A self sustained century.....what the heck is that? Simply put, it is an unsupported ride totalling 100 miles where you bring what you need to survive. Even though the Tour to Tanglewood is fully supported, I wanted to be able to do the ride without depending on any outside sources. It is a little more involved than just getting on a bike and riding for 100 miles and calling it a day. There is preparation involved, that can actually start days ahead, not to mention how your bike is equipped. Lets take a look at the bike and what is needed first off.
There is no room in, or on the bike for food. That's where the cycling jersey comes in. Yeah, they might not be the most stylish of garments, but they are functional. The fabric blocks the sun, and wicks away the moisture caused from sweating (it works!). The best part is the three pockets on the rear panel. They are usually quite deep and can carry lots of things from jackets, to phones, to food. Everyone's dietary requirements are different, but I usually try to carry about one granola bar or equivalent (160ish calories) for every hour I plan to ride, or every 10 miles in some cases.
Speaking of food, part of riding a long distance happens a couple of days beforehand. This is one of those times when you want lots of carbs in your diet. Without getting too technical, carbs are where you get your energy reserves. Pasta is a great source of these carbs, and it is recommended that before you embark on a long ride, you load up on carbs a couple of days before you ride. This gives your body time to process the carbs, and store them. Don't worry, you will use them up quickly. Without them, your body will lose energy very quickly, and your muscles will start to burn. You also want to load up on water the day before, as well as right before the ride. This will make sure you are hydrated and will actually make you faster over the long haul. Trust me on this. I've ridden hydrated and unhydrated, and there is a noticable difference in how you feel and how you perform.
So, we are getting the idea of what it takes to go the distance on a bike. Up to this point, I was doing 50 miles regularly, and 60-70 miles occasionally. As the cycling season was getting into full swing, and the temperatures started to climb, I saw a major issue in my plans for a self sustained century....Hydration was going to be an issue. Sure, I would have support on the Tour, and on my training rides, I could stop at fire departments and such to hit water fountains, but I found more than once that nobody was at these places when I needed them to be. A solution had to be found, and it had to be found quickly before the hot weather hit.
The answer came from a visit to Paul's Cycling and Fitness and another conversation with Dale Harrell. I explained my problem, and the fact that I didn't want to to to a backpack mounted hydration system. What we came up with was this dual carrier option that mounted to the seat rails. I picked it up and slapped it on the bike with high hopes. Now I was able to carry 104oz of water with me, or other liquid.
Water is a great thing to drink on a long ride. Its refreshing and it does a great job of hydrating you. However, it does nothing to replenish your electrolytes and does nothing for your caloric intake. To keep things in perspective, you can burn around 900 calories an hour riding a bike, and you need to replenish some of them to avoid bonking (running out of gas). This is where sports drinks come in handy. Right now, for spring riding, I am running three bottles of water and one bottle of Gatorade (or other sports drink). This helps to keep my electrolytes in tact as well as boosting my caloric intake when I can no longer stomach eating solid food....hey, it happens! As the weather gets hotter, I plan on going to a 2-water, 2-Gatorade system. The trick is to save the sports drink till the last half of the ride. That is when you are needing it, and thirsting for it. If you drink it all up early, the water won't satisfy you, and you will be in trouble.
Alright, we have the bike outfitted for a century ride, we have a decent understanding of the nutrition needed (what works for me, might be different for you)....I suppose its time to start really considering doing that century. Its not something that you can just hop on your bike and do, your body has to work up to it. Fortunately I have made my base rides 50 miles so my body is conditioned for that amount of riding. As the weather started getting warmer, I boosted many of my rides to 62 miles. That makes for a metric century, and is as much a mental trick as anything to get me used to thinking along century distances. Every few weeks I would add another ten miles onto my long rides from the previous weeks. By April I was up to 81 miles for a single ride. I was getting very close to my goal of a century, and what was even better....I followed that ride up with a 50 mile ride the next day. I just needed to add 20 miles to each day and I would be Tanglewood ready.
Twenty miles might not seem like much, but that extra hour and change is a long time after 4 hours in the saddle. It was going to take some more working to get to, but I was close, and I knew that I would have a century under my belt soon enough.
Sunday, May 6, 2012 started out like many other rides of mine. I set out early in the morning...about 7am since my goal was between a 60 and 80 mile ride. My plan was to go to the other side of a neighboring county and loop back home. It was a route I had been on before, and I knew that there were several places I could alter my route to shorten or lengthen it as I felt needed. That is the cardinal rule for training on a bike. Only do what your body is up for, and no more. I felt OK, but not great starting out. The first 10 miles are always the hardest as your body is warming up. My speed was good, and the miles were clicking by pretty fast.
I took stock of my supplies, and how I was feeling. I had eaten two granola bars, two slim jims (salt replacement), and a protein bar. My Gatorade was a third gone, and I was starting on my second bottle of water. I still had two slim jims, a protein bar, and two more granola bars. In short.....I was overstocked to be 10 miles from home. I was still feeling pretty good, and figured I would go the long way home and see just how far I could go. I was at 71 miles at this point, and 10 miles from my longest ride. I was pretty sure I would beat it.
By the time I hit 80 miles, I committed to riding my first century. The conversation went something like this:
Me: I wasn't planning on riding 100 miles today.
Me: I have enough food and feel OK
Me: I've already gone 80 miles, what's another hour and change??
Me: Yeah, I've got this much time invested in the ride, don't want to have to start this over again.
Me: Done!!! Lets do it!
Me: Don't be so pushy about it.
Me: Bite me and keep pedaling!
The conversation went downhill from there, but I was now at 85 miles and getting ready to turn around and backtrack just a tad to go home. The worst part of the ride was ahead of me. The dreaded hill on Old Rural Hall Rd. Its a pain on a good day, I would be hitting it with 90 miles on my legs this time. I still had food and water, but I could feel myself giving out.....the dreaded Bonk! I met the hill, and struggled up, realizing that I still had 3 more gears I could use if I needed them...but I didn't. I had a couple of turtles flip me off as they passed me, but I made it to Ogburn Station where I took my last break of the day. I was down to one granola bar, and a bottle of water, everything else was consumed. I felt like a rock was in my belly and I could consume no more.
I used the last 10 miles as a cool down. Well, that's the official reason. The actual reason was I was going as fast as I could, which was not very fast, and my form had degraded on a visible level. I was now about to fall off the bike at every stop sign. I could barely power up after stopping....but I was going to do my century, or die trying!
When I pulled into the garage at home, this is what my cyclometer read. ONE HUNDRED MILES!!!!! To my amazement, I averaged 17.4mph, and burned an estimated 4127 calories! Total ride time was a respectable 5:46. You can view the route and other metrics by visiting Garmin Connect.
The absolute amazing part of this is that I only started riding a bike last summer. In less than a year's time with no formal training program I was able to complete a self sustained century ride. It wasn't that long ago that my only goal was to be able to ride an occasional 50 mile route. I can still do that....in fact, I rode a 50 mile route the next day as a recovery ride.
I don't know what's next with my riding, but I know that my legs and bike are up to all sorts of new adventures. Stay tuned!
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