The Flattest Century in the East 2013

Hi.  Remember me?  It's been awhile since any Paton other than Rob has talked about biking.  Well, I'm back and  I've been doing some biking.

The Flattest Century in the East is put on by the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen and has been on my bucket list for many years.  I learned of the event about three years ago, but I was too busy doing triathlons to devote any real training for a century.  And last year I went on a bike tour of Italy which required a different type of preparation than the training required for me to get ready for the century.  But this year.  This year I had nothing going on and needed a goal.

So why the Flattest Century in the East?  Well, let's not kid ourselves.  When choosing to ride your bike 100 miles for the first time, it is really appealing to have the word "flattest" in the title.  And this is a beautiful route that is near and dear to my heart.  It starts/finishes at UMass Dartmouth and goes through my old neighborhoods in Westport.  It also goes super close to my parents new home in Lakeville.  It offers tons of views of the ocean, rolling farm land and stone walls.  I'm sure other people have different criteria for choosing a century, but mine are easy.  I want flat and pretty.

Once I had registered, it was time to get down to the business of training.  As it turns out, the way you train for a 100 mile bike ride is to ride your bike.  Rocket science, right?!  So in May, my bike came off the trainer and made its outdoor debut.  In May, my longest ride was 20 miles.  Little did I know that in the next coming months 20 miles would be the short ride done multiple weeknights.  Here is the breakdown of my May-September numbers:

May:  rode a total of 7 days for a total of 82.69 miles.  Longest ride was 20 miles.
June:  rode a total of 9 days for a total of 152.29 miles.  Longest ride was 30.03 miles.
July:  rode a total of 13 days for a total of 232.99 miles.  Longest ride was 46 miles.
August:  rode a total of 14 days for a total of 378.96 miles.  Longest ride was 75.69 miles.
September:  rode one shake out ride of 14.56 miles and then rested up for the century!

Things I learned while training:
*I need to eat every 20 miles.
*My favorite flavors of Luna Bars are peanut butter cookie, carrot cake and blueberry bliss.
*My favorite flavor of Gatorade is blueberry/pomegranate.
*By the end of a long ride, I hate Gatorade.
*Co-workers think you are crazy when you ride to/from work.
*Co-workers think you are insane when you tell them you are training for a century.  Especially when you tell them that a century is a bike event in which you ride your bike 100 miles in one day.
*It is possible to find some flat roads in the Quiet Corner.  You just have to ride some hills to get to them.  And more hills to get back home.
*I have fantastic friends (including my husband) who were willing to ride on my schedule, my distance and at my pace.

On the day of the century, Rob set the alarm for 4:50.  As it turned out, we both got up at about 4:30 to start the day.  I had some oatmeal and packed all of our water bottles and nutrition while Rob loaded up the bikes and packed our gear.  We were on the road by 5:20 which seems ridiculously early when you know you are about to exercise for the next 8 hours straight!  We arrived at UMass Dartmouth at 6:30, parked the car, registered, found our friends and hit the road.

The Flattest Century is a rolling start that happens between 6:45 and 8:30.  We rolled out at just after 7:00.  Right from the start, we were with a large pack of riders and it never let up.  I have never ridden with so many other bikes.  Ever.  It is so much fun.  You are passing people, people are passing you, pace lines are flying by and everyone is super friendly!

The first section flew right by!  I felt like it was all downhill or flat.  I was seeing good numbers on my bike computer, high teens, low 20's.  I was super happy.  I followed my plan and stopped at the first 20 mile mark and had a peanut butter cookie Luna bar.  Soon after, we got passed by the Quinebaug Valley Velo group.  They were riding in a pace line and sounded like a freight train coming through.  I could could hear "go QVV go, go, go" coming up behind me and then heard Liz Bove calling out some words of encouragement to me.  And then I saw a blue bullet train just race on by.  And just like that, they were gone.  This section brought us through Dartmouth, Freetown, Lakeville, back into Freetown before ending at the rest stop at mile 31.  Rob told me that we were averaging just over 16 MPH, which is fantastic for me!

Feeling like rockstars

We stopped just long enough to take care of business.  Use the facilities, refill the water bottles and grab a quick bite to eat.  No dilly dallying.  We didn't want everything to tense up when there was still 70 miles to go.  But I saw a useful piece of information:  17 miles to the next rest stop.  In my head, I thought, "I've got this.  What's 17 miles?  Why is the next one so close?  They totally should've spaced it out better."

Well that just shows you how these people know what they are doing.  Because those next 17 miles were hard.  Immediately out of the rest stop, there was road construction.  You know the kind of construction where they rip up a section of the road every 20 to 30 feet for about a mile.  Ugh.  It is not fun to ride over the mounds of dirt or crushed stone or whatever it is they use to cover it up on your road bike.  But eventually it ended and we rode into Fall River, Dartmouth, Westport and then crossed state lines into Tiverton, RI.  In addition to the road construction, this section included some hills and some twisty turny roads.  I was really hungry and ready for the next rest stop.

