Kenny Lucas
Reston Century 2015
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| Sno-Cones at mile 85 |
I rode the Reston Century 4 years ago on my own and had a lonely wet time. This year was far more social and warm as I rode with two of my biking fanatic friends, Danny and Brooke. Everyone has their own method of training, Danny (4 centuries ridden) decides to ignore the bike and go cold turkey. Brooke has recently started going on longer rides and this was her first century ride, definitely not her last.
The day started out great as Danimal picked me up, we loaded the bikes, and off we went. Danimal decided he didn't want to ride his mountain bike so he borrowed our buddy George Perry's bike. Danny wasn't clipped in but at least he had a real bike to ride. Off to Reston we went, oh yea, and through the full-service lane at the Toll road. Really? You still don't have an EZ Pass?
The weather was absolutely gorgeous starting in the 70's and warmed up to the low 80's. Simply beautiful with not a cloud in sight. Off we went with ~1300 other riders.
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| Just a few miles into the ride, nothing hurts |
We made some decent time, much faster than I had envisioned given Danimal's bike training habits. He did really well given the rolling terrain. To be honest, I was glad the terrain eased up a bit around mile 50 for him because I could totally see him not making it if the rolling hills had continued. Make no mistake, he's a true specimen, but everyone's got their limits.
The limits were reached around mile 65. See those two little peaks in the map below, well those ain't so little in real life. Those are two routine hills, eh?, well routine for most of the centuries I ride, but to those who don't ride they are walkers. Did I say walkers? The worst part about the first hill was when we were resting 1/4 of the way up. A car came by and yelled "Quitters!"
As the miles logged increased, both Brooke and Danny were starting to show a little wear and tear. There was another lady on the ride who we nicknamed "Pinky". Brooke and I were encouraging Danimal by asking if he was going to let Pinky beat him. Pinky was also having a lot of trouble on that first big climb. She actually looked down and out. We passed her and didn't really look back as we figured she was done.
We were ~3 miles from the finish line and guessed who showed up right behind Danimal at the stop light in Herndon ... PINKY!!! OMG, ride like the wind Danimal !!!! It was completely comical and impressive how Danimal all of a sudden picked up his lagging pace and crossed the finish line about 100 yards ahead of her. For a job well done, call A1!
All-in-all it was a fantastic day. I hope Danimal and Brooke want to go on more bike rides together. It was a first-class time.
Here's the route information.
