First Century of the new year

Originally I had planned to sneak my first 100 miler in on leap day and solo (Friday) but commitments at school said otherwise. Thursday night at Bike Church a friend who doesn't often help out that night showed up and considering his interest in long distances I asked if he wanted to ride an imperial on Saturday. Immediately he answered with great interest so we set a meeting time of 9 am and I briefly described the route; about 4,000' of climbing and basically out through Ambler to Nockamixon State Park and back a different route, with food stops at miles 30 and 70.
The weather was calling for snow Friday night with clear skies Saturday, so I left my fenders on but the roads were dry except for the first hour in the morning.

Kevin showed up a little after 9, we had some coffee and I showed him the route on Bikely, which has a great elevation profile. We left sometime after 9:30 to low 40's and beautiful clear skies; a great change from the overcast typically of Philadelphia. Immediately the wind picked up and Kevin commented that he heard it would be gusting to 40 all day. I told him that's why I left my disk wheels at home and we pressed on.

Little did we know, but the wind would make this an incredibly difficult century. The first thirty miles tend to meander back and forth, into a headwind then into a tailwind, but the middle thirty was mostly up hill and directly into the wind. We tried to take turns pulling but it was almost always a cross wind so that was little help. The middle of the route ground on, and going up 5-10% grades into 20-40 mph wind with small downhills into the wind was incredibly frustrating. It was so strong that on somewhat steep downhills you had to put in effort to stay at a decent pace, it felt like it was flat! This part of the route was also totally unfamiliar to me, so we did get lost once but had help from two walkers. A chocolate espresso bar and a bag of dried apple slices from my carradice barley helped us through but just barely. Eventually we made it to Nockamixon and turned SW. I had expected a break from the wind but now it seemed like we were headed directly into it! In fact, looking at the route online and trying to figure out what direction the wind was blowing is mind boggling, it's almost like it was blowing from two directions at once.

In addition to the wind, Kevin is about 20 lbs lighter than me and an excellent climber so his pace up the hills was a notch or two higher than mine. It took the first thirty miles for me to tell him to slow up a bit, considering the distance ahead. This meant that by the time we got to those hilly and windy middle 30 miles my legs weren't exactly fresh, and when we turned around for the way back only to have continuing head winds was hell. Also, did I mention he races cyclo-cross? The day I out-climb Kevin is the day that I know all this riding has paid off.

Around mile 60 we had just began to hit some tail winds with me in the lead when Kevin shouts out "Pizza!" I shout out "Yes!" and make a high speed turn into the parking lot. Fueled by mushroom pizza and with a tailwind at our backs the next 10 miles flew by at well over 20 mph.

Too bad I missed the turn that was right after the pizza place and we went in the wrong direction.

That's ok though, because a friendly gas station attendant held up the line at the register to lend us a map and we got on a road that led us back on track. That little detour probably only added 2 or 3 miles, but was small chip in our morale. Still, at this point I could no longer get my heart rate above my LT so my legs were mostly shot. The aerobic system was well fueled by pizza and the home made energy bars from my friend Cole, so we were still moving at a decent clip.

For the next bit the tailwind persisted and we kept on at a good speed, it was nice finally having a gentle push up the steeper hills that remained. We were also back in familiar territory; I could practically follow these turns in my sleep. The last stretch through Manayunk was filled with traffic and reminded me of the importance of developing psychic abilities to foresee drivers making unexpected turns. Finally we made it to West River Drive and managed to keep 19 mph going pretty steadily without the tailwind and crawled up Black Road. Two more close calls with traffic and we finally congratulated each other and split off to make it home. I wasn't as hungry as I thought I would be, must be Cole's energy bars, but I managed to choked own a few glasses of milk, an omelet, some bread and my own cilantro hummus and a little granola and yogurt.

Today, my legs are sore but no saddle sores (I guess my brooks finally broke in) and no aching joints. Definitely a good sign.

Some stats from my bike computer:
103.5 miles
6:31 hrs ride time
151 bpm average - my LT is 161 and maximum somewhere above 185

I ate:
3 and a part of Coles energy bars ~800 calories
Most of a small bag of dried apple slices ~200?
1 slice of mushroom pizza ~400 calories?
2 bottles of Hammer 'Perpetuem' 350 based on the nutritional information
Half a chocolate espresso bar ~100 calories, but balanced with good amounts of caffeine

Total I would guess is close to 2,000 calories and I probably burned close to 5,000. Not bad for a days work.

Some issues did come up, mainly a sore upper back after 5 hours in the saddle, and tingling hands after 6 hours. The rowing and back workouts seem to help but I need to do more of them. Also, I think I'll double-wrap my handlebars with cork tape underneath and the washable Fizik stuff on top.

All in all a massive challenge but a very rewarding day. There were definitely times when I was hating it, but I wouldn't be doing it if there weren't.