Pan-Mass Challenge – Day 2

Sunday:

The plan was to meet at Babson College and be rolling at 6:30 for the official PMC-supported Wellesley century loop. Due to COVID, there was no “mass start” and riders were encouraged to start anytime 6-8am.

I woke up not on purpose at 2:45am. Then I started doing the calculations of what time I could be on my bike at the route start in Wellesley if I got up immediately, because I figured anything around 5am would be acceptable non-insanity territory.

One hour to get ready -> 3:45am

15 minutes to get my bike racked on my car -> 4:00am

15 minutes to stop at my local 24-hour CVS and Dunks -> 4:15am

30 minutes to drive to Wellesley -> 4:45am

15 minutes to get my bike unracked and ready to roll -> 5:00am

Calculations checked out in my head and I was up. Regardless of my accidental wake-up, I generally wanted to start earlier than the planned 6:30am start time that the Bain team was doing. The earlier the better to avoid heat and cars as much as possible. I also knew I was going to be really slow because of how much Day 1 took out of me. I did not want to feel like a burden on the team, nor feel pressured to ride harder than I was capable of, so decided it was best to start off on my own. 

I got 4 clif bars and 2 bottles of gatorade at CVS. I really wanted a blueberry donut at Dunks (top 5 favorite foods), but they don’t have donuts that early so I had to settle for a blueberry muffin. 

I drove out and parked at the Needham Heights commuter rail stop, to avoid whatever parking lot calamity was at the start at Babson College. It was about half a mile off the route, so it would still complete the 100 miles to start and end there.

My mental timeline had worked out perfectly, and I was rolling at 5:05am. Me and the road.

The first 10 miles were excruciatingly difficult. 

Chunking is a HUGE psychological help with any endurance activity, especially cycling 100 miles. Things like “only 12 miles to the next rest stop” or my favorite traditional statement when at mile 80 with Steve O: “only one 20 mile recovery ride left to go”. At the start of a 100 mile ride when completely beaten down from the day before, it was impossible for me to break it down into any chunks. I was overwhelmed at the fact that I was only going 10mph, and even though my legs didn’t hurt, I couldn’t make them go any faster. Was this really going to take me 10 hours of pedaling time to do (12 hours real time)? The 100 mile route was a figure-8, so I was already planning my bail out of only doing the shorter loop and cutting it to 50 miles.

At around mile 10, first light from the sun was visible, as I went by Willett Pond in Westwood. I was at a mental low point, as I was feeling the worst I have felt cycling, since the very first time I tried to ride 100 miles with zero training on a hybrid bike. It was really pretty there, so I decided to take a mental and physical break to reset. This is when I realized that these low points are really the reason why I love doing this stuff. I love the opportunity to feel like you absolutely cannot possibly do something, but then overcoming all the challenges and proving to yourself that you can. This was by far the most doubt I’ve ever had about being able to finish something. So it was also the biggest opportunity to prove myself wrong and just do it. I decided I did not care how long it took me. After all, that’s why I wanted to start early. No one else was even on the road yet, and I was already 10 miles in. I had nothing to lose. Back on my bike I went. 

The first rest stop was at about mile 15. Wonderfully organized with 50 porta potties. A few volunteers were already setting up. I refilled my bottles, even though they were mostly full. The temperature was much cooler than Saturday, but I learned my lesson. 

The next 10 miles were still quite a bit of a struggle. The elevation gain of this ride was 3,400 feet, but it was very front loaded and back loaded, with a large flat stretch in the middle 50 miles. 

The second rest stop was at Gillette Stadium. There were a couple of route options starting from Gillette at 7am, so there were plenty of people around now, and the atmosphere was really fun and upbeat. I refilled bottles again, had a clif bar, and ate a nuun tablet. I was so paranoid about cramping and dehydration that I decided eating nuun tablets instead of waiting for them to dissolve in water and then drink them would be better. 