We had the honor of riding with Marc Cerrone for the whole course.  It was nice to have the company!

And there it was!  I devoured a PB&J sandwich, a banana and some grapes.  While in line for the facilities, I was talking with other girls about how the next section promised to be the most beautiful.  Someone mentioned that within a few miles there would be an ocean view and things would be pretty for the whole section.  Oh good!  I was getting really excited.  So we wrapped things up at the rest stop at mile 48 and headed out.

Once we started up again, I was feeling a little creaky.  My hips and knees were not liking it.   And we all know that spandex is never pretty, but after 48 miles of pedaling, you are definitely starting to feel a little wilted.  But then something strange started happening.  People that were passing me started throwing me compliments.  "I like your shirt."  "Cute top."  "Great shirt, I have matching socks."  They kept coming.  It puts a little spring in your step, or power in your crank, as the case may be.  I must've gotten a half dozen compliments from strangers who must've known that I needed a little boost.  And then I went by a farm that was picture perfect.  It even had a farmer out haying the field.  It looked scripted.  And then I turned left, went down a steep hill and then saw it!  The ocean!  Woo hoo!  The camera came out and Rob and I started taking pictures while still pedaling along. And we may have even stopped for a picture or two.

After that, we were back into a neighborhood.  Maybe we were in Little Compton?  I'm not sure.  But I do know that a mother and child in the neighborhood thought that it would be fun to stand behind some tall ornamental grass and jump out to scare bikers.  They got the group in front of us, who had to swerve out to the left to avoid them.  Rob called out "that's not cool" because there was a car coming in the opposite direction and tragedy could easily happen.  I'm not sure what the mother was thinking.  We kept pedaling on.  I had no idea where we were.  Pedal, pedal, pedal.  And then we came into Acoaxet.  I could tell by the way that people were watering their tennis courts and enforcing the "residents only" signs on the beaches.  I caught a glimpse of Elephant Rock and kept pedaling.  Truth be told, my feet were starting to hurt.  I unclipped and they felt a little better but I desperately wanted to take off my shoes.  When will get to the next rest stop??

And then there it was!  At mile 71.  What a welcome sight.  First thing I did was take off my shoes and helmet.  I walked around and got some food in my socks.  It felt so much better.  I stretched out my back, neck and shoulders and rubbed my feet.  It felt heavenly.  I ate some grapes, orange slices and a banana.  I took a Powerbar, but didn't eat it.  After using the facilities, I learned some bad news.  They were out of water.  What??  Now let me just say that this event was really well organized.  They thought of everything.  Police stopping traffic at tricky intersections, flaggers pointing the way at random turns, plenty of nutrition (including bananas, grapes, orange slices, PB&J sandwiches, Powerbars, gels, etc) as well as water and Gatorade at every stop.  Ample port-a-potties.  But they did run out of water at the last rest stop.  I think they quickly restocked, but we went on our way with just one water bottle each, hoping it would be enough for the last 30 miles.

Feeling a little rough at this point!

These last miles were the ones I was looking forward to the most.  Up Main Rd, down (and I do mean DOWN) Handy Hill, across Hix Bridge, by the Westport Rivers Vineyards and then a right turn onto Horseneck Rd.  Ahhhh, home.  We stopped at the end of Cummings Lane for a photo op.

I did not turn down the lane.  No side trips today.

I waved as we passed Pettey Lane.  Smiled as we passed the strawberry fields (that are no longer there) where I had my first job.  It was a quick and easy 10 miles.  When we made the left to continue on Horseneck Rd, there was an immediate hill.  I passed a girl who was miserable.  I jokingly asked who put this hill at mile 80 and she growled something about just wanting it to be over.  Oh boy.

20 miles to go.  I was still feeling pretty good.  My foot issues were gone.  My knees and hips were still willing to work.  Bumps were starting to hurt more.  Suffice it to say, I could've used more padding.  Around mile 85, we stopped at a beautiful bridge for our last snack.  We went through Padanaram, Gulf Hill, Russells Mills and I never fully understood how we were getting back to UMass Dartmouth.

I was really starting to feel it around mile 90+ but it wasn't until mile 98 that I really wanted to be done.  Between 98-100, I was pretty uncomfortable.  But then we made a right turn onto Old Westport Rd and I knew that the end was just around the corner.  I called out that this is it and started passing people up the hill to make the right turn into campus.

When we rolled into the parking lot, my computer read 101.23!  Cross that one off the bucket list.  I finished with an overall average of 13.44.  I'll take it.  Done.

Done!

A celebratory rootbeer float.

And seafood.  All long rides should end with seafood.

Thank you to the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen and all the fine volunteers for putting on a great event!