First (Almost) Century Ride

Woo-hoo, it was long and I am tired, but I finished a (nearly) 100-mile ride today at the Waxahachie Cow Creek Country Classic! I did 97 miles in 6 hours and 57 minutes (including all the rest stops), which is about 14 miles per hour - not blazing fast, but not bad in my book. The weather was really nice at the start (cool and cloudy) but it got sunny and warm around noon for the last third of the ride. Luckily, no sunburn - I guess I slathered on enough sunscreen at 7:00 AM to last the entire day.

The distance is kind of strange because I took a shortcut at around mile 83 that shaved off about 3 miles from the distance (see map - around Forreston). I had car-pooled to the ride with Don and since (I thought) he was about 5-6 miles ahead of me, I decided to take the shortcut so he wouldn't have to wait for me for too long. Well, that, and the fact that my back and gluteus maximum were very sore by that time!

The cool part is that this turned out to be a great decision timing-wise, because when I got to the last rest stop (about 5 miles from the finish), Don was there. So we were able to ride the last 5 miles together and cross the finish line at the same time. (So Don finished the entire 100 miles in 6:57 - great job!)

Jarrod and Derek did the 46-mile route and I rode with them until the fork where they had to turn off. Jonathan and Mike were also there and they did the 19-mile route.

Overall, it was a pretty good ride and frequent rest stops - that I took full advantage. There were a few stretches in the middle where it was uphill with headwinds (not fun) and some of the roads were rough, which slowed the speeds - it was nice to have some stretches of smoother asphalt or concrete later on. But I would definitely do this ride again.

Anyway, now that I'm home, cleaned up, and had some food, I feel pretty good. Hopefully, I will be able to have a full recovery by Monday. I don't plan to be doing this long of a bike distance again for a while (and it's not an option for most rides), but at least now I know I can do it. :-)

Ride Review:

• Course: 3/5 - road conditions were okay; some pretty rough roads; no sign for the 62-mile rest stop and I missed it (and I needed it)!; also, the end game was not well marked and confusing
• Rest Stops: 3/5 - standard fare - nothing special; pretty good spacing; nice volunteers
• Logistics: 3/5 - online registration was straightforward but non-https credit card form (ended up paying by check on race-day); good starting area at the Waxahachie High School (easy to find, real bathrooms); reasonable entry fee; nothing going on at the finish line (but maybe that was because we were nearly the last to finish)
• Overall: 3/5 - will probably do again; not the best course, but not many rides have the century option