And that is my first century complete, 100.1 miles.
Took way longer than expected.
We went super slow.
But damn, I have a lot of thoughts.
I kinda just wanna shower right now.
(upbeat music)
And we're back.
Probably one of the slowest centuries
that have ever been done.
I think the total time was nine hours,
and the moving time was seven a half hours,
average speed 13.
Really not good,
but first century, I'm happy.
And I have several thoughts.
First of all, why did I do the century?
So, century is 100 miles on a bike.
The reason I did it was because with COVID,
with stay at home,
I definitely was going stir-crazy.
In end of April, early May,
it probably got the worst where I was like,
"This is just, I'm not happy."
I did a trip to Monterey
and I spent five days in Monterey.
And being at this hotel by the ocean
and it was awesome.
And I felt so much better afterwards.
And then I came back to Vegas I said, "Okay."
What I'm realizing is that despite having
structured routines with exercise
and FaceTime with friends and all these other things,
I don't like being stuck in just one place.
'Cause when I'm in Vegas,
I'm usually at my apartment
and sometimes I'll go cycling
and sometimes I'll explore a little bit,
but I just don't like being stuck in one place.
This trip was essentially my learnings
from that Monterey trip
like okay, getting out of Vegas makes me happy,
so I came here with a buddy.
We drove up from Las Vegas yesterday.
We spent the night at the hotel,
this morning when we set off,
thought it was gonna take five or six hours
and it took closer to nine.
And then now we're gonna get dinner,
spend the night here again
and then drive back tomorrow.
I'm also planning on doing another trip
in a couple weeks,
going to California again just to kinda again
switch things up
and keep my sanity in check for lack of other words.
Now, as for my thoughts after this century,
first, I think preparation is important.
But at the same time,
I don't think it's good to over prepare.
I remember this one trip I was presenting
some plastic surgery research in Hawaii
a few years back.
And I had this whole day planned out
around the big island where I would see every site
and go to the Volcanoes National Park.
And the whole thing took me 17 hours.
I was exhausted and I ended up being more drained
after the vacation and ever since then,
I planned on always being really spontaneous
and not planning things when I go on vacation
because I just wanna let things unfold, serendipity.
And with something like cycling,
I don't think that's sort of the best way
of approaching it because you wanna have a route in mind.
The route we have,
I personally don't like riding on busy roads
or rather roads that have cars
or where there's a large delta
between my speed and their speed.
So I'm going 15, 20 miles an hour
and they're going 60,
because the chance of a fatal accident goes way up.
So, we planned a route where we were mostly
on these protected bike paths.
We were on the roads a little bit, but not too much.
So that was one part of planning.
The other thing is actually having
a game plan for your nutrition.
So, I went with my friend and I asked him,
"Hey, what's your plan?"
He was like, "Oh, I'm gonna eat when I'm hungry,
"I'll drink when I'm thirsty, it's not a big deal."
And he's done this a lot more than I have.
He did 200 miles in a single day
when he was in his 20's.
I've never done anything more
than 40 or 45 miles until today.
So, going from 40 or 45 all the way to 100 was a big jump.
So, I did some research beforehand
and I was like okay,
I need to be eating around 200 calories every hour
and I wanna have this much liquid,
I should get some electrolyte replacement
towards the end of the ride.
And for the most part I was doing pretty good
for the most of the ride, except at mile 60 to 70.
I was just hitting the wall.
And I wasn't able to keep my same pace.
And my friend actually was able
to pull ahead of me a little bit.
Around mile 75,
I got a second wind and then I was just juice
for the rest of the ride.
I could've kept riding past 100.
I had so much more energy.
My friend on the other hand, he just hit the wall at mile 75
or 80, and then it just got worse
and worse and worse and worse.
And I think looking back the difference was that
because I was being pretty regular with my nutrition,
I didn't, I wasn't getting super hypoglycemic
or my glycogen stores being completely depleted.
And he on the other hand, he had a big breakfast
at Denny's in the morning then he had a hot dog
in the middle of the day and then had a couple
of bars here and there, but I didn't have breakfast.
I just had bar in the morning,
bar in one hour, bar an hour after that,
I just kept having bars.
I had a Gatorade and I think
that preparation came through, again I'm not an expert,
these are just my initial thoughts.
So I guess the main point I'm trying to get at
is preparation is key in certain things in your life,
but you don't want to overdo it.
You don't wanna over prepare.
You don't wanna be overly ambitious,
kinda like that Hawaii vacation where I was exhausted
and I vowed to never do that again.
In this situation, I think having certain things planned,
but maybe being open for some spontaneity,
maybe have the best of both worlds.
The last thought I wanna share with you guys
is the idea of being content with what you have.
I've had this bike, this was my first ever road bike.
I got it first year of med school, 2012.
It's like the lowest level of specialized that you can get.
It was $700 brand new, which is cheap for a road bike.
I know that sounds very expensive.
The groupset is very basic, not good at all.
The bike isn't the lightest, at the same time,
the thing that's limiting me, isn't my bike, it's me.
And my friend actually has a really expensive,
full carbon bike with electric shifters
or wireless shifters and carbon fiber wheels
and it's like, it's super fancy.
But normally when we ride, I'm actually usually
in front of him and today as well, by the end,
I was setting the pace on it and I had to wait for him.
So I'm not saying there's anything right
or wrong with upgrading the things you have.
But sometimes I feel like there's almost pressure for me
to get a better bike because I would be faster
because it would be more comfortable
to go carbon rather than aluminum,
because maybe I've seen this bike
for the last eight years
and I wanted to look at something new.
But at the same time, I feel like that's a slippery slope.
And I think it's more worthwhile for me
to just be content with what I have
and try to maximize it because that bike
is not holding me back.
I am holding the bike back, if anything.
All right guys, that's it, I'm tired, I'm hungry.
I'm gonna go eat, much love.
See you guys in the next one.
(Upbeat music)