100 Mile Bike Rides!
Welcome to The Gravel Roll Blog! | March 18th, 2025
Hi there! If you came from our weekly(ish) newsletter then thanks a ton and I’m glad my inconsistence and sarcasm hasn’t driven you off yet!
If you stumbled across this blog from google or some other dark chasm of the web, welcome, my friend. I want you to know, you’re safe here.
If someone shared this with you, well then my plan has worked and soon you’ll be smiling like a fool while pedaling through the middle of nowhere Alabama. And you’ll love every second.
Super Serious Good Times at Opelika Okey Dokey 2024! We’re so stoked for next month! April 12th!
Less than 1 month away from our season opener, Opelika Okey Dokey.
We’re officially only one month out from the first Gravel Roll of 2025 this week!! Hopefully you are as stoked as we are! If you’re already signed up, we can’t wait to see you there. Make sure you get your lodging figured out here soon. We’ve partnered with the Opelika Chamber to set up a page on the event for you on playeasy. It highlights all the lodging and deals in the area. Check it out here!
Some participants rolling through the finish during last year’s Opelika Okey Dokey!
Now on to the meat and potatoes of the blog. Let’s talk bike rides, I love ‘em, you love ‘em, your mom might even love ‘em. But how many of us that love bike rides… also love to go on a bike ride so long that it hurts.
Well more than people would think. The century ride is a very significant thing in cycling culture, riding 100 miles is a huge deal, and often times it can take the entire day. Most people that write about doing 100 mile rides are probably telling you what you need to prepare. Is that what this blog will be?
NO.
This is coming from a guy who has only completed one century ride. It was almost two years ago now, but I still remember the type II fun like it was yesterday.
Let me paint you a picture; It’s a hot and dry day in Boise Idaho, during August of 2023 I had just joined Gravel Roll as the marketer.
After learning about the race distance I figured I should be capable of a 100 mile ride if I was going to market one.
The only issue, all I had was my Pure Original fixed gear. Which isn't true at all, I also had a Trek Marlin 7 hardtail which thinking back would have been the obvious choice, but I was as they say, young, dumb and full of... confidence? Anyway, I got on my fixie in my cutoff jorts and adidas sambas one hot Saturday and knew if I rode the Boise greenbelt all the way to the end and back 2.5 times I'd knock out a century.
I Left my house full of bravado, ready to accomplish this daunting task. What did I have with me? One water bottle, my phone, my wallet, and nothing else. Now I wasn’t too worried about water or calories because the greenbelt runs through the heart of Boise so I knew I’d be able to pull over and grab something if I needed it.
This is before you get to the actual dam. I took this photo in June of 2024.
What I did not anticipate was the brutal reality of pedaling at an uphill slope, against 30 mph gusts for 10 miles on a fixed gear. This was my first segment. From downtown Boise to Lucky Peak reservoir. This was my first hint that I might be in for a long day.
As I got to the top of the Lucky Peak road huffing, spitting, dry heaving, and almost being knocked over by the wind because I was moving so slow I was having lots of regrets. The last part of that climb I had to basically use my entire body weight to turn my 44x13t chain rings. It was hell.
But as any cyclist knows, every terrible climb, comes with a fantastic decent. Or so I’m told. Because that is not what I got that day. You know how I said the wind was in my face going up the hill? Well I’m not sure if god was playing some sick joke that day but I swear I had a headwind both days.
By the time I had pedaled my way back into the city I was not feeling great. So I decided to grab a quick bite to eat, refill my water bottle, and why not maybe I’ll have a beer, those tour guys from the 30s were slamming drinks and chain smoking darts I have to have the fitness level of a guy from the 30s who’s smoked since they were 6 at the very least. So one beer turns into two and I’m feeling pretty fresh when I take off. Now mind you from my house to lucky peak is 12.5 miles, the spot I pulled over for drinks off the greenbelt, Green Acres food trucks is about the same distance 12ish miles from Lucky Peak.
I’m about a quarter of the way done and now I’ve got to head out to Eagle, this sucks because I’ve done this ride a million times but just one segment at a time. The stretch from Boise to Eagle isn’t smoothly paved. And my saddle is…. not the best. In fact. I think it’s the worst, it definitely isn’t the right size, so I have to swap between cheeks every few miles. Ya boy has cake.
Me around mile 35 during the ride.
I think I downplayed the dryness of the heat here. Y’all Southerners always say, “you haven’t felt heat like Southern heat.” And that’s true, when I get off the plane in ATL I’m almost immediately covered in sweat. But here in the Sage brush covered high mountain deserts of Idaho. We have DRY heat. I mean 0% humidity— your eyeballs crust over in dust and your tongue disintegrates type of dry. So if you’re like me, stupid, and only bring one bottle of water on a day that’s going to hit 110 degrees, you’re gonna feel like Spongebob and Patrick in that episode when they try to go without water in Sandy’s Dome.
I’m not going to lie, when I rolled into downtown Eagle and had reached my halfway point. I didn’t want to finish. There was no way I could go all the way back to Lucky Peak, then back to where I was, then back home and live. So I didn’t. I rode the greenbelt back into Boise and then looped around all my favorite neighborhoods bouncing from bar to bar. By the time I had landed at my fourth stop I looked at my Strava that I had paused around 67 miles when I rolled up to the first brewery. I had forgotton to resume it but gone pretty significant distance between different spots. By the time the sun had set and I was on my fifth stop of the night I realized I had gone about 10 miles past the century. I couldn’t ride home anymore, but damnit I did it! (I think.) I ended up with a strava at 83 miles of tracked riding and easily rode another 20-30 that I didn’t track.
Moral of the story. Drink the pain away and just keep pedaling. This blog was brought to you by PBR, sponsor of the Gravel Roll Series and my Friday nights!
Thanks for reading through this drivel, hopefully you found it entertaining and at the very least, interesting. I’m trying my hardest to get these blogs out more consistently, if you have topic suggestions just leave a comment or reach out to us!
If you want to see how a real cyclist handles the 100 mile ride during last year’s Okey Dokey, check out the video below!
Eli was one of our top finishers of the long course riders at last year’s Opelika Okey Dokey! They’re super cool and this video is an amazing view into what it like to ride a Gravel Roll event!
