Apple Cider Century 2011

This year I decided to ride in my first century bike ride.  I have been wanting to complete one for a while, but it has never really taken precedence with time or financial resources.

I decided to throw in the towel for all running and adventure racing in mid-July due to some injury concerns.  I was still able to bike without any pain, so I decided that a century ride would work out perfect this year.

The Apple Cider Century Ride was recommended to me by several people.  I recruited Doug VanDyk to ride with me.

I had been riding all summer, just nothing real long.  Doug and I also did a few early morning training rides together to try and prepare a little.

I was never too concerned about finishing because the pace of the ride is whatever you want it to be, and since its not a race, there is no need to push it to the limit.  Also, there are built in SAG stops along the way.  (SAG = Support and Gear)

I found out the week of the ride that friend, Daren Wendell, and his friend Jake Boley were also going to be riding. 

The weather forecast the week of the ride looked pretty awful.  Cold and lots of rain.  I was counting on the weather forecast being wrong, as it often is in Michigan, but it wasn't.

It started raining right as we started the ride.  We were still hopeful at this point, as the forecast called for scattered showers.   The 'scattered showers' ended up being consistent showers, with scattered pouring rain.

We made it through the first 28 miles and arrived at the first SAG stop.  Our spirits were lifted with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apple cider, and hot potato soup.

We enjoyed the stop a little too much, and because of the rain and cool temperatures we stiffened up a bit.  Of course, we had a couple of hills to climb after the first stop, and then had a long, rainy stretch straight into the teeth of the wind.  We were out in the country and amongst the farmland, so there was nothing to help block the wind.

We reached the second SAG stop which was about 54 miles into the race.  It was pouring rain.  We were cold, wet, and tired.  Daren reached the stop first, and as I rolled up, he asked how I felt about the Apple Cider 62 mile ride.  At this point I had no problem cutting our ride short, as I was pretty miserable, being so wet and cold.  Jake and Doug were down with the plan too.

Thankfully, this ride had multiple routes, just in case you needed to turn off early.  We took full advantage of this feature, along with plenty of other riders who had originally planned on completing the 100 mile ride.  The mileage wasn't measured correctly, so the 62 mile route was actually 66 miles.  So, we still completed a century ride, it was just a metric century (100 kilometers).

We finished the ride, and then the sun promptly came out.

All in all it was a good time, and despite the poor weather, we still had fun.  I should also note, we had out own personal, amazing SAG crew, Jake's wife Amy and friend Adrienne!

I now have a two hour cleaning project awaiting me, as my bike is absolutely filthy after riding through the rain for 4+ hours.

 Hopefully, the next time I decide on a long ride, the weather will cooperate. 

We were all smiling at this point, prior to the ride, and prior to the wet and cold!