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September 10, 2007
25th Annual Shenandoah Valley Century
At the risk of turning this blog into a one-trick pony, I'm going to post yet again about biking.
When I initially decide to ride in the Shenandoah Mountain 100, I noticed that the 25th annual Shenandoah Valley Century was happening the following weekend. I decided then that it would be cool to see if I could complete two 100 mile events back to back. I didn't want to commit to the road century until 1. I finished the first event, and 2. recovered enough to ride another 100 miles. Thankfully, I did manage to finish the mountain century, and by mid-week, I felt recovered enough to give it a shot.
My only goal for the day was to beat last year's time. I finished in 7 hours and averaged 16.8 mph (up from 15.1 mph last year). At the end of the race I felt a lot stronger than last year. I improved 20 minutes from last year's finish time. I thought I would have made up more than 20 minutes given the faster average speed, but I'm guessing I must have stayed a few minutes longer at each rest stop.
There were approximately 300 people racing that day. This picture was taken at the start of the race. As you can see, I managed to be the last guy to start on time. I'm sure there were some additional stragglers who started late. It was a lot of fun.
I did keep a sharp eye out for lightening bolts, as this was the second subsequent Sunday I've missed church to participate in a biking event.
Posted by mark at September 10, 2007 12:33 PM Subscribe (FeedBurner)
Comments
Nice work on both races, Mark! I'm amazed and impressed. Hope your soreness is subsiding...I ran a half marathon yesterday and my quads are killing me, so I feel your pain a bit :)
Posted by: Bethany at September 10, 2007 5:55 PM