North River Century

Decided to take an enjoyable route from last year and turn it into a full century.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 100 miles   Elevation Gain: 5,182 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.44 mph

I wasn't sure how hard a full century would be as all of the metric centuries so far this year have been pretty tough at the end. But I think that is because I've pushed it relatively hard on them (treated them as tempo rides) and haven't taken many, if any, breaks on them.

So today I took it a little easier, mostly by resting on downhills, and also took some short breaks. It worked. It wasn't really all that tough until about 90 miles, at which point I wanted to be done. I'm sure a good chunk of that is psychological though: most tough rides (be they long or just ridden hard) are also tough to finish. For me, anyway.

There was fog in the morning, but I decided to ride in it so that I could avoid rush hour traffic at the end of the ride. It was a good decision. The fog was fairly light (except when it was really misty so that my sunglasses misted up, making me think the fog was extremely dense, but it was just me being dense) and I rode out of it at about 10:15 a.m. as I rode beyond Battle Ground. Amy said Battle Ground was foggy until the early afternoon.

Saw 20 elk on Cedar Creek Road at about mile 35.

After that first hour of fog it was sunny the rest of the ride. Cold, but sunny. The only clothing I took off was my outer gloves and jacket sleeves (leaving "just" the arm warmers underneath) at mile 65, probably at about 2 p.m.

What rivers make up the North River Century, you ask? Well let me tell you (in order of riding along them on the route):

• Salmon Creek
• East Fork Lewis River
• Lewis River
• Columbia River

There are some minor creeks and tributaries, of course, but the ones I listed are the big waterways you see, particularly this time of year. Lots of water flowing! Interesting how they get bigger as the ride progresses. I hadn't noticed that until just now.

This was a nice route, but in order to make it a full century I ended the ride with the final half of the Throbbing Thigh Thriller. Which was okay, but probably not the smartest choice so early in the season. I almost bailed out on the final climb, Felida hill on NW 36th Ave. I reasoned taking the Salmon Creek Trail made a lot of sense on a route dubbed the North River Century. I thought about this end-of-ride choice almost from the beginning of the ride. But when I eventually got there, I really just wanted to get home, and I'm pretty sure going straight up Felida is a bit faster as it is more direct, so I gutted it out. No Namby Pamby finish today!

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