Mind Chatter

An Adventure with my Brain during my first Century

By Kevin Chen

On Thursday, November 5 2015, I rode my first century. To non-cyclists, that’s 100 miles. For 9 and a half hours, I rode by myself down California’s Highway 1 from Monterey to Cambria. It was my longest, farthest, and most demanding ride to date. Before this, the maximum I rode was 52 miles and 5,135 feet of upwards elevation change. This ride was just shy of 108 miles and had 10,600 feet of elevation change.

This was a solo ride, which means that I set out by myself was not planning to meet anyone along the 100 mile stretch. Ever wonder what it’s like in the head of someone that is undergoing such an endeavor? Without someone to talk to, I made notes of my thoughts throughout the ride, mile by mile. Here are some of the highlights, in order:

• Mile 0: Frick am I really doing this?
• Mile 0.5: I guess so…
• Mile 1: Damn it’s cold.
• Mile 3: WEEEEEE DOWNHILL!! omg cars don’t die don’t die don’t die
• Mile 8: Where’s the coast? :(

• Mile 9: THERE IT IS!!
• Mile 10: Rats, it’s gone.
• Mile 18: Bixby Bridge… now’s not the time to be afraid of heights…
• Mile 19: Glad that’s over with.
• Mile 21: WEEEEE DOWNHILL!! ok ok brake… turn… ok ok WEEEEE!
• Mile 23: (A portion of flatness where I begin singing random songs to myself.)
• Mile 23.1: ? I’m blue da ba dee da ba die… ?
• Mile 23.5: Eh bored of that song
• Mile 24: ? Feel good… bass line… ?
• Mile 24.5: ? City’s breaking down on a camel’s back.
  They just have to go ’cause they don’t know wack
  So all you fill the streets it’s appealing to see
  You won’t get out the county, ’cause you’re bad and free
  You’ve got a new horizon it’s ephemeral style.
  A melancholy town where we never smile.
  And all I wanna hear is the message beep.
  My dreams, they’ve got to kiss me ’cause I don’t get sleep, no ?
• Mile 24.9: Wow I’m surprised I remember that much.
• Mile 25: Goodbye coast, hello woods.
• Mile 31: Ahh the smell of pine needles as I eat a trail mix bar and take a whiz. Not at the same time though, of course.

I took a whiz here hehe

• Mile 31: Alright, we meet for the first time, Big Sur climb. You’re like half of Grizzly Peak so I’m not scared of you.
• Mile 32: Eh I’ll use my granny gear to conserve energy, but not because you’re too hard to climb!
• Mile 33: See? That wasn’t so bad. Kevin-1, Big Sur-0.
• Mile 34: MORE DESCENDING! aww yeah, gotta love slip streaming these cars. Just… gotta… keep… distance…
• Mile 40: (I’m met with this nice man by the name of Tom. Tom has three kids, buys businesses, and rides a sick bike.) Cool, someone to ride with.
• Mile 45: Alright, I’ll just try to get him to deflect the wind for me as much as possible. What? He said I could!
• Mile 50: Sure is nice chatting with this older white dude. Maybe he can give me life advice for a young lad such as me.
• Mile 55: Alas, our time together is over Tom! But thanks for buying me some Powerade! Too kind.
• Mile 60: Dang, these views just don’t get old.

• Mile 66: Man these hills just keep coming. This is what it must feel like to be Pacquiao versus a guy with 5 more inches of reach. Jab jab jab. Too soon? ????
• Mile 70: Keep the Energy Goo coming! Gotta stay energized. ELECTROLYTES!
• Mile 71: Aiiiieee, Ragged Point climb. Things are starting to feel heavy, but LET’S GO!
• Mile 72: Maybe if I give myself words of motivation I won’t be so tired. “Okay Kevin, you can do it. Push push push. You’ve come this far. JUST DO IT!!”
• Mile 73: Maybe I’ll just keep quiet. Don’t want to waste all this energy on talking.
• Mile 74: Screw that. I think I’ll keep motivating myself. The ROI is worth it.

Ragged Point! The top of one of the last climbs.

• Mile 75: Weee descending… it’s starting to hurt to keep my head up to see the road.
• Mile 76: Another climb?!
• Mile 77: Ow ow ow
• Mile 78: THE END IS IN SIGHT!
• Mile 83: FLAT GROUND!
• Mile 88: FLAAAAAAAAAAT!
• Mile 90: Oooo look, elephant seals.

Look at those fat pieces of blubber just hanging out. Who’s a good blubber? You are!

Mile 95: SO CLOSE! Thank you @Lindsey Moriguchi for the butt cream because my butt is still holding up.

Mile 96: ????

Mile 97: ????

Mile 98: ????

Mile 99: ????

Mile 100: ???????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????

One of the possible victory looks after a century. Come one, come all, the look is in season.

In short, it was an amazing ride. I have been wanting do a century for a while now, and I wouldn’t have had it another way than to do it down beautiful Highway 1. The sight of rolling mountains, the descents into the depths of Big Sur’s woods, and the faint smell and sounds of the great Pacific were all euphoric. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a beautiful view or a fun ride.

-K

P.S. There’s something wonderfully romantic of cycling long distances. Maybe its the fact that when almost all our things are either motorized or digitized, it’s feels extremely satisfying to go 100 miles with nothing but some metal, rubber, and the muscles in your legs. No gasoline, no electricity, just muscle and gravity doing the work. As down-to-earth as that is, I think the romance comes from something else. Along the way, I passed touring cyclists that seemed to have come from much farther distances than I, and to them I salute. Although I didn’t even speak a word with most of them, we shared the same view and same climbs together. So maybe it’s not so much the down-to-earth nature of cycling that’s so romantic, but instead it might be the feeling of being grafted into a long tradition of adventure and self-reliance that comes with doing a century on the CA-1.