Chad and I completed the Marin century over the weekend. This is the first century I've done in some 7 years since I first moved to Tahoe. Yikes. But I am enjoying getting back into the sport.
We blazed out of Lucas valley covering the first 40 miles with ease, losing two riders (Mark and Mark, sorry guys) in our group before the first climb. We hooked up to three very fast riders in Nicassio and pushed an amazing 27mph pace out to the reservoir. As we climbed to Hicks Valley our pace dropped back, and we made a quick stop at the busy first rest area. In retrospect the stop was too quick, and I should have taken on more calories.
Heading out to Marshall we were passed by a group of about 25 riders pushing a near race pace. It is humbling to see how far off I am from the fastest riders. I couldn't stay with them for more than a 1/4 mile, but their draft pulled us up an easy 6mph. We then hooked on to another fast group of woman riders, one who was still recovering from a broken hand, who towed us to the Marshall wall where they promptly dusted us on the climb.
After the fast, potholed, near mountain biking (but super fun) descent to Highway 1, things started to get dicey. The road is tight, curvy, and steeply rolling. And every rider seemed to attack it with a different style which made for uneasy passing. In Tomales (around mile 50), I started to suffer from low blood sugar. I had to stop to ingest the 4 gu's I had in my jersey. This is a reminder to myself to start taking on calories early on in the ride. I should have forced some food down at the first stop.
Climbing out of Tomales, the day turned tragic. I was passed by one of the woman riders who had been in a nearby group since the end stretch of Highway 1. I was surprised by how strong she looked, and I remember thinking I was dogging it way too soon. Another 1/2 mile up a group had congregated in the middle of the road, and a rider had started CPR on the woman who was now, to my surprise, lying on the shoulder of the road. I don't know the details, but sadly she didn't make it. We were out of cell range which exasperated the situation. Some fast riders sprinted to the next rest stop, but a half hour probably elapsed before the paramedics arrived. In my mountain biking days I was witness to some gruesome wrecks, but never has a fellow rider passed away in an event I was involved in.
I then hit my low point heading to the second rest stop. The gu hadn't kicked in, I was starting feel some muscle pain and was distraught by what I just witnessed. At the second stop I downed about 800 calories in 10 minutes, took some sodium laden horse pills, and as we were ready to pull out Mark arrived behind us. As we started up to Petaluma, the miles blended together. We were hit with some nasty head winds that made our 27mph pull through Nicassio seem like a distant memory. Chad gained some distance on me, but fortunately I was able to latch onto a group lead by some strong riders from City Cycles who pulled me into town.
In Petaluma the miles started to catch up with me, but we still had 30 to go. We took a long break and others commented on how they wished this was the end of the ride. I agreed. 30 miles seemed like a long way. Leaving the rest stop, the next 10 involved some moderate climbing which I slogged through, but I found my second wind, feeling better before climbing back over to Nicassio. There were two quick rest stops before Lucas Valley. The Force was with me as we turned back onto Lucas Valley road, passed Skywalker ranch, and completed the last climb of the day. From there it was a fast downhill back to start/finish line and a greasy slice of pizza.
Final stats: 105 miles. 8:35 total time. 7:00 ride time. 1 sore bum. Overall I'm happy with the result. Besides the events in Tomales I felt tired, but not to the point of total exhaustion. My biggest problem was incorrectly calibrating my calorie intake, but that is something I can work on for future distance rides.