first metric century done!

oops- posted in wrong forum
forgiveness please!

lisandom said:

been training all year and yesterday finished 100K in a leisurely 4 and a half hours. (40 y.o./first year roadie)

as i was riding, i thought "maybe i don't have to ride 100 miles at once" as was my plan at the beginning of the year...it's just a number, right?

i had a good ride with no problems finishing, and love riding, but now i'm not feeling too motivated to keep up the training to do a century...

any advice?

p.s. to the hardcore roadie tough guys that zoomed by an inch away from me without a hello or good morning or on your left, you all suck. hate that [censored], *ssholes!

anyone else hate that?
anyone one of them? what gives?

lisandom said:

been training all year and yesterday finished 100K in a leisurely 4 and a half hours. (40 y.o./first year roadie)

as i was riding, i thought "maybe i don't have to ride 100 miles at once" as was my plan at the beginning of the year...it's just a number, right?

i had a good ride with no problems finishing, and love riding, but now i'm not feeling too motivated to keep up the training to do a century...

any advice?

p.s. to the hardcore roadie tough guys that zoomed by an inch away from me without a hello or good morning or on your left, you all suck. hate that [censored], *ssholes!

anyone else hate that?
anyone one of them? what gives?

Congrats, that's good for a 1st year cyclist.

Last week I participated in a 4-day charity ride and had previously only ever ridden as far as 100km (maybe 5-10 times). The first day we rode 210km and it hurt, but riding in a group and having a good route really helped.

If you can ride a 100km a few times and you feel great after the ride, than the extra 60km or so is definately achievable. Just make sure you eat well and keep hydrated.

Oh and about the hardcore roadie, their are lots of them, so get used to it.

Now when I pass someone I give a real loud "Hi" and wave, just to make sure they heard me.

My girfriend just finished her first 100K last weekend. We did a charity ride against cancer. I was proud of her. We were about the last to finish but so what, she finished on two wheels instead of a broom wagon. I was proud of her.
lisandom, how did you feel right after the ride? Did you feel that you could have kept going? How about the day after?
You might feel a little down because the rides over. You had an adrenaline dump after the ride.
Give it a day or two and I'll bet you feel better.
Just a thought, but after a long ride, you may want to do a shorter ride that next day.
And noonievut is right, those roadies are everywhere.

Chance3290 said:

My girfriend just finished her first 100K last weekend. We did a charity ride against cancer. I was proud of her. We were about the last to finish but so what, she finished on two wheels instead of a broom wagon. I was proud of her.
lisandom, how did you feel right after the ride? Did you feel that you could have kept going? How about the day after?
You might feel a little down because the rides over. You had an adrenaline dump after the ride.
Give it a day or two and I'll bet you feel better.
Just a thought, but after a long ride, you may want to do a shorter ride that next day.
And noonievut is right, those roadies are everywhere.

thanks, chance.
congrats to your lady!
i felt tired and ready to stop when i finished, but proud and happy too! pretty spent the rest of the day.
today i feel fine and barely sore. i've been fighting the urge to go for a little ride!
i think you're right about feeling down and the adrenaline. i had been looking forward to this ride for like 3 months...
thanks again. i'll be back on the two wheeler soon.

lisandom said:

been training all year and yesterday finished 100K in a leisurely 4 and a half hours. (40 y.o./first year roadie)

as i was riding, i thought "maybe i don't have to ride 100 miles at once" as was my plan at the beginning of the year...it's just a number, right?

i had a good ride with no problems finishing, and love riding, but now i'm not feeling too motivated to keep up the training to do a century...

any advice?

p.s. to the hardcore roadie tough guys that zoomed by an inch away from me without a hello or good morning or on your left, you all suck. hate that [censored], *ssholes!

anyone else hate that?
anyone one of them? what gives?

It' a take it or leave it, situation. Being passed by a 10 paceline tandem club going 45mph, inches away from your bar's, lets you know it can always get worse. Their jeseys said, Rolling Thunder!

lks said:

It' a take it or leave it, situation. Being passed by a 10 paceline tandem club going 45mph, inches away from your bar's, lets you know it can always get worse. Their jeseys said, Rolling Thunder!

The only thing that really gets to me is being brushed off the road by @$$-hole red-necks in their pickup trucks. I was participating in a charity ride on Saturday on rural roads with almost no traffic. The road was wide, with at least 10 inches between the white line and the edge of the pavement, and 18 inches of "neutral zone" between the left of the lane and the oncoming lane. I was to the right of the white line, when a pickup flew buy inches from my sleeve. State law in North Carolina requires motorists to allow two feet between their vehicle and a cyclist. The lane was wide enough that the driver could have done so without crossing the yellow line, yet, he purposefully tried to brush me off the road. I watched as he did the same thing to a rider about 20 yards ahead of me. After passing me, the driver went to the center of the lane, then came back to the right of the lane to try to brush the cyclist in front of me.

RickF said:

The only thing that really gets to me is being brushed off the road by @$$-hole red-necks in their pickup trucks. I was participating in a charity ride on Saturday on rural roads with almost no traffic. The road was wide, with at least 10 inches between the white line and the edge of the pavement, and 18 inches of "neutral zone" between the left of the lane and the oncoming lane. I was to the right of the white line, when a pickup flew buy inches from my sleeve. State law in North Carolina requires motorists to allow two feet between their vehicle and a cyclist. The lane was wide enough that the driver could have done so without crossing the yellow line, yet, he purposefully tried to brush me off the road. I watched as he did the same thing to a rider about 20 yards ahead of me. After passing me, the driver went to the center of the lane, then came back to the right of the lane to try to brush the cyclist in front of me.

