Flat and no flats

On Friday afternoon, Mark and I drove down to San Luis Obispo to participate in the L*ighthouse C*entury on Saturday. We had prepared our bodies and bikes, packed our clothes, helmets, gloves, extra bike tubes, and CO2 cartridges (instant air.) We were excited as the last time we tried a century together we got rained on and quit after 50 miles. Mark did the L*odi C*entury this summer in extreme heat so we were looking forward to this one. The Lighthouse is a fairly flat century with rolling hills that takes you on Highway 1 from Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, up the coast a little ways past San Simeon and Hearst Castle and then back to SLO. We had heard that it can be quite foggy the first half and that you don't see the ocean until after turning around when the fog lifts, but on Saturday as we drove from the motel to Cuesta College at 6:40 am, we were surprised that there wasn't any fog. There is a certain excitement as hundreds of riders park their cars and start unloading bikes and gear. Looking around, we realized that we were not the oldest people in the ride. I would estimate the average age to be around 40 years old. There were a total of 1600 riders in the event and there was a choice of a metric century (62 miles), flat century, or hilly century. We were off shortly after 7 am. There is no starting gun and people just start whenever, so their are no huge clumps of riders. Usually there are groups of 5 people or so that kind of stick together. Sometimes you can tag along after group and take advantage of drafting them, letting them pull you. Sometimes you realize that someone is drafting you and letting you pull them. We saw quite a few tandems and one guy riding a unicyle. I'm not sure how he could do the hills, especially the downhill with no brakes. He must have ridden the shorter route because we passed him twice. About an hour into the ride we hit some fog for about 1/2 hour, but soon it was gone and the views were absolutely gorgeous. The first rest stop was at mile 25 but we missed the turn for it, mainly because that was when we saw the unicyle and we weren't paying attention to the signs! Besides, we were riding down the main street of Cayucos, a quaint seaside town that was just too cute. It had a saloon! The second rest stop was at mile 42 and I was REALLY happy to see those porta-potties (how DO you spell that?) We grabbed some snacks, refilled our water bottles, and Mark took a picture with his Blackberry. I meant to bring my camera, but forgot!At this point we were averaging over 16 mph which we were really happy about. Just before the turn around point we ran into a headwind which slowed us down, but we were okay with it because we knew that once we turned around we would have the wind at our backs. The temperatures were in the high 60's, the sun was out, and the scenery unbeatable. The lunch stop was at mile 70 and the food was so delicious that I ate too much. There was a broccoli salad with red onions and raisins that I would burp and enjoy (?) the remaining 30 miles! We saw hundreds of elephant seals laying on the beach and a herd of zebras (!) at the bottom of the road to Hearst Castle. They hadn't been visible on the way up.I really don't like pictures of me in my bike clothes, but the scenery was so beautiful I just had to include this one too. I should have take a picture of Mark. He has skinnier legs. After lunch and before the rest stop at mile 85 we hit a head wind and that dropped our average speed. I was bummed because I had set a goal of averaging 16 mph for the whole 100 miles. But after the rest stop the wind must have shifted, because once again we were sailing along and realized that we were on an upgrade going 18 mph! We saw plenty of people changing flat tires and some SAG wagons with bikes on them taking people back to the start who had bagged the ride. We were very happy to complete the ride with no flat tires between us. We finished the ride reaching our goal of averaging 16 mph with a riding time of 6 hours 10 minutes, actual elapsed time was about 7 1/2 hours. We felt good, although we were tired of sitting on those little bike seats. We got in the car and drove the three hours home very content with our achievement.