Covered Bridge Metric Century

I rode my first century ride this morning - the Covered Bridge Metric Century sponsered by the Lancaster Bicycle Club.

I arrived at the starting point around 7:00 a.m. and was amazed at how many people were already there and riding. I checked in and tried to find a friend and his wife who I was to ride with, but I didn't have any luck. After a few sweeps of the area on my bike, I took off.

I was going to ride at around 14-15 mph pace, because of running a hard 13 miles on Saturday, but I felt good and took off at 18 mph. Around 15 miles into the ride, I was joined by another single rider who's name was Terry and we finished the ride together. Our pace was 18.5 mph, which I felt was good for my first century.

The course was nice and well marked and there were plenty of snack and water stops. We decided to skip the lunch stop, because we filled up at a stop manned by a family who seemingly just enjoyed setting up the stand for the riders. This stop turned out be a mile from the lunch stop, but as this was our first CBMC, we didn't know.

I think I could have done another 37 miles for a full century, but I would have definetely needed a break in there before the final push. Power Gels help, but they can only take you so far.

Now that I have run a marathon and ridden a metric century, I can say there is no comparison between the two. The marathon is far more taxing on the body.