Congrats!!!!🍾🎊🎉

Thank you!!! I sent you a very brief recap on the other app 😄

My notes for J. It’s long, but it has lots of funny parts to it, so I think you’ll enjoy the read!

104 miles worth of things.

Goals:

1. I had *originally* wanted a moving time of 7 hrs. I had been feeling so good about my training and this course, that I had switched the goal to 7 hours *total* time. With the heat on ride day, I had compromised with myself to finish the whole thing by 2:00 pm, which would have been 8 hours total time - enough time to pause at every aid station. I did not get to 8 hrs for my moving time, so I’m still calling this a ✅, especially given what happened.

2. Complete my first century. ✅

3. I wanted to finish feeling like I could continue. ❌ At mile 80, I had hit this glorious second wind where we were averaging around 18 mph...when my right IT band decided it did not want to play anymore. I spent the next 20 miles negotiating every pedal stroke. It took us almost 2 hours to finish those last 20 miles. Had it not been for that, I would have finished much closer to my modified goals.

Cons:

1. The heat. I realized halfway through the ride that the last time I rode in 70+ degree weather + summer sun was in August of last year while training for the GF MD with Frédéric. We hit 90 degrees yesterday.

2. The dial fit on my road bike helmet broke 2 days before this ride, so I did not have time to order a new helmet. Wore my MTB helmet instead. Realized during the first 30 miles that, thanks to the denser foam and narrower vents, it is significantly hotter than my road helmet, and also ever so slightly heavier, enough that it started to create fatigue through my traps around mile 40.

3. Headwind for the last 30 miles.

4. Flatter course = constant pedaling. I think this is what ultimately created the IT band issue after mile 80.

Pros:

1. Headwind for the last 30 miles. It would have been REALLY hot without it. The wind was warm, but it was still moving air so it helped, especially since it was making it into the vents of the MTB helmet!

2. Lots of aid stations. Almost every 10 miles!

3. Flatter course = no big climbs. Given how the day went, I’m not sure I would have been able to finish the NJ GF? But maybe I would have bc I would have been able to coast down bigger hills.

4. Pickle juice is definitely my new thing for the heat. I bought an insulated feed bag for my handlebars (stole the idea from the Unbound riders) for an extra water bottle, and ended up shoving 4 frozen pickle juice sleeves in it, along with my gels. I should have brought double the amount of pickle juice- I spaced them out every 25 miles, but I could have had one every 10. (I had a water with electrolytes that I refilled at every aid station, but it still didn’t feel like enough.) Every time I took one, within 10 minutes I would feel so much better. The chilled gels (from the frozen pickle juice) were also a gamechanger.

………

Saturday morning was a bit of a cluster. My stomach was weird (uncomfortable - just felt really full for no reason, like from gas. It's the way I'll feel if I've had too much gluten and/or dairy the day before...I had had neither) and I did NOT have an appetite at all. I did NOT want my usual bagel, so I made myself oatmeal with raisins as a side for my usual egg. Oatmeal is a comfort food for me, but I still wasn’t able to finish. I took Pepcid and Zofran and it ultimately did help: by the time we arrived at the ride, my stomach had settled. But I was already starting behind on calories and carbs. I should have slammed a couple of gels to make up for it.

Carlos was running behind this morning, which set both of us behind, which meant we started 10 minutes late (6:40 am.) I was kind of stressed starting out because of this. I had planned on having an oat bar right before starting, but in the rush I completely forgot.

By 7:00 am, was super muggy with temps at 70 degrees that felt like 80. I wanted to moderately conserve energy for the first half of the century, so I used all my gears even for climbing these (proportionately to what I’ve done prior) smaller hills.

There was no wind, which meant that thanks to the MTB helmet, I started to feel hot almost right away. It was like the vents on the helmet were angled wrong for the wind generated from my own movement. It felt like I had stuck my head in an oven. This is usually how I feel right before overheating to the point of it hindering performance. It continued for the first 30 miles or so, while we were out on open roads with no shade. Fortunately, it did not get worse. I removed my helmet at every aid station, which also helped.

We managed to catch up to the rest of the century riders at the first aid station. We basically rode in a pocket between the middle of the packers and the stragglers for 75% of the ride. Not bad for having a late start!

