New Years Day in Southeastern Massachusetts dawned beautifully: an
almost clear sky with just a few wispy clounds, and mild temperatures in
the mid-40's. At that time our four (fool?)hardy riders were about 25
miles into the first (as far as I can tell) NBW New Years Day century.
We met at 5:00 AM planning to do the 68-mile loop of the club's fall
century, then ride to the regularly scheduled New Years Day ride, do it,
and then ride back. This would give us about 109 miles for the day.
Except for not actually getting on the road until about 5:20, the first
leg went nearly without a hitch. Getting dressed, loading up the bike,
etc, always take a little longer in the dark. We all had good lights
(mine being brand new as a Xmas gift) and made good time in the full
darkness. Watching the sky slowly brighten in the East as we rode along
was a beautiful thing, and the sun finally made its official appearance
shortly after 7:00. We stopped several times over the course of the ride
to unload the residual fluids from sports drinks and to munch on
carbo's, but mostly kept up a decent pace when we were moving. The only
untoward event on the first leg was a front flat I developed as we
approached the end of the leg. I was close enough to walk the bike the
rest of the way to the parking lot, so I was able to sit in my car while
changing the tube and resting a bit. One of the riders was thoroughly
cooked and another was not far behind, so they both decided to log it as
a New Years Day metric century and call it good.
I and one other rider continued on our quest for the statute century,
and after unloading the lights and batteries and reloading on water,
headed out again down the highway toward the club ride. We started out
with a head wind out of the Southwest, but by the time we reached the
ride start, it had turned to come out of the West, and then the
Northwest. We were both getting a little drained by this time, so we
decided to figure out exactly how many miles we needed to get a century,
rather than following our original plan of doing the long loop and
getting well over 100 miles. We ended up doing the 12 mile loop and
adding a small side trip to add a few miles, and then headed back to our
starting place. The Northwest wind was nearly a direct headwind most of
the way, so our pace back up the highway was very slow, probably about
9-10mph, but we kept moving. My partner developed a slow leak somewhere
along the way and had to stop to pump up the tire 3 times before
finishing up with right at 100 miles. Going up the last big hill toward
the finish was a challenge, and my granny gear didn't feel very granny-
ish at this point in the ride, but we made it without major problems,
and rode into the parking lot somewhere between 2:15 and 2:30. My
computer said we had a moving average of 12.7 mph with 7 hrs 42 min of
riding time.
I was thoroughly amazed that I was able to complete the full ride. I
expected to be able to finish the 68 with no major problems, but didn't
expect I'd have the stamina to complete the full 100 because I had only
been getting in around 30 miles per week of riding for the last 2
months. The slower pace helped a lot on saving my legs, but it put a
greater strain on my butt than a faster pace would have. I guess the
tweaks I did on my saddle position a couple of weeks ago made the
difference.
The most amazing part of the ride was my friend's endurance. His road
bike developed a flat which he just noticed this morning as he was
leaving his house , so he did the entire ride on a non-suspended
mountain bike with knobbies on it. He gets 50 miles of extra credit for
that feat!
I hope this ride can become a tradition for us riders with more ambition
than brains in future years as long as the weather permits <grin>...
Dave