Day 20: Can you say crazy fast?
Today was a perfect day for me to go fast, crazy fast. Our route was 107 miles from Clayton NM to Guymon OK. This ride was very flat with a gradual downhill so that we ended up losing 1900' of elevation. There was also a strong wind from the southwest. We were riding northeast for the first 50 miles, then east for the remainder, so the first half had a pure tailwind, and the second half was off my right quarter, but still helping. Finally, the pavement was generally good which also helps speed.
I realized that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to ride a century in under 4 hours. So, even though we have a tough 140 mile day tomorrow with strong crosswinds, I tucked myself into my aerobars and flew, riding solo and pushing hard the whole way. In the first hour, I averaged just over 28 mph. By the second hour, my average had fallen slightly to 27.5. In hour 3, I no longer had a pure tailwind, so my average speed dropped to 26.5. I finished the century averaging 25.9 mph, completing the century in 3:51:47 (3:55:33 including a stop for photos and a stop for fluid refills). For comparison, my fastest century before this was 21.0 MPH, and my second fastest century was under 19 MPH.
I will never ride this fast for this long again, but it sure was fun today!
Twelve miles into the ride, we entered Oklahoma. This was one of two short stops I made during the ride. I had to get the photo of to memorialize entering state number six. Crossing into Oklahoma also meant leaving mountain time and entering central time.
Given that the ride was flat, so was the scenery. Here we have flat corn fields.
Sometimes it was just flat prairie.
Here we have corn which must have been planted later in the year since it has not reached full height.
And finally, here we have telephone poles to add character to the prairie. As you can see, there was quite a lot of variety in today's landscape.
After completing the 100 miles, I rode slowly for the last few miles into Guymon. Since I had only stopped one time to refill my water bottles, eat a banana and grab some Cliff Blocks, I was hungry when I got in. Seeing a McDonald's solved my problem: quarter pounder with cheese, large fries, chocolate shake.
I am sure that I will pay a price tomorrow for riding so hard today, but I will never come close to repeating this ride.