The century at the French Creek Iron Tour was quite edifying for me. I did not know I would take away so much from it even before I started my ride. Some key points 1) you can never bring enough 650 cc tubes because 2 may pop in the parking lot and very few SAG vehicles stock that size, 2) you can never bring enough food (maybe you can, if it is weighing you down) because you may drop one of your amazing chocolate, banana, peanut butter rice muffins at a stop sign, & 3) you should not neglect applying sunscreen to the inner part of your arm if you are going to spend 5+ hours in aero.
Me, at the finish. Thanks, Brian Moldover, for waiting!
Luckily, since my other training rides I had already fixed a few key things to prevent discomfort including 1) switching up my saddle and 2) getting a longer stem for my handlebars--I apparently have exceptionally long femurs and my knees were hitting the elbow pads in both seated and standing climbs. A longer stem fixed this!
So, down to the dirty of the ride.
I wanted to start by 7:15 am, to end by a little after 1. But, things didn't go as planned. There was a crash on 76 so we waited in traffic for 15-20 minutes and we made several raring turns into the park n Phoenexville. Arrival was more like 8:15. Then, once we had picked up our "numbers", I remembered I needed to inflate my tires. I hooked up the pump to my front tube's stem and it wouldn't inflate. I was so frustrated. It just kept losing air. The stem had actually detached from the tube. So, I got out my lever and took out the old tube, put in a new one, thought I had checked and confirmed there weren't any pinches and put the tire back on the hub. But my tire wouldn't roll. Brakes, check, quick release check. Bubble? Uh oh, touched it and it popped in my face. Down to my second spare the I started to freak. I found another one at the SAG vehicle on site--the only 650 he had.
So, off we rolled. But, my biking buddy realized he did not have the file on his Garmin. So, we would use the cue sheet the old fashioned way and the roads were marked with orange arrows. Not even one mile in we made a wrong turn that took us about 3 miles out of the way. But, we got back on track, had some nice treats and hydration at the first rest stop the. Continues on. I hit up 3 rest stops I the first 60 miles for Gatorade, water, and oranges. Luckily, even though I was down one muffin I had brought enough fuel
The ride was pleasant. 100 miles with 9468 ft of elevation. Rolling terrain. Some challenging grades thrown in. There were a sufficient number of rest stops, plenty of thoughtful fellow cyclists, and excited families who camped out on their porches and front lawns to cheer us on. A couple of oddities...I passed a horse drawn buggy on an ascent--does that mean I was pushing one horsepower?--I saw a dead groundhog--did not know they had hoof-like claws, and I really worked some of the downhills, letting go of my fear of speed and confidently descending into the 40s.
Great meal after the ride as well! Just plenty of happy volunteers to spread joy and amazement at what we had accomplished! Now I am home with my knee length compression skins on.
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