100 Miles and riding… the 3F’s Century Ride

100 Miles and riding… the 3F’s Century Ride

Funny thing is I writing you from my shed. No shit, I’m sitting on the table in my little shed out back of my house. Things have gone from moving double time to light speed now.

The movers are here. A day early. Storms across the Rockies lead them to asking if I could do the move a day early. Dios Mio! I thought I was ready.

So, this is the blog you get, instead of the blog, I wanted to write:). I’m afraid if I don’t do this right now, I’ll be so wrapped up in the trip across country that, I’ll never get this done.

The Ride:

There couldn’t have been a better day weather wise for riding 100 miles! It was perfect. I think the high was 78 degrees last Saturday in Colusa.

The 3F’s is a very small event. Nothing like the glitz and glamour of that we found in May at the Wine Country Century. Bigger doesn’t mean better, it was just different.

We started out on our tour of Colusa and the Buttes (said as beauts not butts) at 7 a.m. it was just simply two dark before that to start and honestly the ride over to the start finish line was a little dangerous because we couldn’t see anything. Note to self don’t wear sunglasses and ride in the dark. It’s bad mmm’k.

Let me tell you this ride should have been called the 4F’s not the 3F’s. Because while it was Fast, Flat, and Fun, it was also “Fucking Bumpy” and that should have been included in there. A week later and I am still feeling the effects of the roads in Colusa not being very well paved and sneaky little holes all over the road leaving me scrunching my shoulders in fear of hitting another bump. The bad roads and hidden bumps would play a role in the day for sure. Especially, since I kept scrunching up my shoulders, which is bad, because then my hands go numb, and well that is no fun. Plus, it led me to the bite me zone at mile 82 and well that is just not where you ever want to be but all in good time.

I basically break the ride down into five parts. The first part was up to Rest Stop 1. The second part was up to Rest Stop 2. The third being up to Rest Stop 3. The fourth part of the ride being up to Rest Stop 4. Then there was the final push. I told myself from the time I woke up on the morning of the ride that I could do five 20-mile rides. That wasn’t an issue. I could do that. Therefore, doing 100 miles was not going to be any trouble. I knew I could do the distance. I mentally prepared myself for it by breaking it down into five bite size portions.

To Rest Stop 1:

Leg 1 of the race was cool for the most part. The bumps in the road sort of sucked. David tried to kill me at a left turn by telling me it was clear when it wasn’t. That is ok, I survived. The truck didn’t hit me as he had planned. I think he wanted Kona for himself. The ride itself was pretty. It was lot of riding in farmland and walnut trees. Pretty much no traffic.

The biggest issue I had going to RS1 was determining the right speed to ride at. I think I went out to fast. I felt good and strong. However, I couldn’t really decide on a pace.

The other issue I had was with the USA riders. I don’t know what else to call them but their Jersey’s said USA. I think they were military reserve jerseys. There was an older gray haired and mustached man. Then his riding partner who was not a strong rider and it was his first ride but very well mustached. I am talking Magnum PI mustache here. You know what I mean a really good stache.

My issue with the USA’s was they were drafters and I don’t think they were the kind of drafters that were going to share the pulling with you. I had never met these two people before and they came right up and sat on my back wheel. So, I was pulling them along. Look, I don’t draft. I didn’t train to draft. I don’t ride in a pace line. Drafting scares me and I was ready to do it and I wasn’t going to do it. What made me really mad is I heard old and gray tell Mustache Magoo that each time they left a rest area they needed to leave with a group of people so they could sit on their tires and get pulled along. I was not having it.

So, I tried to pull away from them and I took off. However, the pace I set for myself was way too hard and I couldn’t have kept it up the entire day, so I backed off. Then the group caught back up with me. They got right back in on my back tire and again I was not happy. I did a little zig zagging and tried to break them off. They just stayed back there following me wherever I went. They were so close that they could hear my Garmin chime and the old guy asked me if I had mapped the ride course into my Garmin. I just told him no and kept riding. Finally, I told David I had enough and that I was stopping. So that is what I did. I just cut my speed down to nothing and forced them to go around me or stop. I am very good at dropping speed to almost nothing. They all went around and I was left behind.

I don’t mind being left behind to be honest. I like to ride alone. I find it very peaceful. The issue was my kind might have been at rest but my legs were raring to go. So, one by one, I started picking off the group of riders I had let pass me.

A different older Gentleman not of the USA was awesome. He was 79 out there riding the 100 miles. Three years before he had down a double century at the age of 76. I hope that I can do that at his age. I road with him for a while and listened to his stories. They were pretty awesome.

Next were the USA’s I just blew around them and left them behind me. I didn’t say anything to them other than I was passing on the left and I just kept cranking and I left them behind. I was starting to catch David when I took a bug to the back of the throat as we approached RS1. I literally was chocking on a bug. The damn thing flew right into the back of my throat.

To Rest Stop 2:

David and I left RS1 when the USA’s arrived. It would pretty much be the last time we had to deal with them. I think we might have seen them at RS2 but I don’t recall. It was just the first 20 miles or, so they were like a hemorrhoid a real pain in my ass.

The ride to RS2 was nice and flat. The roads were a bit better. However, they had lots of traffic on them. I feel like we were passed at high speed by a lot of tomato trucks. I think it was this part of the ride that took us out to a bridge and up a freeway on ramp. I liked to tell David every time we did a little up that he lied to me that the route was not flat. It was pretty flat but I just like to bitch at David.

