The Annual Penance 100 ~~ Tourists, Use it well!

It is now just 43 days until our annual “Penance 100.” On January 1, we will ride from Bicycles Unlimited, down to Pine Mountain, over the mountain, through Warm Springs, and back to Peachtree City. A bit more than a century, done on the first day of the year.

We do this for a lot of reasons. Mostly, it’s an affirmation. We are saying, to ourselves and others, “We are still here!” We are reassuring ourselves that, even with reduced training time, and the recent holiday stress, we are still capable of doing a full century! In the winter yet!

For the savvy cyclist, training has already begun for the coming year. That said, I’ve always thought of the Penance Ride as marking the point where it gets serious. Spring will come, exactly 59 days after the Penance Ride. The “touring season” starts in the early Spring. It’s time!

How can a tourist use the ride as a training activity? If you are brand new to this, the answer is, by just surviving it! If you can complete a 100 miler on the first day of the year, you’re on your way.

For the more experienced rider/tourist, the Penance Ride offers a slightly different marker and opportunity. This is when you bring the good old “touring bike” out, add a bit of cargo, and begin the process of adapting to riding a heavier bike.

An old, and very good tourist’s training trick, is to gradually increase the load carried on the bike, until it is greater than that planned for a full event load out. New Year’s Day is a great time to begin this process. I’m planning ot do this ride on my tourist. It’s my most weather capable bike, and I begin with a fairly light load of clothing, and food for the day.

The heavier bike and load means that I will be riding at a more relaxed pace than some, and thus will be out there a bit longer. I’m not concerned. I have my lights on the bike, and a nice long ride is just what the doctor is ordering.

Are you still wondering if you can do the ride? You can! It’s just over six weeks away. If you are reading this, you were likely in decent shape this summer. Just get on your bike! Do our spin classes. Get in two more short rides each week. Get in one three to four hour ride on the weekends. Do that until the end of December, and you will do fine.

Remember, it’s all mental. Right?