(Postblogged Sunday, 10/16/2005)
Dressed in my monkey suit of a cyclist, prepared to head out complete with arm warmers, vest, et al. It was a chilly morning, but it will get up to 74 degrees by the afternoon - difficult to dress for. Drove to the start, registered and then prepped my bike, and finished dressing with helmet, gloves and packed my pockets with all the necessary essentials. Picked a group of folks to start with - we leisurely headed out into the chilly countryside...nice rolling hills, the kind you slingshot up and down without too much effort. Then the hills became a little more steep, and the effort became more than noticed. We attempted to maintain a paceline for the first 30 miles, but a few riders were dropped when we hit the harder hills. It was incredibly beautiful as the sun rose over the Delaware/Maryland/Pennsylvania countryside.
We encountered about 5 really difficult climbs, albeit - not as lengthy as the one's I've been training for - these were more like training climbs to me - but still challenging. Less than 2 miles per climb to the top with a 10-22% grade, there were a lot of people walking up. I managed to keep a solid pace and pass many folks. The most ironic part of the ride was that we were cycling through Amish country, with all the Amish in pre 19th century regalia - horse drawn buggies, et al. I took a pic (pictured below) of a Amish buggy heading up a little hill, passing a 40mph sign, with two cyclists in front of it. They go really slow, I passed a few and gave a peace sign as I whizzed on past. There were some serious descents - which is always a lot of fun, and a little scary if you don't know the roads. I clocked going about 52mph down one descent, but then quickly became conservative after a minor, yet scary wake up call. I was speeding down, and the sun threw shadows of the trees on the road - was difficult to see any debris or pockets/potholes, et al....Well, suffice to say - I hit a pocket or a pothole - it completely bucked me off my bikeseat, unclipping both my feet out of my pedals - I was gripping hard as possible to my handlebars trying to keep the bike from crashing. I looked like superman flying - with a totally horrified look on my face.
The rest stops were well stocked, but the road signage completely sucked - we got lost a few times because of missing signage. But it turned into a lovely day, so I didn't mind the extra mileage. One funny thing was that I met a few people that did the Seagull Century last week - we all collectively complained about the intense rain and how nasty the whole thing was. The only bad thing besides the bad signage this Century was the wind - we got some intense winds out in the lower country roads. But it blew us home. 106 miles total.
We finished up and congratulated each other, said a few farewells. I had made arrangements to meet up briefly with a few friends before I headed home - eventually we found each other. It was great to meet up with them - share a few stories, catch up, enjoy weather, et al. We said farewell, and I had to go back to meet up with my relatives, who were hosting me - they made arrangements to have a huge gathering (in my honor - very flattering).
Came back, showered up and joined the family (5 aunts, 1 uncle, 3 cousins, 1 great aunt) for a great dinner, conversation, laughs, stories - and catchup. We all said our farewells, and I went back to my uncle's house - and sorta vegged out for the rest of the night - I was starting to feel really sore. I headed to bed early.
(Side note: This was my last organized century for the season, totalling 13 Centuries. Time to start booking my calendar for next year and continue to train.)
Now for the photos of Savage Century 2005, Newark, DE:
Dressed in my monkey suit of a cyclist, prepared to head out complete with arm warmers, vest, et al. It was a chilly morning, but it will get up to 74 degrees by the afternoon - difficult to dress for. Drove to the start, registered and then prepped my bike, and finished dressing with helmet, gloves and packed my pockets with all the necessary essentials. Picked a group of folks to start with - we leisurely headed out into the chilly countryside...nice rolling hills, the kind you slingshot up and down without too much effort. Then the hills became a little more steep, and the effort became more than noticed. We attempted to maintain a paceline for the first 30 miles, but a few riders were dropped when we hit the harder hills. It was incredibly beautiful as the sun rose over the Delaware/Maryland/Pennsylvania countryside.
We encountered about 5 really difficult climbs, albeit - not as lengthy as the one's I've been training for - these were more like training climbs to me - but still challenging. Less than 2 miles per climb to the top with a 10-22% grade, there were a lot of people walking up. I managed to keep a solid pace and pass many folks. The most ironic part of the ride was that we were cycling through Amish country, with all the Amish in pre 19th century regalia - horse drawn buggies, et al. I took a pic (pictured below) of a Amish buggy heading up a little hill, passing a 40mph sign, with two cyclists in front of it. They go really slow, I passed a few and gave a peace sign as I whizzed on past. There were some serious descents - which is always a lot of fun, and a little scary if you don't know the roads. I clocked going about 52mph down one descent, but then quickly became conservative after a minor, yet scary wake up call. I was speeding down, and the sun threw shadows of the trees on the road - was difficult to see any debris or pockets/potholes, et al....Well, suffice to say - I hit a pocket or a pothole - it completely bucked me off my bikeseat, unclipping both my feet out of my pedals - I was gripping hard as possible to my handlebars trying to keep the bike from crashing. I looked like superman flying - with a totally horrified look on my face.
The rest stops were well stocked, but the road signage completely sucked - we got lost a few times because of missing signage. But it turned into a lovely day, so I didn't mind the extra mileage. One funny thing was that I met a few people that did the Seagull Century last week - we all collectively complained about the intense rain and how nasty the whole thing was. The only bad thing besides the bad signage this Century was the wind - we got some intense winds out in the lower country roads. But it blew us home. 106 miles total.
We finished up and congratulated each other, said a few farewells. I had made arrangements to meet up briefly with a few friends before I headed home - eventually we found each other. It was great to meet up with them - share a few stories, catch up, enjoy weather, et al. We said farewell, and I had to go back to meet up with my relatives, who were hosting me - they made arrangements to have a huge gathering (in my honor - very flattering).
Came back, showered up and joined the family (5 aunts, 1 uncle, 3 cousins, 1 great aunt) for a great dinner, conversation, laughs, stories - and catchup. We all said our farewells, and I went back to my uncle's house - and sorta vegged out for the rest of the night - I was starting to feel really sore. I headed to bed early.
(Side note: This was my last organized century for the season, totalling 13 Centuries. Time to start booking my calendar for next year and continue to train.)
Now for the photos of Savage Century 2005, Newark, DE:
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(Under development, I'm bashful)