San Diego Century

Last Saturday, I rode in the San Diego Century.  This was going to be my last big ride before the Big Ride.  It was a 103-mile ride from Encinitas, through Escondido, Del Dios, Del Sur, Poway, up to Ramona, and then back through Poway, Rancho Penasquitos, Del Sur, Del Mar and back to Encinitas.

Overall, I did pretty well, although this was not my fastest ride.  It was very hot this day, with temperatures ranging from the 90's into the 100's in Ramona.  Plus, the climb to Ramona was over 1000ft (although I have done it before on my Palm Springs ride).  But I still completed the ride with no problems.  So overall, I'm pretty pleased.

This last week I did a couple of rides to work, and then I have one more ride this Sunday (if it does not rain).  After that, I'll be taking the following week off, so that I can rest, recover, and gather my strength for the Big Ride on June 1.

I'm getting excited!  And nervous . . .

Alpine Challenge

Today I successfully completed the Alpine Challenge.  This was a ride in the mountains just east of San Diego.  The ride was 73 miles, and the total elevation gain was about 7,000 ft.  In fact, mile 18 to mile 42 was pretty much a constant climb of about 3,300 ft.  Time (not including rest stops):  5hr, 58min, 34sec.  73.01 miles.  Av. 12.2 mph.  Max. 40.5mph.  Time (including rest stops):  7 hr.

This was one really tough ride.  My butt, back and legs are hurting like heck right now.  And boy, did I have a case of "biker brain" at the end of the ride.  But this ride did prove that I can now climb mountains, and I can ride at high altitude too.

My First Century!

Well . . . I did it! My first Century! That's 100 miles of bicycling in one day. And I did it in the Tour de Palm Springs last weekend (2/9/08). I started out at 7:15am, and crossed the finish line at 4:28pm. And I made it all the way through (of course, I did stop at all 5 SAG stops and stopped 3 other times along the route as well to drink some Gatorade and curse how f***ing long the d***ed route was).

But I have to say, it was difficult. The Tour de Palm Springs is considered to be one of the "easier" centuries because it only has mild climbs, the largest being 1,250ft. But this was my first time ever riding such a long distance in one day. My bottom was sore, my lower back was sore, my neck was sore, and my legs were just "zonked". The second 50 miles, even though it had very few hill climbs, was very difficult. This really shows that I still have quite a lot of training to do.

BUT . . . I did finish it. I held up. My bike held up. And I'm stronger now for doing it. Tomorrow, I'm going to attempt an AIDS/LifeCycle Training Ride which is only 27 miles, but is supposed to be very hilly. Wish me luck!