The Ride: St. Mary's Century

Remember how I signed up to ride a 100-mile bike race today?  And do you also recall how I predicted it would be a complete train wreck because (a) I knew I would end up working so much that I wouldn't have time to train, and (b) I had tickets to a 5-hour opera the night before the race that would prevent my getting any sleep? 

Well, congratulations to me, because all of that happened exactly as I predicted.  It's like I'm freaking Cassandra and I'm cursed not to listen to my own prophecies.  Seriously, I have ridden my bike all of twice in the past six weeks, which is hardly what you'd expect from someone training for a century ride.  I've been working crazy hours at the firm, to the point where I haven't been able to clean or go grocery shopping or do any of my design class homework for several weeks now.  And by the time I got home from the opera, went shopping for food to eat on the bike, and prepared all of my gear, it was 1am -- which meant that I got exactly 3.5 hours of sleep before my alarm went off at 4:30am and I had to get up and drive to the starting line in southern Maryland. 

Ridiculous, right?  Right. 

Only here's the thing:  Everything went absolutely perfectly.  Like clockwork.  In fact, it was one of the best rides of the entire summer.  I felt fantastic and was able to ride hard and long through the gorgeous, lush farmland of southern Maryland -- and with a finish time of 6 hours and 11 minutes, I was right on target with what I'd hoped for. 



On a ride this long, you need to have a good stock of fuel.  I figured this would get
me through the day.  Fortunately, thre were way-stations with additional food along the way.

7:30am in the parking lot at the starting area (my car on the right)

The view from one of the more scenic way-stations.  The weather was chilly and cloudy most of the day, with spells of bright sunshine.

Around the 90-mile marker.  I had just finished leading the group and had fallen
to the back to draft and take a break from the headwind.

Selfies on a bike are way easier than selfies on a camel.

Just over the finish line.
(Also, seriously? why does every single stranger need a lesson in how to frame a photo?)

When you burn 5,000+ calories in a morning, you can eat pretty much whatever you want for lunch.

Now, of course, I need to jump back into real life and figure out the rest of the work train wreck that is brewing.  Hopefully I'll be able to repeating these quasi-all-nighters...