This is the first century I've ever ridden (previous longest was 85 miles). It was absolutely brutal for me. The first climb was a few miles long but never so steep I was ready to die; in my lowest gear I could keep plugging away at it pretty well. The second (which started around 55m) got steeper in parts than I could manage in my lowest gear -- 5.5mph is about the slowest I can spin my lowest gear at any kind of sustainable cadence, so I had to stop once.

When I got to the top of that one, wondering why on Earth I was doing this in the first place, I was assured that it was mostly rolling little hills from then on out, only to hit another short but taxing 500-foot vertical ascent on Page Mill Road.

Furthermore, while the weather was obligingly breezy and cool for the first 65 miles, by the time we hit that last short climb the sun had burnt through the fog and it was over 90 degrees. It remained well over 90 for the last third of the ride, which took us down the mostly-exposed stretches of Sand Hill and Canada road -- areas I've biked in the past with Doug.

By the last 20 miles I bonked, hard, and was just counting tenths of a mile and desperately hoping I'd make it. The plentiful rest stops were absolutely critical. I probably ate more calories in cookies, watermelon, and potatoes with salt & olive oil than I burnt doing the ride, but by the end I didn't really care a whole lot.

Two nights before the race I had gone rock climbing and pulled part of my right calf doing a hard heel hook, which didn't help matters much.

In retrospect, I'm elated that I finished the ride, but of all the rides I've ever done, on this one I came closest to just bailing entirely. If I'd seen a SAG vehicle near the end of the ride when I was particularly low on blood sugar, I might have just hopped on.

I really am not in the kind of shape I need to be to do a ride like this. More training!

(Another note: my computer tells me it was on for a good 10+ hours -- I was riding with the Different Spokes crew, and we definitely spent a lot of time at the rest stops. That said, by the last two stops, I really needed the rest.)

I'm taking dgaus's elevation numbers here, because I don't have my own.