Not quite as long as the actual ride

I've ridden the MS City to Shore ride a few times before. It's a supposedly 75 mile ride from Cherry Hill to Ocean City, NJ. It's actually 79 miles, but who's counting? The last two years I've signed up and prepared to ride their "century" route. This means adding some distance to make it a 100 mile ride. Centuries are a thing for cyclists. And it really is pretty miraculous that a person can do that, travel 100 miles under their own power in a matter of hours. 

Two years ago I got shingles two weeks before the ride and last year we decided to go away for a long weekend, so I never did it. This year, I had been preparing all summer to do the Century this year. I was trained really well as August ended, and then came Hurricane Ruby. The arrival of our puppy threw our schedules into a tizzy and my training into a wagging tailspin. 

So in the past couple of weeks I'd been wavering as to whether I was up for it. But ultimately I decided that, especially given that the previous two years hadn't worked, I should go for it. Because I could. 

On the plus side, since last time I rode this thing I've lost about 15 points and bought a lighter, faster, more comfortable bike. On the minus side, I'm older. But in the end, the fact that I'm almost 59 was additional incentive to get it done.

These things start crazy early in the morning, because it takes a long time to ride even 79 miles, much less 100. For me, anything above 15 miles an hour is great for that distance. I can do 20-30 miles averaging closer to 17, but then I'm wiped out. So do the math; 79 miles at 15 miles per hour is a shade under 5 hours and 20 minutes, not including stopping to rest, eat, drink and take, as they say, a nature break. So it's six hours or so. You need to start a 6 hour ride early. And 100 miles is a 7 hour ride. So Century folks start first. At 6:30 AM. 

Who doesn't want to go for a nice bike ride at 6:30? There were at least 1000 people leaving in that early group, and another 6000 or so to follow, though I guess some of them start further along if they just want to ride 25 or 50 miles.

These big group rides take a little while to develop. You start off in a big mass and everybody's going very slowly except for a few people racing around madly. The first dozen miles are through suburban neighborhoods and then you get out into the less populated area.

First rest area. One hour 17 minutes 19.9 miles. The rest areas consist of 5 main area. Portapotties, snacks, drinks, first aid and bike repair. I've yet to need the last two, for which I am thankful. At this point I'm feeling pretty good. The riding is easy- one of the reasons I picked this for my first Century is that it's flat. There are a few places where you're sort of climbing, but nothing that would qualify as a real hill. 

One thing I notice as I ride along is that there's never just one pothole. They definitely come in groups. On a ride like this, if you encounter a pothole you are supposed to call it out, kind of like a game of telephone. You're also supposed to call out gravel, water and road kill. Always fun to hear a sequence of "road kill!" callouts.  going to come up from time to time, mostly rest areas and sometimes at red lights.

Second rest area, 31 1/2 miles two hours flat. 9:07 AM. The times I'm reporting are times riding. They don't include when I'm at the rest areas. Just beginning to feel this a bit. I rode 30 miles or so several times over the summer, but my usual is more in the 20-25 mile range and 30 is never that easy.

Once you're past the second rest area, the race (I'm sorry it's a ride not a race) begins to stratify. The fastest riders are all ahead and the slower ones are lagging. This is when I'm happiest because it means there's not people whizzing around like at the beginning, when the fast riders who started late feel the need to get by everybody else in a hurry. You can start to feel the miles accumulating and the toll it's taking, but you're not in any tremendous discomfort.

Third rest area 46 miles 2 hours 55 minutes. After this rest area I have to commit to the Century. I'm ready!

56 miles three hours 34 minutes. This is a rest area only for the Century cyclists. It's smaller, in the parking lot of a volunteer fire department rather than a school or park.

67 miles 4:15. The Century loop ends back at the previous rest area. The essential pointlessness of this is not uncommon for bikers. We usually start and end at the same point. But to throw a 20 mile loop into the middle of what is already a very very long ride seems senseless to my legs and butt, if not my head.

