2011 Montauk Century

Montauk Century 2011

The 2011 cycling season started off earlier than usual with training for the Montauk Century.  While most of us had done a number of centuries and near-centuries, the Montauk Century was on May 15, which meant getting in the usual base miles much earlier than usual.

The group that signed up to do the Montauk Century was a mixture of individuals from a number of different charity rides.  There were 11 riders in the final group.  Dave McCarthy performed most of the ride leadership duties although he did not go.  Return riders included Mike Norman, who did most of the administrative duties, Gabby and Alex O’Loughlin, Gail Behm, and Brenda Geloff.  New riders included me, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Reagan, Mary Snyder, Kathleen Sullivan, Mitch Tiegel.  It was Jennifer’s first century.

The ride offers multiple distances.  Mike Nortman and the twins planned to do the 145-mile route that began at Penn Station.  The rest of us planned to start at Babylon for the 100-mile ride.  The logistical planning kept us busy for hours.

We all stayed at the same hotel near Babylon.  The plan was for Mike N and the twins to take the train between 3:00-4:00am to NYC and ride from there.  A second group of riders would start independently from Babylon around 7:00am and a third group would start from Babylon later and pull/pace Mike N and the twins along.  The hope was to have as many of us as possible riding together near the end of the ride.  Getting all the riders to the starts with their bikes was too complicated so while Mike N and the twins still headed off to NYC on schedule, the rest of us ended up going to the start together although we still didn’t all actually start riding at the same time.

Here’s Mike N and the twins at the train station at 3:45am.

All week, the weather forecast for Sunday was dicey.  Predictions were for between 40-60% chance of rain.  I said I wouldn’t go if there was a 51+% chance of rain.  The day before, the prediction was 50%.   Halfway through the drive down, it was 60%.  By that evening it was 70%.

We drove down and arrived almost all at the same time.  The weather was overcast but not wet so we proceeded with a planned easy ride.  We found a multi-purpose path and rode about 15 easy miles to loosen ourselves up after sitting in cars most of the day.

Here are some of us before we turned around and headed back to the hotel.

Mitch took this picture with his camera phone.

Saturday morning, it was raining pretty hard.  A few of us talked about not riding or doing an out-and-back rather than the full 100 but ultimately, we decided to go ahead as planned.  We arrived at registration and when we put our after-ride bags on the truck, we were committed.

Gail had a bike shop put air in her rear tire that had a broken valve stem.  Of course, as soon as they tried, it would no longer hold air so they put a new tube on her wheel.  Mike Reagan and Mitch were ready to go so when there was a break in the rain, they left.  The rest of us left as a group of 6 about 20 minutes later when there was a break in the rain with Gail, Jennifer, Mary, Kathleen, Brenda and me.  We rode uneventfully the first 20-25 miles to the first rest area on a beach where Mike R and Mitch were waiting and getting cold after hammering the first leg.

This picture was from Mitch’s camera phone.

Meanwhile, we heard from Donna (Mike Nortman’s wife who was serving as our support vehicle driver) that Mike N and the twins were on their way and about 20 miles behind us.  We left and rode as a group of 8 for the next 20-25 miles to the mid-point rest area.  Unfortunately later we heard from Donna that Mike N had broken a spoke and the twins had proceeded along on their own.  When we arrived at the rest area, Mike N was there with his bike on the top of his car.  Fortunately, there were bike mechanics at this rest area who were able to replace his spoke although not with the same type.  But it made his wheel functional again – he’ll have to replace the replacement spoke when he gets home.  The twins were still about 20 miles behind us so Mike N headed back on the course to pick them up.

We left again as a group of 8 and rode through the Hamptons pretty uneventfully to the final rest area except that Mitch had a flat and that held us up for a few minutes.  He pumped it up but a few hundred yards down the road, it wasn’t holding air so Mike R stayed with Mitch to fix it and the rest of us went ahead figuring they could hammer to catch up.  We arrived at the rest stop and Mike R and Mitch arrived just about 5 minutes later.   Donna was again waiting for us there and she knew that Mike N and the twins had closed the gap so we waited for them to pull in only about 15 minutes later.  By that time the rain had not only stopped but it had warmed up and the sun was shining.  We took off our shoes and socks and waited in the grass.  It would have been idyllic if we didn’t have to get back on our bikes and ride about 25-30 miles.  But we got quite a lift when Mike N and the twins pulled in.

Look!  Shadows!!!

This picture was from Mitch’s camera phone.

Here’s a picture of the whole team at that rest area.  I’m guessing that Alex’s quads were too tired to lower her much further.

Thanks to Donna for taking this picture (on Mitch’s camera phone).

The last leg of a century is always a question of will-power.  Everyone is tired of road food but it’s essential to keep putting in calories.  Gatorade is getting repulsive but you have to keep hydrating as well.  By that time of ride, I am usually using water to clean out my mouth and wash my face as much as drinking.  Your butt hurts and your quads ache.  Changes in temperature, wind or hills are exaggerated.  You’re ready for the ride to be over and you’re counting the miles.

So it’s especially cruel to have mechanical difficulties and around miles 95 Gail got a flat.  She had dropped back to chat with Mary and since I had been talking to her too, I stayed back.  Changing the flat was uneventful except a cold front was chasing us and it started to feel cold while we were standing there working on the tire.  Mike Nortman circled back to see if we were having trouble and sent Mary ahead to re-join the group.  We finished changing the tube and alternatively pulled Gail along and re-joined the group for the final stretch to the finish.

The finish area was modest but well-stocked.  In fact, the entire ride was well-supported.  There was a variety of food, a coconut-water vendor, an ice-cream truck and a bar selling beer. 

Here’s what it looked like.

Thanks again to Mitch and his camera phone.

Behind this picture were the showers in a semi-truck that drew water out of a fire-hydrant.  It was surprisingly adequate.  Trucks transported our bikes back to the start and we returned to the start on the train.  While the idea of a relaxing train ride might have sounded appealing, it was long (two hours) and was only tolerable because we entertained each other.

There’s no question that we were glad we did it and we were especially grateful for Enza who helped ensure that the weather did not turn nasty.  Congratulations to Jen on her first century and to the twins for riding the entire 145-mile length of Long Island.