Sierra and Sequoia Centuries

So, Lorri has me slated for two centuries this weekend: the Sierra Century, and the Sequoia Century.  Both of them are relatively challenging centuries – 12,000 feet of climbing for the Sierra (which makes it almost on par with Markleeville) and 9,000 feet of climbing for the full Sequoia.  I may not do the full Sequoia Century, though – it depends on how I feel after doing the Sierra Century.

Sierra is going to be a challenge.  Not because of the length or the climbing – I’m pretty confident I can do both – but because of the time cutoff.  The route opens at 6am and closes at 5pm, leaving a total of 11 hours to complete the century.  On Davis, I spent about 15% of my time in rest stops (3 hours over a total of 18.5), so figure I spend 1 hour, 40 minutes in rest stops on Sierra.  That leaves me 9 hours and 20 minutes to do Sierra, meaning I have to average 12 mph for the time I’m riding.  I’m not sure I can manage that over all those hills – going up and down Mt. Hamilton I think I only average about 10 mph – so I may get swept.  Oh well.  If I do, well, c’est la vie.
Sequoia I’m much less worried about – it’s closer by, there’s a bail-out option, and if I can complete Sierra I won’t feel bad about shortening/skipping Sequoia.  There’s also no mention of route closing times, so I’m less worried about getting swept.

On the whole, I’m feeling very good after two very nearly complete rest weeks – will be interesting to see how I do on Sierra.  I’m also feeling MUCH more relaxed about my cycling ability after the Davis Double Century.