My First Double Century
August 12th, 2009 • Cycling/Fitness
A blurry shot of the 200 mile group. I am second from the left in a borrowed vest and arm warmers (thanks John!)
On Saturday, August 8th, I completed my first double century (200 miles) bike ride with a small group of Thread City Cyclers. The ride took us from Willington, CT to Portland, ME. The route had been ridden multiple times by Garth Bean, and he was gracious enough to let us tag along this time around.
All in all, I must say it was an incredible experience. It took an indescribable amount of physical and mental endurance, and it is definitely an athletic achievement I am glad to have completed.
Ride Stats
Any serious roadie wants to see the stats from every ride. Some roadies are more obsessed with their average speed, wattage and cadence than with the ride itself. Unfortunately, I don’t have a power meter or a GPS cyclometer, so the stats from this ride are fairly bare bones. However, they do provide a brief insight into the spirit of the ride.
All of the stats are from my Cateye V2C Cyclometer.
- Average Speed: 18.4 MPH
- Average Cadence: 86 RPM
- Distance: 207 miles
- Time: 11 hours, 20 minutes
- Elevation Gain: 3501 ft (via MapMyRide.com)
- Elevation Loss: 3950 ft (via MapMyRide.com)
The Route
The route we took was a relatively simple one. We stayed on major roads for the majority of the ride, and only used about 6 or 7 different roads in total. Most of the roads were in good repair, except for some short sections of rough pavement and one section of temporary dirt towards the end.
The ride took us north from Willington, Ct on Rt. 32. In Barre, we took one of the few stretches of back roads. We turned right onto Valley Road, then a right on Williamsville Road, which eventually became Burnshirt and Barre roads. From there we took Rt. 101 to Rt. 119, and then continued on Rt. 113. We went East on 111, and finally north on Rt. 1.
My favorite part of the ride was the stretch on Rt. 1A in New Hampshire along the coastline. There were beautiful views and some great roads.
The route for my first double century had only one real “climb”
The route was relatively flat, meaning there was very little climbing. While I am probably the strongest on the climbs, I’m glad this was a flatter ride as lots of climbing would have made the 200 mile distance unobtainable. The largest climb came after Mile 50, however it was short and not incredibly tough. Once we made it over that first incline, the rest of the ride (as you can see in the elevation profile) was pancake flat.
The Weather
We absolutely could not have asked for better weather for such a ride. The morning started out a tad cold, however, it warmed up quickly and was a perfect temperature nearly all day long with clear blue skies. It was mid to high 70s all day long and the humidity was very low. The great weather helped to keep water consumption manageable and tempers suppressed.
The weather this Summer has been iffy. There has been some cold and rainy days and also some sweltering hot days. The weather on Aug. 8th was a perfect blend of the two extremes. There was perfectly clear skies with 0 precipitation, but it was not so hot as to make the ride miserable. In fact, one of my group mates even went as far as to say “I felt a little warm after lunch…and I liked it.”
Weather can make or break a ride, and I must say that it definitely made this ride.
Nutrition
People will tell you that on a ride this long, nutrition is absolutely critical. People are right. I ate an amazing amount of food on this ride and could have kept eating. It is important to keep your body fueled when expending such extraordinary amounts of energy, and if you fail to feed yourself, completing ride of this length can quickly turn into a pipe dream.
For the most part, I stuck to my basic nutrition of Clif Bars, Gu, and Accelerade, however I added in some different solid and liquids for some variety and also to provide some different nutritional benefits. For example, with about 25 Miles left, I downed a Coke as I was starting to feel week and was having trouble comfortably holding the wheel in front of my. The insane amount of sugar and caffeine helped to lift me up and get me through the end of the ride in relative ease.
It is also crucial to drink plenty of water and electrolyte drinks during a ride this long in order to keep your muscles functioning efficiently and to aid in post ride recovery. My electrolyte drink of choice was Accelerade as it contains protein which I have found to aid in recovery after long hard rides.
My in ride food and drink consumption included:
- Lots of Water (at least 100 oz)
- 6 Gu Energy Gels (Assorted Flavors)
- 6 Scoops of Accelerade (Orange)
- 5 Clif Bars (Assorted Flavors)
- 1 Nature Valley Granola Bar (Maple Brown Sugar)
- 1 Kashi Tiny Little Cereal Bar (Ripe Strawberry)
- 1 Muffin (Unknown Flavor)
- 1 Fruit Smoothie
- 1 Can of Coca-Cola
As you can see, I was in no danger of being low on fuel during this ride.
Future Plans
After completing my first double century, I would, without a doubt, do another. It was such a great experience, and I cannot wait to further my long distance cycling accomplishments. In the future, I would love to complete more double centuries, maybe a quadruple metric century (250 miles), or even a triple century. My foray into ultra long distance cycling is definitely one which I have enjoyed.
So I guess this means I’m back into blogging. Hopefully I can stay on top of it. I’m planning on keeping things simple, clean and informal this time around. Shoot me an email, mike868y@gmail.com, if you have any article ideas you would like to see on here.
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