Swift Summit 200/100

I was too busy doing urban rides and out partying all summer to train, but since I'd already registered, I showed up to "race" the 100 mile Swift Summit. While the 200-mile-racers started at 5am, us 100-milers got to sleep in and start at 9am. There was a good-sized crowd milling around, checking in and attaching beautifully-crafted race numbers to their bikes, so I circulated to ask riders to share their strategies for the race with me. 

Here are the answers I got:

• Start slow, taper off
• Keep my cadence consistent
• Pedal and finish
• Ride a light bike and just fucking do it 
• Just keep pedaling
• Have fun
• Go from the gun
• Pedaling, more pedaling, followed by more pedaling
• Cry on the hill to focus on emotional pain over physical
• Have fun, fun, fun
• Keep working the legs
• Stretch the hamstrings
• One foot in front of the other
• Finish
• Start
• Hope my tires hold pressure because I had too many beers last night
• Ride my ride
• Ride with piglet (while brandishing tiny pink plush toy)
• Pedal as hard and fast as possible at all times (this one's mine!)

We had gorgeous weather for riding - cool temps and a bit of mist, which is always preferable over hot hot heat. The route was absolutely stunning. The "controls" were perfect - small and stocked with my favorite things: potato chips and PBJs.

The finish line party at Conversion Brewing was a blast. One advantage of choosing to race the shorter distance is more time to hang around, drink beer, listen to live music and watch others finish. Our race director treated us to a recited poem at the start, an anonymous pen pal exchange prior to the event, a can of IPA with the Swift Summit logo and a cap for finishers (top cap for 100 milers, hat for 200 milers).

It took me 8 hours, which I feel pretty good about considering somehow I got to August without riding a century yet this year. I lost 12 minutes to a flat tire and another 15 to getting lost on the way to the finish line. Otherwise it was a perfect day!