Simple Mtn Century

[Bernard Smith]

For people like me, that wonder what it would be like to ride a 100 mi mtn bike event, here's my test experience. My only personal expectations were to ride at least 10 mi per hour average speed so I would finish within 10 hrs: I rode my first 100 mi mtn bike ride Saturday. Started out as a perfect day to be on the bike all day. By the time I dismounted, I was beyond expired, would not of wanted to pedal another mile. Actually, by the time I got home, I had 101.7 miles. I thought I'd do a simple mtn centry & just ride out my back door to the Poto, then over to Brighton trails. I rode the Poto 18mi double, 5 mi Crooked Lk & 2.5mi Silver Lk. Then I rode back to my house for a pit stop, then out the back door to the Brighton trails. Rode Torn Shirt (had about 70mi on legs when I started torn), rode all Murray (including lost & found loops), then had to ride the 7mi Murray again to reach 100 by the time I rode 4 miles back to my house. Going back out on the Murray again was the toughest part, I was feeling ill (too much Gatoraide I think), my a$$, arms & feet were toast. The thing that was a pleasant surprise, was that my hamstrings started to spasm at the Poto, but the pit stop for real food & some brewers yeast, mixed in tomato juice, worked wonders because I didn't cramp up again. The ill feeling was my main limiting factor for the remaining 30mi after my home pit stop. When I got home at dark, it took all my effort to just get into the shower, so I could lay down. I got up at 12:30am to have some food & drink. That was a great thing to do, this morning I almost feel normal & I slept like a rock. So much for a "simple mtn century", turns out there's no such thing in my vocabulary. Now I have a deeper personal respect for the 100 mi ultra endurance competitors. It's quite an accomplishment to push it, after your body is pretty much empty. Almost forgot to say: ride time, 9hr 13min> ave speed 10.8mi/hr> pit stop under 45min total off bike time> Just squeaked in under 10hrs total, oh ya that was simple.
bernie

[G.Cook]

I doubt I would have left the house after the lunch break. I would'a been on snooze patrol. Props to you Bernie for going back out to finish the ride.

[PK]

Nice ride!
You got in quite a few "real" trail miles in that epic.
My only century ride was supposed to be a 60 miler but one thing led to another.
My total mileage had nowhere near the tough trail miles you had.
Good Job.

Pete.

[lucban]

Thats a good one!! Last Saturday was so hot for a Hundie ride especially with the trails and terrain that you ride. I do one NUE race/100milers every year since 2007 and my goal is just to finish safe and alive. We have enough Mt biking trails for Hundie training here in SE MI. I live on the eastside and i use Stony Creek a lot because of the Long fireroad climbs plus some rolling single track. Its a complete trails for training, thanks to MMBA c/o PK!! For Mtb century ride, i do Stony, Bloomer,Bald Mtn and Addison trails using Paint Creek trail and 4corners road(Barr,Indian,lake George,Dhanner with Markwood for Repeat Climb) to connect all of these trails. On Paint Creek, you can use Datton rd to train for long climbing( probably one of the Longest non-pave climb you can ride in the area). We have a lot of Hundie Fanatics in MI and you'll see a lot of them training for the coming Lumberjack 100.

[ibisman]

Our best was 7 laps at ILRA. 8 hours and 24 minutes.

[mmba7614]

7 laps at ILRA

EGADS ... I would require a lobotomy to complete such an adventure.

[Bento]

Hard to believe that was your first Bernie. No rider cap at Mohican if you aren't doing anything in two weeks. The entry dump has begun too. Start your taper today.

Multiple loop hundies are the toughest. A hundred at ILRA is about equal to 100 in the basement which is equal to double auto-enucleation. That's word I researched for this post to sound smart:http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enucleation_of_the_eye

[Bernard Smith]

For several years, I've enjoyed linking trail systems together, by riding from one area to the other. The longest distance doing that was just over 85 mi. More common would of been 65 mi rides. Milford challenge is coming up & I think I logged in 85 mi on that ride before. One of the funnest was a couple of years ago, my friend was prepping for an ironman so I was enjoying long rides with him. The fun day started at the Poto parking lot, we rode to Brighton trails then to Island Lk. When we rode back, we finished the trail loop at Brighton, rode back to Poto. We arrived just in time to ride the Poto chapter group ride on Thursday evening. A great plan actually worked out. That distance was about 85 mi. At this point, I don't expect to do a hundie event but I think, if I was to try mimicking an event experience, I would just drive to Pinckney rec & do laps (Poto & Crooked lk) untill I hit 100. That way, I would have my vehicle there, set up with food for proper pit stop on site. Also I would do it on a week day, rather than a weekend. There were times Saturday that I enjoyed the company of hikers & boyscout troops but that does take away from a cycling event experience & your desired pace.
bernie