I know heat played a factor in how I did overall, but I was only mildly affected compared to other riders. We passed people mainly bc we were able to recover quickly at aid stations while others lingered to take a break from the heat. It became more obvious as the ride progressed and the day became hotter.

The aid stations were great. They had ice, water, sodas, PB&J sandwiches, homemade fig newtons, watermelon (amazing!!!), electrolyte water (their mix was super high in potassium as well as salt), bananas, and other stuff that I ignored. 😂

I made sure to eat something at every aid station and took a gel and a pickle juice every 25 miles or so (in between aid stations.) Like I said earlier, I should have taken double the amount of pickle juice, and also gels. I know you’re supposed to increase carbs when it’s hot.

Fortunately, my stomach gave me no trouble whatsoever all day!

The third aid station was in PA: by then I was REALLY hungry (another sign that I was still behind, which I knew at the time.) I inhaled a PB&J sandwich, a banana, 2 Fig newtons and half an ice cold Sprite…normally I don’t drink sodas but seeing that Sprite in the cooler was like someone had shown a theater light over it while angels sang. 😂 I grabbed it. It hit the spot in the most amazing way. I gave Carlos the other half - I was afraid too much carbonation would set off my stomach again. (I also drank an entire bottle of plain water and one entire bottle of electrolytes, then refilled both.) I could have eaten even more but the next stop was in another 10 miles so. We got back on our bikes and continued.

We had ridden ALL of the Maryland parts of this route, which was super helpful mentally, especially in the last 3rd of the ride.

The PA part was a different story. I…don’t like PA. I’ve only had good experiences there and the rural parts of it are beautiful. Call me crazy, but I can feel the change in energy the moment we cross the state line, even without a sign. It’s like a gray sort of energy. I can’t explain it.

The first part of PA was familiar: it was the roads we’d take to condition the horses up at Michaux! It’s our favorite part of PA. This section was very hilly, but we were familiar with it. Once we hit the Gettysburg battlefield, the road flattened out. The rest of the PA section was a long blur of the smell of cow manure-based fertilizer fermenting in the fields and me frustratedly wanting to be back in MD where everything was familiar.

In quick succession, we saw an Amish buggy cart (they notoriously abuse their animals and this horse was both thin and drenched in a foam of sweat from the harness), a veal farm (this literally turned my stomach…I had never seen one in person) and a psych hospital for children. Carlos pointed out the hospital. “Oh, so we’ve officially hit the most depressing part of this state. Got it,” I replied.

I will most likely be driving or Google Mapping future unfamiliar routes bc it makes SUCH an enormous difference in my mental state when I at least have a vague idea of where we’re at on the course.

I did a lot of energy conserving here bc I wasn’t sure how many more hills we’d encounter. The big change for me on this ride was that I did not cruise on downhills: I made a point of deliberately pedaling downhill in order to pick up speed and at least *maintain* the average pace. I pretty much pedaled for 90% of the 104 miles.

The biggest mindfuck was when we hit MD and I gave a big sigh of relief…only to loop back into PA about a mile later.

I again felt that energy change once we were back in MD for good - felt it before I recognized where we were. I can’t explain this. But what a relief!

This is around the time when I started to pick up speed - I was suddenly clocking 17, 18, 20, 25 mph pedaling on the flats effortlessly. We hit mile 73 with me feeling great, saying that we “only have less than 30 miles to go,” because it felt so doable.

My favorite part of endurance sports is when you have already done more than most people will ever do in their lives, and then finding this groove where you feel like you can still continue on forever. It’s just 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯. It’s insane what your body and mind can do with the right training and discipline.

That’s where I was at at mile 73. I had officially gone farther than I’ve ever gone in an endurance sport, on horse or bike.

And then mile 80 rolled around. I’m going to just copy-paste how I told the story to Nikki bc I think this way is hilarious:

“Right at mile 80, my right IT band went, “YOU DIDNT CONSULT THIS WITH ME BITCH!!!!!!!” and proceeded to stab me in the side of my right knee any time we were climbing hills, anytime I changed RPMs, or anytime I stopped and started. The last 20 miles were a bit of a pain cave bc of that - I was literally focusing on making every pedal stroke NOT hurt. Carlos kept going “Did you see x y z?!” And I felt bad bc I was LITERALLY focused on keeping the bike in a straight line next to the white line of the road. Nothing else.

