I Would Bike 100 Miles and I Would Bike 100 More… 1

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A giant thank you to everyone who supported my Century for UNICEF UK. With your help I raised $757, which comes it to $7.57 per mile I biked on Sunday. I’m incredibly grateful and I know the money will go to helping people who need it! Thank you everyone!!! (Thank you: Chelsea Conlin, Pat Acks, Pat Wells, Mary Ellen Neumann, Miranda Wood, May Fisher, Carrie, Mike Smith, Alyson, and the anonymous donors!)

Though since we didn’t get to $800 I have one again escaped the live blog of Metal Tornado. Hahaha you’ll never get me!!!

I took a few pictures on the ride, but not too many since I was, you know, busy pedaling like a maniac. Album is here if you want to see it. I’m considering going for a helmet cam one if these days… maybe next year. Put it on the wish list.

This was my first century since I started biking seriously a little over a year ago. I feel amazed even writing that. I’ve come so far in such a short period of time. I completed the 100 miles in 5:35:17, which is about an 18.3 mph average. That’s insane. That’s the kind of times I’ve been getting on shorter rides. And just last year when I did the metric century, my average was barely above 15 mph if I remember correctly. And say the end of the ride, we actually did a half assed sprint–somehow! I chased my friends Sam and Leonardo for the last four miles and ended the ride doing 23 mph!!

Most of the credit for my astounding success goes to my amazing friends from the Come Ride With Us meetup group: Scott, Leonardo, Sam, Carrie, John. Everyone was so encouraging. We basically ran a double pace line the whole way (and I wasn’t a total waste if space, I promise, I took my turns pulling) and it felt great to be riding with them. We had lots of people along the way hitch on to the back of our pace line, and that was fun to briefly meet them.

It also helps that the weather was excellent for most of the ride. It was overcast, relatively cool, and it even rained a little… enough to keep the temperatures down without making the roads dangerous. I’m not really sore at all, and my legs were only a little tired yesterday. (Though I did get a nasty sunburn on my arms. It’s literally impossible to put on a fresh layer if sunscreen when you’re sweating that much. Maybe I need to invest in white sleeves.)

I can’t wait to see where I am next year! (And I’ll warn you now, I’m planning to do another century for UNICEF UK next year, so start saving your pennies now. Pretty please?)

One comment on “I Would Bike 100 Miles and I Would Bike 100 More…

  1. Reply Chelsea Conlin Jul 23,2013 17:59

    That is so awesome! I can’t believe how far you’ve progressed in a year! What got you into cycling in the first place?

    You might want to take a look at the gear people wear for the Badwater 135 (http://www.badwater.com/). Mostly white, super lightweight, breathable stuff that would probably protect you from the sun but still keep you cool. I know it’s running and not cycling, but there may be some overlap in the clothing options.

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