So yeah, I did this ride on Sunday. It was 104 miles or something like that. 
Since this is my Jesus year, my Healthy Summer, and the Year of Goals all rolled up into one, I had signed up for my first century with the Massapequa Park Bicycle Club. The event was the Tour of the Hamptons, a 100+ mile ramble through the supposedly flat countryside on the East end of Long Island. I was able to convince Jody and Eve to come with me as this would be good training for Braking the Cycle. Turns out it was better training than anticipated. 
But still, me and two girls out in the world on two wheels for the whole day, what could be better?
The day started a bit rough. My neighbors decided to hold their monthly loudspeaker-fueled party the night before the ride (this seems to always happen when I need to wake up early on a Sunday), so I got to sleep around 1:30am … Eve woke me at 4:30 so we could pick up Jody and I could drive us the 2 hours out to Southampton. Zzzzz. All I can say is, yay Dunkin Donuts! When we got there it was of course still raining, and the MPBC people were really dragging their feet to get registration set up. This would be pretty important later in the day as some of us were running out of time and the course was closing. Sigh.
But we got all registered, all geared up, all fired up, all mounted up, all chamois-buttered up, and figured, heck, let’s pedal a hundred miles or so.
The first miles were amazing. Flat with just enough roll to keep it from being boring, beautiful houses … the Manhattanites all strolling and biking and running in their billion-dollar neighborhoods … the rain stopped (no sun yet, so it was still cool) … we passed a few riders, all smiling … some sights to see (like a windmill for us to tilt at) …
Before we knew it we were at mile 30-something, and the first pit stop. This was a “supported” ride, which according to the Mass Park Bike Club meant there were rest stops with PB&J and fluids every 30 or 35 miles. We would need to stop at stores and vending machines to stay fully supported, but that’s okay.
We hung out in the rest area for a while, chatted with the crew and some riders … everyone was feeling great. A rest and a stretch, then we were outward bound to Montauk Point and the lighthouse. Beautiful beachside views, lobster shacks … and we started to see some hills. They got steeper and longer as we approached the end of Long Island. I was ahead of Eve and Jody on a long straight, and hooked up with a paceline for a while … I pulled off when the rider in front of me did. His name was Steve, and he’s 64 and in his second road biking season. We had a blast on those hills, powering up and pushing down with the wind at our backs. I pulled him up the slopes, and he pulled me through Montauk Village. We got to the point for some photo ops, and Eve and Jodz were just a second or two behind me. Those girls were doing great!
Bonus: the sun came out before we got to the point, the day heated up and the weather was GORGEOUS for the rest of the ride. 
I noticed I had a flat that I’d been riding on throughout those hills, so after a quick change and some potty breaks we girded up to face the stiff winds waiting for us on the way back. They were ROUGH. As in, “I’m on a downhill pushing as hard as I can but am only going 11mph” rough. So we burned a lot of energy along the Montauk Hwy, and on Nicoteague … we finally caught a break on Cranberry Hole Rd. The winds would be lighter for the rest of the way, thankfully. Still, the girls were all smiles coming out of the main windy way, and full of pep.
The route pulled us through the same pit stop for a second time on the return trip, at about mile 60. It was time to eat a bit, fill the bottles, rest and rebutter things that needed rebuttering. I saw the 40+ miles that lay ahead and was not daunted … it would be challenging but doable. I felt good. The girls felt great, they didn’t want to wait so the rolled out before me — I said I’d catch up.
I was a bit cold after the longish (30 minute) rest and the food kinda sat in me belly, but after about 5 miles my legs were warm and strong again and I was able to catch up to the girls. Unfortunately it was at that exact moment that we missed a turn (even though we were really looking for it). Who could miss a road called “Soak Hides Rd”? We could, of course. It added about 4 miles to our route, and we weren’t the only ones who missed it … thank the PTB for the GPS which led us back to the route. Love my Garmin! Love my bike handlebar mount! Love me!
It was somewhere around mile 75 that things started getting ouchy. My butt was getting seriously sore — I think I need a different style of short or chamois, as this is the second time this has happened on a long ride. But enough about my butt. We were seeing more hills than we’d anticipated on this later loop … rollers that we would have laughed at when we were fresh, but after the hills at the Point and fighting the wind, we were on our energy reserves and fatigue was a constant companion. I literally ran out of fuel several times in the second half of the day, and only got through the day by using Gu and PowerBars, and relying on Jody’s unflagging energy and drive to pull me up some of those hills.
While we were all suffering a bit and evaluating why the heck we wanted to do this to ourselves, Eve was having a particularly tough time of it. I’m quoting a few things from her write-up:
“… i had blown my wad in the wind and over the course of the next 14 miles i began to completely and totally melt down … It had gotten somewhat easier, but with every 1/4 of a mile I was psyching myself out. I had been singing ‘yes, yes, yes’ to myself for miles to counteract the ‘no, no, no’ i was feeling, and finally the no’s won. i couldn’t do another 30 some odd miles, this was crazyness, but i had to, what had i gotten myself into, this was just too hard, how was i possibly going to ride for 3 days.”