Probably the lesser of evils, is to ride with a bike club that suites yor riding preference. Hopefully, they will select the most user friendly routes. Their greater visibility, makes the group safer than just a single rider. Some drivers probably cut a group more slack, because there are so many witnesses.

This was an extremely well organized ride. There were several hundred riders at the start, the roads were wide, in good condition, and with the exception of one idiot in a pickup truck, cycling friendly. This incident happened about 25 miles into the ride. By that point, we were pretty well spread out. I was hanging back to make sure that a co-worker of mine who had very limited cycling experience did not get into trouble. We were near the top of a climb, and I was going slow enough to keep her in sight behind me. This resulted in me being about half-way between a larger group of riders and the inexperienced rider. I guess it is true about the stragglers in the herd being picked off by the predators.

RickF said:

This was an extremely well organized ride. There were several hundred riders at the start, the roads were wide, in good condition, and with the exception of one idiot in a pickup truck, cycling friendly. This incident happened about 25 miles into the ride. By that point, we were pretty well spread out. I was hanging back to make sure that a co-worker of mine who had very limited cycling experience did not get into trouble. We were near the top of a climb, and I was going slow enough to keep her in sight behind me. This resulted in me being about half-way between a larger group of riders and the inexperienced rider. I guess it is true about the stragglers in the herd being picked off by the predators.

While it is totally un-cool, I use a mirror. Innumerable times, I have seen a vehicle approaching from the rear that was in our riding line. I tried a helmut mirror but didn't like having to move my head to see, particularly hard when in the drops. I wanted a 3'' mirror, close to my face for better peripheral vision, but couldn't find a mount to place it where I wanted, so I built my own. It mounts under the bars, with no clearance between the bottom of the bar and top of the mirror. It's outboard enough that my knee doesn't hit it when I sprint but inboard enough that it doesn't contact my wrist when I am in the drops.

I have a mirror mounted on my sunglasses. That is how I was keeping track of my friend, who was behind me. It was also how I know that the idiot driver tried to brush me off the road on purpose. He went from the center of the lane to the extreme right side as he approached me to see if he could scare me off the road. I saw him coming.

I used to never turn around, but now I whip around my head for a split second, expecially when I hear extra speed form the car approaching or I am on a narrow roadway. This sounds dangerous, but it really isnt, if I dont see them making a move to move over or if I am coming up to a blind corner-I swing out a little then move back and sometimes put out a hand to give them the stop signal, then wave them by when theres no one coming ahead. Its all split second decisions, but better safe than sorry.

I really wish there was something I could do in the split second that the a-holes zing me within inches. One day someones gonna do that then get trapped at a light and that poor SOB is gonna get the full rath of years of being zinged!!! seems lately its not as much young guys or 'red-necks" but the older generation (well awlays has been) and women on cell phones who make no effort to make room!

I keep thinking of embedding a diamond or steel point in my left glove so when they go by I stick my hand out and scratch their glass or paint, but thats WAY too risky to touch a car thats going by at 45 or 50mph!!! But it happens to fast and I am in shock anyways!!

What are they gonna tell the cop or insurance guy? well-when i was trying to scare or kill the bicyclists by passing threm within 5" he scrathed my window!!!!

I wonder if police now that they have more cycling units are more sensitive to cyclists? They didnt use to be-thats for darn sure!!

rayhuang said:

I used to never turn around, but now I whip around my head for a split second, expecially when I hear extra speed form the car approaching or I am on a narrow roadway. This sounds dangerous, but it really isnt, if I dont see them making a move to move over or if I am coming up to a blind corner-I swing out a little then move back and sometimes put out a hand to give them the stop signal, then wave them by when theres no one coming ahead. Its all split second decisions, but better safe than sorry.

I really wish there was something I could do in the split second that the a-holes zing me within inches. One day someones gonna do that then get trapped at a light and that poor SOB is gonna get the full rath of years of being zinged!!! seems lately its not as much young guys or 'red-necks" but the older generation (well awlays has been) and women on cell phones who make no effort to make room!

The male drivers you are describing, just may have a weapon in their car, close at hand! Don't ever underestimate the enemy, when you launch your attack!

lks said:

The male drivers you are describing, just may have a weapon in their car, close at hand! Don't ever underestimate the enemy, when you launch your attack!

:eek: Good point!! LIke I said-it always happens too fast to react anyways!! Sometimes I dont even care-but other times I get all PO'D.

Oh-and I do think that fast guys in pacelines should be smarter and leave more room, but even if your on a Charity ride, it pays to still ride straight and predictably, even while chatting away!!

lisandom said:

been training all year and yesterday finished 100K in a leisurely 4 and a half hours. (40 y.o./first year roadie)

as i was riding, i thought "maybe i don't have to ride 100 miles at once" as was my plan at the beginning of the year...it's just a number, right?

i had a good ride with no problems finishing, and love riding, but now i'm not feeling too motivated to keep up the training to do a century...

any advice?

p.s. to the hardcore roadie tough guys that zoomed by an inch away from me without a hello or good morning or on your left, you all suck. hate that [censored], *ssholes!

anyone else hate that?
anyone one of them? what gives?

Good on your first metric. It's a great challenge distance. Our club has a training series to get new roadies up to the metric distance for our annual Sept Century coming up.

If you don't feel like progressing on to a full Century, you don't have to. We have plenty of experienced riders who have done centuries, but find the metric distance is more fun as they can ride faster, get done before the heat of the day, and still party that night. As long as you enjoy the ride, that's all that matters.

As for the "hard core" types who fly by without any warning or greeting, most of them are "racer wannabees". The real racers around here are friendly and helpful when out on club events; not out to show off or intimidate riders doing their first metric.