2007 IS the year of the century: Space Race ride report

Distance: 100.02 miles
Total time: 7:16
On-bike time: 6:30
On-bike avg mph: 15.3
Avg. mph, incl stops: 13.8
High speed: 24.3 mph

My first century!

Instead of doing a play-by-play (because it's been a long day and it's all sort of hazy at this point), here's a list of things that sucked/were awesome:

Suck: Realizing that I left my saddlebag at the house, about 45 minutes too late to go back for it.
Awesome: Not needing it--no flats, no mechanical problems, despite seeing more flats on this ride than on any other event I've ever been to. I passed one poor couple twice. The second time, I jokingly called "Aw man, AGAIN?" The guy replied, "this is the fifth time!" (Though I didn't say it, after 5 flats on one ride, maybe it's time to look into some new tires, dude. Or check the air pressure. Or maybe try not to run over shit. Of course, now that I've typed this, karma dictates that I'll have, like, 9 flats on my next ride.)

Suck: Riding in the rain for the first 20 or so miles, and into the wind for the first 40-50.
Awesome: The rain stopped shortly after rest stop 2, and the last half of the course was all tailwind.

Suck: How badly I wanted to turn at the 40-mile turnoff...I was soaked through, miserable, and tired of battling the wind.
Awesome: I went straight for the 100-miler anyway. (Rain be damned...I'm so hardcore!)

Suck: At rest stop 2, between getting my ipod into a plastic baggie and wringing about a gallon of water out of my gloves, I dropped my car keys.
Awesome: I noticed the key drop right away...if I had made it to the finish without them, the suck list might have included "total nervous breakdown."

Suck: Climbing the steepest bridge in the universe (well, maybe not...but it felt like it at the time).
Awesome: This was the only hill on the entire route.

Suck: Missing the (UNMARKED, thankyouverymuch)turn onto Hwy 171, causing me to have to climb another bridge...twice, since I climbed the other side during the backtrack.
Awesome: I also got to do the downhill twice. And those extra miles came in handy later.

Suck: Getting to the 84-mile rest stop 10 minutes after the 100-mile course closed and being forced to take the shortcut to the finish, knowing full well that if I hadn't overshot the turn onto 171, I totally would have made the cutoff. I also felt really bad for another girl at the stop with me. She was so upset that she was going to come up short of a century...when I saw her come out of the port-o-potty, it looked like she had been crying.
Awesome: Those extra 4 miles that made me miss the cutoff were also just enough to make it possible for me to ride a century on the short course.

Suck: Crossing the finish line with my odometer reading 99.71 miles. (I'm pretty my exact words were, "Aw, HELL no.")
Awesome: Doing the victory lap around the parking lot to my truck to hit the 100-mile mark. I eyeballed it perfectly, too...the odometer flipped to 100.00 just a couple yards from the tailgate. :)

Now, to further accentuate the positive, some more things that were awesome:

• The rest stop at the fire station, where they had kickass cookies, a volunteer to air up my tires for me (I was just going to borrow the pump and do it myself, but since he offered...) AND they let the women use the indoor restrooms.
• The SAG vehicles and ride marshals all over the place...I didn't have any problems, but it was nice to know that I wouldn't have had to wait long for help to come along if I had.
• Sustaining 21 mph in the tailwind for about 10 miles. All hail the big ring! (I slowed to about 17 mph after that...I still had 30 miles to go at that point, and was afraid I would end up limping in if I kept it up much longer)
• Finishing my first century ever in a little over 7 hours, without wanting to pass out afterward. :)

Congratulations! That is awesome, in the old sense of the word, like, it inspires awe. Way to go!

Congrats Joy - 100miles? I seriously do not know how you do it!