Fun (mostly) gravel ride, even if I didn't complete the 100 miles 🚲

I tried myself at an imperial century (100 miles) along the Rhine but had to admit defeat about 100 km into the ride. The weather was brilliant and brilliantly hot and humid. Instead of pushing myself too hard, I decided to veer off to the east and head to the next station to catch a train back home.

The gravel along the Rhine is perfection; small pebbles and dust. It was easy to find a good cadence and just glide along.

In places the water meadows along the Rhine reminded me of a bike ride I did in the Everglades, which felt very strange.

This was also my first attempt at finding out what works for me in terms of gear and bike setup for longer outdoor rides.

In the end I rode 122 km. Just ~ 7 km shy of the 129 km I pedaled during the Zwift Uber Pretzel virtual ride earlier this year. I was properly exhausted after but not completely destroyed, which made me happy.
Once temperatures cool down a bit, I’ll try the 100 miles again. I think all the reading I’ve done on Bikepacking.com, The Radavist, and Gravel Cyclist has had me pretty well prepared and the only things I’ll have to change before the next ride are going to be the tyres and the amount of snacks I bring for this route.

Alex Hoffmann @mangochutney