
Yesterday I completed the Montauk Century! It was a looong hot and beautiful ride and with it’s completion I have a story to tell.
The last month has been a really crazy one. Lots and lots of changes which, though ultimately are always good, can be a little overwhelming when they happen en masse. This seems to have been the case.
To spare the dirty details I’ll get straight to the main point so I can get on with the exciting ride rehash. Basically, much of my decision to participate in the Montauk ride came from the less than perfect conclusion of my Napa Century.
When I rolled across the finish line in California my odometer read a few miles short of 100.
I don’t know if that was because of a wrong turn (likely) or that the ride was just a little bit short (not likely) but it nagged at me like I just cannot describe. After raising all this money and getting so many family and friends on board it seemed like I hadn’t completely lived up to my end of the bargain. It felt a little false.
Montauk was an opportunity to make up for those lost miles and get the words “ride a Century” squared in my head. I knew it would be hard but I was never more mentally prepared for a ride in my life. I rode for every person that cheered me on up to and in Napa and for every person since then that congratulated me on the accomplishment.
I’ll spare the suspense and say it now. By day’s end yesterday I had completed the 100 miles. Actually, according to my odometer I clocked in at 106.26 to be exact. And I did it in 6:37, about 2 hours faster than my time in Napa. I was satisfied with the ride but the experiece of feeling less than complete because of a few miles is an interesting one. At what point do we push ourselves too hard? I rode over 90 miles in Napa, should I really beat myself up for such a thing? Why are we often our own worst enemies?
Before yesterdays ride I had planned on participating in two more Centuries this summer. Now, I’m not so sure. I need to access why I want to ride, and not make it all about the landmark of completion. It, in the paraphrased words of Lance, has to be about the ride.
That said, I really did enjoy the ride yesterday. I’ll admit that the last 20 miles or so are kind of fuzzy with pain and desire to just get done with it but most of the rest was really wonderful. The part I’m struggling with it that which led up to the ride and the thoughts and feelings that made me want to do it. I love riding far too much to imagine a future with no more Centuries, but I may take some time to think about motivation, state of mind and balance. For me, it seems to always be about the balance.
On with the recap!
The day stared at 4:15 am in Brooklyn with a half a whole wheat everything bagel and some almond butter.

I did a bunch of stretching and yoga and around 5:30 Greg scooped up me and my bike and we were off to the Century start at Babylon!
It was such a nice peaceful ride that early in the morning. No traffic, no honking, just easy travel. We arrived with plenty of time to spare and checked in our bags. There were showers at the end of the race so the instructions said to bring a towel and some clothes. Those showers seemed very far away indeed at the start of the day.
We were both so excited about the ride!


We started around 6:45am and right away I could tell two things. First, I was feeling strong, much stronger than I had in Napa and I knew on this flat course that meant faster average speeds (and a shorter overall time!).
Second, Greg was still much faster than me. I did my best to keep up with him but somewhere between miles 15 and 20 he broke away and that was pretty much the last I saw of him until the finish line. There he goes!

Luckily I didn’t spend too much time riding solo, much like in the Napa ride I quickly made a new friend. Meet Lauren, another crazy fast bad ass cyclist.

We met around mile 20 and rode on and off for the rest of the ride. Her story was kind of a bummer, she entered the ride with two good friends both of whom had been super excited to ride their first Century. Somehow in the first 5 miles of the ride one of her friends was riding too close to her boyfriend, collided with his bike and had a really nasty fall. I remember seeing the ambulance attending to them early in the ride. Apparently Lauren’s friend was kept overnight in the hospital but will be okay. Another reason to be careful out there and allow plenty of following distance if you’re a new rider.
Lauren stayed positive though, and we rode on, and on. Long Island is no Napa, but it really does have a flavor of its own and I found it really beautiful.



At one point I passed a recumbant rider. Totally reminded me of Caitlin’s dad Peter. Such a cool guy!

One of these days I have got to try one of those.
The rest stops, though not quite as posh as those from Napa (go figure), were more than adequate and we even got treated to a TON of that promised pie!


The pie was a bit too much on the sugar side of things for me so I just tried a small bite. It was delicious though! Luckily there were a ton of other food options in addition to the Gu and Clif bars I had brought along for the ride.


As usual I had some fig newtons, some nuts and a couple of bananas. I was careful about what I ate since I had been so sick the day before. I brought along lots of food that I knew was safe for my tummy. Also, I tried Clif Shot Bloks as a energy boost when I needed it throughout the ride. Taking 2 or 3 Endorolytes each hour was also incredibly helpful. No cramps at all for this ride!
I’ve found that paying attention to intake for the days leading up to as well as the day of a big ride makes a huge difference. Kristen at EatingRD has all kinds of excellent suggestions and recipes when it comes to stuff like this.
As the miles wore on I became increasingly aware of my neck pain (and all kinds of other pain of course). I don’t know if I need to adjust my handlebars or what, but I definitely need to make some kind of a change for my next ride. At least there was plenty of great scenery to check out.


As I traveled through the Hamptons I really got a sense of the atmosphere there. I was waiting for someone from that Hosewives of NYC show to emerge from one of the ultra posh houses.


Finally I was nearing the final stretch of the ride, which much like Napa followed alongside a highway. I have to say, after riding for nearly 100 miles, having to bike with high speed traffic and trucks is not ideal. The end was near though and adrenaline was carrying me right along.

I then looked down at my computer and saw something I have been waiting since May to achieve.

I DID IT!
I cannot explain how much of a relief it was to get to this. Now I just had to finish the actual ride. Piece of cake right? Well, they did kind of save the biggest hills of the ride for the very, very end but in my elated state of mind they were nothing. As I peddled into Montauk I really was on cloud nine.
Then, in the distance I spotted some familiar shapes…

Was it? Could it be?
It was! The trucks to load up our bikes! I made it!!

I did a final evaluation on my odometer:

And then checked in my bike.

Pretty cool rigging huh?
Then I was off to find my bag in the masses.

I was so excited about the shower until I saw the line.

Then suddenly I realized that it was the boys line! The girls showers were to the left and there was no line at all!
I basked in the lovely hot shower, but not before signing up for a free massage first! In exactly the time it took me to shower, dress and grab some food it was time for that massage which was lovely. I don’t have any pics from this part of the day, I think I was so exhausted that I completely spaced it. Ah well.
After my massage I reunited with Greg who somehow got behind me on the ride? I think it was that tasty pie!

All in all it was an amazing experience.
Glen, who puts this whole thing together every year did an extraordinary job. Organizing all these people and the trains from NYC as well as the LIRR, getting bikes and people to and from 3 different starting points and keeping us all fed, watered, safe and on the road was an incredible task. I was really impressed with how smoothly everything ride related went.
After we drank a beer, lots of water and chilled out for a bit, Greg and I caught the 5:30 LIRR back to Babylon. It was amazing to think that my entire day was covered by train in less than 2 hours. Which by the way was the perfect amount of time for a much needed nap.
Right before we pulled into Babylon I looked out the window and saw this:

It’s an iPhone photo but I think it still captured what was one of the more amazing skies I think I’ve ever seen.
A perfect bookend to an amazing day.