They served a great meal of chicken, pasta, pork and all sorts of stuff! Surpisingly it tasted great and I was able to gobble it down!


Eventhough this was not a race and only a century event I still decided to write a report so I can truly capture my first experience with riding 102 miles! I had lots of fun! I got to Ventura about 6pm on Friday night and picked up my packet. It was very well organized! However, when I went to unpack my luggage at the hotel I realized that I had forgotten most of my gels at home...I only had two with me. I immediately paniced because now it was after 7pm on a Friday night. I found a bike store that was open but they did not have HammerGel. I decided to buy the Cliff shots since I have read about them in other people's race reports and I figured that was better than nothing. After running around and finding a restaurant I never got my dinner in until 9pm....which I know is late but there were crowds at every place... BUT, the food was GREAT! I ended up sleeping very well and woke up at 6am. I had ordered room service but the milk they brought was sour so I ended up eating a bannana and half of a bacon, egg, and cheese bisquit, and hash brown. You will notice all day that my noutrishion was OFF! :( Again, I figured something was better than nothing.

I met my friend Mike at the start line and we ended up taking off about 7:15am (there was no official start since it was not a race). There were lots of people there and baloons setup at the start line which was neat! About 12 miles in I decided to take one of the Cliff shots since I had an indadequate breakfast and from the moment it went down it felt like a lump of bricks in my tummy! I knew I was in trouble and very quickly I learned why we do not try new things on a race day but I really did not have a choice. For the next two hours though, I had a stomach ache and either felt like I was going to burp or vomit. We skipped the first rest stop and kept going. There were lots of hills on the first half but different than what I was used to...they were short and steep vs long and steady but I still managed to get up them and passed quite a few people along the way. But as usual, some of the whizzed right by me on the downhill. My friend kept going ahead of me and back and forth which I found to be very distracting, but I managed to deal with it. Somehow though, I took a wrong turn on the course and went an extra mile out of my way but luckily I was able to get back on track. I finally met up with my friend at the second rest stop. My stomach still did not feel well so I ate a bannana to try and calm it down. I could barely even drink my Carbo Pro concentrate...so now I am about 2 hours in with only 1 gel, and half a bannana. I got back on and pretty much all went well but I could not concentrate with having my friend there and eventhough it was not a race I still wanted to do well for myself. Oh well. About 5 miles from the 56 mile lunch stop I got a flat tire in the rear. We got that changed but after I got on my friend took off and I noticed that the gears were shifting on their own....so I stopped again and a nice man stopped and helped me out...he said the rear cassette was not pulled back far enough. After he did that then everything went well!

Finally, it was time to stop for lunch. It took me 3:45 to go 56 miles and I was not happy with that. For whatver reason I could not get my mind in it and I was getting cranky....I am sure from the lack of food but there was no way I was going to take in another Cliff. So, I had a turkey and ham sandwhich at lunch and was able to chat with some really nice people which helped to lift my spirits! :) I did tell me friend though, that I wanted to do the second half on my own and that I would prefer for him to go ahead of me. He seemed ok with it. For whatever reason, I do better on my own and can get my mental game on and that is what happened the second half. After I ate, I felt great and did not dread another 48 miles.

About 4 miles into the second half I got another flat tire in the rear. Luckily right away a SAG vehicle pulled up and helped me. There was a hole in the tire itself so we put in a new tube and a dollar bill to protect the tube. Thank heavens it held up the rest of the way! The SAG person was really nice and luckily they had spare tubes since I had already used my other one earlier.

About an hour into the second half I decided to take the ONE Hammer gel I did have and I felt good. I really enjoyed the second half because lots of it was right along the coast and there was a nice cool breeze coming in. I started getting hungry though so I opened up the Peanut M&M's I had and started munching away! Boy did they taste good! I stopped at the rest stop that was 75 miles in and had the pressure checked in my tire and ate yet another half of a bannana. Even still at this point I felt great and this is when I realized that I was really doing it!!! I mean I knew I would do it but this is when the reality set in that I was going to complete my goal. No cramping and my engergy was good! I decided to skip the last rest stop and kept going. At mile 90 is when I decided I was ready to get off the bike. From that point on the road surface was extremely rough and I felt every vibration! My neck was achy and my pelvic bone was really starting to hurt. But I told myself that 90 miles and only starting to feel uncomfortable was NOT bad! So I just kept munching at my M&M's and kept going!

As soon as I approached the finish line I saw my parents and this big group of people started cheering and calling my name! It was great! There is nothing like crossing a finsih line and hearing your name being shouted! I made sure I stretched as soon as I got off the bike. Overall, I felt really good! I went inside and they rang this bell for me since this was my first century ride! I thought that was really cool!!!

This was a great test ride and a huge learning experience. I am only 4 months into consistent cycling and I know I have lots of work to do on speed, endurance, AND nutrition! As for the nutrition, I did the best I could with the situation so I am pleased! I am looking forward to doing this one again next year!!! :)