Reston Century 2005
Woke up super early after little sleep, but had a long ass nap last night...showered, shaved and had coffee and some breakfast before I headed out to Reston (bout a 20 minute drive) to meet my buddies with the Reston Cycling club to embark on the 23rd Reston Century. It was a foggy and a damp morning with wet roads - was glad that it wasn't raining. I prepped my bike and gear then signed in and OFF WE GO!
I was with about 12 of my cycling buddies when we started - all familiar with the route - we train 1 day a week and know all of our talents and undersights - so as a team, we paceline well at a familiar pace. It was going to be a really fast century. We opted to forego the first rest stop because it was only 10 miles out and headed out to Leesburg - on the way, we passed my apartment complex - strange in this way, not because I now live in cycling country - just too familiar.
We trudged on and it was still wet and a tad slippery - we were conservative at high speeds and kept out paceline at a good clip exchanging duities. The second rest stop was in Hamilton (mile 31) - after a grueling few ascents. Upon arrival we noticed that there was a crappy tableau of the lack of no food and barely any water. I must preface that most centuries - there is always snacks, bananas, oranges, peanutbutter, bread, gatorade. This rest stop had none of that - there were only bananas...incredibly bright green ones, like 2 weeks from being ripe. I couldn't bear the thought of crunching into one of those. I was able to top off my water bottles and visit one of the 2 porta potties (20 people in line). There were almost 3 thousand people doing this century - only 2 porta poddies. Crap. Literally.
We trudged on...heading into the hills. We pacelined hard and fast - got up into the hills and I, the "goat" managed to pull us up a few major hills until we passed Purcellville, Philomont, Round Hill and arrived at Hillsboro (mile 59) for the rest stop #3. Snarfed up more water (no food there) and I gulped down 2 100 calorie GU carb packs and we were off again. This was going to be the best/worst haul. There's a split at @ the 70 mile mark where you can take the "hilly" versus "more hilly". We all planned to do the "more hilly" - but before, we stopped at a 7-11 on the way in Lovettsville to get bananas, twas crazy...about 100 cyclists were there buying every conceivable power bar and banana we could get our hands on. We then did the hills.
There were two horrendous climbs, one - a 2 mile 13% grade (I don't have on my triple crank) so I was hurting - I managed to pull the group up both ascents, and it was a beautiful payoff. We had a good 5 mile descent that we got up to 53mph and rolled into Waterford at stop #4 (mile 78). Still...crappy food...green bananas...no other food but a handfull of oranges. I refilled my waterbottles with gatorade and we moved on. The rest was gonna be good...mostly downhill with a few tiny climbs.
We breezed through Peonian Springs and then climbed the last hill before eventually hopping back on the W&OD in Leesburg and we began to spin down - people were beginning to cramp up (mile 95). There were about 8 of us in the group - we hightailed it back to reston. Meanwhile - the sun had been out for a few hours - hot and humid as hell.
We finished up in Reston - total of 107.7 miles (I forgot to turn my cyclometer back on after Hamilton - until after a mile into it) - total saddle time: 5 hours, 5 minutes. We all grabbed some pizza and subs and sodas, hung out in a few tables - swapping stories and congratulating each other for such a great organized ride. I picked up my t-shirt, said farewell and drove towards home, stopping at the store for a few things.
Got home and watered my thirsty deck garden - parched from the heat while listening to Eddie Money singin' "She was shakin....snappin her fingers...oh oh weee oh...snap yer fingers, Ashburn!..." live from the Live at Belmont series across the street. Uh...I dislike his music, what a pathetic washed up aged rawker. Put all my cycling stuff away, made a few phone calls and just trying to settle into a relaxing eve - took 5 advil and cracked open a beer. I'm wickedly sore and still radiating heat from the day (got a little sun).
