CRAM Century

A couple friends of mine that I’ve been spending some fast miles with over the past few weeks convinced me to hook up with some even faster dudes in town for the CRAM Century ride on 5/28/11. So about 10 minutes before the ride started, I searched around for Bruce and Kevin. I knew Kevin but had never met Bruce. Anyone knowing these dudes would be rightfully intimidated by the idea of spending 100 miles with them. At any rate, I hooked up with them.


Not knowing exactly what to expect and assuming it’d be a nonstop 100 miler hammerfest (or however long I could hang on), I packed three bottles and plenty of nutrition. The morning started out with cool temperatures. My Trace Bikes Tri top wasn’t keeping me warm but I knew as soon as the ride started that I’d warm up quick. We rolled along pretty much soft peddling for 5 miles or so until we quickly found ourselves on the front (Bruce, Bruce’s teammate Bo, Kevin, and me). The roadies made comments like “let the trialthetes pull, they’ll pull forever.” (True, and we’ll run a marathon after.) The four of us spent the next 20 miles or so rotating on the front of about 100 guys until Bruce came up and told me “you need to stop pulling so long and so hard, let some of these other guys do some work.” Figured Bruce knew what he was talking about so I pulled off towards the back, took a piss off my bike, twice to be exact, and just relaxed for the next 15-20 miles.

It was somewhere around mile 40-45 that the four of us found ourselves back up on the front. Actually, I don’t think Bo ever left the first 3-4 positions. At any rate, when it was my turn, I kicked the pace up. I was feeling really good. We all must have been feeling good because all four of us keep the pace around 25-26mph the next 30 miles or so. The entire group was either spit off the bike or stopped at the rest stops along the way. We stayed together and seemed to be pushing at a good effort from miles 50-80; each working hard on the front and rotating off. It felt good; it was so smooth, we were all aero, and it never slowed. We covered those 30 miles in about 1 hr and 10 mins. It was fast. Why was I still with these dudes? Oh, and I was right… we never stopped. It’s easier to not stop.

Around mile 80, we calmed down the pace. I think the goal was to spend a third warming up, a third at race pace, and a third cooling down. Around 85, we found just three of us. We were blessed with a tailwind somewhere in there because we were cruising effortlessly at 28mph. The last 15 weren’t as organized as they could have been. Bruce and Bo were to race Eagleman in 2 weeks so they didn’t want to leave their legs in Clarksville. Anyway, we took advantages of the tailwinds, down hills, and flats on the way in. At some point, I ended up off the front of them. I kept soft peddling to wait up but I believe they were truly spinning their legs out in the last couple miles. Trust me; these dudes could have demolished me.

I ended up being the first guy to finish the Century in about 4:15. What the hell? How the hell? It’s really just a big organized ride… not a race… but still. I went into this ride with the goal of seeing how long I could stay with these dudes. It was my “fitness test” to see where the first few months of mindless training had gotten me. I in no way consider myself in the same league as Bruce, Bo, or Kevin. Kevin was recovering from racing and Bruce and Bo were about to race, so finishing first means nothing. Staying with these studs, working the front, and pulling off a 4:15 only proved that I’ve finally got a little bike fitness this yr (plus some more training partners and finally a coach).

Thanks dudes for giving me some confidence and kicking my ass.