[Poolie]

Signed up for my first charity ride last night and am pretty excited. The ride will be Aug 28th and is officially a Century ride, but like many of them also have routes for shorter rides.

At the moment I'm opting for the 65 mile route. The end of August in Atlanta can be 85 degrees or 105 degrees so I guess I'll let the weather dictate which route I take. I know I can do 65... not so sure about 100. The venue is an hour and a half south of where I live so I have no idea what the roads are like as far as elevation goes. They say it's a fairly flat ride. Before hand I may drive down and check out the route in the truck.

Whichever route I take I think it'll be fun.

 

[wild]

That is the thing makeing it a fun ride .

 

[Hazy]

Mine is Sept 3rd. 3 routes that add up to close to 100 miles. Like you, I will take the "wait and see" approach. The event is only 6 hours long so that is another factor playing in my game time decision of how far I will go.

I have a fair amount of confidence I could make the 100 miles, but not in 6 hours. May have to just be content with the 60 or so miles.

Anyway, here's to wishing you good weather for your ride.:thumbsup:

 

[ksr5]

I'm doing The Delaware Amish Bike tour on Sept 10th I will most likely do 60 not sure if I can do 100.

 

[Poolie]

Cool, three weekends in a row we'll have someone doing a metric or full century ride here.

Two of the next three weekends I'm going to do a 66 mile loop close to the house. The rest of the time before the big day I'm going to work on intervals. I have the stamina to go the 60+ miles, but my power fades after about 10 or 12 miles and I mostly have to spin the rest of the way. I know I've made huge improvements over the past several months... but there's always more to strive for.

Good luck guys!

 

[wild]

Finish strong

 

[bikebum1975]

Good luck have a blast. I hope next year to do the Connecticut challenge

 

[LEOON2]

I'll be doing the Seagull Century in Oct, but there's another century in September I may try out as a feeler if the Gap between them is long enough.

 

[Poolie]

Went out for a training ride yesterday morning and extended my personal best out to 71 miles. I pushed it a little harder than normal and my legs are paying for it today. They're sore, but sore in a good way. A day of so of rest and they'll be stronger than before. Another long ride in two weeks and I'll be as ready as I can be.

 

[ksr5]

You have went further then I have this year Ive put a lot of miles in 530 this month but my longest was 40 I still have 6 weeks till my ride and I hope to get a longer one in.

 

[foxdart]

Back in April I was only riding 3 miles. I then went to 5, 12 15 and 20 and was thrilled to death. I then almost killed myself when i rode 30 the first time. Then I did 40, 51 and 62I did a my first Charity ride yesterday and ended up riding 87 miles and over 45000 feet in elevation. (Without a Granny Gear) which I wll rectify. I am going to Hotter n Hell on the 27th and there is no doubt I can finish the 100. All and All not bad for a 54 year old. So My point is if I can do it You can do it.

 

[Poolie]

Today was the day. Still had not decided whether to go the 100 mile route or the 65, but the first 20 miles was a shared route between the two so I figured I'd see what the roads were like and make my choice at the first food station where the paths split. I had been told last week by a couple guys I bumped into on the trail that they rode the event last year and that it's very hilly.

My first mistake of the day was to assume that I was the only one that didn't know where I was going. I followed out a small group from the start and about 2 miles down the road they decided that they didn't know where they were going. After some discussion they decided to continue on. I turned around went back to the start and discovered they had gone down one road too many... I never saw them again. So with a 4 mile warm up I finally got going.

The first 20 miles was nothing but rolling hills with several being real ##s-kickers. Assuming the rest of the day would be like this I opted for the 65 mile route. Turns out the first 20 was the worst and the rest of the route wasn't too bad, but i had no way of knowing that at the time.

Met a couple people at the first food stop that I rode the rest of the ride with. Didn't ride as hard as I could have because of that (probably a good thing) but still averaged 16.2 mph for the day. All in all I had a great day!!!

 

[Hazy]

Met a couple people at the first food stop that I rode the rest of the ride with. Didn't ride as hard as I could have because of that (probably a good thing) but still averaged 16.2 mph for the day. All in all I had a great day!!!

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Do you normally ride in a group or solo? I have just ridden solo and just wondering if the dynamics of having others around make for a much different ride. My first charity event is this coming Sat.

 

[rola643]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Do you normally ride in a group or solo? I have just ridden solo and just wondering if the dynamics of having others around make for a much different ride. My first charity event is this coming Sat.

It's a game changer! I was amazed the first group ride I did at the amount of energy I was using just concentrating on doing the right things at the right time. The physical part of being able to draft and conserve energy is such a rush and being in front pulling is such a drain...at least for me.

Riding in a big organized event can be well let's just say interesting if they do a mass start.

All in all group rides and and big mass starts are pretty cool!

 

[Poolie]

Hazy, I ride solo about 99% of the time; mostly because of schedule and most of the local riders that I could ride with are far far faster than I am.

The group I hooked up with was slower than me (I passed them earlier) so I knew they would keep me at a reasonable pace. The first 20 miles I was solo and felt the urge to chase down anyone in front of me. I burned a lot of energy that first third. Thinking that I wouldn't be able to finish the ride taking that approach I struck up a conversation with the four in the group and asked if they minded one more. I t was a lot of fun! Can't wait to do another.

 

[wild]

It was a lot of fun! Can't wait to do another.

That' s what it is all about :thumbsup: . ¢¢

 

[edot1983]

Where r u guys located? Wouldn't Mine joining in the fun.

 

[Poolie]

Where r u guys located? Wouldn't Mine joining in the fun.

Welcome! I'm in the west suburbs of Atlanta.