Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Victor's Ride

Victor here, reporting on his ride. I did it, too. Kinda.

Unlike Nic, I planned to ride the full century, and I can report I crossed the finish line with no assist whatsoever. But I didn't ride 100 miles.

Also unlike Nic, I can say I trained a bit more, but to be honest, not too much more. My longest ride was a slow 45-miler I did with Nic. I also did a 40-mile ride with some friends at about a 15mph pace, plus one other 25-miler with the same people (but at a slower pace, because of the hills). Thinking about the way I felt after those rides, I felt I could maintain a 13-15 mph pace on the century and finish it under my own power. I still think that.

But I didn't count on the weather being such a factor. I don't think I can add anything else about the weather that Nic hasn't already said, other than it sucked donkey dicks.

I rode with Nic and her friend for the first 8.8 miles, to the place when the metric and full centuries split. A hug & a kiss and we went our separate ways. It wasn't too much past that where I turned left into a 20+ mph headwind. I watched my rate drop from 14mph to about half that, for about five miles. At the first pit stop, I ate and drank and realized I wasn't having fun. Obviously, a bad sign, but still, I jumped on my bike and took off for the second pit stop, twenty miles away.

On my way to the second pit stop, the wind wasn't much better, and my pace stayed at 7-11 mph. I passed by some riders talking to a policeman and I was slow enough to hear the cop explain the wind was like this all the way to Assateague Island, where the third pit stop (2nd SAG stop) was.

(NOTE: I found a comment, from Cycling Forums member rpc180, about the winds on the Verrazano Bridge to Assateague on the Cycling Forums: The Assteauge (sic) bridge - is windy, people were tilted almost 15 degrees to compenstate. I'm not real fond of bridges; I don't think I would have crossed it for fear of being blown off.)

I thought about the advice I gave to Nic and her friend when we split up. Don't be afraid to SAG in, I told them, if you don't think you can make it. I didn't think I'd be taking it, but I had to admit to myself there was no way I'd be able to finish a full century in this wind. In fact, I called up Nic and told her so.

The second stop was a mini-stop--just water/gatorade, jiffy johns, and a car with a FIRST AID magnet on it. I asked the SU Athletic Trainer serving as a medic if there was a SAG bus from this stop; she explained there wasn't but there was one at the fourth pit (and third SAG stop). She watched my eyes get big, and she quickly added it was only about four miles away--just take that road over there straight until you reach the stop. If you take a look at the map (here, on page two), you can see the Victor end-around. Just draw a line along Shockley Rd. from the WATER & TOILET STOP to the 3RD SAG STOP.

At the SAG stop, I ate some pie (a very pleasant surprise. I thought the pie was at Assateague Island) and told the goose in the pond if my gf had been there, she'd have taken a dozen pictures of him by now. I also looked at the map, and saw I was only sixteen miles from the finish.

Hmmmm, thought I to myself, thought I. I rested a bit. I drank some Gatorade, and I ate a banana. After about twenty minutes I started feeling better, and my heart-rate monitor confirmed it (my pulse was below 100 bpm). I called up Nic and told her I might continue, after I rested awhile.

The SAG van left and returned. About an hour after pulling into that pit stop, fully expecting to return in a SAG van, I had some more food and drink & I hopped back onto my bike. My pace increased to about 15 mph (mostly--the winds still wreaked havoc on my average) with my heart-rate monitor staying, for the most part, between 150 and 155 bpm (160 bpm is the point where I'm really straining and I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack). A little over an hour after pulling out of pit stop 3, I crossed the finish line.

If you go by the map, you can see I did 59.5 miles by the cue sheet. Add in the 3 to 4 miles during my end-around and I did at least 62.5 miles--an honest Metric Century.

Someone may ask me, fairly, if I feel I cheated. I can answer, fairly, that I didn't. This wasn't a race; I gained nothing from my shortcut other than the pride in finishing my longest ride in quite awhile, in weather I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, under my own power. More importantly, I finished healthy, safely, and uninjured. In the vernacular...I finished in one piece.

Which, all along, was my true goal.

Posted by Victor at October 9, 2006 09:32 AM | TrackBack