Father's Day Century

Jules, Vicky, and I did a century ride yesterday as our father's day celebration.  We are all doing the STP again this year, and so used it as a training experience as well as a Father's Day one.

We did this ride last year--actually it was Vicky's first century ride (i.e., 100 miles).  We leave from their home in Northgate, ride to the Burke-Gilman Trail, follow it to the Sammamish River Trail, and then travel 20 miles around Lake  Sammamish twice.  The ride is safe, has enough hills to be good training (but not so many as to hurt our knees), and is pretty.

The ride was great, for the first 75 miles.  But then we had to head back home against a headwind.  That's very tiring under any circumstance, but after 75 miles it's really tiring. 

Then, the biggie:  We have to get from Lake Washington (elevation 0) to Northgate (elevation 400) in about two miles.  It's an uphill "slog" (as Jules calls it).   We just grit it out, keep pedaling, and eventually get there. 

(I feel silly wearing bright red biking shorts, but they are really visible.  And since I always ride behind Vicky, it helps keep both of us visible.)

Of course, I got a flat:

We had lunch at the 50-mile mark:

Jules did a metric double-century (124 miles).  He's so much faster than us that at various times he'd ride ahead, then double back to add some miles.  It was his longest ride ever. 

We all felt good at the end.  A little sore, hungry, thirsty, but the idea of riding 100 miles on your bike in one day is still one that, despite how many times I have now done it, I can't quite wrap my brain around.  One hundred miles is a LONG way.  It's a long way to drive! 

We are ready for the STP.  We still have some miles we will put on our legs in the next month--we will do a couple more centuries and some smaller rides.   But we are ready for it.   We are getting excited.