206 miles on my bike

C

Cid

Cathlete
I promised some people from the Summer blast check-in that I'd let you know how last weekend went...

DH, my bro-in-law, a friend and myself did the Seattle to Portland with 8,000 other riders this past weekend (it was sold out!). It was a sea of people and bikes! There were kids (8 years old!), people pulling teenies in a trailer, tandems, recumbents, recumbent tandems, road bikes, mountain bikes, decorated helmets, matching jerseys, political advertisements...on and on. There was NEVER a stretch of road on which we were alone. Also, there were fit people and very unfit people, and some rather elderly people also. Much of the scenery was beautiful. The last 30 mile stretch into Portland was all highway and not motivating at all. But I'd definately do it again, perhaps in one day versus two!

Summing up the high points:

I love carbs. On that last 30 mile stretch I began to lose it even though I had just eaten. It was about 90 degrees and my quads started cramping and I just couldn't pedal...DH handed me a GU (a goo of carbs and electrolytes) and it was amazing how fast and well it worked. Bananas, bagels, PBJs, cookies...golden.

My Bro-in-law is competative. But we knew that already! If anyone was in front of him, he went around him...and since we wanted to stay together, we followed! And then my competativeness kicked in so that if I was leading our group (and any others who joined us) I refused to take it easy...but no matter how hard I tried, Bro-in-law beat us all up hills every time!

We stayed with some people our friend knew at about the half-way mark so we got a BED to sleep in...many people camp along the way so we were fortunate, indeed! And they fed us well to boot!

We averaged 17.5-18 miles per hour even with the slow sections through towns...we were shoting for 16 so we were all happy.

Riding into Portland is great and a nice easy ride (lots of stoplights) and everyone is cheering for you. It was great to see my dad at the finish line!

I'm sore. I got a massage on Sat. after the first 100 miles...delicious! However I didn't get one yesterday and that may have been a mistake. I'm gonna ride today and then stretch and massage my muscles and see how I feel tomorrow. But...my back/ low back has never hurt thanks to those awesome Cathe core workouts! The leg premix from HSTA was helpful, too, with all those leg presses!

Well, those are the highlights other than our buddy crashed at about 90 miles, then his chain broke at 199 miles...DH brought his tools and fixed it in about 5 minutes. Our friend kept calling him McGyver. If you live near Seattle/Portland I'd encourage you to try it!

Later,
CinDee
 
Woo HOO!!! WAy to go CinDee!! You rock, that sounds like soo much fun. I would love to do something like that. I know that you trained hard for this and it obviously paid off. Congratulations!

Kathy
 
CinDee!!! What an amazing ride and such a picturesque setting, sounds like a wonderful weekend full of fun and trials. Nothing compares to the feeling of rising to a challenge, meeting the challenge and then surpassing expectations. It sounds like you and your riding partners made an excellent team motivating each other and seeing each other through the individual walls that inevitably arise on marathon journies. You kept a great pace and for such a long ride, I am impressed and a little envious of the opportunity:). The most I've done on my bike in one day is 60 miles and I was pretty darn saddle sore so I feel for you.
Congratulations to you all. Thanks for sharing your story, I really enjoyed reading it.

Take Care
Laurie
 
CinDee,
Sounds like a great ride! 206 miles in two days is super! The most I have done in one day is 80! I would love to do a ride like that someday and I plan to!

Joanne
 
CinDee - congrats on your ride!

I hadn't read anything about your training for this event, but wanted to pump you for some tips! I am training for a 109 mile ride in November and could use al the pointers that you have! The last ride I did, and the longest, was a 100K and I finished in just about 4 hours. I trained 8 weeks for that.

How long did you take to complete the 100 miles? How did you train? Do you think that 4 months training is enough for 109 miles? I thought that the 100K as 8 weeks training for me so add another 40 miles and 2 months - I should be in good shape, no?

BY the way - I agree, GU IS THE BEST!

Christine
 
CinDee,

Congrats on that great accomplishment! It sounds like a lot of fun and a lot of hard work.

Keep it up!!

