KFC (report might be longer than the ride)

I'm still exhausted, but lets see how far I get with the ride report. First off, its hard to remember to call them "rides" or "tours", rather than "race".

As mentioned before, a buddy from worked convinced me to attempt the century ride. Shortly after posting my intentions of the Katy Flatlands I received advice against the 100-mile distance from someone I greatly respect. Since that email, I've struggled with my decision. Even the morning of the ride, I had no idea how far I would end up riding. Simply rode one mile at a time.

Alright, let me back up to Saturday. I purchased a new pair of road bike shoes from Performance Cycle. I had to get new shoes, because the old shoes were purchased online and arrived about 20 sizes to narrow. At 6pm I decided to move my cleat's over to the new shoes and realized the new ones were the "look" style, and I had SPD style on my old shoes. Anyways, at 8pm I was back at the bike shop buying new pedals and cleats.

I've been told a zillion times to never run a marathon in a new shoe. Trust me when I say this is true for biking as well. Actually the shoes were great, but I was having a lot of issues clipping in and out of the new pedals. Hang with me, I going somewhere with this....

One final note about Saturday; I only slept 2.5 hours. This was partly cause of the late drive back to the bike shop, installation of the new hardware, plus Preston is awake every 2 hours or so, and I had to get up at 4am. When we arrived at Katy Mills Mall there was just enough time to register before the rain started. This is also when I noted the difficulties with the new clips. As soon as I sat in the saddle, I found it hard to unclip. When I was able to successfully unclip I realized they have NO TRACTION on the bottom. That plus the rain slicked parking lot made me extremely nervous. I was sure to fall, but when. Well, it didn't take long. On the way to the start line, we had to make a quick stop and yield to a truck backing up. I couldn't get my foot out, which made me nervous. In the end, I went down in front of a LOT of people. No injury, thank goodness. As we sat in the start line I watched several people fall, which made me feel at ease... (not the only one falling)

Steve and I were at the front of the second wave. When we were released to ride, I noticed two things. One, my gloves were still tied around my handlebars and two, my bike computer was not working. I was a nervous wreck about falling, plus I had people within 6-inches of me on every side. I couldn't do anything about the gloves, but upon visual inspection, I saw my wireless sensor had been knocked away from the wheel during the fall. Carefully, I reached down and fixed the computer. There was a difference of 0.70 miles between my computer and Steve's.

Rained HARD for the first 10-11 miles. Average speed was less than 10 mph until the rain eased up and the crowds started thinning out. During the initial 5 miles we witnessed some nasty wrecks. One of them so bad the riders were diverted onto the other side of a median as EMS worked on the patient. Not sure of her injuries, but we were close enough to see a pool of blood on the road.

Early in the ride I remember thinking how tired I was. Not so much "dead-leg" tired, but rather, pure exhaustion. If my memory is correct, the first stop break was at 13 miles. From start to finish, I kept most of the breaks rather short. It was common for me to see the same people at the rest stop when I left as it was when I arrived. The entire time I pondered my distance for the day. The last turning point was at 26 miles. At that mileage I had to decide if I could do the 26 mile distance three more times. For the most part I WANTED to do the metric century. Unfortunately, the little voice in my head, which is a HUGE DREAMER, wanted to stick its chest out and say, "I biked 100-miles". The weather between rest stop #1 (13 miles) and rest stop two (24 miles?) was as perfect as you could expect. The only problem, we were soaked from head to toe and didn't dry out as fast.

Shortly after leaving rest stop #2 I had to make my final decision. The rest and weather did me a lot of good, but I knew my exhaustion laid deep within. I SERIOUSLY didn't decide until the actual turn-off. Then I just turned onto the 100-mile course. All I can say is, "the little voice made me do it".

Then I started drying out and it got HOT and sticky. I was able to handle the weather, but then we turned onto a country road that was rough as hell. I quickly went from 17 mph to 12 mph. For whatever reason, I could not hold my pace on that terrain. Seems we weren't the only riders having problems on the surface. Although several larger pods of riders blew by as, we picked off several riders ourselves.

