Morgan Hill to San Jose Century
Route Review
I rode my first century by cycling down to Morgan Hill mostly on Santa Teresa Blvd., then cycling back once I hit Tennant Ave. I then mostly rode the Coyote Creek Trail and Guadalupe River Trail until I got to Alviso. I then rode the San Francisco Bay Trail and Stevens Creek Trail to get to Sunnyvale. For the last long leg, I rode various city streets through Cupertino and Campbell to get back to Almaden.
I think over half the mileage was on cycling trails, which was really nice. Riding on streets was less nice, but most of that was at night time (and I was lit up like a Christmas tree), so it wasn’t so bad either.
There was very little shade during the ride, but I got lucky in that it was a temperate day, so I didn’t overheat.
There were handfuls of public parks on my route, so it was easy to get more water or to use the restrooms when needed. There were also a ton of restaurants, which made it easy to get food whenever I got close to being hungry.
What I Learned
I gave myself a 60% probability that I would finish the ride. First, I had not ridden my bike long distance for more than a month due to increased meetings at work. Second, I started really late in the day, as I didn’t think I would even attempt the century after not getting the best sleep the few days before. Lastly, I just wasn’t sure if I would be strong enough. But once I started riding, well, I just kept feeling more and more confident, even though I rode through 5-15 mph headwinds from Morgan Hill to Sunnyvale. And once there were only 10 miles remaining, I knew I had it in the bag as I felt strong and fast. As I prove to myself when I do these difficult tasks, I am stronger than I think.
This was my first time doing a prolonged activity where I stopped for food. Usually, whenever I do lengthy activities, I might eat a few snacks or just tough it out. On this day, I ate three meals, with plenty of electrolytes—I don’t think I want to go back to the non-meal way, as I never ran out of energy, and physically, I felt fantastic the whole time.
I finished an audiobook early in the ride and was onto a second one as I hit headwinds. The book just wasn’t engaging enough, so I switched to a funny podcast about movies and I never looked back. Laughter drowned away any negative thoughts and kept me focused on the ride. I’m grateful that I have so many options for entertainment as I do these activities.
Instead of charging my helmet and forward blinking light during stops, I just brought extras and switched them out. They both lasted about 50 miles, so it was perfect. My radar tail light still had more than a 1/3 battery left.
I bought a faulty charger for my phone, so I could not charge it during the stops. So, I ended up turning off the cell connection and putting it in low battery mode for about 40% of the ride. Next time, I should test out the chargers before trusting them.
What Happened?
101.2 miles, 8 hrs 59 mins, 1564 ft of ascent
With Cassie forecasted to come home around 8 p.m., I did not think I would be attempting the century ride, even though the bike was prepped as I woke up late with only about 5 hrs of sleep. But since I had an errand to run (to drop off a shirt at Mike’s house, which is about 7 miles away), I thought maybe I’ll just ride a shorter loop and get 30 or 40 miles in.
So I headed off to Mike’s house. On the way, I stopped by Jue’s to say hello to the girls and meet her new cats, then dropped off the shirt to Harmon. So far, I was riding lazily and was just enjoying my Sunday. I then figured out where I’d eat my lunch and headed off down Santa Teresa Blvd. When I got to a small Korean restaurant called Hankki, I found out that they were closed, so I went across the street to settle for a Subway sandwich.
During this lunch stop, I got a message from Cassie stating that she’d be home closer to midnight. I did some quick calculations and figured that gave me 11 hours to do an additional 90 miles of cycling, which seemed more than doable. But I still was not feeling confident, so I told myself that I would ride down to Morgan Hill and see if I should continue from there—I told myself that I could easily bail at the 40-mile mark, so might as well keep going.
I must have felt pretty good as I don’t remember much from the ride down to Morgan Hill. I do remember when I reached the start of the Coyote Creek Trail, as I stopped for water and to use the pristine restroom.
The ride up to Downtown San Jose was rough as that’s when the headwinds reared their head. My average speed dropped, but I just told myself that the ride would probably get easier when I hit downtown. I stopped for my second meal of the day in downtown San Jose. I had been on the road for almost 5 hours and when I passed by a Tung Kee Noodle, I stopped like Leonard at the end of Momento, and walked in for a slightly early dinner.
I ordered the combination noodles and Thai iced tea, and when it hit my tongue—I found myself wanting no other. As I finished up, I realized that this restaurant was cash-only. Not having any notes on me, I tried to set up a pin to use my credit card to advance cash, but my credit card company informed me that I would be receiving the pin through the mail in about 5 business days. So I appealed to this man who was sitting close to me and asked if he could trade me cash for a Venmo payment. He accepted and totally rescued me.
On the road again, I found myself in Alviso with the sunsetting. The wind really picked up right as the paved trail turned into a dirt one. I crawled for the next 5 miles—at least the views were beautiful.
When I hit the Stevens Creek Trail, I knew it would be all “downhill” from there, even if there was a slight elevation gain the rest of the way home. I turned on my headlights and cycled towards Cupertino Memorial Park, where I knew I could refill my empty water bottles.
Once I refilled my water bottles and used the restroom, I started doing some math in my head and realized that I would be a few miles short of 100 miles if I headed directly home. So, I instead headed towards Oak Ridge Mall, where I figured there would be at least one business open that would serve food.
I pedaled a little bit extra harder as I came into the stupendous sight of an open In-and-Out Burger. I parked my bike, got my usual double-double burger and a small coke. I engorged myself on a second dinner and realized that I could make up the extra mile required to hit 100 miles by circling a small loop near Mike’s place.
And with that extra loop, I headed down Almaden Expy in great spirits. I felt strong, I felt fast, and I knew I had this ride in the bag. I had ridden almost 9 hours with stops only for food, but I felt like I could ride 20 more miles if I felt like it.
When I arrived home, I took a luxurious shower and drank a celebratory sparkling water. An hour later, Cassie arrived home and my very good day got even better.