Race #38 - Prineton Free Wheelers Metric Century

Ok, so race #38 wasn't a race actually, but a bike ride through New Jersey. I said I was going to mix it up during my 50 @50 and I did so in July. I love bike riding, but never seem to have enough time to do so. My neighbor and friend Marshall Samtur has been riding a lot the last few months and is always asking me to join him. When he mentioned the Princeton event, I checked my scheduled and immediately said yes once I knew that date was open. I have been getting on my bike for at least 50 miles per week in July so I felt good about the ride. I just wasn't sure how far I could go. I have done these tours before but never more than 50 miles. One of my goals is to ride a century (100 miles), but never could train enough to feel confident that I could do it without much pain. When Marshall suggested the metric century, I was in. It's not a race so you do rest along the way to fuel up or get your legs back. We were also joined by Marshall's sister in law Renee and her daughter Rachel as well as his friend Tony.

I headed over to Mercer County Community College for 7am with the thoughts of starting at 7:30. Both Marshall and I had other kid events to attend later in the day. Marshall's daughter Liz is an excellent swimmer and had championships and I had to run over to my son Michael's baseball game to help coach.

We picked up our t-shirts and ride instructions and then headed out. Renee & Rachel were doing the 50 so we weren't riding with them. These rides are well organized with arrows of different colors spray painted in the streets to match up with the distance you plan on doing. This was their 29th year of putting on this race and it went off without a hitch.

We started out easy thinking we would do the first ten miles at a comfortable pace. One thing to note, I was riding my Ho Koo Hi Koo which is my Gary Fischer mountain Bike and 98% of the riders had skinny tire road bikes. My comfortable pace is about 15 MPH, but on a road bike it is easily 18-20 which makes me work harder the whole way. I bought the mountain bike to take advantage of the canal path by me as well as when I go up north in the mountains in the spring. I will need to get a road bike and Jason at Halter's in South Brunswick has been encouraging me to stop by to get fitted for a nice one. They have one great bile shop and it's in South Brunswick.

Back to the ride. We opted to do the 65 less hilly ride which was the right call. Once we got going, I felt great. Marshall was nice enough to hang with me for a while, but he loves to push it especially on the downhills. It's just so hard to keep up with him with my knobby tires. With Tony, its a fair fight for me. He had me on the flats but I was stronger on the few hills that were out there.

We stopped after mile 20 for the club's rest stop which included watermelon, bagels, nut bars and muffins. We hung around for 15 minutes to chat with other riders then headed out. After another 20 miles we were back at the same rest stop to fuel up again. The weather was turning out to be spectacular with cool temps early and plenty of sunshine later. It was turning out to be a very nice day.

The first 40 miles took us through quiet roads and lots of farms filled with shoulder high corn. The Princeton free Wheelers Club mapped out a great course. There was limited traffic and great scenery. I know we passed through Robbinsville, Allentown, Bordentown and other Burlington county towns.

By mile 40 my legs were getting a little fatigued but knowing there was only 15 miles to go motivated me to keep riding fast. The next five I lost sight of Marshall but he was kind enough to wait for me so we could ride the last 8 miles together. Tony had left early at the second rest stop but we caught up with him with about 5 miles to go. Once we hit the campus of MCCC, we sprinted back to the parking lot and our cars. Tony filed in right after us and Renee and Rachel were less than 60 seconds behind us. We finished up in less than 5 hours which I thought was good. Marshall said we averaged 16+ miles per hour. My heart rate never got above 133 and my legs felt fine.

We headed over to the nice spread of food put out by the PFW and chowed down like we hadn't eaten for weeks. Nothing like a 65 mile bike to work up an appetite. One question I asked myself, could I do another 30+ miles now? I know I can, it is a matter of how will my legs feel in those next 30 miles. I won't do unless it's a road bike. I would be crazy to do on my mountain bike. I plan on doing one or two more before the year is out but i won't count them towards my 50.

Next up for me is the Falmouth 7 mile road race in Falmouth, Cape Cod. This is one great race and I hope to run it fast. It is hilly so I won't be breaking any personal records, but I would like to average a sub 6:50 pace. I will be away on vacation the week of the race and there are great rail to trails bike paths on the Cape. I know of one that is 25 miles long so I am sure I will be on that one a few times. Bobby and Mike will be joining me for the rides.

I have 12 races to go so if you haven't joined me yet, you better take a look at my schedule of remaining races. I would love to see a few of you at these races. You know who you are.

See you on the roads.