You see the thing about Rich is that he's a bit random. You either choose to go along with him or you get scared & steer well clear. Todays plan was to meet up on the Windsor loop, then go do some Surrey hills & meet a friend of Rich's called Fraser en route. After I'd got my hundrd in I could duck out and go home while Rich continued to cycle with Fraser, and then when he'd had enough he would cycle home again (after all it's only 50 miles...). Rich's plans are always complicated.
Skeptical, I set out alone for Windsor at 6am. It was the first time I'd cycled alone for a few weeks, and I found my mind wandering thinking about the race, thinking about Fraser (my Fraser, not Rich's friend...) and thinking how blummin cold it was.
I arrived at the loop in good time, and decided just to cycle round it as I was early rather than phone Rich. As it turned out Rich was running late, so I got a complete circuit in before we met up. By this time I'd done over 30 miles.
We set off back towards Guildford following the route I'd taken to get up there.
"Right, let's get started" said Rich - he was looking forward to getting some hills in. I took him up Pebble Hill (out of West Horsley) as a warm up. Then a nice long downhill towards Ranmore, and up Ranmore via Crocknorth Road. Once we'd got to the top, we did a U-turn straight back down and up the long descent we'd just dropped down in order to meet Fraser at Shere.
As it turned out, we were a bit early to Shere (I'd thought it would take longer to get back up the hill), so we did a quick blast out through Gomshall and back.
By this time we'd done over 60 miles, so I was pleased when Fraser called to say he was in the Lucky Duck tea-room. We had a quick break & Fraser bought us some tea. I'm sure it was the nicest tea I've ever tasted.
It's been a while since I've seen Fraser, and I'd fogotten just how fit he is. Whilst we were drinking our tea, he told us about how he had won the Dorking 10k race for the third year in succession a few weeks ago having completed a triathalon earlier in the morning!! He is currently in training for an iron-man race in July.
After tea, Fraser decided to show us one of his routes & we took the long hill up out of Shere up Sandy lane and on to Hound House lane. This was a fantastic climb - I've only ever done it coming down, and remember thinking I didn't fancy doing it in the upwards direction, but it's actually quite nice; gentle gradient for 3 miles or so.
Sharp left & a long descent into Peaslake then straight up a hill again across towards Holmbury St Mary. Another nice long descent through Holmbury and Abinger Hammer. A short blast along the A25 and then left up White Down hill. I hadn't appreciated that White Down hill is a bit of a legend (along with Leith Hill & Boxhill) amongst local cyclists. Up until this point, we'd all been sticking together on the uphills and I noticed that Rich & I were more out of breath trying to talk than Fraser was. However at White Down hill, Fraser just disappeared leaving Rich and me looking like amateurs!
The top of White Down brings you onto Ranmore common again, and we turned along my normal route towards Boxhill.
Time was ticking on (I'd said I'd be back by 1pm), so I decided not to join them on Boxhill, and turned back towards Guildford. I was worried I wasn't going to make my 100 miles I'd been aiming for, but Rich seemed confident I should do it; and since everything else had gone well with his random plans, I had no reason to doubt him.
I decided to go back via Polesden Lacy because I thought it would be flatter. Wrong! Still it was a new hill I'd not done before. When I say I went via Polesden Lacy I mean it quite literally, and cycled all the way up to it before realising it is a dead end!
Back down to the A246 and my morning training ride home through Effingham.
Rich was wrong by the way. My Garmin said 99.98 miles by the time I got home!
Showing posts with label 100. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 100. Show all posts
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
A second hundred
Paul, Ciaran and myself set off early this morning for a ride. Ciaran only wanted to be out for a little while as he feels a cold coming on. Paul and I were keen to do 100 miles again.
We met up at 6am & had a quick discussion about routes. We decided to do Paul's 50 mile circuit (the one we did on Monday) & take it from there. So off we set to Ranmore & Leith Hill again!
Breakfast stop in Cranleigh after 30 miles, and then we decided to head straight back to Guildford so Ciaran could get back. Paul and I then decided to do the same loop again, but this time taking in Boxhill too. The road up Boxhill is not too steep, but a nice long incline, so excellent training.
Anyhow, we ended up doing approx 100 miles (actually 97), having done Ranmore Common and Leith Hill twice plus Boxhill; that's over 2.5 km of ascent in total!
I felt pretty good afterwards (compared to the last time). I tried a recovery drink (essentially a protein milk shake) to see how it helped me.
