It’s About Time

When you ride 100 miles, it’s known to cyclists as a “Century” ride. I did one somewhere around 20 years ago. I vaguely remember the route. Certainly remember the people I was with. We were separated by a fluke misunderstanding about 75 miles in, and I finished the ride on my own…barely. About 10 miles from home I was out of water and it was a mid-August mid-afternoon with the temps up there over 90 with high humidity. I had to stop in the shade of an underpass and rest for a good while before pressing on at about 10 mph tops for the rest of the trip.

I’ve often talked about giving it a try again. But just talk. I figured I’d spend a summer getting in shape for it, then maybe go in October when the weather was cooler. But this year I figured I was ready for it already. I’m in the best shape I’ve been in a long time, and I’ve already put over 1,700 miles in. So, why not? It’s really just more of a mental-block kind of thing anyway. I did 80 about a month ago and had room for more — but not enough time.

So, I planned a route and set out this morning at 0501. I shot for the western trail head on a stream that ran up to the Han River about 24 miles from home and was on it less than two hours later. From there it was easy — just follow the trail. A touch of complication once I got to the Han and turned left to work my way to a bridge to cross, but not much really. Same on the other end when I had to cross back over heading South. Just South of the river I took surface streets to work my way to the East-side trail to get back (which ends just under 20 miles from home).

Of note, I don’t think I struggled nearly as much as I did 20 years ago. The two main reasons for that were because I knew much more about nutrition and hydration (well, 20 years ago I knew about hydration, but there weren’t CUs every few miles to restock like there are now). And yet I still failed in the way of nutrition…for a while. About 60 miles in I started to feel it (despite having just eaten something at a CU about 48 miles into the ride). But it got really bad around the 75 mile mark. I was shooting for 80+ to stop at a CU (there aren’t any on the river trail going South) for a sandwich, but decided to take a stop earlier than that under a bridge for about 10 minutes. I popped a Clif Chew block to suck on for a while and took my time drinking plenty of water. Then I took off at an easy pace, and within 5 miles or so I was feeing great. Just a matter of timing. I should’ve been drinking and sucking on those chews much more regularly (so at least I learned how to time my nutrition a bit better).

In the end, I got home having gotten in just over 100 miles, and I was feeling great. Contrast that with my ride of 20 years ago when I got home in pretty much puke-sick shape from dehydration. Have I gotten good enough at it to do this maybe once a month? Perhaps. But honestly, it’s only getting hotter, and being out past noon on a summer day here is a recipe for disaster. Today’s riding time was 7:10:52, but total time was 8:52:45. I did stop to chat with Eric (my riding partner on the Ganghwado Fortresses 80-miler last month) and his wife at that CU 48 miles in — it was on the first floor of their apartment building in Ma-p’o (by the World Cup Stadium). And then the various other stops I made along the way to take pictures, snack, and buy water. If this is what I could expect out of any such ride, and if I wanted to be back by noon, I’d have to leave at about 3 am — especially for any rides in July or August.

Lastly, the Han River trails are beautiful — smooth, well-kept, and with great views — but, the combination of seasoned club riders who travel in packs and don’t slow down even when there’s not much room to pass, and the inexperienced recreational riders who crowd certain popular areas is quite taxing. You’re constantly passing or being passed, and you’ve got to be extremely careful. A guy went down quite hard right behind me not long after I got back onto the path on the North side, and I’m sure there are daily accidents to deal with.

So, it’s about time I got this ride in. I knew I could, but now that it’s done, I can take a break knowing that there’s more to come.