Bigger Fish To Fry!!!!

Each endurance sport has it's "big fish"! In running it is the marathon (26.2 miles), and for cycling it is the "century ride" (100 miles). People train for those specific events for months and months just to be able to finish one attempt. I have a lot of experience at training for marathons, I have completed three of them and they take quite a bit of dedication. While training for the marathons, you wanted to make sure that you wanted to peak on race day, which meant doing your longest training run a few weeks prior to the actual race. This allowed your body to recover just enough to perform at a completely rested, yet still fit level on race day.
Prior to starting my training for the Etape the furthest I had ever gone in a single day on my bike was 85 miles. It was a random summer day a few years ago, and I hurt for several days afterwards. When I received my training plan for the Etape I noticed 1 ride of 110 miles during the training leading up to the race. I thought about how meaningless my first century ride would be, due to the fact that I would be training alone. Yesterday the weather was great, and my training mileage called for an 85 mile ride. After 5 hours in the saddle I felt great, and decided today would be the day for my first century. As I rounded the last corner, and headed for home I noticed my computer roll over to read 100.00, and I silently celebrated turning into my driveway. Although it wasn't a big century ride, it still was a milestone for me. Each week I get close to the ultimate prize, MY stage of the 2009 Tour de France, so in the grand scheme of things this Saturday's century was just another rung on the ladder that leads to Ventoux. I reeld in a big one on Saturday, but there are bigger fish to fry!