Montauk Century

It had been about 10 years since I did a century, at a TransAlt ride round the boroughs of New York City one September day.  For a while recently I'd been wanting to do a ride out to Montauk, at the end of Long Island, to test my endurance and see how my fitness had changed in the last few years.  So a couple of months ago I signed up for a bare bones ride out there with the Five Borough Bike Club, and spent the last few Sundays training for it, up to about 80 miles.

One of the things I was dreading most about the ride was the start time as I am definitely NOT a morning person.  The group I was riding with were meeting at 6.30 am in Babylon station which is some way onto Long Island.  On most Sundays at 6.30 am, I still have another 3 hours of sleep to go.

About to set off

So I set the alarm for 3.30, made it out the door at 4, and set off in the dark for the subway station to get down to Penn Station, then to Babylon.  I did have a slight paranoia that I'd encounter a violent mugger on a deserted platform who'd try to kick me in the knackers and then run off with my bike, but the only person I met waiting for the subway was a friendly drunk.  I met up with a few other riders on the train, and as we headed East to our starting point all we could see in the sky were dark grey clouds, with incessant rain pattering against the window.  The forecast didn't look good; on off rain, and head/side winds of about 10 - 15 mph.

Around 7, all the cyclists in our group, about 15 of us, gathered for a quick bike check, and we were off.  I was excited to be taking on the challenge, but also had some nerves thrown into the mix, thinking about what would happen if I couldn't keep up or ran out of energy.

As I got into my stride though, it started feeling good, probably helped by the quick coffee I managed to get in before we set off.  Our group split into 2, with a faster group I was in doing about 16 mph on average.  After a while the rain petered out and it started to brighten up a bit, which made the ride a lot more enjoyable.  We were taking diversions past some beautiful huge houses/mansions, hitting the water's edge, and cycling down some beautiful, flat roads on the south side of the island.

Lunch spot

We stopped for lunch after about 70 miles, definitely ready to strap on the nosebag.  We found a kind of native American place that sold cigarettes on the cheap, souvenirs, as well as lunch.  Interesting combo of things to sell, but the home fries, eggs and toast definitely hit the spot.

After that, we 'only' had another 30 miles or so to go, and it wasn't until about mile 90 I started to feel a bit tired and was looking forward to the end.  We caught up with another 5BBC group that was doing a 63 mile ride to Montauk, being lead by my friend Shawn, and stuck with them to the end.  It started raining again, but as long as we kept going, I felt OK and not too cold, just a little damp.

Finally, around 3.30 pm we rolled into Montauk.  It was a great feeling watch the odometer click round into the triple digits just before the end.  It was also good to know that this felt much easier than my century 10 years ago.  I have a better bike, but I also know I'm in better shape.  I also have a customized biking leg now, which makes it easier to get down lower and out of the wind on your bike. It's also good being able to clip into the pedals (but off the bike, it is difficult and uncomfortable walking around sans foot).

With Shawn - made it to the end!

After buying some clothes to have something dry to change into, our group loaded our bikes into two trucks, and then took the train back to meet our bikes in the city.  I was tired but exhilarated as we travelled back West, and not able to sleep much, but I slept like a log that night.

The ride was very well organized by 5BBC. I would definitely recommend the club to anyone in the area looking to get into cycling and do some rides with a good group of people.