San Diego Century Bike Tour

In short: Hilly. Way, way hilly. Far hillier than I expected.

Really, this post is more about me than Basta. He had a fine ride. He rode with a fellow club member, a very nice young guy named John. John is probably in his early 30's, and he's a good cyclist. He was doing the 103m (161km) course and Basta the 66m (100k), so they rode together for 66 miles. If Basta can keep up with John, he's doing well. So he worked hard to do just that.

He was able to keep up most of the time. He got dropped on the longer and steeper hills but was able to catch up once they leveled out. He said he was paying close attention to how John rode, too, trying to pick up some tips. He watched what gear John was in and when he shifted. Basta tried to match that, and found that he couldn't a lot of the time. John has some very strong legs.

They had a nice chat. A pleasant day. Basta finished in 4 hours, 20 minutes. Yes, hilly.

I, on the other hand, had a tough time of it. I did the 37 mile course, right? 37 miles. Easy peasy. About half the distance that Basta is doing. No problem.

Yeah right. Even though 37 miles isn't all that far, it's farther than I've ridden a bike in well over a year. I've been training on the Computrainer, and thank god for that. I wouldn't have survived those hills at all without that.

But I do the Computrainer for an hour, at most. This ride took me 3 hours. My crotch was killing me. I am not conditioned to sitting in that saddle for 3 hours.

After about 20 miles my legs were jelly, too. Frequent infusions of caffeinated Clif Shots and knowing that it would be over eventually got me through the ride.

Then I came home and napped most of the rest of the day. The next day I was done in, too. No energy. Napped often. Ate a lot. Climbing stairs was brutal. I need to start paying attention to my own biking career if I am going to do a triathlon myself ever again.

Enough of me. Back to the ride. It was a well-done event. This is only their second year, and it remains to be seen, of course, if it will thrive. The course was well marked and very scenic. The one sag stop on my route was well-stocked with typical ride munchies and had adequate porta-pottyage. They did say that this was an 'intermediate/advanced' course, so I should have known better. We got no t-shirts or medals but we did get a cool coffee mug with the course logo on it and colored the same as the wristband that designated your course. It's actually a very cool mug. The whole experience was worth the $30.

All in all, a lovely event. We'll do it again next year. I'll be better prepared for it. Maybe Basta will do the full Century distance.

Since all real cyclists have monster legs, I’m curious how much the bike will make Basta's legs grow. After a summer of serious hills and long-distance rides, will his legs start to explode? Or will his ectomorphic body resist that at all costs. I measured his thighs and calves tonight. We'll measure again after Cancun in September and see if there is any difference. They can't get any harder. They feel like cement pillars now.