I have enjoyed reading stories of others' first century experiences, etc, so I thought I'd describe a tad of my experience from a few days ago in case others are about to try.
Just rode my first century and did so solo and unorganized. I usually ride about 3-4 days a week with distances usually in the 30-45 range, but have only been above that on a couple occasions (and never this year) and never more than 65 or so. I by no means consider myself a "brilliant" rider.
I left my door Friday morning at 6:00a.m. on what I had planned to be an 87 mile one way trip across central Illinois - armed with a cell phone, money, id, 5 GU packets, and 2 powerbars. Turns out I made a couple wrong turns througout the morning and arrived at my destination at 97 miles, at which point I willed myself to ride 1.5 miles past my destination, turn around and come back in order to make it an even 100. 5 hours 24 minutes of riding. 29 minutes worth of breaks along the way.
Observations:
1. I usually drink my gatorade made from powder at half strength. I left with two bottles of this mix. My subsequent fill-ups were made with gatorade purchased at gas stations, etc. They were at full strength because I was too lazy to dillute. Big mistake. I was sooo sick of the sweet tasting stuff that it was nauseating at the end to think of taking another swig. Next time I will dillute big time or drink much more straight water rather than gatorade.
2. I've been planning to do this route for a while and have been waiting for circumstances to match with the wind (wanted a tail wind the whole way). I got tired of waiting for the stars to align and left knowing I would have a left-quartering head wind the entire day, and a direct headwind for some parts. I won't say it was a huge mistake because I was quite happy with my averages given the wind (about 10 mph), but it definitely affected morale a bit.
3. I felt pretty damn good until about 75 miles, and really started to feel like [censored] at about 84 miles. I expected to hit a wall sooner given my little preparation for this type of distance (and the wind). At 84 miles took a break in the shade under a tree and felt dizzy with early symptoms of heat exhaustion. I fought it off, fueled, choked down nasty gatorade and got back on the road.
4. Of the 5 GU packets and 2 powerbars I departed with, I consumed only 4 of the 5 GUs. Didn't touch the powerbars. I have always found them sort of nauseating and only brought them for emergency bonking, etc. I'm sure I probably should have eaten more throughout the ride, but I generally felt pretty strong and think I really only suffered from not drinking enough rather than eating enough, but I'm not the kind of guy that crunches numbers on all this stuff so I could easily be wrong. I did have a normal size breakfast for me (one bowl cereal and banana) plus a power bar just prior to starting the ride. The last 20 miles or so I found I got lazy about drinking. It was difficult to remind myself to keep drinking. Combine that with the nauseating thoughts of gatorade and I think it resulted in a little dehydration. I did pee 3 times throughout the ride though, so I don't think it was too bad.
5. My longest ride prior to this one this year was on a club ride only 36 hours prior. As usual I completed the club ride (48 miles) completely smoked from pretty tough paceline work. Pretty dumb really - not enough recovery time.
6. I think my HR monitor was essential. I restrained big time the first 50 miles or so keeping my HR at a level I thought would save enough for later. If not for the monitor I think I would have over-done it early. I found it essential for pacing the overall effort.
7. After about an hour of laying spread eagle on the floor upon finishing, during which I choked down a recovery shake and a lot of water, I started to feel "normal" again. I was swimming in the pool with the kids about 3 hours after finishing. Legs were certainly tight the next day, but not as bad as I thought they'd be.
8. My wife passed me in the car with about 7 miles to go and asked if I wanted to get in. Man, was that tempting. I fought the urge though and stuck it out.
Bottom line. I did a lot of silly things (not enough recovery prior, questionable fuel intake, headwind the entire way, etc) and still had a decent go of it (relative to my expectations - surely not too impressive for many of you). Gave me a lot of confidence. Next time I will plan better and I hope to complete one by the end of the season under 5 hours.