Holstein 100

Ten Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before My First Century

A common sense guide to riding your bike 100 miles in a day and being able to walk afterward.



1. Train for it
It’s a good idea to get in shape before you attempt to crack off 100 miles. Spinning classes are a quick way to develop cardiovascular strength and build muscle in your legs. But there is no substitute for miles in the saddle. To make the most of the time you have, point your bike at the nearest hill. Ride up it. Turn around. Ride up it again, this time in a slightly harder gear.

2. Make sure your bike is in good working order
No kidding. I rode my first century after having my trusty bike mechanic dial in my shifting, and tighten up my headset. I got to my century, rode off and discovered I couldn’t shift past second gear. That made for a disconcerting 20 miles. After some judicious pounding at the first rest stop, the bike shifted fine for the rest of the day. Still…

3. Get up early
Everyone talks about the weather, but you can do something about it. Instead of riding the last twenty miles into a gale force headwind at the end of the day, get up early, and ride your miles during the first part of the day. The longer you wait, the windier it’s going to get.

4. Bring a pump and a spare tube
You might not need them, but rest assured, someone else will.

5. Pigs get slaughtered: don’t gorge at the registration table

Usually you’ll find muffins, bakery goods and coffee at the registration table. Avoid them. They’ll come right back up on you during your first hill. You’ll be better off if you eat a bagel and peanut butter earlier in the day, or wait until your first rest stop before you start taking on food.

6. Drink plenty of liquids

Water is good, and diluted Gatorade might even be better. Avoid the colored stuff. Bring two water bottles, one for each cage. Use them frequently and be sure to refill at each rest stop.

7. Gear up for it

If you are riding through hills or mountains, ride with a triple crankset. Failing that, get the biggest rear cluster your bike can accommodate. I recommend something about the general size of a pie pan. If you can’t transform your bike to a triple crankset, consider using a mountain bike derailleur that can accommodate a super large rear cog – up to 34 teeth. It might look funny, but it sure beats pushing your bike up a hill.

8. Get a cyclo-computer

You’ll really appreciate having a computer on your handlebar that can tell you how fast you are going, how far you’ve gone, how long it has taken you, and more importantly, how much longer you have still to pedal.
It will keep you honest.

9. You’ll count up to 80 and down from 20
The mind plays an interesting trick on you. For the first half of the day you’ll check your odometer and count the miles up to the 80 mile mark. Once you get to 80, you’ll start counting down. 20 miles to go…15 miles to go… 7 miles to go…

10. Stretching is not for sissies.
You’ll feel better if you learn a few basic stretches for your quads, hamstrings, calves, lower back and neck. Do them frequently. At every rest stop. And on the bike, if you can manage. You’ll thank me if you can walk the next day.

Bonus Points:
Be friendly. Talk to people. Find the biggest, fastest guy out there and draft behind him for as long as you can. Then return the favor and lead him out. Find a few friends like these and you’ll soon be riding 25 miles an hour for hours. Use sunscreen. Often. Thank the volunteers who work the rest stops. Have fun.

--Sam McMillan

Greetings from e-Podunk

Thinking of moving to a small town any time soon?

Check out epodunk.com, a compendium of small town stats from across the country. 46,000 small towns are profiled in its enormous database. It’s an invaluable resource for any one contemplating pulling up stakes and heading for a simpler life (I’m all for it if I can get a fast Internet connection).

Housing prices, college grads by state, per capita income growth, homeowner costs by county, demographics, earning power, even the ten most popular cars to be stolen in Maine Ford (LTD owners, beware!)– it’s all here, residing in the world’s biggest portal on small town life.

Drill down to a particular town and you’ll get a statistical glimpse of small town life and its charms. Tired of big city crime? Check out Amherst, VA. The number of violent crimes recorded by the FBI in 2003 was 6 out of total population of 2,251. The number of murders and homicides was 0. You have to like those odds. If you are single and hoping to mingle, epodunk gathers stats on the marital status of adults in Amherst. 22.3 % of the women in Amherst have never been married, 10% are divorced, and 21% are widowed. On the other side of the dating game, a full 30% of the men have never been married. County wide, another list tells you, the proportion of single men to women is 73%.

Epodunk gathers its information from a number of sources, including federal, state, and local government agencies, databases, print reference works and news organizations. A few of the government databases that supply epodunk with information include the Army Corps of Engineers (watch for flooding), the Bureau of Economic Analysis (find out if your neighbors are employed), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (find out how many of your townspeople are in jail), the Census Bureau, the Environmental Protection Agency (always good to know if you are next to a hot zone) NASA (in case you plan on blasting off into outer space), the National Center for Education Statistics (just how many people in your town graduated from high school) and the National Climatic Data Center (is it hot in this town or is it just me?)

--Sam McMillan

I Felt It: The best road bike in the world for my money

A Full Carbon Felt F3C for under 2 grand

Since my bike and I got trashed in a drunk driving accident over a year ago, I’ve been thinking about getting back in the saddle on a new bike. Carbon fiber seemed to be the way to go, especially at my age, and in my condition. Light, strong, stiff, and forgiving, a carbon fiber frame and fork are designed to smooth out the bumps, soften the effects of broken pavement, and in theory, at least let me walk the next day after a long ride.

Problem is, full carbon frames are expensive. And they look, to my eye, like something designed in a wind tunnel for riding around one of the moons of Jupiter. When I buy a bike, I want it to look like a bike.

In my price range of sub $2000 bikes the pickings were slim. I could get something called a Scattante (I think it’s Italian for Cheap Chinese Knockoff”) at Performance Bikes, and at $1800 it’s a great deal: full carbon, all Shimano Ultegra and a Shimano Wheelset.

Riding the Tiburon Loop on a friend’s Trek 2300, I bumped into a guy riding a Felt. “How do you like your Felt?” I asked. 20 minutes later he was still going, raving about what a great bike it was, and how he got a great deal at the Sports Basement. Plus, if you had the 20 percent off coupon distributed at the Trips for Kids Bike Swap, that sweetened the deal, too.

Long story short: I marched into the Sports Basement with my 20 percent off coupon, found a Felt F3C on sale, marked down from $2900 retail and rode off with a bike that cost me $1600 before tax.

And what a ride. Takes off like a rocket on the climbs, with enough rigidity to transfer power to the wheels immediately. On the descent the bike tracks sure and steady, goes down as eagerly as a hooker on U Street. And as promised, following a long ride, I can walk the next day.

The bike looks great, too. I don’t ride for the ego stroke, but… at the Mill Valley Depot, while I’m
putting my bike in the rack, a guy sitting at the café shouts out, “You can store that in my truck, if you want.”

And when I come out, there’s another bike rider hovering over the Felt. He tells me the Easton Ouzo Carbon Fiber Fork is worth $400 alone.

Now all Felt needs is a slogan. Here are my contenders:

• I Felt It
• With A Name Like Felt, It Better Be Fast
• I Got Felt Up at Sports Basement

--Sam McMillan