First Century

Tom Roberts

Active Member
Hello All,

I completed my first century ride (100 miles) yesterday. There were only two recumbent bikes in the ride. I of course, (on my Silvio) was one and the other was a fellow who rides in the recumbent group that gets together once a month. We started in Norwalk and rode in a northeasterly direction on city streets until we reached the Santa Ana River Trail (about 50 miles). From there we rode until we reached the ocean (about 20 miles). Then we headed up the Pacific Coast Hwy through Huntington Beach, Long Beach and Seal Beach (about 15 miles). At this point we headed inland up the San Gabriel River Trail for the last 15 miles to the finish line.

My goal was to average between 15 and 16 mph. I crossed the finish line with an average of 16.1 mph with a time of a little over 6 hours. My bike computer said I burned 4999 calories.

The only problem I had was cramps (which turned out to be fairly major). At about 30 miles I got a minor cramp in my right calf while climbing a hill. It went away when I topped the hill, but from that point on for the next 70 miles every time I was climbing and sometimes even unannounced on the flats my legs and hands were cramping on and off. I have two possible explanations for this. One is that I did not hydrate adequately prior to the start of the ride. The other is that because my blood pressure wants to be a little high I try to keep my salt intake to minimum. At any rate they made riding quite difficult. The next time I will do whatever it takes in advance to avoid this situation.

All that said I'm glad did it.

Tom
 

cycleguy

Active Member
Hi Tim,

Sounds like a great ride on the Silvio... the comfort of that bike certainly helps!

But keep in mind, for a ride that long, you can't prepare for the whole ride ahead of time... nothing you do would last that long. You need to properly hydrate while on the ride and bring along some Gu Packs or some other form of dense calories. Drinks like Gatorade or Powerade work well for hydration, but they don't have many calories for their volume. Gu Packs are easy to take, dont' fill you up, but give a great boost with more calories. And don't worry about the calories, you more then burn them off and prevent these muscle cramps. They only slow you down and prevent the burning of additional calories. The Gu packs have made a HUGE difference in sustaining my power on long fast rides.

Harold
 

Tom Roberts

Active Member
Thanks Mark and Harold,

I did have Gu and a gatorade-like drink with me on the ride, and I was downing the stuff at regular intervals. But once the cramping started nothing I was doing would alleviate them.

Tom
 

chiefdan92

Member
Tom, On my Climb to Kaiser, I took electrolyte tablets in addition to the gu and gels (my stomach would not handle solid food!) That definitely helped to prevent cramps! I took about 2 an hour, which seemed to do the trick.
 
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