Cycled a Century

I finally cycled my first century (100 miles) today. I've wanted to do this since I started riding for fun, around 1995, but I never did it. This year I got a nifty new Trek 1500, and I've been riding farther and faster. Earlier this year, I did 70 miles on a Prairie Cycle Club ride, and I figured a century was in reach.

I didn't plan to ride this far when I got up this morning. I set me alarm for 7AM, planning to join the PCC ride leaving from Meadowbrook Park at 8AM. After hitting the snooze bar a few times, I didn't get out of the house until 8AM, and I had a 15 minute ride to get over to the park. I figured I'd head over there and hope to catch them anyway.

Everyone was gone when I got there, but I figured they probably headed east on Windsor, so I went that way. After a while I caught up with the slower ride, and they said they were going to Ogden. I guessed that maybe the other groups were also going there, so I continued in that direction. When the group paused to regroup, I continued on.

I ended up not seeing anyone else from the club. But by the time I got to Ogden, I was thinking this was a nice day, maybe I should do a long ride. The temperature was in the 70s and the wind was pretty light, pretty much perfect conditions. I had both my water bottles, but I didn't have much food, only two granola bars. So I stopped at the gas station in Ogden and bought some cookies and a donut. Ogden is about 20 miles from my house, so I had about 30 miles to go before turning around. I figured I'd head roughly toward Hoopeston, which was something like 30 miles as the crow flies, but I realized that since I'd be following the roads, the actual mileage to Hoopeston would be greater.

I headed north for about 10 miles, then stopped for a snack break. it looked like Penfield was about another 10 miles, and I figured there might be a convenience store, so I continued north.

By the time I got to Penfield, I was at 40 miles. The GPS was telling me that Hoopeston was a few miles farther than that, but if I continued north, Rankin was about 10 miles away. I continued that way.

Rankin was on Route 9, about halfway between Paxton and Hoopeston. I was hoping there would be a gas station there where I could get lunch. I refilled my water bottles at the park, found a Casey's by the highway, and enjoyed I delicious slice of pizza and a bottle of Mt. Dew. I figure when I'm riding, I can get the good, sugared stuff. I talked to a guy on a motorcycle for a while. He said he bet I paid more for my bike than he did for his motorcycle, then he guessed that my bike cost $125. I told him it was a bit more than that. He basically got the motorcycle almost free from a junk yard, and repaired it with other junkyard parts. He was very proud of the deal he had gotten. At that point, I was 12 miles from Hoopeston, but I had already gone 48 miles, and I didn't want to go that much further. So I road a couple of miles towards Hoopeston, then turned around and headed back.

I pretty much headed back the way I came. About 6 miles south of Rankin, I saw a deer on the edge of a field filled with pine trees. I finished my cookies along the way. When I got back to Ogden I bought a raspberry iced tea. I stopped at Scot and Rachel's on the way home and bummed a can of lemonade. I had gone about 93 miles then, and I had 4.5 miles to get home. On the way home I took a few detours, and once I got to my subdivision, I zig-zagged back and forth around the streets until I got to 100 miles.

An hour after getting home, I feel pretty good. Other than being a bit tired, my neck is a little stiff, and my left knee is a little sore. I expect both to be fine in a few hours.

Final stats:

• Left: 8:00 AM
  
• Got home: 4:06 PM
  
• Elapsed time: 8:06
  
• Distance: 100.4 miles
  
• Moving time: 6:29
  
• Average speed (moving): 15.4 mph
  
• Average speed (total): 12.4 mph
  
• Max speed: 22.5 mph