This was the first organized century ride I have entered, and wasn't too sure what to expect other than well-stocked aid stations. Over 1000 riders rolled out from the village strung out in a huge peleton that must have been close to a kilometer long. Leaving the town in tight formation with music blasting was a great experience. After only a few kilometers the road went sharply up!
With tons of people around and adrenaline pumping, the first climb although long was pretty easy. What followed was a fast, straight descent that had me shitting my pants as i experienced my first ever speed-wobble at 75kph. Not fun. I just rode it out and the slope became more gradual and I was back in control and could breathe again.
From this point Dave & I rode together with a good group and made great time until the 2nd aid station. There was an amazing descent from Rob Roy that was on a twisting road shrouded in the forest. Fun descent but a little scary with all the people around. Once we bottomed out we hit a corner, flew through and right by aid station #1 with no warning. Oh well, we can hit the next one. From here it got pretty flat, then a small climb and then descent into the town of Creemore. Creemore was awesome with lots of people out in the streets cheering. We hit aid station #2 for a bio-break, some food and drink refills too. I removed some of my cold weather gear as I had started out with leg & arm warmers as well as booties but now with the sun out stashed them in my jersey pockets. We seemed to linger at this station a bit long and upon leaving got with another good group of about 5 others and started to make up some time.
The next big climb was upon us and by the top we had got split up. I carried on and got on with a pair of cyclists but we were not able to work that great together and after about 10 mins a big group came flying through with Dave in it so I jumped on to that one. The road was pretty flat now with a bit of small rollers and as we hit aid station 3 I stopped again. As I got out of the toilet I saw that Dave had not stopped as his bike was not in the rack so I thought, 'crap, better get a move on!'. I was now alone as the huge group was thinning out now so for really the first time I went hard for a while and after 10 minutes or so caught up to Dave who was riding solo at this point. Dave was starting to feel it in his legs as he was pushing hard earlier with the group that had caught up with me before.
We rode together for a while, picking up a single straggler on the way. Again I had to stop this time on the side of the road for a piss on a flat stretch of road about 4-5k from the start of the next big climb which was the 'King of the Mountain'. As I got going again there was nobody close by so I had to solo to the bottom of the climb. The road here was dead straight so I could see basically the 5k in front of me to the bottom of the hill and then the entire 4km (or so) climb which went completely straight up a hill. All I was thinking was how smartly I had rode to be ready for this climb but now here the few kms before the hill I am out on my own soloing - d'oh!
I hit the bottom of the climb feeling good just a few seconds behind Dave. I let it all out on the climb and ended up averaging a 174hr for the climb, so a little higher than our Thursday timetrials and took just under 12 mins for the climb and was very happy with that.
The aid station at the top was at the summit of the climb so I stocked up and when Dave came through we rode together again knowing the end was in sight. At this point there were not a ton of riders but we seemed to be making our way through what was left of the field. At about 155k we split up and finish on our own. We were now into a gradual climb that would take us to the top of the escarpment and from there it was all downhill to the finish.
There were still lots of people out on the road supporting the riders and as I hit Ravena the road went left and the hills got shorter but very steep. Soon after I hit the 160k sign and thought "awesome, 8k to go and most of that will be downhill". Problem was that a few km later there was a sign saying 10k to go. WTF?!?!??
Oh, well. Just put the head down and keep climbing. After cresting another summit the road swept around to the right with an amazing view to the left side of the road of Georgian Bay. Definitely no more climbing now! Started the descent to the finish and what an insane descent this was. The road surface was not great and the road snaked down the escarpment to the village. One lane was closed so cars could come up the hill so we were cycling down in the left hand lane. Very scary, I kept it under 70k and each time a car would emerge from around a corner my sphincter would tighten up.
Hit the bottom and started to head into the village thorough what seemed endless access roads and parking lots. Finally the finish! Rolled through looking for Michelle and Angela who had been there over an hour and half already ( and another hour plus to go!!). I heard the announcer and people cheering which was cool, but the people were just a blur. Went to the car, changed and made it back to the finsh just missing Dave come in.
Time for a beer, some food and of course Nachos with the crew.
Great event, well organized, lots of volunteers, tons of police controlling all intersections making it a very safe & fun event.
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