First Metric Century!

This weekend I accomplished another major milestone in my riding. I rode the Cycle for Shelter metric century! For those of you who don't know (and that would be me before I signed up for this event), a metric century is 100 kilometers, which translates to 62 miles. This was a fund raising bike ride to raise money for Emmaus, Inc., a non profit organization founded over 20 years ago to provide housing and services to homeless families in Haverhill, MA.

This was my first introduction to group riding - quite an intense learning experience, to say the least! And it was an awesome ride. Not only was this event for a great cause, but it was 62 miles of very scenic biking on many of the roads I'm already familiar with. Cycle for Shelter organizers did a good job keeping us off the main streets and away from traffic and thoroughly marked all of the turns. The water stops were well stocked with drinks and snacks, too.

My friends Drew and Dave were riding in the event to prepare for the PMC and were willing to have me tag along with them for as long as I could. Even though they said they were having a "slow" day, these guys were very fast by my standards, riding for lengthy stretches at 17-19 mph. I was back about 25 yards from them for a few miles approaching the first water stop and I even had a guy drafting me! Who would have thought? My goal was to ride with Drew and Dave for the first 10 miles and much to my surprise, I was able to hang on (or at least keep them in sight) for the first 24. I lost them for some stretches but caught up at water stops and was able to finish the last 12 with them.

The ride started in Haverhill and took us through Newton, NH, Amesbury, Newburyport, Newbury, Rowley, Ipswich, Topsfield, Boxford, Groveland and back to Haverhill. We went by lakes, rivers, beautiful homes, livestock, forests and swamps. The only downside was the lack of time and opportunity to take pictures of the event, but here's one taken of me and Dave at the stop in Topsfield Center.
I can't explain the wonderful feeling I had as we approached the finish line. The guys even humored me by trailing back and letting me "lead" the way. I finished just over 62 miles and maintained a total ride average of over 16 mph. I've never ridden longer or faster.

Thanks, Emmaus, for mapping out a great ride and thanks, Drew and Dave, for pulling me through 2/3 of it. This was great preparation for my 100 mile ride in September. I can't wait to do this again next year!