The NYC Century Ride

Yesterday, under beautiful blue skies, I completed the first leg of my Fall 2008 Endurance Triple Crown -- The New York Century.

Despite numerous obstacles and almost getting lost somewhere in Queens, I completed the ride in 8 hours, 10 minutes and 23 seconds. I burned through roughly 6,000 calories, lost four pounds and traveled at an average speed of just 12.4 mph.

That is an incredibly slow pace. However, it's important to remember that the ride is America's ONLY all-urban century. None of the roads were closed to traffic. Thus, when riders were not riding on a bike path or greenway, they were dodging oncoming car and bus traffic as well as pedestrians, Rollerblades, and other cyclists. It was almost impossible to build up any momentum and speed because we kept hitting lights and busy street corners. Just clicking in and out of the pedals was a challenge.

Throughout the trip, I witnessed numerous close calls with cars. I was almost clipped once but the car was going so slow it would not have mattered. The route was littered with cyclists repairing flat tires and covered in scrapes and bruises. Considering my tires had 1500+ miles on them before the ride, I'm very surprised that I made it through without getting at least one flat. I had two spare tubes just in case.

As I said to one rider in the first couple of miles, this should be called "The Most Dangerous Ride in America."

The ride began at the top of Central Park at 110th Street and Lennox Ave. at 6:00am SHARP. In order to get there at 5:30am, with enough time to collect my thoughts, get a route sheet and use the bathroom, I needed to leave my house at 4:30am. That corresponded to my alarm going off at 3:55am. I did not return home until 5:30pm.

The ride leaves Harlem in the pre-dawn darkness. However, less than 30 minutes later, we are crossing the Brooklyn Bridge -- just as the sun is cracking over the horizon. It's truly a breathtaking moment. Unfortunately, we had only traveled about nine miles at that point so no one was in the mood for stopping.

The real pain didn't hit until about mile 60, when my back started to give way. By 75 miles, I was dying for a rest. That's when I struck up a conversation with a guy named Andrew who stuck with me for the last two legs of the trip. He moved to NYC from Minneapolis about a month ago to work for the NYC Historic House Trust. He was doing the ride on a fixed wheel bike, without a water bottle and carrying 15 lbs. of stuff in a backpack. I'm shocked he finished it -- and so was he. It was the first time he had ever done a large group event. I tried to convince him to do the MS ride and took his number as we parted but I think it may have been a 3-hour friendship. Either way, I know he helped me along some of those lonely stretches and I think I helped him.

We made it back to Central Park by about 3:00pm. Overall, I felt pretty good. I couldn't stop drinking for hours afterwards. I probably downed four 16oz. bottles of Gatorade before finally falling asleep.

Around mile 10 my left knee started aching badly and, luckily, I was ready. Before leaving the house, I grabbed eight tablets of Ibuprofen. I wanted to hold out as long as possible. By the time we hit mile 35 or so, I really needed the medicine so I took four. Within 30 minutes, the pain had subsided and was dull enough not to pose a problem. Later, at the 75 mile stop, I took two more tablets and gave another one to Andrew.

I'm sad that I needed the painkiller to get me through but happy that I took them. I'm sure I never would have been able to finish all 100-miles without it. The big payout came on Monday morning, when I woke up feeling fine. In all honesty, I almost felt good enough to run!

Tomorrow I'm going to get back into a regular pattern of running and try for 16-18 miles this weekend. If I can do that I'll feel like I am making progress towards the Marathon.