Now I remember...

This morning I awoke early - too early. 4:30am came very quickly when one of the kids had been out until 2am. UGH! Steve had to wait for me as I collected the last of my stuff (I forgot a couple of things, but nothing major.) Then off to Magrath to pick up Johnny. Then the drive into Lethbridge for the start of today's little adventure. I probably should not have done such a tough kettlebell workout 2 days ago, as I was still feeling the effects of it.

Today was a charity century - they had arranged for a couple of semi trucks, with good bike racks inside of them, to transport our bikes, and a couple of school buses to transport us. We were driving 100 miles to the start.

The drive out was extremely entertaining - John and I found three new friends with the same warped sense of humour as us! The jokes came fast and furious for almost 2 hours! (School buses are slow.) Before we got there the inevitable questions came up on expected times - and turns out they were figuring the same kind of pace as us, so maybe we'd be riding together. Hmmmmm MAYBE!

It always amazes me how at every cycling event I go to it doesn't matter how many bathrooms there are, there will always be a significant line as it gets close to take-off time.

We stood and got a group photo before we took off - and then I ran to get my bike. John already had his - and wouldn't you know it, he thought I'd taken off already, so he took off. I spent the next hour and change chasing him down! Aghhh!

I rode the first 15km with my buddy Steve - then he tailed off. Then I caught up to my friend Jody. He was making a pretty good pace, so we worked together to try and close the gap up. He made me laugh, as he had his iphone with him while we were riding, and every now and then he'd pull it out and tweet. He had never drafted before and was amazed at the difference. I was about ready to start teaching him some of the tricks to smooth transitions when another group caught us. We jumped in with these other 2 guys and the pace kicked up. Another few km and Jody had had enough of that pace and waved me on. So the three of us hammered away for a few more km. We picked up another rider and she shared the work-load with us nicely. Then we hit a good hill and me and one of the other guys eased back. The hill tilted up at a 8% grade, and went for a couple of km, so I just stayed within myself and spun up it. At the crest the faster guy was waiting for his buddy (who was way behind me) and the girl had really layed it down. I chased. When I caught her she didn't want to hammer, so I went off solo. I probably should not have done that.

At about the 50km mark Phil rode by. Phil is awesome. He is one of fastest guys in our area. He had chosen his TT bike for this one, and was planning on shattering 4 hours. I was doing 46km/hr up a slight climb (nice little tailwind behind me) and he flew by me at 60km/hr. How do I know? Well, I was stupid enough to think that maybe I could use him to drag me up to John! I sprinted to speed, grabbed his wheel, and was only able to hold on for about 1 minute. I had to let him go. Another match burned, and once again in no-man's land.

John was riding with one of our new friends, and they were knocking out a pretty good pace. At the 80km mark (roughly 50 miles for my American friends) I caught up to them, and our time was 1:50. The problem for me was that I had been riding with my Heart Rate at 172-174 trying to chase! My LTL is 171 - I knew I was going to pay a big price for this down the road - I figured at around the 3 hour mark.

After catching John the 3 of us got into a nice little rotation and managed to hold onto a 44km/hr pace without killing me off too badly. Phil had stopped for a quick break at the 80km mark, so we got to see him fly past us again about 10km later. I was trying desperately to get fuel and fluid into my system HOPING that somehow the crash would pass me by. Over the next 20k we picked up a few more riders and got caught by the two guys and a girl that I'd ridden with earlier. As we came up to Fort Macleod we had a good paceline of 8 rotating through. HEAVEN! A hard pull, and then wheel-sucking paradise. Fort Macleod was where lunch was at, and was basically the 2/3rds done point.

I made a quick bathroom break, and when I came out, everybody in our little group had taken off - oh no! Another chase was in store for me.

I wondered at the time if this was a particularly smart idea - I knew 3 hours was coming up quickly, and I could feel things starting to tire. Oh well, I wanted to ride with these guys!

I hit the highway and started pushing hard. I could see them about 1km ahead of me. Over the next 25km I chased harder than I have ever chased anybody. I got the gap down to about 100m at about the 18km mark, but my HR was at 184, and I needed to ease up a bit. I got it back down to 170, lost about 100m, and began the chase again. I got back up to about 100m behind, and once again was pegged at 184 and had to ease off (my max is 192).

At this point I remembered why riding a century ride at full tilt when you've only put in a couple of hundred miles for the whole year is not a good idea. CRAMPS!

Both legs. Quads and Calves. OOOOUUUUCH! I had stood up to try and sprint that last 100m and get into the draft. I almost fell off my bike. I realized that now I was into survival mode. Just get this last 40k done and call it a day. John had finally seen me and was drifting back (at least, that's what he says, I suspect he was one of the guys pushing the pace BECAUSE he saw me!) He gave me a draft, but even with that, anything over 34km/hr would cramp me up. Hills, little as they were, were a killer.

Finally hit the second last hill. It's not steep - about 6% average grade, and only 2km long. I couldn't manage anything faster than 15km/hr up it, and the mosquitoes had swarmed me! (I later found out it wasn't just me they made a good lunch of, but at that point it sure felt like it was all me!) Pedaling without cramping was hard - and trying to swat my arms, legs, butt, face, etc. while doing it was REALLY hard. Finally topped out and got the speed up high enough to leave the mosquitoes behind.

Entered Lethbridge - and worked my way for the last 12km to the finish - one last hill. Down into the river bottom, then up the other side... The Pain! Both quads were right on the edge of a full-out cramp. I couldn't push faster than 8km/hr. For about 200m of the climb it tilted up to 10%. I couldn't stand, I couldn't push hard, and I couldn't spin (was already in granny) I eeked my way up. I knew if I stopped and had to walk I'd never be able to get back on again, so I forced myself to inch my way up the hill. Finally the top arrived and I spun the last km to the finish line. John finished just ahead of me. My first century of the year was done. What in the past I would've considered a pretty easy ride had turned me upside down.

They had massage waiting for us - which was great - and a little bite to eat, and the day was done. Said good bye to our new friends - and hope that we'll be able to get together for a ride again sometime. Off to home!

I'm tired. No sleep and that effort are really slowing me down. I need to make sure I keep riding now so that I don't lose the form I picked up in pushing myself so hard. I don't want to have to be reminded of how out of shape I am during a tough ride like that again!