I saw Eve was in trouble when I was waiting for them and eating some yummy Gu, so I ordered her off the bike. I was a bit loud and authoritative as I was in Crew mode and wanted to make sure she knew I was serious and wouldn’t keep pedaling. In retrospect I should have been more gentle initially, but I did soften up once we got her off the bike and helped her calm down. After we talked for a while about what was going on in her head and in her body, we decided it was best for her to sag forward to the next rest stop (in 15 or 20 miles mind you). She could rest, hydrate, and maybe make the rest of the ride. It turns out that they would only being her to the end, but I found that out later. Sorry, Eve. But I’m sure this was the best path for her as I was pretty worried about her at that point. She did make it back safely, even rode around for a bit as she waited for Jody and I to soldier through the rest of the route.
So we left Eve in the shade, waiting for the van, confident that she would be fine. The rollers continued, and though the rest I got while waiting with Eve did me some good, Jody and I had very little left in our legs. Every tiny hill was a test of will. Every downhill was a disappointment as we didn’t have enough energy to get a good head of steam to tackle the next upslope. There were some shining moments of recouped energy and lustf&0252;rpumpen, where I looked down and was overjoyed to see myself singing uphill at 20mph, or when Jody was a shining angel ahead of me, pulling me up something bad … and there were some pretty rough moments like when I ran out of liquid and was too bull-headed to stop at the deli to get more.
This was actually pretty funny. Stupid of course, but funny. We needed to get to the fina rest stop at mile 95 by 5pm, as it closed at 5pm. Forget the fact that they started us 45 minutes late, they closed the thing at 5pm, not a minute later. So we wanted to push to get there in time. So I didn’t want to make a water stop, as I had a few swallows in the bottle and figured I could make the remaining 10 miles before the pit. I conserved. I took baby sips. And every baby sip I took gave me a half mile of pep as my body responded. It was like a freaky science experiment.
DO NOT DO THIS ON THE BRAKING THE CYCLE RIDE, OR EVER FOR THAT MATTER. I WAS A DUMMY AND COULD HAVE GOTTEN HURT.
I ran out — bone dry — as we turned onto the last leg before the pit, which was Novac Rd. I had to look a few times. 7.3 miles! On one road! I was worried we’d miss the turn off as we’d be mentally dull do to fatigue. We did make it, and pulled into the pit parking lot. No one was there, but an open spigot and a Pepsi machine saved our butts. It was heaven with parking lot. Never before was I so happy to see a Pepsi machine. Or a Brisk Iced Tea.
So Jodz and I rested and stretched and chatted about the remaining 12 mile leg to the end. I was already at 99 miles. Jody was at 97 or so. And this other guy who rolled i late, he was at 105. I decided to take matters into my own hands, and went all Crew on the event. I pushed some buttons on the GPS and found the HS (the end) was 3.5 miles away as the crow flies.
Jody and the other guy were thrilled to hear this. I routed a fast way back, which ended up being 5 miles (we had to ride on roads, no crows we). These were the best 5 miles of the day. We were rested, we were stretched, we were hydrated, and we had written off the ride organizers. We were making our own way and the teeny hills we encountered were just another cause for smiling. And as we turned that final corner and could see the high school … with the late afternoon sunshine streaming down, I could all but hear a choir singing in exultation. Or maybe it was just me hallucinating after 104 miles of pushing.
We reunited with Eve, we packed up, and we made the 2h journey home along the highway. We did stop at a pizza joint for some heros … for some reason my body was saying “no food! no food!” but I told it to simmer down and eat. I won that little argument. We had some awesome discussions on the ride home, and we may have sang along to “Higher and Higher”.
All in all, it was a very uplifting and enlightening experience. In one day I rode longer/farther than I had ever done, I had found out what it’s like to keep pushing when your body and mind are ready to call it quits — but your soul is still fighting. I learned what happens when someone really does need to call it quits, for safety concerns. And we all learned what the upcoming Braking the Cycle is really about. I think Eve summed it up amazingly well:
“But mostly to all of you who are wondering how the heck you are going to make it 3-days and 275 miles on your bike, i want to say just keep pedaling, it’s still possible, do not lose faith. You can do it. And maybe today, you need a break, but maybe not tomorrow. And even if you don’t do it tomorrow there is always the next day. Just keep trying, recognize your short comings and move beyond them. tomorrow is another day, and you are getting stronger every day.”
Oh yeah … I made it to work yesterday and wasn’t even sore. How’s that for impressive? Thanks again to Jody and Eve for making the ride an amazing one!
A full collection of the pics from the event are online here. Enjoy!
