Flat as a Pancake - CycleCentury

When I got up at 6:15, I went straight to the computer to check the weather. What do I see- heavy rain in New Baden, but blue skies in St. Louis. No biggie, its' got almost 2 hours to blow over. So, we load up into the car and head out. As we get closer to the Mississippi river, it gets darker and darker. And we see rain in the distance.

We get to New Baden where it is pouring down rain. Great. Every time I ride with Bob and Christy in some kind of event, the weather is crap. "Well, then it's not worth remembering" Christy said. So, we get registered, get the most detailed cue sheet I've ever seen, and we're off. It's 8:30. About an hour later start than I had hoped, but oh well. It's drizzling, but we can see the break in weather coming.

With the rain, it was a little chilly, so it took us awhile to get into a rhythm. But, we go there and saw a few other riders out, but not many. Really, for the first 10-15 miles, we saw not one other rider. Kinda erie. There were a few rollers in the beginning of the "flat as a pankcake ride" but nothing huge. I stood for most of these hills. At mile 25, we hit our first rest stop. It was a cute little barn house/market. Here, we met up with several other riders (the most we've seen all day). After a quick stretch and refill of our waterbottles we were off- it's 20 miles to the next stop.

By now, my legs are starting to remind me I did yard work the day before and that I am quickly approaching my longest ride of the year. Not to mention, we had turned into a head wind. We were in that for several miles, then we finally turned out of it. When we did, it was like blinders came off and we were whole new people! All of us had just had our head down and plugging away. Christy's hip flexor was bugging her and Bob was just chugging along. From being on RAGBRAI a few times, we knew to look for the water towers. The next rest stop was at a park with great baked goods, gatorade, water and bathrooms-- Everything a girl could ask for. Here, we are almost halfway at mile 45!!!!

At this rest stop, the volunteer warns us of 'standing water' up ahead. I felt great off this break, I cruised ahead at 16-18 mph for awhile- totally in my groove.Well, we passed a few spots where the road was wet, so we thought we were late enough in the day that it receeded. Then, we took a little s-jog and bam, water. INCHES and INCHES of water. We got wet. Our feet were soaked. Just after this point, we met the figure 8, and saw a few folks who were getting ready to wrap up their ride for the day. We had 10 miles to lunch.

At lunch back at the New Baden Community Center, we had completed the metric century. Christy bailed at this point because she was really hurting and starting to fear injury. We were bummed because they were running out of food at lunch. I'm sorry, but for 200+ riders, all paying 30 bucks to ride, I think you can make sure there's enough lunch. BUT, we were just early enough that there was still bread for sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips and some veggies. The food was good. I did not drink enough at lunch. I had been trying to do at least 1 bottle, alternating water and gatorade, every 20 miles. I lost that rhythm at lunch. I didn't drink enough then, or the rest of the ride.

Bob and I took off for the last 33 miles. Just one third left. When I got going, my quads and knees were really squawking. I stopped for some gum before we left town to get rid of the bad lunch after taste in my mouth. Then, Bob and I turned off the main road on the rest of our route. And we were alone. No other riders. No cars. And now, it was HOT. No residual clouds, a beautiful blue sunny sky and no shade on the road. Bob and I said nothing. We road on a stretch of road for what seemed like ages. I knew there was a water stop about 10 miles out from the end, but I thought there would be one sooner. No. There was not. I almost ran out of water (and didn't drink enough to try to reserve it). Then, when we got to the water stop, where there were about 6 other riders, they were almost out of water!!!! So, I got a little bit, Bob got a little bit and another guy who looked like he was hurting got a little bit. I was not pleased. After some peanut butter crackers, we were off...only 12 miles left.

What was 12 miles, was actually 14.3. We rode along going around New Baden to get the miles in. We passed some horseback riders. One down home country boy asked how far we were going. When we told him 100, he said "Well, ya'll are crazy." That was funny. On the last stretch, we caught up with 4 other riders, so at least it wasn't so desolate. At mile 12, my legs were DONE. And, that happened to be in the middle of the highest incline of the whole day that went over a highway. Why did that have to be so big? The others weren't! I was also very thristy and annoyed that I will have to go longer than 100 miles to get to my car. It was then, I realized I hadn't peed in 60 miles (or on my lunch break). Oops. Not good. But, I made it back to the car, Christy had ice cold gatorade waiting for us. I got my completion patch, took 3 advil and we headed home. My legs were spent. My quads, hammies and right achilles tendon were hurting.

Over all- we were right at 15 mph in the first 67, but were slower in the afternoon. That's OK tho, I rode 100 miles!!!!

Train. But considering I was grossly undertrained for this- I did a-ok for me!

A little streching, a car ride home, then started laundry to not stiffen up too bad.


Lack of strength and bike training.


This was fun, and I'd do another one. HOWEVER, I will be emailing the organization to suggest improvments-- espeically making sure there's enough water at water stops and increasing to 2 stops in the afternoon, and to make sure there is plenty of lunch. Cyclists get hungry.

Other random comment: IL does not have a helmet law for motorcycles. Every cyclist has a helmet and of the 20 or so mortocylists we saw, NOT ONE had a helment. Can't say that those folks are too smart...