A lot of the ride was blurry from mile 35-50. I remember some BEAUTIFUL countryside properties and slow riding. My buddy Steve also dropped me during this time. He found a pod he liked and asked me if I cared if he tried to hang with him. I said okay, but deep down inside of me I didn't want to ride alone. After rest stop #4, I joined a pair of lady riders. I sat behind them for a mile or two before they asked me take the lead. I pulled us about 7 miles and the favor was never returned. Eventually I dropped them.

Rest stop number 4 was interesting. As I was walking up, a couple "fit" riders were at the refreshment table and had their back to me. I was refilling my bottle when I heard one of them say, "It cracks me up to see these guys with a $3,000 bike that weighs 17 lbs, and they weigh 240 lbs. If they want something light... trying losing weight and save the money". Now, I'm pretty sure they were not talking about me and my $400 bike, but it still pissed me off. Yeah, I know lots of us need to lose weight, but c'mon! Does that mean I cannot have a NICE bike, like the fit riders... just becasue I'm fat? They were still talking when I left the stop. The new found anger did me a lot of good, as I picked up my pace and felt pretty good for 5-6 miles. My final thought about the conversation was this. I'm 240 pounds, riding a $400 bike I bought online and we were at the SAME rest stop, right? So, fuck those cocky bastards!

Miles 55-70 was lonely and HOT. Not many riders around me. Occasionally someone would pass me, but even those were far and few between. It was during this time I really found a zone. It seemed that the sag wagon and the sun were taunting me. I made a mantra and said it over and over and over. It's a silly one, so I'll keep it to myself. hehehehe

Spent a little longer than normal at rest stop #6. One of the conversations I overheard was about the "shortcut". The other rest stop topic was about being routed wrong by a police officer, which added 5 miles to the route. I knew I couldn't make 105 miles, but I thought 90 was still obtainable. A couple veteran KFC riders stated we would be very close to 100 WITH the shortcut. At that stop I decided to take the short cut and made a commitment to myself, which was: Reuse to find myself on a sag wagon. By this time it was raining again. This was miserable, because I had finally dried out. The worst was the wet feet and my wet hydration back pack felt like it weighed 100 pounds.

Four miles outside the rest stop the "veteran riders" from the last stop had caught me and for the first time, someone gave me some encouragement. The four person pod consisted of 3 men and 1 woman. Two of the men told me, "Your looking good" and "Not too far now, you can make it!". This was all I needed to light my fire. Of course they passed me, but they were stopped by a red light a half mile ahead. As the light turned I had caught both them and the light. Once again they dropped me, but I noticed they were slightly dropping the female. I busted my ass to catch her, which I did. Within a quarter mile we were riding as a 5-person pod. What shocked me was our speed. I hung with them for 4-6 miles at an average speed of 19.5-20 mph. With 5 miles to go I was forced to let the pod go. Missed the last two rest stops due to the shortcut, so I needed to slow down and stop on the side of the road to stretch my neck and back.

The final stretch was VERY uneventful, with the exception of the awful heat and humidity. The shortcut enabled me to arrive back at the truck before Steve. Since this was my first organized ride, I was shocked at the lack of an "after-party". By this time it was raining hard again, so I rode easy around the mall waiting for Steve to get back. I was able to log another couple miles.

After the ride, Steve kept asking me how a century ride compares to a marathon. I still don't know the answer to his question. I know they are mentally close. After 15 miles in a marathon the roads just keep coming with no end in sight. Riding 100-miles is very similar. After 50 miles the roads just kept coming and I wondered if it would ever end. My legs feel a lot better than they did after the marathon. Plus I went into this ride sleep deprived, no exercise taper, and minimally trained. You'd NEVER survive a marathon under the same conditions. So, I guess his answer is right there.

When I got home it was everything I could do to keep my OCD in check. I nearly got back on the bike to finish the needed 100-mile distance. I continue to fight such urges in exchange for "normal people" thoughts. Instead of biking another 5.5 miles, I took my family out to eat.

A good day!