It's early July so I felt it was time to attempt a century. I had several 100K and 50 milers under my belt by this time, so I figured it was time to try the 100 miles. The weather forecast suggested cooler than normal temperatures for the week, (highs in the low to mid 90s), so what better time for the attempt?
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| Screen shot of Map My Ride's plot of my ride. |
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| Here are the basic stats for the ride. |
I chose to ride my King Of Mercia Touring for this ride. The riding position with the moustache bars and the 32mm tires both make for a reasonably comfortable ride for this distance.
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| The KOM, pre-ride. |
The morning started off underneath an overcast of low clouds! This was welcome since I was bound to spend a lot of time under bright sunshine for a lot of this ride!
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| Just outside of Lincoln. The clouds persisted until I reached Sheridan. |
This year, I decided to follow the route I tried last year, going north from Lincoln then turning west to Sheridan and Nicolaus. This gives me a nice path through less crowded roads.
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| Nicolaus, quiet as usual! |
After passing through Nicolaus I soon reached the Garden Highway as it runs along the Feather River. The Garden Highway is generally a nice route for bikes except for a couple of miles of really bad pavement. It's those few miles that make the 32mm tires worthwhile!
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| On the Garden highway. |
Eventually the Garden Highway comes to the Interstate 5 overpass. Here is a very nice picnic and boat launch site at just about the halfway point of my ride. I always stop here for a lunch break and to stretch and massage my foot a bit!
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| At the I-5 overpass. |
After that break, it's time to head into Sacramento. This year I am happy to report that the Garden Highway is again open through to Discovery Park! Last year's detours are gone, although there is considerable construction going on along side the roadway.
The transition from the Garden Highway to the American River Bikeway at Discovery Park seems a bit easier this year, I can't really say what the difference is but I found myself at Discovery Park a bit sooner than I expected!
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| On the American River Parkway. |
The ride along the Parkway was uneventful, all the way up to Beale's Point on Folsom Lake. Sadly, the snack bar is closed down at the visitor's center, so I had to be content with just refilling my water bottles.
Heading home on Auburn Folsom Road, I found the road blocked off at Dick Cook Road! I later found out that a car had knocked some power lines down onto the road, forcing the closure. This meant having to go over a couple of very steep pitches while heading to Val Verde Road.
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| Post ride. |
All in all, this was a pretty satisfying ride. I made an effort to eat frequently on this ride, popping pieces of red licorice once an hour. I also tried to make sure I drank often. I brought some powdered lemonade to add to my water bottles to make the water from the fountains on the trail more palatable. These things, along with using lower gears and spinning more, all helped me avoid any cramping this year. (Temperatures mostly in the 80s and low 90s also helped a lot!)
With the century behind me now, I am looking forward to some other rides coming up, including Iowa Hill/ Yankee Jim's road, which is something I haven't done in a couple of years.
Equipment notes:
The Mercian, with it's triple crankset and 32mm tires performed perfectly well again. Not even a flat, which is always a plus! I used Panaracer Gravel King tires, which have become my favorite. I wore my old Sugoi bib shorts which had always been great in the past. however, this year they did not protect me from a bit of chafing, so this may be the last century for them.
I also used a sun sleeves and a sun hat, essentially a short billed baseball cap with a flap of cloth hanging down the sides and back to keep the sun off. I think protection from the sun really helped your endurance up on these hot summer days.
