Check

That one's off the list. (thought it was on the list, must have been the other list in my head) Finished my first Century bike ride on Saturday. It was the H.O.T. 100 starting in Lascassas. Me and the guys had been talking about it for quite awhile. Just never really seems to win out over running. This year the bike won. G committed before me, so I had to go ahead and sign up as well.

Hot topic on the running forums is always the accuracy of GPS devices. Someone is always finishing a 5k race and their GPS measures a different distance. Lots of factors, that I won't even talk about. Only thing I know is the bike odometer seems to be more accurate. We rode 102.5 miles according to my bike odometer and 100.9 miles according to my Garmin 305. Probably right in the ball park of the accuracy claims made by Garmin. The number that I'm more concerned with is the average pace, in this case 18.3 mph average on the bike odometer versus 18.1 mph on the Garmin 305. Not big, but G's difference was staggering. He only showed 17.6 mph avg, yet he beat me home by 5 minutes. Only difference being his Garmin 305 was on his wrist, versus me mounting mine on my bike.

Rest stops or feed zones, whatever you want to call them were placed just about the right spots along the course. One in Readyville, we went by twice, one after the first big climb on top of the ridge, and the last one in Statesville about 23 miles from the finish. Lots to eat, oranges, cantaloupes, watermelons, grapes, peanut butter and jelly sandwich's, Oreo's, peanuts, bananas, ice, water and Heed. One new thing for me was a cracker with peanut butter, a slice of banana and a drizzle of honey. Yummy. Pretty similar to the spread for an Ultra. The last stop is the one where we dilly dallied. I sat down took off my shoes and drank an entire bottle of ice cold water.

Sag support was awesome. The boys, (mine) both asked what is the SAG wagon? I had my answer, but really thought it must be some kind of acronym (Support and Gear) or something. This is one of the explanations I found on the interwebs. This ride had lots of support, at least 2 vehicles making trips up and back each 20 mile or section. I saw them in action on at least one flat and another mechanical. Plus, we saw two of them in action when they came back and picked up J, one of G's tri buddies.

This course has two climbs of significance, Petty Gap and Dolittle. We've been up Petty Gap before. G rode up it the first time in his big ring. Not as much gas this time, must be the heat. Last time it was in the 60's this time at least mid 70's, maybe warmer. Dolittle was a long climb and it was about 60 miles into the ride. We had a truck that  wouldn't go around us the entire way up the hill. Annoying as hell. I stopped at almost the top to let him go by and then stopped again at the summit to wait on J. Only waited for about a minute and then rode on. G had passed me on the hill, thankfully he waited for me at the real top of the hill.

One thing for certain a Century is easier than a marathon. Least if you take your time and dilly dally around at the rest stops, don't hammer the hills and coast the down hills. First rest stop, I had to wait on the guys. I'd started out slow, but DT went flying by so I latched on for a couple of miles. After one mile hot mile at around 28 mph I thought I'd better slow down and let that train fly on without me.

New respect for the tri-athletes. I can't imagine hammering through 100+ miles and then running a marathon. Perhaps the swim cools them off enough that the heat from the bike and run is welcome. NOT. Saw a couple of runners starting out as we finished our ride. No thanks, no triathalons for me. Guess the ulitmate all around stud has to be the decathlete. Saw a picture of Bruce Jenner on a Wheaties box from 1976 last week.

My quads were pretty sore for the rest of the day, and I was a little bit tired but not as drained as a marathon. Did a 10 mile run this morning and surprisingly felt really strong. But, it was overcast and cooler, even rained for the last quarter mile. Enough bike for the time being, I'll keep it in the rotation for cross training but time to get serious for a half marathon in October and the Monkey in November.