Exactly two days from when I write this, I’ll be roughly 35 miles into my fifth “century” ride of the year, at the Seagull Century. That’s assuming I can hold a pace around 17 mph. That’s my goal for this ride. If I can do that, I should finish the event in about six hours.
Whether that’s achievable is another matter altogether. It’s ambitious, at least for me. It will depend on multiple factors: wind (this is likely to be the most important one), rain, how much I can ride with other people (for the aero benefits), how well I fuel, how much sleep I get the night before, etc.
A lot will have to go right for this to occur. I’m not confident it’ll happen, as I’ve never held that kind of pace for that distance. The wind, as mentioned before will be huge. It’s notorious for wreaking havoc on riders out there on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
I do think I’m better prepared for this than any century I’ve done before (a century is a ride of 100 miles). My fitness is solid, and I’ve trained hard for it. This will be my fifth century of the season, so the distance isn’t daunting. The pace is.
Right now the weather’s looking good. The projected high in the area is 61, which is perfect for a hard effort. It’ll keep me cool. No rain in the forecast. The wind is looking fairly strong, which will help me on some parts of the course, and batter me on other parts. I’d rather have it with me later in the ride, as I’ll have more energy to fight it earlier on. When I get tired, probably at around mile 70 or so, is when I’d like to have the wind shoving me toward the finish line.
Whether or not I hit the average speed I want, I’m looking forward to a great ride. I don’t want to be so focused on my goal that I forget to enjoy it. That’s always a danger with setting specific goals—feeling like a failure if you don’t reach them. I don’t want to feel that way.
What I think I’ll do then is set my ultimate goal to enjoying time on my bike and seeing a lot of beauty around me (and there’s a lot to see around there). The time goal will be secondary. This way, I’m pretty sure I’ll hit at least one of my goals.
I’ll recap things for you next week, probably over several blogs.
Until next time!
all the best
https://anjuanand.substack.com/p/some-cosmic-solutions-to-diabetes