First Full Century Ride
100 Miles or 162 Kilometers
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April 8, 2005
I was not intending to do my first century ride today. I had a 140km route planned for today, nothing too excertive, not working on speed but more on distance. There were a good number of hills in the plan so I knew it would still be a good work out. Started at 8:50AM and about 5 degrees in clear skies, calm conditions. As the day progressed, there was some high overcast and a 200m climb brought me into some very cool air just below the snowline from a fresh snow from the previous night. A nice 300m downhill over 25kms and getting past noon made a nice comfortable picnic lunch stop at the original half way point(for the 140km) in Salmon Arm.
Picture of me on the wharf in Salmon Arm.
Over the morning I had two 10 minute breaks, both after major climbs, to nibble on some snacks. For lunch I had a good half hour break and then again shortly afterwards at a Tim Horton's for an Apple Fritter 10 minute rest after a good highway climb along the Trans Canada east of Salmon Arm. The afternoon went fairly smoothly after this with only two short steep climbs. Around Armstrong, the 110km point of the ride, I was still feeling good and wondered what I could add on to make this my first full century ride. I decided on the fairly level route out to Okanagan Landing knowing that a round trip out there would add on close to 20kms. When I reached the landing I had the last of my food and then proceeded to finish the last 15kms back to home (had to ride around the court in circles 3 times to get the 162 up on the odometer). I still felt fairly good and not nearly as sore as an 88km ride from last weekend(lots of headwinds and pushed a bit too hard). Slightly lightheaded after the ride, I most probably would have made an extra sandwich if I had known I was going to do the full century. The following days were only a little stiff, mostly in my neck muscles. Suffered a bit of numb bum in the last 30-40kms but nothing near as painful as what I remember from my first 40km ride with the local group 2 years ago. Conditioning and experience (and maybe a gel touring saddle and padded bike shorts) makes a difference. The only times I had to overexert myself was on about 4 hills that had between a 7 to 10% grade.