06-02-07-Sierra Century.gpx-t0

A very tough century ride – very hot – I had way too large a breakfast got dehydrated early – didn’t drink nearly enough – recovered by taking lots of fluids at the rest stop after the tortuous Jesus Maria Rd climb…felt great for the last 30 miles. Ed did well for the first half, but started getting cramps in the last 30 miles, so I went a little easier for him at that point, since he had gone easier for me earlier in the day when I was feeling bad – a good riding partner! We met one woman from Sacramento, Leah, who was very strong on the climbs but deathly afraid of the downhills. We dropped her on a major downhill just before the Jesus Maria Rd climb and waited about 20 minutes for her – but she never showed, so we think she might have abandoned. She had fallen down a little earlier when she couldn’t get clipped into her pedals properly and had hurt her butt, her hip, and her hand – this may have been more severe than she let on – hope she got home okay! We met another woman, Deborah, on the way to the lunch stop and ended up talking to her for awhile – we were going to meet up for the dinner afterwards and chat, but we never saw her – she was from Marin County area – Larkspur, I believe. Overall, I’m not sure I would do this ride again – the rest stops had nice stuff to eat and drink, but the dinner afterwards was real cheap and tasteless. Also, the rest stops were not spaced out properly and a lot of people got dehydrated and cramped on Jesus Maria Rd – the rest stop at the end of that climb really should have been more in the middle of the climb – or at least, there should have been a water stop, with Gatorade, too – so people did not get dehydrated and depleted of their salts. The organizers really need to do better planning next time. One of the worst things were the conditions of the roads themselves – quite a few of the roads – especially the downhills, were in horrible shape, so you could not really properly rest and recover on the downhill sections – this meant the entire ride was stressing out your body, either from the heat and climbing up, or from the shaking and bumping from going down the hills and never having much of an opportunity to just freewheel and enjoy the scenery. Overall, I think I’ll do the Sequoia Century next year instead – better roads and a much better meal at the end of the day – and probably cooler temperatures, too! Oh, well – at least we got through the day and finished the ride – it was Ed’s very first century ride that he ever attempted and completed – congrats to Ed!