onto a little side road. My legs were shaking so much that standing was even a bit of a challenge. Sad to say, but we both ended up walking the last bit.
Mentally this was really tough. I really did not want to bail out but I still had 25 miles to go and had no idea what was ahead. This lovely ego deflater was followed by another super steep climb but luckily it was not as long and we both managed to make it up. We entered the next rest stop a little less than enthusiastic. Both of us had been thinking that we were doing well and would like to repeat this ride until then. Now we are not so sure. Lunch was good and plentiful however, and I must say that the chocolate chip cookie helped me recuperate.
We only had to go another 12 miles from the lunch stop before being rewarded with strawberry crepes to sustain us to the finish. The last 25 miles was my fastest, and the gentlest terrain so I was able to re-group and find more energy towards the end. Skip kept asking me if I was finally warmed up because I had picked up the pace so much. I think I just wanted to be done.
Rolling into the finish at 105 miles (remember we had to park in the boonies...) and just before 5pm. They were serving a dinner of chicken and fish but we decided to pass on that. I did do a 20 minute run to get the kinks out and that was good. My knees were hurting from all the out of saddle climbing but the seat survived.
All in all it was a morale boost to have gone over 100 miles. I know I can do 112, and I know I can run when I'm done. I just hope I won't need that rope tow in Lake Placid!!!