That’s not my cycling career–I hope–just what happened on Sunday last. I finished the century, for the fourth straight time.

Very slowly.

My strategy this year was to finish, not injure myself, avoid heat stroke (after last year), and avoid cramping (at least as much as I could). What that translated into was a lot of drafting and a lot of going slowly. I also took a tip from one of my running friends and hid a couple of coolers along the way where I could put frozen water bottles to refresh myself.

I finished.

I didn’t injure myself, although as usual, my legs were sore and my hamstrings very tight until about Thursday.

I didn’t get heat stroke, although I was pretty close. I didn’t actually vomit nor did I have the aphasic episode I did last year, even though I felt pretty nauseous for about 48 hours.

Finally, I didn’t cramp nearly as painfully as in the past couple of years.

While my strategy worked, however, in retrospect, it was probably not the best strategy, because I was out there forever, more than eight hours–over an hour longer than last year. While I’ve taken speed out of the equation in terms of a goal, it would be nice to be faster than I was.

As an aside, I also flatted twice but had no other mechanicals.

I’m evaluating what I want to do for next year right now.