Wow, not sure where to start other than I underestimated this event! But we will get to that later.
Going into the Amelia Island Century by JDRF, I was actually worried about my fitness but my core and back held up just fine. Over the course of the last three weeks I had been pretty limited to riding solely on Zwift and limiting myself to an hour to an hour and a half at the most in the evenings after the kiddos went to bed.
First lets examine the venue. As you are probably aware Hurricane Irma went through Florida just a few weeks ago and there were still pockets of visible hurricane damage with a ton of debris still on the sides of the road which made for an interesting time. The Island itself is charming, and the locals were extremely friendly. I personally loved the canopy covered roads and the resort areas are fantastic. The local police were at the busiest intersections directing traffic for the riders which was fantastic. Due to the hurricane and lingering road construction the route was adjusted to a smaller loop that you repeated twice, which in itself wasn’t bad. For someone that had never been to the area it was extremely easy to navigate.
Now to the ride itself. As you are probably aware Florida is pancake flat and I went into the ride thinking this was going to be a flat and fast century. And at first it was! I was in a group of about 30 riders and we were working extremely well together and covered 20 miles in a little over an hour including a rest stop. Then POW along with an eerily familiar hissing sound, yep a flat tire. I safely pulled over immediately and started changing my front tube and did a relatively fast change in my opinion. I put the tube in my jersey pocket along with the spent CO2 cartridge and started pedaling away when I thought this doesn’t feel right. Yep the worst thing that could happen happened, a double flat! Thankfully I only had to wait a couple of minutes for the SAG wagon and a friendly, helpful mechanic to assist. But by this time I had no chance of catching back up to my group and several other large groups had went by.
The SAG Wagon, changed my tube and got me back on the road fairly quickly and off I went. I started catching riders in ones and two’s and leapfrogging where I could because my fellow Honey Badger teammates were one of the groups that went by while I was getting assistance.
Now to the where I underestimated the ride itself. In trying to catch up with my teammates I expended a lot of energy riding into a headwind to catch up to my group of 12 companions. I sat on at the rear of the group and hitched a ride to the next rest stop at mile 55. At this stop when we rolled in I saw a couple of riders that I had been previously riding with rolling out as I was topping off my second bottle so I quickly remounted and caught them a mile down the road. I sat on for awhile and then took a long pull with a tailwind. I was still feeling strong at this point when we made the turn and headed south again. 67 miles in and still felt great. About 6 miles later and having lost the other two riders it hit me where I underestimated it. Florida is so flat that you NEVER, EVER stop pedaling. Needless to say I have never went to as dark of a mental place in my head as I did for the next 14 miles. I found myself pedaling solo into a headwind with absolutely no other riders in sight and to make matters worse the original group I was with, passed me on their return route during this time. I seriously doubt I would have held their wheels for that length of time but it just added to my darkness. During the long straight sections I would often stand and stretch, turn around to look and see if anyone was coming up on me just so I wouldn’t be alone. I didn’t see anyone till I reached the turn around point and found that I was actually catching someone.
By this time I had lost a considerable amount of average speed and was starting to cramp. At the rest stop I ate a couple of pickles and drank the pickle juice, filled both water bottles with electrolytes and immediately consumed half a bottle. I popped a few sport legs and set off for the final 13 miles. I was 89 miles in and had unfortunately passed the 5 hour and 25 minute mark and was hoping to be finished with the ride in 5 hours and 30 minutes.
By mile 96, the cramps came back and I had to slow roll the rest of the way back. I had to look extremely strange to riders passing me on the opposite side of the road as I was basically doing single leg pedal drills with my right leg. The cramps strangely went away with less than a mile to go and I at least looked strong when I crossed the finished line.
Overall, I’m pleased with myself looking back on things as I didn’t give up, found a way to get through it, and pretty certain I can accomplish a much tougher challenge now down the road. Where I am disappointed in myself is the lack of thought and preparation on my part. Between the heat, humidity, the double flat, and then expending energy trying to catch something that wasn’t coming back to me, I put myself in rough shape. One thing is for certain I will never, ever complain about a climb around my house again. I am going to look forward to the climb because, what goes up must come down.
Till next time – make every mile count!
Link to Strava Activity – https://www.strava.com/activities/1219639208
The 50/50 Project 