103 Miles, 8800 feet elevation, 96 degrees in 7 Hours & 19 minutes

Last Saturday (5.17.09) I took on the challenge of a 103 mile bike ride. The ride was called "The San Diego Century" http://www.encinitasrace.com/sdc/ . They called "century rides" because they all are pretty much 100+ miles. I guess what drew me to it was the fact that there was no swim on the front or a marathon on the back..:)

Training-
How much does one train for something like this? I was doing about 100 miles a week on the bike and that was about it. Should I have of trained more? Yes, but race days for me seem to make me pull out the 6th gear for some reason. Ideally, I would of like to have of logged about 1 good 80 mile ride in before, but I just could not fit it in the schedule. Between the swim and run training, there was just not enough time.

Conditions-
The day of the race was set to be unseasonably hot. I do well in the heat, but I have not trained in the heat at all lately. Primarily because we have had some May gray type of conditions here in San Diego lately. Nevertheless, I did know what do pack in terms of nutrition and hydration from doing Ironman so I felt comfortable there. However, this course was one that started from the coast and went to the foothills and back. I knew that it was going to be in the 80's by 9am so I wanted to start the race as soon as possible. I was hoping to be out of the foothills/mountains before it hit the high 90's. This was not the case however. There were A LOT of hills and a majority of them were in the foothills/mountains where it was supposed to be the hottest. There were AID stations throughout the ride and I stopped at all 7 of them to hydrate. No water, just all electrolyte drinks.

The Race-
The race had a window from 6-8am. You could start the race anytime between then. They would have the roads blocked off at least for a couple of hours. Given how hot it was going to be I was there at 5:45 am trying to be one of the first out of the gate to get started. When I arrived, I said to myself, "Its kinda warm now". So I took off at 6am and started the ride and it was evident that I was not the only one with this idea. There were a bunch of cycling teams out and my plan was to draft or find a peloton to ride with to save me some time and energy. I did just that and heard that Floyd Landis was riding the course as well. He lives in the area, so it was not uncommon to see him out on the ride. If you do not know who he is, its worth Googling him.

I rode the first 40 feeling strong. I rode with a team called "Red Burro Racing" from Las Vegas and managed to take advantage of riding with the group. They were FAST. On some of the downhills we were going over 50 mph and within a couple of feet of each other. Some of the riders ahead of me hit a snake crossing the road and I could see them running it over as we flew down this hill. Thank the lord that nobody freaked out and decided to turn, otherwise we would of all of been in bad shape. It was fun. After riding with them, I moved on to another couple of groups and really began to start to feel the heat. It was at about 60 miles when I thought I might of bit off a bit more than I could chew. It was at this time when I was doing the biggest climb and it was close to 90 degrees as I was heading into the foothills of Ramona. Instead of quitting, I was thinking, you are fine, ride your race and push it a little harder. So I did. I was drinking Gatorade and http://www.nuun.com/ tablets trying to stay hydrated every 10 minutes.

I finally got inland and it was better but I ran out of fluids for about 20 minutes before I could get to the next AID station. I was getting worried as the conditions we so bad, that 20 minutes could really be the difference between a good race and "bonking" or cramping out due to being dehydrated. I finally made it and sat there for about 25 minutes drinking, eating gels and doing more drinking. I started the remaining 35 or so miles back to the coast and and started to feel better but the sun was still unbearable. I still just kept pedaling as I saw others stopped along the sides of the road as I rode past.

I made it to the next AID station with 22 miles left and I started to feel better already. The hydration was paying off and I had a tiny cramp here and there, but that was it. I pressed on and finally made it back to the coast and headed toward the finish. I finished in the above time even with all of the stops in 7 hours and 19 minutes. I was impressed with my time given the conditions. You know its hot when people are staring at you from their cars with the look "are you nuts?".

Will I do it again? Yes. It was a beautiful ride and I honestly really enjoyed it. It was my second real bike race, but I enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, I will be doing another one in October in Poway. http://www.tourdepoway.com/

Some interesting stats for you;

• Total Time- 7:19:23
• Calories burned- 7216
• Ounces consumed- 240

*I had two 20 ounce water bottles on my bike and I filled them up both, 7 times.