100 Mile Race Report

This past Sunday I finished my first 100 mile road ride. It had been a goal of mine for some time, one thing on the old bucket list. My longest ride to date had been 74 miles earlier in the week. The first snafu came Thursday night when I started to get a cold and by Friday had a fever and chills. By Saturday, the last thing I wanted to do was jump in the car and leave for the ride that would occur early Sunday morning.

They say half the battle in life is just showing up, just show up and good things will happen. I sucked it up and went. By Sunday morning was feeling ok. The first 82 miles were pretty solid, I mean I was tired, but not feeling horrible. The wind was killer and was sapping any type of coasting on the roads. Lesson one, don't mentally think your done, before your done. Those last 18 miles did me in. I have never physically been so miserable doing anything in my life. I'm a natural fast twitch muscle guy, so LSD doesn't come naturally. But I have never been in so much discomfort physically doing anything in my whole athletic life.

My back felt like it would seize up, probably from the tightness in the hip flexors shutting down the glutes. My feet were numb, my butt hurt like crazy and my neck was throbbing. Those last two hours were unbelievably painful. All in all, I spent 8 hours on the bike.

After finishing, I can't imagine the people that do Ironmen Triathlons, the idea of running a marathon seems absurd, after being on the bike for that long. Also, anyone that does this stuff, I give much props for the time that you have to devote to be good at it. Just finding the time to squeeze in a long ride, takes 4-6 hours. I'm glad I did it, it's off the bucket list, but I don't think I will be doing another one in the future.

The idea of doing one every week like my friend Danielle, seems crazy to me.