Grizzly Peak Century 4th century of the year

This was my 3rd year in a row of doing the GPC and I know it's always tough. Mother nature always seems to ensure it's in the 80's by mid-day making the great amount of climbing in this 100 miler even tougher. Greg and I left the house at around 7am and registered at the Wildcat Canyon bike registration station. We killed it the first 60 miles in fact I was thinking it was easier this year. Shows how a ride can change. It got really hot as we pedaled into the Castro Valley, a section I really despise, and by the time we got to what would be our final rest stop I was feeling cooked. The heat was working on me. The down side is I knew there was 30 miles to go most of it climbing in the exposed sun to get back home. I struggled and as we approached skyline I almost bonked. Had to stop drink water and rest a bit under a shady tree. Something I never do. I got myself together and limped the rest of the way home. I did recover the last 10 miles or so to finish at a good pace, but I will be sore on Monday. I guess this happens to everyone once in a while. Perhaps I hit it too hard coming out of the gate.I had a strong ride two weeks earlier in the Primavera Century, but this time I was limping home. GPC has a hell of a lot of climbing, my back yard Century event in the East Bay hills in no slouch! We climbed close to 8,500 feet.