My First Century Ride

My First Century Ride: Road to Freedom

 

First let me tell you what a century ride is as I am sure some of you don't already know. A century ride is a ride done on a bicycle (usually a road bike) that is 100 miles long. It must be performed in a 24 hr period of time to count. Those that do this sort of thing usually aim for somewhere between 7 hrs and 5 hrs. The world record time for riding 100 miles is under 4 hrs. When I was doing centuries I would average about 6 1/2 hours to completion.

I got my first road bike back in 2007. It was a vintage Austro Daimler. Many of you I am sure have never heard of this bike manufacturer. Austro Daimler was an automobile manufacturer that put out bikes I in the 1970's. They were good bikes. Mine was a ten speed that I believe was built in 1979. I still have it. I originally got this bike to make a commute to and from my job. It was a short ride to my workplace and the bike was a great means to do it. I was working in a hardware store at the time.

In that first season of riding I did get out on my bike to explore and exercise as well as commute. I would go out for as much as two hours at a time. It was quit enjoyable I especially liked riding on the beautiful country roads where I live here in Vermont. Eventually winter came and I put my bike away. However by this time I had been bit by the cycling bug. I had really enjoyed riding the season before. The wind in your face, sunshine on your skin and as I said before the beautiful country side. That winter I did a little research on cycling via the internet. What I found would lead to a life changing event that I would never forget.

I learned of what is called the century ride. As I said at the beginning of this article a century ride is a 100 mile bike ride done in one day. I thought that getting in shape to do one of these century rides would be a great challenge. I started researching century ride training plans. I found a 3 month long training plan. In this training plan they told me how much to ride on given days and whether or not to do hilly or flat terrain. To get up to riding 100 miles in a day I recommend riding 4 to 6 days a week for those 3 months. In that time you should have a weekly "long" bike ride that slowly builds up to a 70 mile ride 1 week before your century. That is just what I did.

It had been just under 3 months since I started the training program to ride a century. I was to attempt my first 70 mile ride. The day before I had rode a little over 50 miles but I was still feeling strong. As much as I was interested in cycling there was a lot I didn't know. I did not know specifically that those tight spandex shorts you see serious cyclists where have padding in the seat. I took off one morning to do that 70 mile ride and after the approximate half-way point I stopped to get a sports drink. At the convenience store I went to I sat down on the curb to drink but sitting was so painful that I had to stand. Riding all that I had in the last two days killed my rump. I finished my sports drink refusing to give up I got back on my bike and rode home. I continued to do long distance bike rides and still do not have padded shorts. My body adapted to spending long periods of time on a narrow road bike seat.

The next week after my 70 mile ride I did my first century. It was comprised of maybe 5 20 mile bike rides over the course of the day, resting between each of the 5 rides. The last leg I rode to go back to my apartment was hilly. At about 90 miles of riding I reached the highest point of the journey. The last 25 or 30 yards felt like they were straight up. My legs were too tired. I had to keep standing up out of the saddle and sitting back down. I knew that if I made it the rest would be gravy. I continued putting everything I had in to making it up that hill. I made it home shortly there after and felt great about completing my first century.

I started riding centuries once a moth after that and kept it up for a couple of seasons. I can not tell you what a valuable experience it was first knowing that you are capable of such a thing feels great. Second there is a sense of freedom that you get out of ultra long distance cycling? Having the ability to go out and explore country roads without worrying if you will have the steam to make it home is great. I no longer ride very much but having done what I did on my bike is certainly one of the best experiences of my life.