Beverly
 
Hey Christine! I don't know about training too much...DH bought me a bike last fall, but I didn't start concentrating on biking until late March-ish since DH had signed us up for a 100k in early June (giving me something to train for). Spinervals helped tremendously in terms of endurace, spinning at a higher cadence, and strength. Cathe endurance weight training was important. Dropping weight helps on the hills (I wanted to lose 10, but I only lost 6...better than nothing!). I probably wouldn't have worried about the weight issue so much if bro-in-law hadn't spanked both DH and I on the hills during the 100k...he still climbs better, but at least we weren't spanked:D /! I read Bicyling magazine and visited cyclenews.com for tips. I varied the terrain, messed with gears to see what worked for me, forced myself to do long hills and short steep hillsx( , and forced myself to turn gears at a higher cadence. All of this and anything else that will do me good I'm going to continue since we may do a century in Sept. I really noticed a difference between the 100k and the 206 miler...I did WAY better on the latter, so I know that with the extra 2 months training you'll be fine. It took us under 5.5 hours (excluding potty/food stops) to finish the first hundred...I don't know about the second day.

As for GU...I can't say I like it, but I like the effect it gives! I also tried the Power Gel with 2 shots of caffine...nice effect but, man, that stuff is nasty! Never again. I'd rather drink a mocha and take a GU!

I hope that helps. I'm really new at this, so if anyone has advice I'd love to hear it! If you have HSTA, do the leg premix...90 leg presses per leg, and when you do the hover squats don't stand with Cathe...just keep on hovering. It forced me to endure through pain (especially if you do the premix after a tough ride) which is helping me push through pain on hills. I plan to keep that up, too, since hills are something I give up on easily.

I prayed quite a bit, too!

Have fun!
CinDee
 
Thanks, Laurie. I definately couldn't have done it solo and I am very grateful to our little group. As for saddle sore...my butt never hurt! Other areas, yes. Another thing I love is chamois creme!

CinDee
 
Congratulations!

The thought of back-to-back centuries sends shivers down my spine (not the happy kind). Congratulations!

DH & I once signed up & then bailed on the STP. The thought of sleeping in a gym or in a field with several hundred other cyclists after riding a century on the 1st day, was a real deal breaker! Actually sleeping is the wrong term since few get much sleep. You were so lucky to get a real bed. The commercial lodging in the area (which is pretty rural as you know) books up well before New Years.

But the route from Seattle to Portland is beautiful. And the STP event has a wonderful reputation for their support.

Take care of yourself, no indulge yourself this week! Your body will thank you.

Oh yes, carbs are our friends!

Debra
 
Christine

I've done a few centuries & other endurance events, & yes, 4 months training is more than enough with your experience. But to thrive, you do want a strong base of endurance work & mileage in the early stages. Moderate intensity cardio, mostly on the bike, with strength training will establish a good "base". The last 10 weeks focus your training on the bike.

Bicycling.com is a great resource including century training programs. The site also has helpful forums, & boy, do cyclists love to mentor other cyclists. But boy, the guys can get into some nasty cyber spats.

Debra
 
RE: Congratulations!

Thanks, Debra. Also, thanks for the advice you gave to Christine since I can sponge off of that! DH and I will be doing a century this fall (we just decided!:D ) so I have something to shoot for. Today I did a short ride and it hurt! However the legs feel better now...I also massaged them to get the gunk out. But not too much time for down time since Sept. is mere weeks away!

Thanks again,
CinDee
 
Thank you!

Thank you for the pointers! I sm going to jump on that site and get some more info for training :)

Christine
 
CinDee,

Congratulations! You did it, and you done good! I've been wondering how your ride went. I feel badly that we haven't had a check-in the past two days. I've just checked here and there, but never decided to start our thread myself.

You must be very proud of yourself. I'm proud of you! What's next?

Take it easy the next few days, see if your husband will give you a massage, and bask in your accomplishment!
 
Thanks for sharing your experience. wow! I was pleased and impressed to read how well you and your group fared.

This forum is visited by some pretty amazing folks!
 
Cindee,

Congratulations on such a wonderful achievement. I know how hard you had been training for the event and I imagine it is so rewarding for you to have had such a successful ride. I also love hearing how high your spirits are after the ride. Awesome!!!!!

You're a superstar!!!!
 
You all are so awesome! Thanks for your interest and encouragement in my little escapade. It is now Wed. and my quads are still a little bit sore. Yesterday I did SB and it took well into the second combo for my legs to not hurt! Tomorrow I'll hit the bike and see what happens. DH and I are planning two more rides before the fall. I've discovered I really enjoy this! Thanks again, everyone!

CinDee
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top