First Century

This weekend I officially joined the ranks of crazy cyclists. As though years of spandex clad riding wasn't enough to give me that title, or even 50, 60, 70 mile rides on weekends, or starting said rides at 6:00 AM on Saturdays. But now, it's 100% official as I completed my first century (100 mile) ride this weekend. And of course, the overachiever that I am, I added an extra 10 on for fun. Well, truthfully, I only added those last 10 on because my house was 10 miles away and I didn't want to sleep on the bike path.

I participated in the Tour de Tonka ride. 1202 riders chose between 15, 33, and 65 mile options. My buddies and I of course chose the 65. I realized the start and finish lines were conveniently just over 20 miles from home, making it a little over 100 miles round trip. And seeing that riding a century was a goal for the year, I had to do it! Well, the little over 20 miles turned out to be a little over 22...and the 65 registered closer to 66. So after riding about 7 hours (4 of which were in the rain), I pulled into my drive a sweaty, muddy, absolutely exhausted mess.

What did I learn from this?

1. I love cycling. I'm already thinking about my next century (sorry Steph). It probably won't be this summer since we're going to be pretty busy until winter rolls in, but if my knees can handle it, I plan to do more of these.
2. I am a proud proud man. It just killed me that my three buddies were able to keep going strong at a pace that I just could not maintain. My proud mind can't register that I had already done 22 miles more than 2 of them and knew I had 22 to go when they were done. I couldn't take into account that we passed over half the riders in the first 3 miles. And I couldn't acknowledge how many people would never even consider riding the 15 mile ride...let alone think of crazy things like 100. And I didn't remember that all 3 of my buddies have ridden centuries before, and all 3 rode longer rides preparing for this one. Oh, even in the face of a great accomplishment, it's so good to be humbled. Now, if I can only learn how to "boast in my weakness."
3. I think about cycling too much and need to get to work