After the Bridge Run

Four years ago, this was the first century that I ever did. With my body shutting down, a throbbing dehydration headache, and six and a half hours later, I was pretty sure I never wanted to do that again. Nine centuries later and I've made this one of my favorites.

The After the Bridge Run spring century dubs itself as fast and flat. That it is. Bring plenty of water because there will be no stopping and with barely a ripple, this is the fastest century around.

8:00 am. and the group (500 total with about 100 for the century) couldn't have asked for better weather. Low: 65 High: 75 and light winds. It took only about a quarter mile for the pack to settle in to the pace it would hold for the next one hundred: fast. So much for the warmup. In fact, it would be 25 miles before I settled in. It sounds strange, but it takes a period of time before the body gets accustomed to some suffering. Sometimes you never get over it; those are the long days. Other times, if you can make it, you experience periods of strength that you never knew you had. This was one of those days.

While I wasn't out there taking monster pulls or soloing off the front (I leave that to the truly strong guys), I did have my moments. At about the halfway point, a group of about seven had slipped off the front and somehow the pack wasn't chasing. It looked like this group had some strong guys in it and I interpreted this as a serious threat to stay away. Apparently so did two others. Out of the pack and onto the chase wheels. Following some rude efforts and some periods of doubt, the three of us had bridged the gap and eventually, so to did the rest.

Following a slowing down of the group to allow for pee-breaks (some stopping and some peeing from the bike, a real Pro maneuver) it was time to chase back another. A triathlete, who for most of the day was doing his own thing at the front, had pulled away. A paceline was formed to bring him back. Showing some of my giddiness from earlier, I pulled through and lifted it to near 30 mph. With a flick of the elbow, signaling to the next rider to pull through, I moved over only to find that I had gapped the field. This can do bad things at the back of the peloton. Ideally, the person rotating through should do so smoothly so as not to cause a speeding up and slowing down at the back. It's just better to continuously pedal. Oh well.

Laid low for the next 30 miles and managed to bridge one more gap with about 3 miles to go. Despite some ugly smack talking in the last five miles and a weaving, wobbly-tired moron on the way out (who received a stiff-arm from me for his efforts), this was a great ride. At 3:56:47, I had finished with my best time and come a long way since that first century. Best of all I felt good doing it.