Anne Arundel Lifeline 100

The Lifeline 100 looked to be a pretty routine ride through the flatlands of Maryland.  There are no climbs and very few inclines that are worthy to be called hills.  However, as I've written in the past about all centuries are hard in their own way, this century threw me its own curve.

I was on track for a 6 hour riding time century as I got near the end of the ride.  I enjoyed the last rest stop, except for the pickle juice, and was very happy with the days effort.  It was a solid ride and I was going to finish up by 2pm with a bunch of the day remaining.  All I had remaining was 10 miles on the Annapolis/Baltimore Trail.  I had plenty of energy left over so I let it all out and zoomed through to the end of the ride.

Sporting my new JMU jersey

I also zoomed by the arrow telling me to turn right to the finish. So maybe I wasn't in the most capable frame of mind after riding the 100 miles.  What was so confusing as the miles added up, 103, 105, 108 was that I had seen this trail before.  I thought I had started the ride by going North on the trail so I would see it all again.  Turns out I started going south on the trail to begin.  I WAS RIDING THE COURSE ALL OVER AGAIN!!!

At one point I pulled up Waze to see where the parking lot was, 9.4 miles away?!?!?!?  How could it be that much further?  Looking at the map made think the end was ahead of me, BUT IT WAS BEHIND ME!!!  Again, let's go to state of mind after riding >100 miles.

I reached the end of the rail trail and rode on a bit on the road before really questioning what was going on.  I had an Einstein moment, recognizing the road that I had driven on to get to Kinder Park for the start of the race.  HOLEY CRAP!  It is behind me.

In the end, what's an extra 22.4 miles on top of 100?  Fortunately it was a beautiful day and I had the energy to keep riding pretty well.  Like I said, all centuries are hard in their own way.

https://www.strava.com/activities/747565035