castlerobber
Zen MBB Master
If you'll indulge me, I feel the need to wax elephants--er, I mean, eloquent. 
The first year I owned a road bike, I signed up to ride in central Mississippi's MS150. Thanks to the lingering aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina in late August, the usual two-day October event was shortened for that year to one day, with options up to 150 km (93 miles). I put in nearly 79 miles, with the last 15 being just miserable due to my aching neck, shoulders, and posterior.
After that, I couldn't imagine myself completing a century ride, and had no intention of ever trying. Fifty miles was my long-ride limit for nearly a decade. Then I discovered Cruzbikes...
My longest ride on the Q451 as a new Cruzbiker was 31 slow miles (50 km) in the Hattiesburg Rotary Club's Bike-A-Thon. A year later, having bought @ReklinedRider's Silvio 1.5, I set my sights on a metric century. I was the last finisher, passed by all the 100-milers in that year's Bike-A-Thon, but it was the farthest I'd ridden since the MS150 ten years before (and much more fun!). I still had no plans to attempt the classic 100-mile distance...until early this year.
What changed my mind? (1) I had purchased an S30 (sans front suspension), on which I was somewhat less slow. (2) A friend from church, who had become an avid runner and cyclist since his retirement as my small town's postmaster a couple of years ago, died suddenly from a hemorrhagic stroke. Danny was only 60 years old. I decided to ride a fall century in his memory.
I knew I wasn't fast enough to complete an organized century within the typical time limit, so I chose to ride solo on the Longleaf Trace rail-trail, where at least I didn't have to deal with traffic.
I drove down to Hattiesburg early last Saturday morning, and headed down the trail by 7:30. It was a bit foggy, with the temperature in the upper 60s, and a predicted high around 90° F (32° C) instead of the typical 80. Most of the Longleaf Trace is shaded, so heat wasn't an issue later in the day.
My plan was to take short water breaks at the "whistle-stop" stations every 6 to 10 miles; but nearly every time I stopped, there would be a fellow rider with questions about the S30, so "short" became relative. I encountered several triathletes doing their scheduled 100-mile training ride in preparation for Ironman Florida in November, scattered local runners and cyclists, a retired professor attired in blue helmet and blue jersey on a blue Rans Stratus XP with blue wheels, and one (non-venomous) king snake making a hasty sine wave across the trail.
Between the late start and the unexpectedly-long breaks, I was somewhat behind schedule by the time I arrived at the Prentiss trailhead. Instead of my planned lunch, I chose to grab a salty snack at a nearby convenience store and head on back. I've been moderately low-carb for several years, so apparently I'm reasonably well fat-adapted. I had no desire for the high-carb items I'd packed along "just in case," and no problem with being hungry or getting low-blood-sugar shakiness.
Nagging aches and pains--left quad, right wrist, neck/shoulders--started showing up at around 75 miles, that I hadn't experienced at shorter distances. I'll have some minor adjustments to do on cleat position, boom length, and headrest placement over the winter.
I rolled into Hattiesburg about 4:30 p.m., reaching 100 miles just short of the Gateway at the USM campus.
#rideforDanny
The first year I owned a road bike, I signed up to ride in central Mississippi's MS150. Thanks to the lingering aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina in late August, the usual two-day October event was shortened for that year to one day, with options up to 150 km (93 miles). I put in nearly 79 miles, with the last 15 being just miserable due to my aching neck, shoulders, and posterior.
After that, I couldn't imagine myself completing a century ride, and had no intention of ever trying. Fifty miles was my long-ride limit for nearly a decade. Then I discovered Cruzbikes...
My longest ride on the Q451 as a new Cruzbiker was 31 slow miles (50 km) in the Hattiesburg Rotary Club's Bike-A-Thon. A year later, having bought @ReklinedRider's Silvio 1.5, I set my sights on a metric century. I was the last finisher, passed by all the 100-milers in that year's Bike-A-Thon, but it was the farthest I'd ridden since the MS150 ten years before (and much more fun!). I still had no plans to attempt the classic 100-mile distance...until early this year.
What changed my mind? (1) I had purchased an S30 (sans front suspension), on which I was somewhat less slow. (2) A friend from church, who had become an avid runner and cyclist since his retirement as my small town's postmaster a couple of years ago, died suddenly from a hemorrhagic stroke. Danny was only 60 years old. I decided to ride a fall century in his memory.
I knew I wasn't fast enough to complete an organized century within the typical time limit, so I chose to ride solo on the Longleaf Trace rail-trail, where at least I didn't have to deal with traffic.
I drove down to Hattiesburg early last Saturday morning, and headed down the trail by 7:30. It was a bit foggy, with the temperature in the upper 60s, and a predicted high around 90° F (32° C) instead of the typical 80. Most of the Longleaf Trace is shaded, so heat wasn't an issue later in the day.
My plan was to take short water breaks at the "whistle-stop" stations every 6 to 10 miles; but nearly every time I stopped, there would be a fellow rider with questions about the S30, so "short" became relative. I encountered several triathletes doing their scheduled 100-mile training ride in preparation for Ironman Florida in November, scattered local runners and cyclists, a retired professor attired in blue helmet and blue jersey on a blue Rans Stratus XP with blue wheels, and one (non-venomous) king snake making a hasty sine wave across the trail.
Between the late start and the unexpectedly-long breaks, I was somewhat behind schedule by the time I arrived at the Prentiss trailhead. Instead of my planned lunch, I chose to grab a salty snack at a nearby convenience store and head on back. I've been moderately low-carb for several years, so apparently I'm reasonably well fat-adapted. I had no desire for the high-carb items I'd packed along "just in case," and no problem with being hungry or getting low-blood-sugar shakiness.
Nagging aches and pains--left quad, right wrist, neck/shoulders--started showing up at around 75 miles, that I hadn't experienced at shorter distances. I'll have some minor adjustments to do on cleat position, boom length, and headrest placement over the winter.
I rolled into Hattiesburg about 4:30 p.m., reaching 100 miles just short of the Gateway at the USM campus.
#rideforDanny
