101 Miles, Three Weeks Out

The ride

Friday morning. 101 miles. 3,091 feet of climbing. Seven and a half hours door to door, about six and a half of that actually moving.

Average speed was 13.8 mph. Average power was 102 watts. For context, my FTP (the highest average power I can hold for roughly an hour) is 216 watts, so 102 watts is a comfortable endurance pace — not slow, not hard, just sustainable. The goal on a ride this long isn't to go fast. It's to finish and still be able to walk the next day.

I did.

Why this ride matters

TheBayRide is 135 miles on August 29th. That's 22 days from today. This was the longest ride I've done in this training block, and it needed to happen. You can't fake 135 miles. You can do a lot to prepare for it, but at some point your legs have to actually spend a day turning the pedals for hours on end. Today was that day.

The ride took a little over 22 minutes per mile on average including all stops. Aid stations, a red light, a snack stop, time to just stand next to the bike and let the legs remember how to be legs. That's what a long day in the saddle actually looks like. Not a highlight reel. A lot of sitting with yourself.

How it felt

Honest answer: fine until about mile 80, then I was ready to be done. Miles 80 to 101 were a negotiation. Not painful, not a crisis, just that low-grade conversation between your brain and your body where your body keeps asking "are we there yet" and your brain has to keep saying "not yet, keep going."

This is also where August 29th gets built. Not in the good miles. In those last 20 where you stay in the saddle anyway.

Where things stand

Date: August 29th, 2026 (22 days out)
Today's distance: 101 miles
Moving time: 7h 18min
Elevation: 3,091 ft
Avg power: 102W (roughly 47% of FTP — all-day pace)
Current FTP: 216W

What comes next

Easy days. The work is mostly done. The next three weeks are about recovering well, staying loose, and showing up on August 29th with legs that have something left in them. Riding 135 miles is less about peak fitness and more about not arriving to the start line already tired.

If you've been watching this training journal and wondering whether you could do something like this, I'd ask you to look at today's numbers. 102 average watts. 13.8 miles per hour. This is not a fast ride. It's a long one. That distinction is the whole thing.

You don't have to be fast. You have to be willing to keep going.

There's a 35-mile option that runs from San Francisco to Oakland if the full 135 feels like too much right now. Either way, come do this with me. TheBayRide.com has everything you need.

Ride on Strava ↗