After the second rest stop I was finally feeling like I was getting my normal energy back. I averaged 12mph over the first 25 miles, which was very slow, but looking at the elevation map made me feel better too. As more and more riders were on the road, and catching up to me from the 100 mile start, I started to enjoy the day more for what it was. A fantastic community and charity event. The most memorable thing I saw this weekend was a man riding a tandem bike alone, with a picture on his back of his young son who had died from cancer. Very touching, I nearly started crying on my bike. 

As the day went on, there were more and more people sitting by the road cheering on the riders, which was really nice. I really enjoyed and appreciated the camaraderie among the riders, and the energy from the small crowds. Also, there were police at major intersections helping us cross streets, which was great. 

Miles 25 to 56 breezed by with minimal hills and MUCH cooler temps than yesterday (average temp was 72 degrees). Nothing notable or memorable happened, but it was enjoyable. I do remember I was constantly standing up while coasting, trying to stretch out my back, shoulders, and neck. I felt like I was doing upper body yoga. 

The lunch stop was at mile 56, and I got there around 10:30. Since I didn’t officially register, I didn’t take a lunch, but I ate my clif bar, changed out my clear lenses to sunglasses, put my lights away, filled my bottles, and charged my phone up to 100%. Side note, I absolutely LOVE that I got a 5x portable charger for longer rides like this. It allows me to always have GPS/route navigation up on my phone mounted on the right side of my handle bars, and I have my bike computer with all my live metrics on the left side. It’s a really great cockpit.

The lunch stop had music and a huge tent for shade. There were hundreds of cyclists already there, so it was a fun environment. I stayed there for about 45 minutes.

From that point on, I had definitely overcome and put away all the mental defeat that I dealt with at the start. Chunking was back in full force, and I could see the end in sight, especially since the big lunch rest stop was at mile 56, and not mile 50 or even slightly before. 

During the next stretch, I caught up on a few NYT The Daily and sports talk radio podcasts from the past week. I use Bose Tempo Frames: sport sunglasses that allow you to hear your audio and your surroundings at the same time (nothing in or on your ears).

Before I knew it, I was at the mile 80 rest stop. They had my favorite snack, PopCorners Kettle Corn. I grabbed two bags and sat on the curb with my shoes off. Yesterday I only dealt with a bit of feet numbness, although maybe I was just too distracted by other ailments, but today was pretty bad. As I was putting my shoes back on, and getting ready to go, I saw someone in a Bain kit! I had a 90 minute head start and they had caught up to me! Thank goodness I started so early. I went over to the group and they were surprised to see me. They said how they were talking about how impressed they were with my start yesterday. I was like “yeah.. and I payed for it yesterday, and I’m paying for it greatly today!”

I departed the rest stop with them, but only kept up with them for about 2 miles. That was fine with me though, because I wasn’t really in a chatty mood, and just wanted to finish strong, in the zone. I switched to music, and enjoyed the atmosphere of the fans and getting intermittently passed by large teams of riders, all telling me I’m so close to finishing and just keep going.

My final test was a 200 yard 13% grade climb at the very end of the ride bringing me back to the Needham Heights station. It was the cherry on top of the most elevation I’ve done in one weekend by a wide margin. When I got to the top, a train came by and I had to wait to cross the tracks to get to my car.

I got to my car and it was a very unceremonious, anti-climactic conclusion to a wild weekend. Upon completion of PMC, many people take a picture with their bike raised over their head. I didn’t have the energy or capability to do that, so I just sat on the ground next to the bike for the final picture. All in all, it was a great day, except for those first 10-20 miles, and I finished with a respectable average speed of 13.7mph, really making up some time of the final 80 miles. Today was really tough, but I never felt medically unwell, like I did yesterday. I owe that difference to the reduction in heat compared to yesterday (95 vs 75), as well as better hydration today. Notably, I had to pee at every rest stop today. Yesterday, I did not need to pee the entire day, even when I got home. Not good.

I got home around 3pm but didn’t get to bed until around 1am, due to some unfortunate timing on an unrelated personal issue. I will be recovering from all of this for at least a week.