The Sierra Century sort of crept up on us. We weren’t really trained to ride 100 miles….so imagine our relief when the day before the ride, we realized this year’s ride didn’t come in the 100-mile distance, but rather, was a mere 100 km – a metric century (62 miles)! Yes please!
We arrived early at the start, which begins at the Amador County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, CA, and met up with a few fellow GO riders from our local ElliptiGO meet-up group. We started the ride together at 7:00 sharp and shared some early miles together. Both stronger riders than us, after several early kilometers, they sped off on their own faster paces.
One fellow GO rider was looking to get a qualifier ride in for the ElliptiGO World Championships – held every year in October, near ElliptiGOs headquarters in SoCal. This would mean completing the days’ ride in under 5 hours (total elapsed ride time). They did! And while we hadn’t set out to achieve a qualifier, midway through the ride, we thought…..why not? But it didn’t happen – even with our unfortunate rear flat tire, which sucked up about a half hour (rear flats are a real pain on the GO) – we dawdled a bit too long at the rest stops, and well, needed to ride a faster pace! In short – more training required!
Our adventure took us through beautiful rolling oak woodland and pine forests, in largely undeveloped country in Amador County, including the historic Gold Rush towns of Ione, Sutter Creek, Volcano, and Fiddletown. The route includes roads that are in fair condition with little to no traffic. While the ride stats are similar to the Party Pardee, the Sierra Metric Century features essentially one sustained climb (~25 miles up) – while the former is more of an up/down variety.
The sustained climb, known as the “Ramshorn” – is followed by a real blast of a downhill. Well, it would have been a blast if I wasn’t white knuckling it half the way down! I had the misfortune of hitting a few potholes midway down the decent, which were hidden in a shady section – both of which were a bit frightening on the GO (20-inch wheels aren’t the best shock absorbers!). Let’s just say Mr. SUB had a bit more fun on this downhill than I did….
We made it back to the start in just under a 6-hour ride time (7 hours total). Similar to our Party Pardee ride, we were never alone on the course. Always plenty of riders passing us by or regrouping at the rest stops – and everyone with pleasant comments, and curiosity.
The question most often asked: “Is it more difficult than on a bike?” Answer: Well, it’s slower, so takes longer to cover the same distance – but overall, for us it’s a much more comfortable, natural and fluid ride – so it seems like less work – and ultimately is more fun, since we don’t have any of the discomforts that caused us to seriously curtail our “normal” bike riding!
Post Ride Eats: After finishing, we promptly set off for some “nutritional rewards.” While we enjoy riding in the great outdoors….we both also appreciate a good post ride vegan meal! We fared okay at the nearest Whole Foods (Folsom). Salad bar, vegan pizza and extra drinks! Oh my…
Our day via Strava…
