A Great Cycling Day!

Today was my first century (100+ miles) of the year. It was the annual Salt Lake City Century (check out the route map - http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Cycle-Salt-Lake-Century). I was actually very nervous because I rode this century last year; it was my first ever century ride; and it really did not go very well.

Last year, although I thought I was physically ready, my experience was pretty miserable. I was completely drained by mile 80, which was largely due to the fact that I could not keep up with my group and I rode a lot of it by myself. To add insult to injury, we came to our last short pit stop to fill up water bottles at about mile 89. I astutely noticed that we were right by Lagoon. I thought to myself that there was no way we would be back to the county fair grounds (the start and finish location) in only 11 miles (in my head to that point, I was naively assuming we would be done right at mile 100). I asked my only remaining cycling companion (I started with a group of about 10 and all but one "dropped me" (cycling term) and I was left to fend for myself) how many miles we had left and he said we had just under 20. After steadying myself from the shock, I was seriously ready to take off my shoes and take a nap. My legs, back, neck, shoulders, and undercarriage (hopefully no additional description is needed) have never been in such severe and intense pain. Needless to say, the last 19 miles were fairly miserable. I owe the fact that I finished to Randy Gunn who pulled me (another cycling term meaning that I drafted right behind his wheel) the entire remaining distance. Oh ... I nearly forgot, we also had a very strong head wind the remaining 19 miles. I believe that I finished in just over 5.5 hours. As soon as I got home after the ride, I pretty much passed out and don't remember much of the rest of the day.

My what difference a year makes! Today was fantastic. The temperature was great and the wind was very low. My Dad, Randy Gunn, and I felt great the whole time and we finished in just over 4.5 hours. We averaged over 22 mph, which is pretty darn good for that distance. We were dropping guys all day. The three of us were pretty proud of ourselves for what we accomplished today. In addition, today when I got home, I spent most of the afternoon getting yard work done. Then, I went inside and helped my wife clean the kitchen and pick up kid stuff all over the house.

I don't know that century rides could get much better. I guess time will tell because today was the first of several planned for this year. Hopefully they will all pay off when Lotoja (Logan to Jackson - 207 miles) rolls around at the end of the season (assuming I get in because it is a lottery this year).