My first Century...

Whoa! & also my first post of the year, talk about unmotivated...

So anyway, there's a bunch of local guys who do an annual 100 mile bike ride on August bank holiday weekend & this was my second year riding it. Last year I only had my Kona single speed road bike so I was chuffed when I ended up doing 82.5 miles of the ride. This year, I have my new Surly LHT (build post to follow....maybe) so was all in for completing my first century ride. The route is basically a loop out of Banbury & around god knows how many villages & returning back in to town on completion so people have the option of cutting back if they feel like they've done enough. We started at 8am & it took us 10.5 hours total to complete, 8.5 hours riding time & 2 hours of snack stops, wee stops, tea stops & lunch stops!

Overall I thought the ride went quite well, we got soaked by a sudden deluge before the halfway point but it brightened up & we managed to dry out. I felt good up to about 60 - 70 miles but started to fade from there on in. We had a shitty head wind for the last 30 miles & it made for very hard work to the finish. Out of seven starters, five of us went on to do the complete route.

I don't mind telling you that I was very tired at the end of the day & it took two days before I felt fully recovered but I am pleased that I have now cracked the century mark.

I hope that next year if the ride is on again that more riders will join in as it's a good social gathering of like minded people & we all had a good laugh & a great days exercise!

cheers.