78 miles four hours 58 minutes. At this point, by body is asking me a simple question. Why is this not over? 

89 miles five hours 42 minutes. Ok, I'll admit it. At this point, I'm questioning my sanity, though I haven't considering abandoning the ride. You can. At each of the rest area, something called the SAG Wagon makes regular stops. SAG supposedly stands for Supplies And Gear, but we all know that it mean for people who are sagging. They will load you and your bike in the back and drive you to the finish. From about mile 70 until now, it's been a matter of deciding which hurts most, legs, feet (all the pressure is on the balls of your feet if you're wearing shoes with cleats) back, hands or butt. 

Everyone says to keep changing positions to avoid pain. This probably helps, but certainly doesn't prevent anything. The one thing that is really encouraging is that even though I have continual discomfort, my legs keep recovering and seem able to muster whatever power is necessary to keep going at a decent pace. There were a few times where it required constant conscious effort, but I never it a point where I felt like I couldn't.

At this rest area they're giving out Biofreeze, which is a cooling gel for muscle pain relief. I'd use it, but there's not enough to cover my entire body. But amazingly, and not for any particular reason that I could imagine, I completely rallied after this last rest area. Stuff still kind of hurt, but my energy level improved overall and I no longer felt like I was dragging myself across the miles. Maybe it was just that I knew it was only 10 more miles and I hadn't been sure if there even was a rest area at that stage. And this was a good thing, because the bridges beckoned.

The trap of this ride is that the first 75 (or 95, depending) miles are pretty much completely flat. Then there are 2 arch bridges that span the sound on the way from the mainland to Ocean City. They are high and windy. on one hand, you like to see them, because it means you're almost done. On the other hand, not if you don't go over them.

Fortunately, one thing I've always had confidence in is my ability to climb a hill when need be, and I've been over those bridges a few times before. So I gathered myself and flew up one and then the other. I'm not exaggerating when I say I probably passed 400 people who were struggling or walking up. I have no patience for that stuff. Go up them fast and they don't take so long is what I live by.

Finish 102 miles 6 hours 42 minutes. Done! The finish is a little anticlimactic (not anticlimatic, which mean being agains weather). I guess if you have your family waiting for you and cheering it's different, but I do this by myself, which is a whole 'nother story. So I had some food and headed for the buses back to Cherry Hill. I was home around 6.

Long day. happy ending

Things change

There's been a lot in the media recently about how people are never alone anymore. The ubiquity of cell phones and other connected devices means people are never in a position of quiet solitude. And of course how this means the end of the world.  The reasons, about which they really can go on and on and on, is that the lack of any time for quiet solitude has been removed, and that therefore people will never get all the benefits that accrue from that. And most of that is mostly true.

The question really is does it matter? The answer to that is clearly, we have no idea. None, zip. Drawing conclusions when lacking perspective is a fool's business. One of the "scolds" who's article I read makes that point accidentally.

The historical comparison is usually the invention of the printing press, which changed access to written materials from the few to the many. He notes that compared to now, when smart phones and connected devices have become ubiquitous almost immediately, when Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century, it took for centuries for much of the world to be literate. Okay, so one of the major consequences of the mission of the printing press was not really obvious for 400 years. And we presume to know what's going on with connected devices now? That's just plain silly.

There will clearly be negative consequences of all of this. It's rare that things happen where there are no negative consequences whatsoever. The important question really is how do we make sure that we minimize the negative consequences and maximize the positive consequences. That's the money shot.

My wife notes, as does one of the writers whose rankings I read, that we are the last of our generation to even be aware that this is a thing. Nobody born from the 1990's on will know that there was ever a time that not everybody was connected all the time. The kids in my classes can't even conceive of the world without plastic, which is most of history.

The point is that this is likely to not be the end of the world. Things will change, people will change, and yeah, the rapidity of the change makes the consequences less predictable. But so what? All we know is that this is happening. Quit whining and make the best of it.