At mile 90, my left wrist, left tricep and right trap were also like, “AHEM. WE WOULD LIKE A WORD WITH MANAGEMENT!!”

Me: “Would y’all just shut up for a little bit longer???”

Them: “NO. YOU DIDNT ASK NICELY.”

So that was fun. 💀”

(Nikki said they were all in “full weird haircut Karen mode.” 🤣)

I’m not sure what was up with 4 miles.

It was always the last 4 miles before anything that were hardest. That was the theme: the last 4 miles before the next aid station, I’d be grumbling. Every single time. There came a point where I’d say to Carlos, “We must be 4 miles from the next aid station bc shit suddenly got harder.”

Didn’t matter if it was 20 miles or 9 miles between stations: those last 4 miles were always a bitch.

So OF COURSE after hitting the big hundo, IT WAS ANOTHER FOUR FUCKING MILES. 😂

I negotiated with my IT band, “Just these last 4 miles, and I promise you’ll get soaked in Epsom salts when we get home!”

IT band: “OK FINE.”

Narrator: And then when she got off the bike, the IT band laughed, “YOU DIDNT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT WALKING AS PART OF THIS NEGOTIATION!”

Ooooof those first couple of steps sucked. It was easier to just stay on the bike. 😂😂😂

………..

So that’s the story of how we slowed down so much right when I thought we’d be making up for lost time. I had to stop a lot more frequently to stretch my left arm, unlock my right trap, or shake out my left wrist. I would have preferred to not stop at all for the sake of my right knee, which hurt so much starting back up pedaling, I couldn’t help grunting out loud involuntarily.

We flew by the skin of our teeth through the last 2 aid stations, managing to make it before they closed: we scored some of the famous tomato sandwiches before they were gone (white bread, mayo, thick tomato slice with a ton of salt = holy shit it was so good), the last container of ice cream by South Mountain (South Mountain is a local dairy farm that makes amazing ice cream!), and the last two beers on arrival. We arrived 2 minutes before the beer stand closed!

So I guess this fits with the theme of my first big endurance ride in every sport: when I did my first 50 with horses, I had to turtle because of endless hoof boot problems, finishing with exactly 2 minutes to spare before the 12 hour cut-off time. I was dead last so I won the Turtle Award, which is still one of my most prized possessions: a rock from the ride hand-painted like a turtle. Her name is Geraldine and she lives on my book shelf.

The good news is that over the course of a year, I started completing the most challenging 50-mile rides of the region as one of the top 15 riders despite my mare not being an Arabian. (These were not small events - usually it was around 200 riders for that distance.)

I don’t mind being the slowest during my first time at anything because it means the sky’s the limit for improvement!

For the TdF, were not dead last - apparently there were 15 more riders behind us. 13 of the people in the century DNF’d. (I’m not sure exactly how many started…maybe 30? The metric century had far more people. The entire event was not as huge as I had expected.)

…….

Recovery

We went straight home from the ride, where I chugged Pedialyte and chocolate milk while soaking in the tub with Epsom salts. I then pemf’d and red-lighted my knee. Dinner was lasagna with ice cream for dessert. I slept with far infrared compression knee sleeves on both knees. (Left knee was fine, but the warmth felt good.)

This morning the right knee is pretty much back to normal. I feel a little bit of tension on the lateral aspect - typical for a tight IT band. I had preemptively scheduled a session with my bodyworker for Thursday, so all knots will be addressed then.

I see a lot more unilateral glute work in my future in order to address whatever this imbalance was. And hamstring/calf work - it felt like the back of my right knee was also sore, but it was actually the hamstring and calf attachments. I can walk comfortably today, so we walked into downtown for brunch at our LBS/coffee shop - we were both STARVING this morning.

Oh! My QL! It got tight at around mile 30, then it never bothered me again. I completely forgot about it.

I overall feel pretty wiped out today, no doubt because I could have done better with carbs, electrolytes and hydration. I really should have doubled up on all three. I’m off from work tomorrow Monday, so I have an extra day to recover before going back to work. Best idea ever!

I need to schedule a recheck bike fit with Clovis.

Very well done besides all he challenges!

Thank youuuuu!!! She wants to make me faster, which I am 200% on board with! 😄