Why I Ride: Tour de Tonka 100, version 2011

'Twas late summer 2009 when what started as a seed of an idea burst into full form inside my brain: "ride the Ulcer." Why would I do such a thing? My "training" on the road at this point consisted of a grueling 4-mile round trip commute to the shop. We're talking roughly 20 miles per week. The Ulcer was about two weeks away at that point, so of course I could be in shape to manage a 111-mile "century." Not only did my training lack any realistic base, I would be riding my 25+ lb. Salsa Casseroll, and I somehow convinced my baby brother and his buddy to ride with me . . . on their fixies.

Well, we finished. I finished third of our group, which grew to be known affectionately as "Fixies & Fenders," since my Casseroll boasted SKS Chromoplastics at the time. This is what the finish looked like:

Mitch (baby bro.), some guy, Todd "Vans" Earl

I think Todd was standing on something in this picture. Clearly we're not that short. Apparently, my bib shorts are doing all they can to ensure proper placement of my bowels. Not sure how else to explain that phenomenon.

FAST FORWARD TO JULY 2011

Now I found myself in Minneapolis, as a summer intern at Best Buy, and I saw a billboard requesting my presence at this event. With 6 or 7 weeks to train, and roughly 100-115 miles per week over 6 weeks, I liked my odds. This time, however, I upped the ante. Could I ride the century without stopping? Up to that point in time, my longest nonstop ride was 60 miler. Not too bad. I would need to continue testing all the variables that I would need to control (nutrition, water, riding positions, pace, etc.) in order to complete a nonstop century.

I eventually arrived with the following nutrition/hydration plan for riding nonstop:

7 water bottles (3 in the cages, 4 in the handlebar bag)
4 packs of Clif Bar Shot Bloks (roughly 2 bloks/half bottle)
3 smashed PB&Honey sandwiches

The nutrition went like this: Finish a pack of Bloks over 1.5 bottles. As I was finishing the next 0.5 bottle, I would eat a PB&H. For every 2 bottles, I was consuming roughly 550 calories. With roughly 2 bottles/hour, this puts me at 275ish calories per hour. It worked quite well. Turns out I only grabbed 6 bottles that morning, and ran out of agua with about 2 miles to go. The last rest stop was at mile 88, at which point I had about 1/3 bottle left, just enough for 12 miles, I figured.

Alas, I arrived at the finish line at 5:45 nonstop. My goal was 6:30, since my total Ulcer time in 2009 was in the neighborhood of 8-8.5 hours. Turns out, since I was running my hub generator-powered lighting system, I probably would have picked up 1-2 mph on my average (a technical enlightenment I discovered post Minneapolis). I assumed the literature I had read on the Schmidt Sondelux was all I needed to know. Turns out a 17mph average with the light system turns into a 19ish mph average sans light. The literature suggests a hit of about 0.5mph. Oh well.

Here are a couple shots from the event (I'll add more as I find them):