Being new to the whole cycling scene, and leaving an hour later than the rest of the recommended century crew time (7:15, I left at 8:20), I headed off on the ride by myself and decided to not jump in a pack and in general, just see how I could do without drafting.

I rode the first 90 miles passing a lot of stragglers, and in general feeling pretty good.

Saw about a 1.5-2 mph difference by dropping into my aero bars compared to being upright, with the same level of perceived effort. The aero position definitely works, especially with the headwinds. Spent probably 40% of the time like this before getting sore.

The aid stations were chock full of bananas, oranges, cookies, Hammer gels, Electrolyte tabs, Gatorade, pretzels, PB&J sandwiches, a variety of Cliff bars, and many other goodies. Definitely an awesome selection.

I ended up consuming:
2 bananas
1/2 orange
3 Hammer gels
5 Hammer electrolyte tabs
1 Cliff bar
2 pretzels
32 ounces of Carbopro/Hydralyte/water mix
16 ounces of Gatorade
32 ounces of water

I had no real nutrition plan unfortunately, so I just kept reminding myself to drink and eat as often as I could without causing any issues. Hit the bathroom twice, though both times were more out of convenience rather than "had to".

At mile 91, a group of about 15 riders passed me, and I grabbed a wheel. HOLY CRAP! We had a pretty strong rider up front pulling the pack and it was practically effortless to maintain 18-20 mph (as can be seen by my splits below).

I can only imagine how much different my legs would feel had I been in a peloton for the entire event. Either way, I was happy with the effort and glad to know I did the first 91 on my own "Ironman style". :)

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4768356

Dist AvSpd MxSpd BPM
5.00 12.7 25.8 141
10.00 13.8 18.6 154
15.00 25.4 35.5 155
20.00 15.8 25.7 154
25.00 15.2 21.3 148
30.00 13.4 21.5 136
35.00 13.4 25.6 154
40.00 11.6 22.7 145
45.00 17.6 34.9 129
50.00 14.6 21.8 148
55.00 16.9 26.3 135
60.00 14.9 20.4 144
65.00 13.7 40.3 142
70.00 20.5 38.9 136
75.00 16.7 25.3 140
80.00 16.7 24.1 131
85.00 19.3 26.0 142
90.00 10.9 26.7 145
95.00 17.0 33.2 134
100.00 18.8 22.9 132
101.05 17.9 22.6 120


Take advantage of the aid station food, and bring less on me from the start.

Spend less time in the aid stations. I walked around just looking at all the bike pr0n that showed up.

Stretched a little, but warm-down really consisted of the 1.5 hr drive home. Was in bed by 8 pm, which felt great.


#1 Didn't go out with a group. Don't regret this, but if I was going for time, this is the only way to do it.

#2 Inability to hold the aero position for longer durations. After about an hour, I needed to stretch out a bit before dropping back in. Overall probably spent 3 hours aero total. Need to practice this in my longer rides.

#3 I skipped the first aid station, but stopped at all the rest on the way out. Probably should of skipped every other one, but being new to this distance, I was afraid of going out too hard and absolutely dying on the way back in.

#4 Probably would of helped to have had a bit more sleep.




Awesome volunteers! Incredible aid stations. Course was very well marked, and the locals were out cheering everyone on. Definitely a ride I plan to do again in the future.