First, thanks to Brett at SpenCycles.com for his program this year, I really liked the level of education (with the monthly seminars), and felt sufficiently motivated to train that although many of my rides were alone (most were during the week as my weekends have been filled with home stuff) I felt 100% ready for the century ride.

Upon reflection, my only uncertainty going into the Outlaw 100 was where and how to set my goal. I settled on trying to finish over 19mph, which meant anywhere somewhere between 5:40 to 6:00 hours depending on the breaks. The uncertainties were "how many breaks would I need", "could I keep up with 19mph the last 30 or 40 miles", "how long would I have to ride alone", and of course "what about the weather". As it turned out, all those uncertainties were resolved in my favor.

I hooked up with Leo and Carlos for the start of the race, which helped settle my pre-race jitters. The race start was nicely organized. Low clouds and no wind promised a forgiving weather day.

First 25: the first hour was a rush. Drafting off of the leaders in a pack of 30+ cyclists, we made 23-24mph for almost an hour, blowing by the first and second watering holes. I didn't notice until mile 20 or so that the pack had thinned into a single file line, which magnified drafting errors. I found myself above my LT more often, and was not confident I could hang with 23mph for all 100 miles. I falsely believed the 15 riders in front of me (with Leo and Carlos) were closely followed by the other 10 or 15 that had been with us previously, so when I fell off the back of the pack around mile 25 while eating some GU, I was surprised to find myself alone.

25-40: So I got to pull for 5 miles watching the leaders recede. A nice moment of panic arose when I realized I was the only navigator now, but I found the turns nicely marked. I finally pulled within site of and caught up with another rider, Kevin. We formed an impromptu team, blew by the 3nd watering hole, and maintained 21mph together: I had ridden for almost two hours and made 40 miles without stopping. We pulled into the 4th watering hole around mile 40 and got some water and food, hoping to go to the bathroom too.

40-65: Before I could get to the bathroom, some trailing riders (that had fallen off the front pack) approached. Kevin and I joined them as they cruised by without stopping, and we formed a group of 9 riders.
The difference in terms of effort between 9 riders and 2 was
significant: we did 21+mph while I was able to recover enough to get out in front and pull a few times. It was in this group I rode with Mike from Midland and another rider in Yellow who from whom I never got a name. We cruised by the 5th watering hole just after the Granger Lake dam without stopping (lost a few riders there). Mike, Yellow, and I found ourselves in the front consistently, and finally after few hills in the 60s it was just us three. Yellow began pulling more and more as we passed mile 65 as I found myself fading just a little. By the 6th watering hole around mile 65, I really had to stop, so I did. Yellow cruised on. Mike stopped for a few seconds, but pulled away.

65-85: So at 65 miles (with a much needed toilet break) I took stock of
things: I had ridden past the half way point at 21+mph but felt pretty good. Mike had left me at the break but I eventually pulled him in when he stopped to take off his long sleeves (the sun came out). We set out to catch Yellow. We cruised by the 7th watering hole, and could see we were gaining on Yellow. Then Mike dropped a water bottle, followed by a crash trying to pick it up. At this stage I felt I needed a draft partner so I stopped and helped, but our hopes of catching Yellow dimmed. The wind picked up, the sun was out, and the legs began fading. My average MPH dropped to around 20mph. In the 80's we caught glimpses of Yellow. Pulling into the 8th watering hole which was just after a corner, we caught Yellow! But he was already leaving, and we needed a stop since Mike had a bloody shin and a swollen knuckle (and I was curious to see just what state I was in).

85-100: My inventory at the 8th watering hole stop: really sore neck, stiff lower back, and stiff and crampy legs. The stop was worth it since I caught up on some hydration, plus the volunteers there were funny and uplifting. My odometer read 89 so I happily thought "only 30 more minutes", but about 20 minutes later we passed a "10 miles to go" sign, at which point I dejectedly pondered "30 more minutes". Some hills and wind were pulling our average MPH down to around 18. There were some bad, achy moments on the bike here in the 90s, but noone was there to hear us whine. Soon enough the Old Settlers Park back entrance came into view, along with our old pal Yellow! We caught him with about
1 mile to go. Mike surged ahead, while I just paced myself in right at 5:19. My odometer said 105 in 5:09 (ride time) which meant I had stopped for less than a total of 10:00 minutes!

So there you have it. I had lots of fun, and felt recovered by Monday.
I even got back on the bike again by Thursday :-)

train harder!