I am so excited to have my first century done. I'm ready to do another one, which isn't how I expected to feel. (It'll be a while before hubby gives me a day off to play on my bike anyway. :))

The peloton start was pretty cool. I got to ride shoulder to shoulder with all kinds of folks for the first mile or so as we had a police escort out of town. I didn't get to see the super fancy paceline at the front but I enjoyed riding near the people I did. I realized that I probably ride in too hard of a gear too often and on the way back, I eased up the gears a bit and found that riding was much easier. :) Something to keep in mind,instead of grinding.

Carrying: water, nuun, pretzels, uncrustable

First rest area - ate a couple gummy bears (hadn't had them in years, figured why not - they're still gross) and some pretzels, drank my water & nuun

Second rest area - ate my uncrustable (they were serving PBJ sandwiches but I'm attached to the uncrustables) & filled my nuun bottle w/ powerade

Third rest area - ate a banana, some pretzels and a cookie, filled my nuun bottle with powerade

Fourth rest area (turnaround) - lunch - ate a turkey/cheese roller, pretzels, powerade, and some ibuprofen

Fifth rest area - filled up nuun bottle w/ powerade, ate some pretzels and a banana

Sixth rest area - filled up nuun bottle w/ powerade

Last rest area - filled up nuun bottle w/ powerade, ate some pretzels and a granola bar, took some more ibuprofen

The way out felt wonderful and I did 52:xx in 3:17...bodes well for my HIM, especially this early in the season. Of course, I did have the wind at my back :). I unfortunately forgot to start my garmin after the lunch rest stop and so I had to guesstimate about 3.5 miles or so that I didn't have on my watch - I just put it at my overall average - seems fair.

During the ride, what hurt the most was right over my right hip/back side. Not sure what that is, but I shifted around a lot to try to get comfortable there. It didn't kick in til the way back, though - hence the ibuprofen. I even rode aero for a bit on my clip-ons to take some of the pressure off. No issues with the seating. My wrists/elbows got sore but were easily shaken off.

I rode by myself, even though it was supported. I figured it was good to get into my head and stay there for 7+ hours. Prove to myself that 1) I can ride 56 miles (heck ya!) and that 2) I can be in my brain for that long (yep). Good confidence builder for the HIM.

I'm not sure - I had a great time and feel like I took care of myself. Perhaps I could have pushed myself a little more here and there, between miles 70 & 85 were tough and I probably slowed quite a bit...but I'm really happy with my performance.

Parked Baby in the car - she was more tired than I was! Put on some regular shoes and a baseball hat (helmet hair is SO attractive) and went up to the bbq. Had bbq sandwich, beans, brownie, and a beer. It was crappy beer, but man did it taste good. (I could do without blue powerade for a long, long time right now.) Called hubby to let him know I made it in. Called brother to brag that I finished my first century. And then drove home. Didn't feel bad at all.


Headwinds. Not knowing what to expect.


Where do I sign up for the next one??? :)

A couple pictures & more at my blog: http://trimomhalf.blogspot.com