Century Ride of 9.7.08 (and massive UPD)

Today would have been the first ever 6-person Century completion ever,
except only one of us actually rode the 100 miles, and it wasn't I.

The riders
Me, Roland Kays, Perry Woodin, Steve Relles, Adam Cohen, and Andrew
___, a 19-year old I'd not met before. Roland and I were on geared 29s,
but the others were on Cokers. We all arrived at Central Park North
except for Adam, who had parking issues following a flat tire that he
had to fix late in the game. He still managed to pull off 75 miles,
which is quite impressive. Steve also finished with Adam, while Perry
came in at an impressive 55; I'm not sure about Andrew).

Start
The other 5 of us took off a few minutes earlier than the training
wheel crowd, but they quickly passed us when I took everyone 5 blocks
out of the way by accident (I possess a wonderful sense of
misdirection). Eventually we headed down a slightly different route
that allowed us a faster, smoother (and longer) ride towards the
Brooklyn Bridge. We stayed together until the first rest stop (at mile
14) after which Roland and I zipped off with the goal of 100 miles; the
others had to contend with choosing 55 or 75-mile options due to the
time constraints (12 hours max).

Going for the hundred
Roland and I had a great time. The route took us around all of
Brooklyn, which had a pretty flat route, and thence around Queens,
which never seemed to end. In fact, the break between rest stops is
surprisingly large at that point, going from mile 42 to 71 without any
peanut butter or bananas. We took our own breaks frequently, partly to
rest my groin or Roland's legs.

Pain and breaks
It was odd how each of us suffered differently, especially since I was
not expecting any troubles after having such a relatively pain-free
Lobster. But the breaks made a huge difference, and by mile 71, we'd
made great time and were looking at finishing by 5pm (that is, in 11
hours, total). This was not to be.

More pain: a massive UPD for me and wet pants
A few miles later, as we finally arrived in the Bronx, it was time for
me to upshift yet again. I was just ruminating over how many times I'd
successfully shifted up to that point -- 50? 100? -- when suddenly the
gear didn't catch and I fell over backwards like a bowling pin. Happily
I was wearing a helmet, wrist guards, and even a fanny pack hydration
system. All of these were essential in my coming out of the fall with
nothing more than two tiny scratches on my elbows. But in falling, I
smashed my helmet on the ground. I wasn't dazed, but it was certainly
the hardest I've hit my head (out of three times total). The fall
didn't hurt my shoulders only because I didn't have time to move my
arms from my sides, which might have resulted in a worse fall. But as I
lay there realizing that I was ok, I wondered why my pants were wet: my
hydration pack had ruptured. Having checked that my body was unhurt, I
next checked my 2nd-most valuable possession at the time, but luckily
my iPhone was ok. Phew!

Gun shy and sore
At this point, I had ridden about 78 miles. There was still time to
complete the 100, but I was nervous that my head or neck might have
some latent injury and that I had no water for the remainder of the
ride, tho I could always buy liquid, so that wasn't a big issue. The
real issue, however, was my bum. I was really sore at this point, and I
worried that I'd only be making things worse if I rode for 3 more hours.
I decided to quit the ride a bit early and headed to the race's endpoint
while Roland rode on thru the hilly Bronx. He ended up finishing the
ride (about 105 miles) in just over 12 hours.

Rosy cheeks
When I got to my mom's afterwards for a shower, I took a look at my
bottom. It looked like one of those cartoon Santa faces from the 1960s
with really red cheeks. The shower was painful and the drive home (80
miles, or just about the same distance it took me 10 hours to ride) was
a bit uncomfortable.

The good news
Well, I was happy that my ride didn't tire my legs or make any other
muscles sore and that I was able to ride nearly 85 miles after having
only ridden about 25 since the Lobster. It's too bad about my seat and
about that UPD, but it was still a great day.


--
David_Stone

Dictator for Life,
NYUC

Check out my blog (or else):
http://newyorkunicycle.blogspot.com/
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David_Stone wrote:


When I got to my mom's afterwards for a shower, I took a look at my
bottom. It looked like one of those cartoon Santa faces from the 1960s
with really red cheeks.



Didn't one of those cheeks wear my tattoo a few years ago?

Good ride, David. You're no sissy.


--
harper

-Greg Harper

*jc is the only main man. there can be no other.*

"Natural logs are what you ride on a Mun'e'." - kevinalexandersmith
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Great write-up, and sounds like a great ride even with the unhappy
ending on the century quest. It sounds like you had a "perfect storm"
of protection to keep that fall from being much worse.

You mentioned this was the first-time 6-person century attempt,
although I had thought this had been done previously during the 2007
ride around Lake Tahoe. Irene, Nathan and Beau, M. Scalisi, and Ryan
Woessner are all listed together in the "Who has completed a 100 mile
ride?" thread, but I thought that day that Scot Cooper and John Foss
also did the century instead of the normal 75. I might be wrong, since
I didn't actually see them do it. They pulled away from me by Mile 5,
and I didn't see them again until I finished the 75...a very long time
later, and after all of the centurions had finished.


