The ride started at 7am at the San Juan Oaks golf course in Hollister, California and went 38 miles down to Pinnacles National Park and then returned by way of a longer route that swung out to the east. Much to the amusement of many of the old-school roadies, I completed the ride on my trusty hard tail mountain bike - the same one that had carried me around the lake just a few weeks earlier. My knee complained desperately for the first ten miles or so and then eventually gave in and for the most part worked well for the rest of the day as long as I kept my butt firmly planted on the saddle. There were no super long climbs but there were countless shorter climbs, all were 2-3 miles or less, and a couple were dizzy-inducing steep. 4065 feet of ascent in all. Still, the real issue for the day was not so much the climbing but the wind, which blew relentlessly head on for the vast majority of the ride time. This simple movement of air (which I was later told was already 15-25 mph by 10am), was loud and gusty and brutally discouraging as I rode alone through some of the longer open stretches. By mile 60 it was clear that the best (and maybe for me the only) way to get to the finish was to actually ride harder to catch and stay with other riders, trading time at the front - which is exactly what I did, for the entire final 40 miles, furiously pushing at increasingly commitment threatening levels of exertion for the last three hours of the ride.I was asked by many people on the event staff afterwards what I thought of the scenery. "Wasn't it beautiful?", they all suggested, shamelessly leading the witness. Some of the views were in fact quite pleasant, but the vast majority of the ride was... well... I mean really, we're talking about the remote nowhere that is south of Hollister. Yes, it was certainly beautiful if to you that means absolutely endless stretches of dead grass and crop land, an occasional cow, a broken down tractor, and a handful of two-block long towns, one of which had a bar called "The Hole", on who's sign, in case you were not clear as to the offerings of the establishment, and I swear I am not making this up, were the words "Food and Booze".
In any case, the riders were a great bunch, none of whom seemed to mind at all when I infiltrated their pace lines, and the rest stops were adequately stocked with water and what I suspect is a typical century event assortment of bananas, bagels, and power bars. I felt reasonably strong throughout but in the end despite my best efforts the headwinds and climbing held me to a frustratingly slow 14.5 mph average. Still, I was one of the first 25 of the 100 riders to eventually finish the entire 100 miles - apparently the relentless winds convinced at least some of the century-intentioned to opt for the homeward shortcut of the 60 mile route. My total ride time including stops was just under eight hours, covering a perfectly consistent 25 miles every two hours. Not exactly a pro-level performance but given the conditions I was pleased with the results. At least it was good enough to finish well ahead of the ride-time cutoff and the event’s SAG crews who, when I finally left the post-ride bbq at 5pm, were still out, tracking groups of riders as they struggled through the final few miles. In the end I was glad I decided to take on this challenge and afterwards I was more than happy that it was over. Now if I can just find a soft place to sit down.
Unfortunately my knee did not respond as well after this ride as it did after Tahoe. Yesterday and today have been unusually painful, especially at full extension. I think the only problem with riding 100 miles is that people say, “wow, your knee must be all better now.” Well no. I don’t mean to confuse anyone, but no, it’s not all better now. It’s capable, but it’s definitely not good. I can pedal a bike, nearly all day long if necessary, but it’s often painful and there's a limit to the pedaling force my knee will withstand. I still struggle to go down stairs. I still cannot even begin to break into a jog. No, it’s not good – certainly not good enough. And it doesn’t seem to be getting any better anymore either. And in the darkest recesses of my consciousness it’s really beginning to worry me.
Yesterday I decided to head back into physical therapy. I can’t imagine how they are going to resolve the residual pain at this point, but I have a recommendation for a local place so I figure I might as well check it out. I keep thinking that maybe I just didn’t do enough last time I was in PT. Maybe I didn’t push hard enough or go long enough. Regardless, whatever has gone wrong with my recovery, it has to change, I can say that much for certain. Something has to change.
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