Longest. Ride. Ever.

As I posted yesterday I rode in my first century today, and all in all things went very well. Total distance was 106.63 miles in 6 hrs and 16 minutes.

The day started early since the ride was scheduled to kick off at 7 am, which meant that I had to be awake and out of the house at 0615. Now generally I refuse to get up this early since I left the Army, but in this case I made an exception.

I got to Brookdale Community College about 0645 after committing what I suspect are at least a dozen moving violations to make sure that I didn't miss the start. I needn't have worried. When I arrived there were around 50 riders in the parking lot, sporting a rainbow of brightly colored cycling jerseys and unloading a multitude of bikes that on average probably cost more than the kelly blue book value of my truck. One of the more interesting rides that I have ever seen showed up on top of a car that parked in the space next to me. It was a triple bike. Not a tandem, but a triple. Personally I can't understand why folks would want to ride these, particularly on a long ride like this. I have to think that after 60 or 70 miles the dude in front of you gets pretty stinky. I mean, come on, how long can his deodorant really last...particularly when your nose is about 10 inches from his back?

One other figure of note rode with the C group. This guy looked to be in his 60s, had a ZZ Top type beard, wore blue jeans, a long sleeve T shirt, hiking boots, and (I shit you not) road warrior-esque body armor on his TORSO, ARMS, and LEGS. This guy was wearing more protection that I had in Iraq. I don't know if he finished, but I saw him at the turnaround point so I know he rode at least 50 miles like that. Good on him. He must be a better man than I am.

As I unloaded my gear and stretched out I debated with myself whether I should ride with the A group, who are the fastest riders in the club, or the B group. I convinced myself to stick with the B riders since I hadn't done much serious road riding in a couple of weeks and this was at least 1/2 again further than any ride I had ever done. As it turns out this was a good decision. Once we started we never saw the A riders again and I don't think I would have been able to hang with them very long.

We started a few minutes late, and I have to say that the weather was absolutely perfect for riding. Crisp blue skies, temperature in the low to mid 60s, and virtually no wind. This made the first few miles fly by. Our group started with around 20 folks, which is large, and pretty much ensured that we would separate as the day went on. We did a good job staying together for the first portion of the ride, and by mile 20 or so I had met all the folks in our group.

At around the 20 mile mark we ran into some, shall we say, navigational challenges on the part of our ride leader which resulted in an extra six miles of riding on our part. At this point it was still early and cool, so we took it in stride, particularly since there were no hills to speak of on our bonus miles.

Shortly after we got back on the correct route we had the first flat tire of the day and I went back to help out the guy on the side of the road. He was having some issues getting his tire off the rim, and didn't seem to be exactly expert level on replacing a tube, but with some help he got a new tube installed while the rest of the group waited about a 1/4 of a mile up the road on the top of a smallish hill. Once the new tube was installed we started pumping and found that it wouldn't hold air either...maybe it was bad out of the box, or maybe it was punctured by the less than elegant use of tire levers putting it on the wheel, but we had to start all over from ground zero as the riders on the top of the rise glared at us with less and less patience. The guy with the flat didn't have another tube and was going to throw in the towel and call the support vehicle (yes, this ride had dedicated support vehicles...how cool is that?) until I convinced him to take one of my tubes and keep going. Once he agreed we got the second tube on much faster than our first attempt.

We got back on the road and picked up the pace for a while, eventually separating into at least two groups. I am not sure what caused the break in contact, but all of the sudden I looked over my shoulder and about 1/2 of the group was gone. Not just sliding back slowly as you might expect, but totally out of sight despite the fact that we were on a long, straight, flat road and could see for a good ways. I am guessing that somebody had mechanical issues, since that would stop folks cold, but I never did find out what happened.

Anyway, the group I was with kept riding until we got to Washington Crossing Park, near Trenton. I assume this park takes its name from the battle of Trenton and sits beside the Delaware river. I could see Pennsylvania across the river, which drove home for me how far I was from Brookdale and how much riding was left in the day.

As you might guess, the ride back from Trenton was harder than the ride out for a couple of reasons. First it was hotter...not dramatically hotter, but I would say that the temperature topped out in the high 70s which is enough to start pulling some electrolytes out of you. Second, there was a decent amount of climbing on the way back. Mind you, this was not Hawk Mountain climbing, but we had descended into the Delaware water gap and now we had to pick up all that elevation again before we could get back on the long flat stretches heading back to the coast. Third, we already had a bit over 50 miles behind us and a couple of the folks on the ride hadn't been eating much. Finally, the breeze which had been non-existent on the ride out was picking up as the temperature changed and we had a significant headwind for a good portion of the return trip.

Because of all this the ride back was slower than the ride out, but not dramatically so. We ended up averaging 17 miles an hour on the entire ride, which I think is a pretty respectable speed over 100 miles.

Now, one thing I haven't mentioned yet is rest stops. We stopped about once every 90 minutes or so to give folks a chance to eat, refill water, and use the facilities. These stops got more frequent as the ride when on and people needed more breathers, but by the time we got to the town of Marlboro I thought we were home free. But then, 5 miles from the end of the ride, someone decides that they absolutely have to stop at the WaWa for a potty break. Ugh.

When we left the WaWa for the home stretch I took the lead and quickly dropped most of the group on a longish hill on route 520. One other rider, a guy named Ferris (no, not that Ferris) that I had been bullshitting with throughout the ride, stayed with me and we continued to separate from the group. Our breakaway was helped by a conveniently timed traffic light that we were able to squeeze through just before it turned red giving us a clean break and the ability to basically time trial back to Brookdale on our own. Now, Ferris was doing his 5th century of this summer and was pretty clearly a stronger rider than I am. So we took turns pulling on the last leg with him taking longer turns up front and breaking the wind on the flat stretches and me pulling on the uphill sections. I am not sure if he got much benefit from sitting on my wheel during the climbs, but he never complained.

So Ferris and I rolled into the parking lot as the first members of the B group to finish the ride with the rest of the group coming in between 2 and 5 minutes behind us. Some of the group was visibly hurting, but by and large everyone looked like they were doing alright.

Overall this was a pretty fun riding experience and I will definitely do it again. It's tough to beat six hours of continuous riding for cardio training, and on a day like today it's almost criminal to not get on your bike. I am looking forward to upgrading my bike to something lighter and more responsive and seeing the difference that will make... but that won't happen for a while.