Last year, shortly after the ADA Tour de Cure at Lake Nona, I was talking about the Horrible Hundred ride in Clermont FL, with my team leader and I got it into my head that I would ride my first century (100 mile route) at this event, despite the ride’s nearly 5000 feet in elevation, which is way more than I usually experience in the much flatter area of Florida that I live at.  This Sunday I made that dream a reality.

This Sunday, November 18, 2017, started very early for me.  I was on the road at 5:30 in the morning and I reached the Clermont Waterfront Park a little before 6:30.  My timing was good.  I got a decent parking space and had plenty of time to register, change, and prep my bicycle.  A little before 7 am, Diana told me that she and Zrain were running a bit late, so when I saw the first riders heading out I decided to get started.

38th Horrible Hundred Community Ride

It was a beautiful morning, cool and sunny, and our route took us around Lake Minneola before heading up into the hills around Clermont.  My first 20 miles were pretty uneventful.  I mostly concentrated on maintaining a steady pace around 16 mph and not chasing stronger riders when they passed me.  J  At 20 miles, I turned into the lovely Green Mountain Park entrance.  The Florida Freewheelers had laid out a fantastic SAG station with peanut butter sandwiches, bananas, granola bars, Gatorade, and water.

The next 20 miles were rough.  For some reason, this leg seemed to last for a long time.  The weather continued to be gorgeous and I maintained my pace but the miles seemed to stretch on forever.  I did finally reach the end of the leg and the next SAG station, where I stopped briefly to refuel and top off my water bottles before heading out again.

In the next leg, I ended riding with another century rider, Z.  Having someone to ride with certainly made the miles go faster and let us do some drafting when the infamous Florida headwinds picked.  Eventually, Z had to stop to stretch out a minor injury so I pulled into the 60-mile SAG station on my own.  This stop was wonderful.  I was past the halfway point!  And Z rolled up before I was ready to leave, so we left this SAG station at the same time.

Unfortunately, it started to rain almost immediately after leaving the SAG station.  The rain was cool and refreshing.  However, my tired muscles didn’t react well to the chill and I had to pedal carefully a few times to prevent random muscles from cramping.  Additionally, my lower left calf stiffened up painfully and never really let go after that.  Once again, Z needed to stop to stretch out his injury so I continued on alone and several miles later, as I was approaching the 80-mile mark, I came to Sugarloaf, which was without a doubt the hardest climb of the whole route.  No other hill on the route could match it for length and while a couple was steeper, they were all much shorter.  I’m still not entirely sure how I rode the entire hill, except that I was too stubborn to get off of my bike.  At the top of Sugarloaf was our final SAG stop and I really needed a rest after the effort of climbing Sugarloaf.  Z caught up with me at this rest stop so we proceeded out together for the last 20 miles.

The last 20 miles had a lot of downhills, which was amazing.  My top speed and I have no idea when I achieved this, was 40.9 mph, which was undoubtedly reached just cruising down one of these amazing hills.  At some point during the last leg I dropped Z and I didn’t realize it until I could no longer see, so I just continued on my own.  Some of the hardest climbs of the route happened near the end when I was exhausted and it seemed like every new turn opened up to an uphill.  But eventually, I was heading down the final hill, surrounded by other riders as we came into the final turns to the finish.

The day was an amazing adventure.  I rode 101.8 miles in 8 hours.  I’m extremely proud to have finished and of the fact that I didn’t bonk (despite how tired I was at the end).  Finally, at the finish were my teammates from TeamOne, waiting to congratulate me on my achievement!  🙂

Thanks!
Shawn
View my other rides: https://teamonecycle.com/tag/shawn/

Video

This is the course charted by me of the 100-mile route. For more details: https://www.strava.com/activities/1282571252



TeamOne Photos