A hundred mile ride begins with :
Looming in the not too terribly distant future, the 17th annual Horse Farm Hundred ride and the Santa Fe Century. A lot is involved in the preparation for this ride weekend, not only by the board of directors and our valiant volunteers, but also for the stalwart participants.
Is there a nebulous dream floating around in your mind about someday completing your first century (100 mile ride), thus joining the illustrious and elite ranks of the physically fit and mentally deranged? It may seem daunting, but it is possible for anyone in reasonable health to complete a century with the proper preparation and training. If you're thinking about that first century being the Santa Fe or the Horse Farm this year, now is the time to start that training.
Here is a little story related to me by one of the sag drivers after the 1995 Horse Farm. While making her first round she noted a lone cyclist who appeared to be doing well, but struggling with some of the hills. On the second round she spied the same cyclist clearly having difficulty, she slowed to offer a ride, but he waved her on. On the third pass she found the same cyclist lying sprawled like "a sack of potatoes" on the side of the road nearly unconscious with fatigue. Still able to talk , almost coherently, he insisted he would recover shortly and continue the ride. As a reasonable person she found herself in the unenviable position of having to explain to the rider that, with 50 miles to go, that clearly was not likely, and probably dangerous, and then having to try to coax him into her vehicle before he could continue with his suicide attempt. On the verge of a complete loss of sensibility he finally decided to accept the sag ride. While the sag driver and the cyclist were in route back to the start point, the cyclist revealed that the longest distance he had ever ridden in a day was 40 miles, but he had been sure he could finish a century if he just put his mind to it!
Helloooo!
Friends, there is no way on Gods green earth that a cyclist can leap from 40 miles to a century by the power of will alone. This is known as a quantum jump in the material world (and among cyclists as total insanity, AKA LOOPY! ). Do not attempt this! Clearly, matter will win out over mind every time.
As a person who has completed two centuries, the centuries in question being the Santa Fe and Horse Farm, I am going to provide you with the benefit of my hard earned wisdom about preparing for these two centuries. I call these the "seven cruel rules", because something cruel will happen to you if you don't obey them.
Rule one: Learn to stay hydrated. Drink, drink, drink and drink some more. Drink even though you are not thirsty. If you have to find a tree during your ride... well.... do it. That's a lot better than getting heat exhaustion or a splitting headache and having to end the ride or go to the hospital. Experiment with Gatorade or Powerade or whatever if you feel these will help. But experiment during your training rides, not on the century.
Rule two: Start snacking periodically, as you ride, before you feel hungry, but don't eat anything heavy or greasy or you'll puke. Experiment with snacks before the century, find out what helps and what hinders, then avoid the temptation to eat other things with which you haven't ridden. I suggest bananas, apples, Snackwell bars, Sweet Reward bars, grapes and pretzels. But a lot of other people eat a lot of other things. Find out during training what works for you. Wait till the century is over, then you can pig out on whatever!
Rule three: Train for increasing distance and endurance. Ride with people with a similar goal of increasing their stamina (its just easier to do in a group). The Hunters usually train for the century by periodically having increasingly longer rides as the summer progresses, usually getting up to ultimate rides of 75 or 80 miles. If you have trained on terrain similar to your century you will be able make the leap from this mileage to a full century. When you're this close, motivation and some friendly group persuasion can push you on to your century.
Rule four: Tweak the bugs out of your bike as you become aware of them on the progressively longer rides. Don't plan to do this the day before the big ride, if you wait the odds are high you will be very sorry.
Rule five: Learn to stay comfortable. As you ride longer and longer rides you will encounter finger, neck, shoulder and butt numbness. You can learn to deal with this as you ride. Learn to relax in the saddle, stand in the pedals on downhills , sit up and stretch, shake out your hands and whatever else works for you. But work this out on your training rides. On the century you need to know what you are going to do.
Rule six: Train for your terrain. The Santa Fe and the Horse Farm are vastly different rides. Santa Fe is generally flat, with only a few hill climbs. The Horse Farms signature (aside from the actual horse farms themselves) is a quantity of hills and long grades totaling a lot of elevation (for a Florida century). In my estimation, the Horse Farm century is at least 50% more energy demanding than the Santa Fe. If you train exclusively on level ground, you won't be ready for the Horse Farm. (See my accompanying article with a suggested training area for the Horse Farm elsewhere in this newsletter.)
Rule seven: Plan to ride the century with a buddy(s) who will hang with you when your strength starts to sag, when you need some encouragement to continue, and to distract your thoughts from that burning sensation in your upper thighs when that last 15 miles of the century still stands before you.
Yes, my bikin' buddies, it is possible for you to do it too. All you have to do is dedicate yourself to the idea that you are going to work yourself up to it. And yes, I have actually seen people who used to bike only about 20 - 30 miles a ride actually work themselves up to a century in a single season. It can happen.
Following winds, my friends
Rob Wilt