I found out about this century and I thought it would be good training for the SM100. I was able to talk Steve, Mark, and even Bruce into doing this. Mark and I left Friday around 6pm and we didn't hit much traffic which was surprising. Well we had 4 guys sleeping in this Hotel in Stanton If you were there it was a funny site to behold. We got up early and headed to Monterey to the ride start. We get there with plenty of time, but as usual I goofed around and I had to hurry up to get to the start. This was not a race, but I was going to ride a consistent pace, and try not to stop too much and try out my sport legs, electrolyte combo for during the ride. So we start off and I see some of the usual PPTC suspects Brian, Rudi, Wolfgang, Joyce, Roger, Mariette. I took off pretty fast on the first climb which I shouldn't have done in hindsight. The down hill was scary fast and I was not descending very well. At one point I thought my tire was going flat, so I stopped and checked the tires, false alarm. Well when I stopped Bruce went by me so I caught up with him and we were riding, pretty much by ourselves until this group came that had Ryan and Matt in it. We rode with them for a few miles to the rest stop. I was trying not to take too much time at stops, and Bruce was good for this cause he didn't stop at a couple of stops that I had to for water. The climb after the rest stop at mile 30 was the steepest, but I felt fresh and went strong up the climb, going faster then Wolfgang. I was by myself for a bit after the summit, and then Wolfgang caught up and I knew I needed to let him go. So I rode by myself for a bit and decided I was going to stop at the next rest stop. While I was there Ryan, Bruce, Rudi, and Matt caught back up to me. I was thinking even though this isn't a race, funny how people can catch right back up to you. Well Bruce rolls out real quick, and I had been there for a bit so I follow. Rudi joined us and we thought Ryan and Matt would join us as well but they didn't come. So we started the next climb and we ran into Bruce's friend TJ who is fast but was dropped by the front group. He said that he wasn't feeling so well(found out later he had a kidney stone, that he passed at mile 80 and felt great after that!) So now it was just Bruce and I and it would be that way for the next 40 miles. As the day wore on I was getting slower and slower on the climbs at first I was minutes in front of Bruce on the climbs then we were just climbing together. Bruce's endurance I think was coming into play as well. The climbs are not killers, just long. I like my climbs more like 3 miles then over. With these 3-4 mile approaches that were not steep, but not flat, then 3-4 mile climbs I was getting drained. I had to play catch up after one stop where I got the bottles filled and Bruce was still going. Bruce was going pretty good on the downhills, and I will say I was under geared on the downhills, I couldn't pedaled faster then 36 or so(riding a compact 50T big ring) if I got going fast I would just get into a tuck. After the second Allegheny Climb a new technique seemed to click for me on descending. I put more weight back and let the seat rest lower on my thigh then it was before where it would be be my upper thigh by my crotch. That seemed to do the trick. I was able to keep up with Bruce on the descents. In the end Bike Lane got me :-(, I had a faster ride time, but with Bruce's not stopping when I did he was able to finish in front of me. I was pleased though I did a 5:45(ride time) Century with over 10,000ft of climbing. My rest stops added up to less then 20minutes so that was good too. The other thing was this is the first long effort I have ever done and not have my legs cramp up with Dehydration. So onto the SM100!
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