Sunday night anxiety settles in - gonna be another brutal week, least next weekend is a stress free 3 day weekend (no century rides for a few weeks)
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Woke up super early after little sleep, but had a long ass nap last night...showered, shaved and had coffee and some breakfast before I headed out to Reston (bout a 20 minute drive) to meet my buddies with the Reston Cycling club to embark on the 23rd Reston Century. It was a foggy and a damp morning with wet roads - was glad that it wasn't raining. I prepped my bike and gear then signed in and OFF WE GO!
I was with about 12 of my cycling buddies when we started - all familiar with the route - we train 1 day a week and know all of our talents and undersights - so as a team, we paceline well at a familiar pace. It was going to be a really fast century. We opted to forego the first rest stop because it was only 10 miles out and headed out to Leesburg - on the way, we passed my apartment complex - strange in this way, not because I now live in cycling country - just too familiar.
We trudged on and it was still wet and a tad slippery - we were conservative at high speeds and kept out paceline at a good clip exchanging duities. The second rest stop was in Hamilton (mile 31) - after a grueling few ascents. Upon arrival we noticed that there was a crappy tableau of the lack of no food and barely any water. I must preface that most centuries - there is always snacks, bananas, oranges, peanutbutter, bread, gatorade. This rest stop had none of that - there were only bananas...incredibly bright green ones, like 2 weeks from being ripe. I couldn't bear the thought of crunching into one of those. I was able to top off my water bottles and visit one of the 2 porta potties (20 people in line). There were almost 3 thousand people doing this century - only 2 porta poddies. Crap. Literally.
We trudged on...heading into the hills. We pacelined hard and fast - got up into the hills and I, the "goat" managed to pull us up a few major hills until we passed Purcellville, Philomont, Round Hill and arrived at Hillsboro (mile 59) for the rest stop #3. Snarfed up more water (no food there) and I gulped down 2 100 calorie GU carb packs and we were off again. This was going to be the best/worst haul. There's a split at @ the 70 mile mark where you can take the "hilly" versus "more hilly". We all planned to do the "more hilly" - but before, we stopped at a 7-11 on the way in Lovettsville to get bananas, twas crazy...about 100 cyclists were there buying every conceivable power bar and banana we could get our hands on. We then did the hills.
There were two horrendous climbs, one - a 2 mile 13% grade (I don't have on my triple crank) so I was hurting - I managed to pull the group up both ascents, and it was a beautiful payoff. We had a good 5 mile descent that we got up to 53mph and rolled into Waterford at stop #4 (mile 78). Still...crappy food...green bananas...no other food but a handfull of oranges. I refilled my waterbottles with gatorade and we moved on. The rest was gonna be good...mostly downhill with a few tiny climbs.
We breezed through Peonian Springs and then climbed the last hill before eventually hopping back on the W&OD in Leesburg and we began to spin down - people were beginning to cramp up (mile 95). There were about 8 of us in the group - we hightailed it back to reston. Meanwhile - the sun had been out for a few hours - hot and humid as hell.
We finished up in Reston - total of 107.7 miles (I forgot to turn my cyclometer back on after Hamilton - until after a mile into it) - total saddle time: 5 hours, 5 minutes. We all grabbed some pizza and subs and sodas, hung out in a few tables - swapping stories and congratulating each other for such a great organized ride. I picked up my t-shirt, said farewell and drove towards home, stopping at the store for a few things.
Got home and watered my thirsty deck garden - parched from the heat while listening to Eddie Money singin' "She was shakin....snappin her fingers...oh oh weee oh...snap yer fingers, Ashburn!..." live from the Live at Belmont series across the street. Uh...I dislike his music, what a pathetic washed up aged rawker. Put all my cycling stuff away, made a few phone calls and just trying to settle into a relaxing eve - took 5 advil and cracked open a beer. I'm wickedly sore and still radiating heat from the day (got a little sun).
Sunday night anxiety settles in - gonna be another brutal week, least next weekend is a stress free 3 day weekend (no century rides for a few weeks)
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(Under development, I'm bashful)