That's what they call it, a "Summer Century," but I did not ride the century, so lets call it "A Summer 65-er." The Flying Wheels event put on by the Cascade Bike Club was a success! It was a be-a-utiful day and the course was fun yet challenging.
We got to Marymoor park to start the ride around 7:30. Since we were only doing the 65 miler, we were supposed to start at 9 to let the 100 milers get ahead, but we had a time crunch and Rebecca had to be done with the ride at 1pm, so we cheated and started the ride at 8:20. Shhh!
Everyone getting ready to ride!
Rebecca
Me
bathroom, check. water, check. lets go!
This ride was fun because of all the people! I had never ridden with so many people on the road. I really had to be aware of my surroundings and make sure to check my blind spot before I passed or say "left" when I overtook another rider.
First rest stop. Ate 1/2 Larabar and we were off again.
2nd stop. Ate 2nd half of Larabar. Look at those blue skies!
3rd stop. SO many people! This is where the 100 milers split from the 65 milers.
The course was challenging because of the hills. There are two hills that were hard enough that I remember them. The first one was less than 5 miles into the ride. It was steep, but nothing I couldn't grind out. I'm starting to hate hills less because of the feeling of accomplishment I get when I conquer them. The other hill that stuck in my mind was at the end and it was one of those hills that looked like it was going to end, but it would just take a turn and keep going up, and up, and up.
Everything between those two hills were pleasant. There was even one downhill that I reached 36 mph just by coasting, so fun! Overall, I had an awesome time riding the new terrain. I am already looking forward to doing it next year. This ride also was a good prep of getting used to riding with so many people because in about a month, Rebecca and I plus 9,998 others will be riding the STP. Talk about crowded!
Yay! All done. Fun ride!
Beer garden
Finished the 65 miles in 4:29
Wasn't sore after the ride, knees just ached a tad. I also wore my new Pearl Izumi shorts on this ride and they were AWESOME! Highly recommend Pearl Izumi shorts/pants - they will make your ride so comfortable.
The downhills were awesome! That 3-mile hill at the end nearly killed me, but going down from it to the rest stop was so much fun.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you can still call it a century, just a metric one... 67 miles works out to just over 100km!
That's an awesome time, 4:29 - you did it at about 15 mph which is great, especially when you throw in those 2 hills that you mentioned! For some reason that last hill doesn't kill me as much as the first one, both times I've done the ride I feel like I'm about to fall off my bike on that first one.
ReplyDeleteYou could have done the century as well... that extra loop up to Snohomish is mostly all flat. Do the century next year!