First Metric Century

I was sitting at home wanting to go out to West Branch yesterday. I knew it was going to be too wet to ride, so I went out into the garage and started to do some work on my bikes. Working out in the garage I realized that one year ago yesterday was my first ride at West Branch. Before that I had taking my Walmart Mongoose out to Quails Hollow many times before. Those laid down the foundation for me, but I was just lazily going around a flat course. No Offense to Quail Hollow, love that place, but you can be lazy and slow on that course. West Branch kicked my butt. I struggled to get up the first hill out of the ravine, doing it in my granny gear and not making it up without getting off. I remember that day as being very painful. I sweated like a pig and almost throw up. I ended up heading back to the trail early (made a wrong turn and ended back to path back to the car). That was humbling day for me to say the least. I knew then I had no fitness what so ever. It was the first time where I had been defeated and I vowed that day to conquer that course. Needless to say, I conquered later that season and many times after. This year I'm able to ride that course in the big chainring no problem. I still have a couple rock gardens to clear but I'll be back to conquer those sections. It's just a reminder of where I've come in one year. From a guy on a mongoose struggling to ride, to a much stronger rider this year.

Today I decided to work on my endurance so I'm a little ready for the Wayne Ultra this week end. I had wanted to do an Imperial century (100 miles) but with my road buddies off doing other rides (sara at Goba, and John doing a recovery from his ride yesterday). I decided to shoot for a metric century. I headed up the Metro Parks MUP towards the valley and rode into the valley on Truxell. I then did a 30 mile loop around the valley including three major climbs. I took the MUP back home and was cooked by the end.

Total Mileage- 64.3

Avg speed- 16.6

Time-3 hours 53 minutes.

Elevation Gain-2800 feet