The Century Ride - I DID IT!

I am proud to say that I completed the century ride yesterday! I was extremely pooped at the end, but I made it. I was the very last one in and for the last two miles I received an escort from all of the support vehicles – complete with flashing lights and horns. I also got cheers as I crossed the finish line – from the 3 or 4 people still there waiting for me!

The 100 miles took me 9 hours and 15 minutes to complete (with 8 total hours on the bike). Guess what my average speed was – yup, 12.5 miles per hour.

This was the Bob LeBow Bike Tour and the course was beautiful – it meandered through southwest Idaho. Lots of farm fields and several miles along the river – we even crossed in to Oregon for a while.

Fortunately there were several rest stops along the way (about every 13-14 miles) and that helped tremendously. They even stayed open for me – I was way behind everyone else. I also had the last support vehicle stay with me the entire route.

The first twenty miles were kind of tough because I hadn’t been on the bike for awhile and we had some headwinds. The middle 40 miles were awesome – tailwinds and following the river. The last 40 miles really got tough – we got back in to the headwinds and hills and it got hot – at one point my bike computer said it was 108 degrees! The actual temperature was in the mid 80s. I stayed pretty strong for about 80 miles and the last 20 I gutted out through sheer stubbornness.

I was pretty wiped out when I got home – went to bed by 7 pm. Today, I feel pretty good. The legs aren’t even very sore. I know it will be much more challenging on the ride however – we will be doing this on a daily basis – without rest days…..yikes!

Today I bring my bike to the bike shop to get boxed for shipping later this week. I’m really starting to get excited…...