Solo Century
Posted: March 28, 2010 at 12:02 pmIn preparation for the April 10th 400k, I rode a century yesterday. I had planned to go for an early ride this morning as well, but at around mile 97 I broke a spoke which I wont be able to get fixed until tomorrow.
My average pace was about 15mph which is faster than my average time for both brevets I’ve done so far. For Half the ride I had a decent headwind, which for one in my life I was actually thankful. After this months 300k I realised how tough wind can be and was glad to be able to train with it for a period of time. I focused on posture for the entire ride which reduced back pain and allowed me to ride on the drops as needed.
This was also my first time riding with gloves, they are padded in just the right places and I had absolutely no hand pain like I normally do.
I acquired a new skill as well. I can fetch a package of pop-tarts from my panniers, open then, eat then, and then put the wrapper back in my panniers all without stopping. I tried to focus on making as few stops as possible, and on this ride I only got off the bike 3 times, and all stops were very short.
I have a really slow 80 mile ride with a group next weekend that should be good for building my mileage base but not stressing me too much the week before the 400k.
