cycling
16. April, 01:09 Uhr
\### Race information
\* \*\*What?\*\* Hawaii Century Ride
\* \*\*When?\*\* April 14, 2019
\* \*\*How far?\*\* 100.84 Miles, 7056ft ascent
\* \*\*Website?\*\* http://www.hawaiicyclingclub.com/hawaii-century-ride.html
\### Goals
| Goal | Description | Completed? |
|------|-------------|------------|
| A |Finish the race | \*Yes\* |
\### Training
This was my first century ride. It was also my first organized bike ride/race. I recently signed up for an Ironman, so I bought my first road bike (Used Cervelo R2 105) on March 22, 2019 and have been working on my training. I’ve ridden Dicks brand Mountain Bikes on the road, but never seriously, so this was a pretty awesome upgrade.
My training leading up to the race was a mixture of long 20+ mile rides and shorter climbing workouts. In March I had done 130.6 miles, and 117 miles in April. I spent the week leading up to the race in taper mode. I did some light rides, but nothing strenuous. I didn’t really have enough time for much else. I also bought cycling shoes/pedals the week before the race, but decided it wasn’t enough time to get comfortable in them. I decided to opt out of using them and just ride in my running sneakers.
\### Pre-race
Woke up at 4 a.m and downed a banana and a cup of an apple sauce mixture I made the night before. I also finished packing up all my road nutrients and gear. I packed 2x cliff blocks, 2x home made granola bars, 2x 4 oz applesauce mixtures, and 2x 28oz bottles filled with 2 scoops of EFS mixture. I was able to pack the cliffblocks in my saddle bag, and the EFS in my 2x caged water bottles, but the rest had to go in a hiking backpack that I decided to ride with. The race was an hour and a half away, so we packed up and left at 4:30 a.m. I drank a coffee along the way, and had a glorious poop around 5:30. Got to the event a little after 6 and signed in. I spent this time doing a very small warm up routine and checking to make sure my bike was functioning properly. They had gels available, so I downed 1 before the race started. My plan was to consume 28oz of water per hour, and 300 cal.
\### Race
Miles 1-20 – Unfortunately the weather for the day looked really grim. Lots of rain and wind. I’ve never really ridden long distances in either, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I started off with the lead pack people, but they left me fairly quickly. My main focus was to finish the race, so I made sure to ride at a very comfortable pace (120 bps). We got smacked with a strong 15 mph crosswind almost immediately. The wind seemed pretty intent on blowing us into passing traffic. Fortunately that didn’t happen. I averaged 17 mph for the first 10 miles, and them 12.5 mph for the next 10. The rain started coming down hard and the wind was ripping, so not crashing became the focus of the moment. I drank 1 bottle of EFS (180 cal + electrolytes).
Miles 21-35 - The ride from Hawi to Pololu Valley was a nice relief. The rain and wind stopped, so we got to focus on riding. By this time I was warmed up and started attacking the hills a bit more aggressively. I ate 1x cliffblock at the turnaround (180 cal) and continued drinking my EFS. Somehow I missed the first turn onto Kohala, but made the 2nd.
Miles 36-45 – Since I missed the first turn, I was rewarded with a BRUTALLY steep climb to the race road. This hill wrecked me pretty bad. I’d be very interested to see how the rest of my climb up Kohala would have been had I gone the normal course. The normal course had a little more distance, but more of a gradual ascent. Regardless, I’m back on track and attacking the mountain. Overall the ascent was around 500ft to 3500\~ feet. To make matters worse, we were smashed with winds up to 35 mph, and sleeting rain that felt like hail. This climb was a true test of gritRegardless, I made it up and was super excited about the long descent where I planned to make up for lost time. During this time I ate half a brownie (aid station treat), 1x cliff block, 1x home made granola bar, 1x applesauce, and the rest of my EFS.
Miles 46-55 – As I should have guessed, the same crazy crosswind that made cycling uphill a struggle, made cycling down a mountain SUPER dangerous. The closest thing I can relate it to is Tokyo drift. I’d be riding my brakes down the mountain, fighting the wind from blasting my back end out from underneath me. I normally ride down hills 27+mph, but I was stuck doing 12-13 in fear of death. By the time I got to the bottom my hands and elbows were numb from death gripping my handles. I was finally back down into Waimea and off that damn mountain, so life was good.
