Gulliver's Tavern: Bobcat Century Challenge

100 miles in 1 day. Still sounds a bit crazy, but I did it. My first "century" bike ride.

It was back on May 27th that I took up the challenge and completed the Bobcat Bootlegger Challenge A ride hosted by Crank Arm Brewery that was "a self–supported ride in the Adventure Format." I've ridden the Crank Arm social rides a lot and it's usually filled with cool people so I felt comfortable giving the challenge a shot.

Bob gives us the instruction

So on a warm Saturday morning during the Memorial Day holiday, a group of just under 100 riders took to the greenway trails of Raleigh to have fun and log some miles. There were two different routes to take. One was 50 miles. One was 100 miles. Around mile 80 I wished I had done the 50 miles. In the end, I was happy I did the 100.

My preexisting condition

I'd been working on training for the ride for a few months. Going into the ride my longest ride was 71 miles on my road bike back in February. I had also ridden a handful of other rides around 50 miles leading up to the ride and had practiced a few of the difficult parts of the ride in the weeks before. About 2 weeks prior to the ride, while practicing on the gravel paths of Umstead Park, I had a crash and ripped up my elbow. I was lucky the injury wasn't too bad and had mostly healed in time for the Bootlegger.

I had arranged to ride with my friend Autumn, who I met on the social rides, for the day. Neither of us had ever ridden a century and we were a good team. I think she kept me from pacing too fast and burning out and I kept her speed up and motivated her through some of the tougher hills. A century is almost as big of a mental challenge as it is a physical one.

3rd stop

Riding with Autumn was really was a great time. We knew we weren't going to be winning any places on the medal stand. We were just focused on finishing and having a good ride. Having someone to talk with and take your focus away from the physical exhaustion is also a big bonus.

There were 4 pit stops along the way and at the 3rd stop, a beer taproom around mile 60, we met up with a few of the other riders at the end of the pack. By that point, the lead riders were closing in on the finish. We were fueling up with lunch and getting ready to hit the most challenging part of the ride. We rode the final miles with Ryan and Blair since they knew the route and there were two other riders, Cathy and Ray, that made up our little peloton.

The next 40 miles were grueling. I fought off the queasiness of eating too much, the cramping of my calves and hamstrings, the increasing warmth of the hot day, and the grueling gravel climbs. Throughout it all though I knew I would finish. I wasn't always sure how but I knew I would.

We ended up being the "Caboose Crew" and finishing as the last riders. It turned out to be the best place to finish. The other riders were still gathered on the patio of Crank Arm and gave us a loud ovation as we rolled up. It was one of the best feelings I've had in a few years.

My stats at the end were pretty crazy. 102.2 Miles rode. 8 hours and 11 minutes of moving time (almost 10 1/2 hours overall). 3,825 feet of elevation gained and almost 5,500 calories burned. One hell of a great day in the saddle!