Reston Century of 2006

The entire week of flooring, which I did in my home prior to the ride, hardly was useful in preparing me for the century ride yesterday. Simply put: flooring and biking do not go together. Wondering how everything will work out, I was pleased to realize that I could ride at all. The first quarter of the ride was a breeze, life was nice and rosy. Then, the true nature of the Loudon County kicked in: rolling hills. Up and down, up and down, for miles and miles. Some of the “ups” were very steep and long and riding them was a true act of the Darwinian force: ride and survive (if you can). The weather was fairly favorable: it was cloudy earlier in the morning and sunny later on. The roads were occasionally wet. However, it was hard to figure out the source of the wetness, morning mist or bikers’ sweat! One hundred and two miles, 5044 kcal, and 5 hours 50 minutes later, it was all over for this time. The organizer deserves credit for making significant improvements to marking properly the path of the ride, and stuffing the rest stops with drinks and snacks (unlike last year).