Miles 56-62- This was the only easy going legs of the ride. The skys were clear and sunny, and the wind was calmish. I rode this section at about a 24 mph pace. Although my legs were spent from the Kohala climb, I was starting to feel better. I stopped at the aid station and refueled. I restocked my water bottles with 2x more EFS mixtures, ate one banana and ate a power gel w/ caffeine. The aid station volunteer told me that most of the participates dropped out of the race due to the wind and weather conditions. There were apparently only 4 people ahead of me, and only 2 decided to take on the next mountain climb. Although I knew this climb would be hell, I refused to back down after everything I’d been through so far.
Miles 63-69 - This may have been one of the hardest climbs of my life. We started around 1900ft, and climbed up to 4790 ft in 6 miles. It took me over an hour to do this and consisted of .25 mile sprints with 10 seconds rest. I repeated this for a majority of the climb. It was here that both of my knees started having strange pains that alarmed me. Fortunately I was able to make them subside by adjusting my foot positioning. At the 4 mile mark, the 1st guy up the hill came whizzing by me. At the 5.5 mile marker, I caught and passed the only other guy brave enough to do the ride (and he was on a fixed gear, no brake bike!). Getting to the top was one of the more triumphant feelings Ive had in a long time. That mountain put my grit to the test. I proceeded to eat 2x more gels, finished one bottle of EFS and filled one of my bottles with Gatorade. At this point I was around 6:30 into the race. I really wanted to make it back before 8 hours, so I went FLYING down the mountain.
Miles 70-90 – Although the crosswind was there, a large majority of it seemed to be blocked off by the landscape (thank god). I still had to deal with it trying to knock me into traffic, but at least I wasn’t in danger of getting ripped off my bike. On this leg of the trip I average about 24 mph through Waikoloa rd and village. I thought for sure I was going to make my time. Unfortunately, the wind had one more trick up it’s sleeve.
Miles 91-100\~ - This last leg was the straw that broke the camels back. I felt like my legs had nothing left to give, yet I preserved against the strongest head-wind I’ve ever experienced. Every time I’d catch a descent and some speed, the wind would crash into me like a brick wall and almost bring me to a stop, or drive me into traffic. This last leg took me over an hour, and I averaged anywhere from 7-10 mph. It was brutal. The ride back into Spencer park was as triumphant as reaching the top of the 2nd mountain. I was expecting a welcoming celebration, with smiling, road weary racers, but instead came upon a park empty of nearly all evidence that the ride happened at all. I completely forgot that this was just a ride, not a race and that a finish line filled with spectators was not what this was all about. It was bittersweet in a way. This ride was more of a test run to see what I was made of, and I felt pretty happy with my performance. I’m definitely much more confident going into the 2nd month of my Ironman training.
\### Post-race
Once I cycled down into the park I was greeted by one of the ride hosts. She took my picture and guided me into the pavilion where they had some delicious meat/veggie pies, salad and homemade cookies. My wonderful girlfriend Allison came in off the beach and congratulated me on my race which was nice. I jawed her ear off about the trails and tribulations I experienced on the road. I found out from the event hosts that there were 100 riders, and only 3 of us made the entire thing. The 3rd guy came in about 20-30 minutes after I did.
All in all I think I was pretty dialed in nutrition wise. I was about 56 oz of water off from what I intended on drinking, but the terrible weather played a factor in that. My plan was to consume 300 cal per hour and I ended up eating 2785 cal\~, so I exceeded that and felt great. Next time I will buy a cycling jersy and skip the backpack. That added a lot of stress on my shoulders/traps. I will also be breaking in my new cycling shoes and learning how to cycle in my clip on pedals. I think a lot of my knee pain came from cycling with bad form when I was exhausted. I think the shoes/pedals will keep me in a good foot position so I don’t make that mistake again.
My quads were pretty toast, but not dead. The rest of my body felt great (other than a sore neck). I had a strange pain in the top of my right calf the entire ride, which I think was the result of not stretching/warming up enough. Next time I’m going to spend more time on this. My mood and energy levels were great, which signals that my nutrition was on point. I just need to get stronger. Can’t wait for the next one. Thanks for reading!
\### Pictures
\* \[Starting the race\](https://imgur.com/jtbS8Zl)
\*This report was generated using \[race reportr\](http://racereportr.azurewebsites.net), a tool built by \[/u/BBQLays\](https://www.reddit.com/u/bbqlays) for making great looking and informative race reports.\*
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