As I have quickly found, among the average Peloton rider community there are some pretty fanatical subsets. Most recently, I found the Pelofondo group. By their own definition, this is a community event for Peloton Riders, focused on long-distance mileage. And when they say long-distance, that is really up to the rider. That could mean 25 miles or 300.
For me, I had initially planned on tackling 100 miles by way of a 50 mile ride on Saturday and a 50 on Sunday. The longest ride on the bike I had done prior to this was a 90-minute Power Zone endurance ride where I rode about 30 miles. Going from 30 to 50 seemed as if it wouldn’t be something that broke me. The plan was also to go for the 100 in a single ride if I felt good.
My wife says I am “extra” and when it came to setting up for this, I guess I can’t really argue with her.
In the Pelofondo group, I saw folks posting their food prep for their long rides, and for some, it looked as if they were inviting company over to the house. I didn’t see the need to have that much food on hand. On my long rides, I usually just toss some Nuun in one of my water bottles. For this ride, and the potential to extend the distance to 100, I did not want to run out of water. I also sweat a metric ton so I wanted some extra towels. I brought over some TV trays and a table so I could prop everything up within reach. I really wish I knew what commercial was playing on Prime before Westside Versus The World started because that screenshot is a little scary.
The Ride
I treated this like any other endurance ride. The plan was to go 20 minutes in zone 2 and then 10 minutes in zone 3 for the duration. I did pretty good until about 10 miles left of the ride and it felt like the wheels were coming off. My right quad had a bit of tightening in it but nothing painful.
The first 40 miles went pretty well. I felt like I was able to hold the pace that I wanted, running between 19-20MPH on average. The zone 3 intervals weren’t easy but weren’t hard. Part of me wonders if I had broken those up a little differently if I would have felt better toward the end of the ride. I just knew that holding zone 2 the entire time would have pushed my average MPH down below where I wanted, so I needed a few zone 3 pushes to raise the average.
The spikes really show how difficult it is for me to hold a smooth line while out of the saddle. I am working on it. But I wasn’t going to beat myself up over that when attempting 50 miles for the first time. As I neared the very end, I had to come out of the saddle more often and for longer durations. It is what it is. My goal was to finish the 50 in 2 hours and 30 minutes, and I went one minute over. Not even mad.
Results
Comparision
Back in 2012, I had taken my road bike out to do a century. At that point, I did not have much cycling under my belt but attempted the century anyway. I went back through my old blog and found the write-up. In the back of my mind, I felt like I was riding the Peloton at a much faster pace than I did the road bike.
My longest ride before this was 41.09 miles and I kept a 15.5 average. To double my miles, especially after having a really tough CrossFit WOD on my legs from the day before, and to keep a close average, I will have to consider that a victory.
This was only my 9th real ride and like a dummy, attempted a full century. If I had told someone that I had only run 9 times and was going to attempt a marathon, I doubt anyone would have allowed me to continue. I had not trained nearly enough for this and despite everything inside of me saying to do a shorter route, I didn’t listen and paid the price for it. Getting to the finish line and finding an empty parking area was easily one of the most defeating feelings I have had in quite some time. Instead of relishing in the fact that I more than doubled my mileage and stuck it out through a tough ride, doing it alone for 50 miles, I was beating myself up over the wrong turn and being so slow. I won’t be making that mistake again. I will not be attempting another century for some time.
There is part of me that feels a bit of regret for not doing the second 50-mile ride on Sunday. There is a part of me that feels a bit of regret for not attempting the full 100. But when I got on the bike Sunday for a 30-minute low impact ride, I knew I had made the right decision. I will be doing another Power Zone Pack challenge coming up and will keep working on building the miles and improving my cardio. I would like to try the 100 in a single ride, either on the Peloton or out on the road.