My First Century Ride

Rodrigo Afanador
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

And we were off…with Daft Punk setting the tone and my friend Scott Bolte setting the pace our journey began. We had just set off on my first Century Ride, 100 miles in one day. Little did I know at that time that my mental and physical limits were going to be pushed in a way they had never been pushed before. Our decision to go on the ride came together a week or so before our departure.

At the beginning of the ride

Bolte asked me if I would join him on an adventure for his birthday (July 2015), naturally I agreed. As I committed to the Century Ride I started to Google the definition and tips on how to complete it. As I read through blogs and forums a common thread started to appear; train for months and drink water. Considering that I had less than a week to train, I concentrated my attention on drinking water, for the three days leading up to the ride I drank an average of about five liters of water. I like to consider myself to be a fairly fit individual who is in good shape, however what awaited me was a different animal.

Starting just north of Boone and after five or six hours of biking we pulled into the Linville Falls Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were out of water and wanted to take a breather before tackling the climb over Mt. Mitchell. Optimism was high as we had just completed a small downhill. For the next six hours all we did was climb, no downhills, no flat parts, just steady never ending uphill. The only way I could keep moving forward was by listening to music and matching my cadence to the music’s beat.

By the time we reached the top it was just after 11:30pm, 14 hours after we had pushed off that morning at 9:30pm. We say on the edge of the road and are our last few pieces of food that we had. Thankfully the next portion all the way to the house was downhill. At this point in our journey sitting down was no longer an option because of the pain it caused. About an hour later we finally pulled into our driveway. Although an amazing feat had just occurred the only thing I wanted to do was to find the floor in my room and lie down…which I did.

This endeavor was one of the most mentally and physically challenging I had ever undertaken before. I was grossly unprepared for what was required, however knowing that Bolte was five, ten, or 30 minutes ahead of me helped to keep me pushing forward. Knowing that I would never have the story if I quit helped push me through.

Pushing myself to the limit physically and mentally is important. Putting myself in these situations helps strengthen my mental resolve and reminds me that we are all capable of more than we imagine. We need to continue to push the line on what we believe is possible for ourselves; not only mentally and physically but in all areas of our life. Keeping this perspective is important as it promotes aggressive growth and allows me to live a life full of adventure and growth.

Written by

Rodrigo Afanador is a passionate business owner and committed community volunteer. Born in Colombia living in Asheville. Real Estate investor and mountain biker

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