spokesNspin

Many people start out bicycling with a plan to get a little exercise and have some fun and maybe save some money by riding to work.   That is what I did.  (That is if you discount the riding I did as a college student and as a youngster.  I tell my children that my brother and I invented mountain biking by riding old beater bikes on the trails in the hollows near our home.)

I started with a 6 mile one way ride to work.  Then I found some roads to loop around on my way home and get another 6 or 7 miles before I got home.   I was doing all this in my street clothes on a Raleigh Dash AL Hybrid bicycle.

Early one Saturday morning I decide to go out and ride 30 miles.  That was fun now how many more miles can I do?  I was soon contemplating the idea of riding 100 miles.

That is how it is for many people.  The idea of riding 100 miles seems crazy but soon they know it’s something they just have to do.  If you go out and read the bicycling blogs you will find lots of people training to do their first century bike ride.

I remember when I went bike shopping with my daughter Liz to buy her current bike when she got into bicycling.  She was fit and a runner but the idea of riding 100 miles seemed insane and she swore she wouldn’t do it. 

She did the Seagull Century in a brutal headwind  and driving rain two years ago.  It was her first.

The insanity will get most riders eventually.

I rode with an old guy(60 years old) back when I first started riding who would ride a century on a regular basis even though his riding during the week was minimal.  I wondered how he did it.

Now 13 years, 40 plus century rides, a few double metrics, one double century and almost 80,000 miles later  I can get on my bike and ride a century with very little extra century specific training.  At the end of the 100 miles, I don’t feel like I have really put that much work into it.  It is true that 4 years ago when I was training harder I could do it faster but it is still doable within a 6-7 hour time frame including stops.  I am not bragging just pointing out how things get easier with experience.

It certainly wasn’t that easy when I did my first one.

I set the goal without considering a bike club or any type of organized event.  I trained alone and I did it alone.  I don’t recommend that for anyone.  Riding 100 miles alone is not only more demanding physically but mentally it makes a huge difference having fellow riders on the road.

On the big day my wife was supposed to be my support.  She would drive the van and meet me at designated spots to replenish my food and water and encourage me.  This was before the day of ubiquitous cell phones.

After the first meeting place she got lost and I never saw her again.  Those of you who have ridden in Pennsylvania can understand.  I think I read once that they have more miles of paved road than any other state.

At the 80 mile mark I called home at a pay phone.  The line was busy because one of the children had hung it up improperly.  I wanted to quit but my only choice was to press on.

I thought I was going to die for the last 20 miles.  My butt hurt and my back hurt.  It was all I could do to keep pedaling.  I stopped several times in the last 20 miles.

When I finally pedalled into the driveway I walked into the house and the first thing I said to my wife was, “If I ever say I am going to ride 100 miles on my bike again I want you to take my bike and run over it with the van”.

My average speed was 14 mph and I don’t remember how long the entire ride took but I had reached that century bike ride milestone.  By the next year I had discovered bicycle clubs and organized century events.   Nancy didn’t run over my bike and I had several more centuries with that hybrid bike under my belt before I finally moved up to a better bike.

If you are training for that first century remember that like most other things in life once you have done it the first time it is much easier the next time.

Now I hope to be able to continue to do a century ride in each decade of my life.  And I hope to have a long life.