I can’t think of a lot that happened on the way to RS2 of note. Like I said lots of big trucks passed us at top speed. That was little scary.

Yes, it was RS2 where I saw the last of the USA’s. I remember I had my bike on the rack and Old USA rested his bike right next to mine. However, he didn’t rack it. So, when I was trying to get my bike off the rack his started to fall over. He had to run over and grab it. I wouldn’t have let it fall. I don’t care how bad someone annoys me; I won’t hurt their bike. That isn’t how I play.

To Rest Stop 3:

RS3 was at a school. I know because I used the women’s rest room at said school. They were just herding us in and out from the rest room and I tried to let the women go ahead of me, but they wouldn’t. They had me go. It was nice because all the other stops were porta potties, and these rest rooms were real rest rooms. Plus, they didn’t smell bad. So, they had two things going for them.

We were at 55 miles at this point, and it was time to head for the Buttes. I was feeling good. We were making great time for 55 miles. I was really pleased with our pace.

I did hear someone say the next rest stop was 27 miles away. The same person was also saying the road were all flat and there was no wind. We heard a lot of people out there complaining about the wind. I didn’t think the wind was an issue. I mean they should come ride in the tri-valley where the wind literally hits you from every direction and hits you hard. It wasn’t the first or last time we heard people complaining about the wind. As one who has pissed off the Wind God, I know a bad wind when I ride into it and the winds out there at the 3F’s were all that bad.

To Rest Stop 4:

This is the point in the ride I realized that this was no longer an endurance contest but rather one of my mental fortitudes. When you are riding on shitty roads, that are flat as you go around the Buttes you really must be mentally prepared for it. I am not going to lie to you, I might have had a few break downs in my mind going around the Buttes.

This was the only time I questioned my training or endurance. If I wanted to train flat where I lived it would have been in possible unless I just road loops around my neighborhood. There is always some going up and whatever goes up must and does come down. I think I took advantage of and loved the coming down.

Going around the Buttes there was no coming down. Pretty much over this entire course except for one place it was all flat riding or slit ups to get up on a mesa or a road. This means you are pedaling the entire time. It means when you are used to coming down a hill and you get 4 miles in less than 5 minutes never happens, so when you look at your bike computer it feels like it is stuck on 60 miles forever. It really does become a test of your mental capacity. I knew my legs were strong enough to do whatever but was mind.

I am not sure where it was exactly in the 27 miles around the Buttes my mental abilities seemed to crack. I can’t even remember at this point why they seemed to crack. I do remember my ass really started hurting around mile 79 or 80, so it might have been then. I just started to ask myself why I was out there doing this. What was I doing it for. Then lamenting over how bad my ass hurt because it hurt. Every little bump I hit my ass screamed at me. There were a lot of little bumps. So, there was a lot of ass screaming. David had really pulled away from me. I was out there alone with a sore ass, and I was not a happy camper.

I was pretty angry when I got to the RS4 and the last rest stop. I didn’t realize how upset until David said oh you are here, I was going to bring you some water and I retorted, why you didn’t think I could make here. The exchange was something like this and I realized I was in the bite me zone. It had found me. I didn’t stay there long but just long enough. I enjoyed a couple of PBJ’s at the rest stop and made fun of David with the guys working the rest stop. I told them he was going to blow up the poor porta-potty just like he had done each one along the route and they thought that was really funny.

The Final 18:

We pulled out of the final rest stop with 18 more miles to go. I just kept telling myself I could do 18 miles. I just needed to finish. I still felt every little bump in the road as we passed over one bad road after another leaving the Buttes in our past.

David and I road most of those 18 miles together. I just kept bitching about how the course wasn’t flat. I just needed something to focus on other than my sore ass and each bump along the way that reminded me of how sore it was. I mean the course had like 800 feet of climb over 100 miles, that is pretty darn flat. Like I said at that point I needed a focal point, and the little ups took the brunt of that. I later admitted as much on the ride home.

We came back into Colusa after riding 99 miles or so and I was happy to be back. Again, at that point it was not so much my legs being done but my ass being done. However, we closed in on the stop/finish area and we fist bumped to our achievement. I had completed my first century and I couldn’t be happier about it.

After the ride we ate some very good pulled pork. Drank some water and got a patch that said I had completed my first century ride. I was exhausted but still very excited!

I think what I enjoyed most about the ride was just being out there. Spending the day on my bike and taking in the sights and sounds of an area I had never been too before. It was also a great way to spend a last weekend with a great friend before I headed back to Indiana. While it won’t be our last bike ride together it might be the last one for a while. I am thinking of the hilly hundred next year David! Two-day ride! In Bloomington, Indiana where I live!

I also like how good I felt at times and how there were parts of the ride I was cranking myself at 15 and 16 mph’s without fail.

The least favorite part was the rough roads. It really did make for a harder day than I had anticipated. Also, mental contest the flat ride gave me.

However, it was a freaking awesome weekend! I have ridden a century! 100.3 miles. Can you believe it. You realize two years ago at this time I couldn’t ride a bike. I was too heavy and I just road 100 miles in one day. That is amazing! I feel amazing! I can’t wait to figure out what is next for me to do! The sky is the limit!