--
tomblackwood

Tailgate at your own risk...
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I had a fall on my bike, when the seat post clamp broke while I was
riding with no hands, unceremoniously dumping me on the road at
something near 20 mph. You don't want to see the pictures. I couldn't
sit down for a week. But no serious damage; you're fortunate to have a
lot of flesh down there.

An incredible ride anyway. Frankly, I think it's incredible that
anyone still considers doing long road rides after RTL. I've had my
life fill at this point.

Hope you recover quickly!


--
tholub
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Sorry to hear about the crash David, but it sounds like it could've been
much worse.

On our century ride last year, there were indeed 6 unicyclists who set
out to do the full 100 and all of us did make it. It was Scot's second
century but the first for the rest of us. I'm not sure of everyone's
time but Beau and I finished in 11:20 if I remember right.

Here are photos etc: http://nhoover.smugmug.com/gallery/2955744_deRzP

Get well quick,
Nathan


--
nathan
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Sorry for misreporting about the 'largest group to attempt' .... Somehow
I'd gotten that impression. Too bad we didn't have a bit more time or at
least two more riders could have finished.


--
David_Stone

Dictator for Life,
NYUC

Check out my blog (or else):
http://newyorkunicycle.blogspot.com/
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Wow - this thread got posted fast. When I got home, it was all I could
do to drag myself upstairs and crawl into bed.

I'd had the 100-miler in my sights, but after some lolly-gagging and a
long line at the first rest-stop's bathroom, I began to realize that
there wasn't enough time for the full monty. Adam had planned on the
55 mile loop, but we compromised on the 75, farther than either of us
had ever ridden. We took our time with leisurely breaks (12 hours, but
only 8 hours of riding).

This event is incredibly well-run. The well-marked route does a great
link-up of existing bike-paths, parks and New York's mammoth bridges.
We also had the good fortune of perfect weather, breezy, upper 70s, and
the hurricane the day before left the air crystal-clear, a rarity in the
Big Apple.

With 6000 bikers, we were the subjects of constant questions and
extravagant praise. One lovely, hard-bodied cycle-mama told me "You
guys are rock-stars!" Made my day.


--
steveyo

steveyo
...like having your own personal rollercoaster...

- a few 'uni race write-ups'
(http://home.nycap.rr.com/rduhan/uni_race_writeups/)
- muni and kokopelli uni 't-shirts, mugs and stickers'
(http://www.cafepress.com/steveyo)
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Hey,
Even though I didn't complete the century i opted for the 55 due to
time, and a pain i was developing in my achilles. i finished the 55 at
around 1:30 ish.
The 55 seemed to be a let down because i had done two 60 miles before
this without feeling like the way I did after and when i woke up this
morning. But I saw some really cool parts of NYC, and riding over the
Brooklyn bridge in the morning was awesome, and differently one of the
coolest things i did.

But i am must say we were a well known group of riders by the time the
day was over. And I think we changed a lot of peoples views on us. I
most of heard "hey your one the unicyclists" like 100 times, and
everybody was constantly asking us questions about our way of
transportation.

I think Dave and Roland met Sal (one of the marshals), and i ran into
him later. He has plan to buy and learning on the 36, even though i
did my best to talk him out of it for a smaller tire first.

How did the other cokers fare? We got parted in between the first and
second rest stop. If my achilles was hurting so much i would have loved
to at least done the 75 miles.

I am looking forward to doing these again next year, and guess I will
be on the big one getting in even better shape for it once my ankle
feels better.


--
einrad101

People who pass me tell me that I am crazy.....
I just tell them that I am a uniatic
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Who has completed a century on a guni? So far I only know of Roland and
another rider from Seattle that posted about doing a century on his 29er
guni.

I don't think there have been many!


--
siafirede

'DCuni' (http://www.dcuni.com/blog) - my blog about Unicycling in
Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland
*James* = my name | 'Myspace' (http://www.myspace.com/clawsout)
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I found a nice google 'map of the century' (http://tinyurl.com/59zsar)
ride, but it doesn't show the 15-mile, 35-mile, 55-mile, or 75-mile
cut-offs.

From the website http://www.nyccentury.org/, here's a small map showing
those cut-offs...

[image:
http://www.nyccentury.org/sites/nycc...ury2008sm.jpg]


--
steveyo

steveyo
...like having your own personal rollercoaster...

- a few 'uni race write-ups'
(http://home.nycap.rr.com/rduhan/uni_race_writeups/)
- muni and kokopelli uni 't-shirts, mugs and stickers'
(http://www.cafepress.com/steveyo)
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