One more century before year’s end
that’s me in the Crust jersey, in pain around mile 85ish
All fitness gains that my wife and I have made over the past few years have been an accident. That’s the best part about bicycling: increased fitness is an after effect or a result of wanting to smash more turns, hit another run, or pedal a little further. So if you would have asked 2016 Peter if he ever thought he could, let alone have interest in, riding 100 miles, the answer would be a quick head scratch followed by a “no”. Same with my wife.
I very much miss my rando bag, which will return to my bike after I finish this new decaleur bodge
But as fate would have it, big rides have been more-or-less serendipitously falling into our laps. For me it began when the mechanic homie Kyle sold me my incredible 650b rim brake light steel tubed rando cosplay frame + fork for $200 (full bike check to come). After building it up I started setting out on much bigger all-road rides than I ever considered doing. First was a 46 miler from the east side of Detroit up to the suburbs and back (for ice cream, obviously). This happened to be when there was an air quality warning due to the wildfires in Canada. When I got back from the ride I couldn’t believe how good I felt. Then I did a 92 mile ride up to Lexington, MI. It hurt like hell (76% zone 3, railroad grade climb + headwind the whole time, and 50% gravel). Though after that ride it made me realize I was ready for RAGBRAI, which was a 92 mile and 81 mile day at over 100º plus a 71 mile day at a more reasonable temperature. It wasn’t that I got fully bit by the rando bug, but the notion of doing something epic by pedaling out of my front door (rather than driving to some trail) was pretty intriguing.
My wife’s confidence went through the roof after heaps of commuting, as well as finishing in incredible spirits after doing the 55 mile very bumpy Hodag Country Ramble route. Coupled with Dan’s (in the foreground in the top picture) knowledge of how we should nourish and pace ourselves, Eliisa wanted to do a century before the season got too sloppy.
So I took to Ride With GPS, put together as safe as a route as possible, and we pedaled from our house out to Dixboro and back. We tried to hit as much gravel as we could, which ended up being 25%. It was also the day of the Detroit Free Press Marathon, so we had to cut through the race course right at the beginning of our ride. It was really entertaining to see the juxtaposition of thousands of people cheering on thousands of runners doing something epic while the 3 of us set off to also do something epic without any crowds or people cheering us on. If anything there’s folks that want to run us over, but I digress.
I really should’ve taken a glamour shot in the sun but this will have to do
Eliisa’s Crust Nor’easter normally sports 27.5” Velocity Blunt 35 (30mm internal) with usually René Herse Umtanum Ridge or sometimes Schwalbe G-One Allround 2.8”. I’m a huge fan of owning multiple wheelsets for one bike, and when I stumbled upon a pair of 700c DT Swiss E1800 with bladed spokes for under $300 shipped I figured we should give them a shot for her to live her all-road randonneur dreams. We opted for René Herse Snoqualmie Pass 44mm standard casing tires (40mm actual).
greetings from the biggest “climb” in Detroit, the bridge over the Marathon Detroit Refinery. If you think it smells bad from your car on I-75 try it on your bicycle!
Our bikes were feeling great, and the route was legit! I can’t really think of a safer or better way to get out of Detroit and the inner ring suburbs, and even though it got a little hectic on Outer Drive near the Southfield Freeway (sometimes it’s okay to bail out to the sidewalk for a little bit!) it was about as good as it gets.
The weather was perfect, and we ended in mostly high spirits. Eliisa expected to go into the “pain cave” at some point, so she brought her bone conducting headphones to inject some Pump Up Jams if need be. Funny enough it was yours truly who kinda fell into a hole during the last 7 miles, which she and Dan pulled me out of.
We stopped for some barley sodas to bring back to the house, and ordered a giant tray of sushi for delivery. It turns out sushi is a brilliant post-epic ride meal: easy on the stomach, filling, fresh, and still rich.
After the ride I decided that I don’t really need to do any more centuries for a while, and that I really want to spend the waning non-snowy ride season hitting berms and jumps rather than road riding. Still, as someone who was quite the couch potato a few years ago I’m so grateful for my body’s ability to accomplish big dumb things like a century ride.
