On Sunday peliom and I did the Wildflower Century in Chico! It was my first century ride and lots of fun! We almost didn’t go because it was raining Saturday night, and more rain was forecasted for the morning….but I really wanted to ride 100 miles *somewhere* so we decided to make the 3 hr drive to Chico at 3 am on Sunday morning to see if the rain would let up.

When we arrived in Chico, it was 6, but still raining, so we checked in, got some coffee, and then napped in the car for a little bit until the rain tapered off. At 8 am we headed off on our bikes! Rain showered on us periodically throughout the morning but things cleared up by mid-afternoon and it turned out to be a really *gorgeous* day. I wish I had photos to show you but I forgot my camera unfortunately :-( The route was beautiful though and it was pretty neat seeing the landscape dotted by hundreds and hundreds of brightly colored cyclists zipping along. For the last 20 miles, we drafted and switched off every 5 miles which made getting to the finish line a lot easier!

The ride was really well organized for the most part - SAG vehicles followed us along the way helping people fix flats (there were A LOT of flat tires), all the rest stops were well stocked with drinks and yummy snacks, and the route map was printed on a bandana which you could wear or easily stuff into a pocket (that’s it above). The only glitch came at the end when they ran out of food for dinner, so we had to wander around Chico for half an hour looking for a place to eat - not what you want to do after riding 100 miles! especially since almost all the restaurants in town were closed…and *especially* because riding long distances makes you *really obsessive* about two things - eating and peeing!

we finally had dinner at a chinese restaurant and then took another short nap in the car before driving back. I was seriously pooped when we got back to the city at midnight, but also super happy that we did it!

Filed under: cycling, excursions |