2013 Civil War Century

The Civil War Century is a must ride just because of its name.  I rode last year but this year was easier, perhaps I trained a little?  It starts out in Thurmont VA and rolls up, down and all-around through Maryland and into Pennsylvania.  It is kinda cool to ride through Antietam National Park and the Gettysburg battlefields.  Although by the time I got to Gettysburg I wasn't so interested in sight-seeing.

A 5:00am wake-up alarm got me moving and 30 minutes later I was in the car and heading north.  Surprising how many people are on the beltway at 5:30am on a Saturday?  Where are they all going?  It was an easy drive up and the weather was a chilly 58 degrees.  I'm wondering why I didn't bring a jacket.  No worries, because the start of the ride goes straight up for 5 miles.  You're sweating inside of 10 minutes.

Total elevation for this ride is ~6,100'.  Total ride length was 102.7. See that big hill at mile 60, ugh.  That's a decent climb that tears you down.  Good stuff knowing that if you can make it to mile 62 you've pretty much got the ride made.  Although all that rolling stuff later does take little nibbles out of you.  

We were still in pretty energetic moods arriving at the first rest stop about 26 miles in.  Best food on this ride was the peaches.  OMG, those were sooooo good and I'm not really a peach lover.  I ate my share and then some.  Reminds me of the Presidents of the USA - peaches for me, peaches for free.

Here's a quick clip at mile 73.  All cylinders still firing well.  Not sure what little town we're in as we've gone through so many at this point.

I had to get a quick shot of some cannons in Gettysburg.  It's good times to tour around here and see the area.  Been there a couple times with the Cub Scouts.  There was a fleet of people-movers that we blew by.  Who sight-see's on people-movers?

This is how a lot of rides end. I am worn out.  The last 10 miles was really hard because my stomach starting hurting and that throw up feeling wouldn't go away.  I don't think it was from the ride, as I had that feeling at the first rest stop.  I blame Jordan because she had a really bad stomach ache Friday morning.   I did get a great ham/turkey sandwich at the end of the ride and started feeling a heckuva lot better.

Riding time was ~6 hrs 40 mins.  So add 1 hour for total time.

Garmin statistics

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