Tuesday, September 05, 2023

Another #GCCUSA2023 Century Ride

I did another Great Century Challenge Century Ride yesterday (Labor Day).

Yep, 100 miles.
That's right ... On my bicycle.
Yep, in one day.
No, my butt is fine.
Nope, I'm not crazy.
Yes, I know you don't like to drive that far.

As I type this, I've done a total of 321 miles in September. By the time you read this, I will almost certainly have even more miles ridden.

So far, I've raised $2,911, hoping to get to $5,000 by the end of the challenge.

If you'd like to help out or just follow along, feel free to visit my GCC profile page:



To be honest, at the beginning of the ride, I wanted to get at least 80 miles over the course of the day, but wasn't planning on necessarily hitting the Century mark.


I didn't get started nearly as early as I did on my First #GCCUSA2023 Ride. I guess I started just before sunrise, so I didn't actually ride in the dark at all.


Like in the First #GCCUSA2023 Ride, I started down the Platte River Path into and north of Denver. This time, though, instead of heading so far north, I headed along the Clear Creek Path back west.

Unlike the First #GCCUSA2023 Ride, I wasn't trying to keep the ride as flat as possible.


It seems like every time I go from the Platte River Trail to the Clear Creek Trail, I make at least one wrong turn, and this time was no exception ... even with the route loaded into my bike computer.

I really wish they did a better job labeling the bike paths up there. You'd think the way I screw it up every time, I'd remember that one spot I always screw up, but I guess it isn't that often I make it up that way.


Regardless, I found my way eventually without losing too much time and effort.


I actually stopped by home at the 50 mile mark to ask the wife if she'd like to bike somewhere, but she was on her way to the gym and said she wouldn't be biking yesterday.

So ... I dropped off my arm warmers and the camel back. Filled up water bottles and continued on my ride.


I headed down towards Chatfield Park. The wind really picked up from the south as I was cycling along the reservoir.


It didn't slow me too much and it was nice having that wind on my back coming back north.

I headed back along the lake and then over to the Platte River trail again. Then up to the Bear Creek trail.


I cycled through Beer Creek Lake Park, and back home to hit 101.42 miles in 5:51:16 moving time.

Even though I didn't plan the route to be fast and flat like my First #GCCUSA2023 Ride, I finished this ride even faster.

Not only was my moving time faster, but my total Elapsed Time was also faster by a couple of minutes (6:15:13 vs 6:18:15)


I averaged 17.3 mi/h, which is pretty fast for an old couch potato like me over 100 miles.

Anyway ... I still have 679 miles to go for the month ... keep an eye on me at 


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