Annoyingly, my battery died on the Garmin (because I forgot to charge it up!), but it stayed on long enough to catch my fastest speed so far coming down off Leith Hill the first time around. I did 43.4 mph!
We met up at 6am & had a quick discussion about routes. We decided to do Paul's 50 mile circuit (the one we did on Monday) & take it from there. So off we set to Ranmore & Leith Hill again!
Breakfast stop in Cranleigh after 30 miles, and then we decided to head straight back to Guildford so Ciaran could get back. Paul and I then decided to do the same loop again, but this time taking in Boxhill too. The road up Boxhill is not too steep, but a nice long incline, so excellent training.
Anyhow, we ended up doing approx 100 miles (actually 97), having done Ranmore Common and Leith Hill twice plus Boxhill; that's over 2.5 km of ascent in total!
I felt pretty good afterwards (compared to the last time). I tried a recovery drink (essentially a protein milk shake) to see how it helped me.
Annoyingly, my battery died on the Garmin (because I forgot to charge it up!), but it stayed on long enough to catch my fastest speed so far coming down off Leith Hill the first time around. I did 43.4 mph!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Cycling to Stratford on Avon - am I mad?
We'd planned to go see my mum for Easter today (especially as my nephew Stewart will be there), so having Google-mapped a route & found it possible to cycle, I decided this would be a good training opportunity.
The route from Guildford goes via Bracknell, Henley, Wallingford, Oxford, Woodstock and Chipping Norton and is almost exactly 100 miles by the time I've tweaked it into the Garmin.
Ciaran called last night, and said he'd accompany me for the first few miles, and we set off at 7am. As normal, the weathermen got it wrong, and the piece about sleet/snow & cold temperatures was wrong, but they did get the wind right. Typically, my route heads straight into where the 23 mph wind is coming from. Hence it was slower going than I've been used to recently, but we did ok.
We stopped for Breakfast at Henley feeling great, although I noticed my tyre was flat so we fixed a puncture and set off again. Ciaran was kindly doing most of the work with the wind because he knew he had it behind him for the return trip, and I was drafting behind him.
Things got a bit slower as we climbed the Chilterns, as the wind picked up a bit or we were a bit more exposed to it. Either way, it was tough going at times. 10 miles from Oxford Ciaran decided he wanted to go all the way to Oxford because a) It would be great to be able to say he cycled to Oxford and back and b) he would make his first 100 miler of the year! This suited me just fine, and we clicked over 50 miles just before the ring-road at Oxford. We had a quick break and a snack, and then I noticed I had another puncture! I only had one spare tube, so we had to actually fix this one :-(
Because of the wind, it had taken us 3 hours 40 minutes to get here, and I new the next 50 miles would be harder without Ciaran as a wind-break.
Ciaran turned home and whizzed off with the wind behind him, and I set off with my head down towards the lovely ring-road at Oxford.
I got through Oxford fairly quickly (it's about 8 miles from where we stopped to the junction with the A44 and I did it in about 25 minutes). The shelter provided by the buildings meant that the wind was not as noticable, and the cycle-lanes through Oxford centre made the going very easy.
Jules had left the house around 10:30 with the plan to meet me after 60 miles or so. So I gave her a quick call to say I was on the A44, so she should not be able to miss me. I grabbed another quick snack & a drink, and put my head down again towards Woodstock. By now the wind had really picked up, and because the A44 is so exposed, the going was very tough. It took me 45 minutes to go 7 miles and I was really struggling. I was in my lowest gear and it felt like I could barely move. At one point I was litterly blown sideways off the road.
I was very glad when Jules finally caught me up, then immediately disheartened as she appeared to beep in a friendly way as she passed me as if to see "see you at mums" and then entirely relieved to see her waiting in the next layby!!!
As it turned out, we met up at a pub called the Duke of Malborough. It had just started to sleet, so I decided I'd had enough training for one day, and sat down for a hugh lasagne & chips and a pint of bitter lemon and soda-water.
The route from Guildford goes via Bracknell, Henley, Wallingford, Oxford, Woodstock and Chipping Norton and is almost exactly 100 miles by the time I've tweaked it into the Garmin.
Ciaran called last night, and said he'd accompany me for the first few miles, and we set off at 7am. As normal, the weathermen got it wrong, and the piece about sleet/snow & cold temperatures was wrong, but they did get the wind right. Typically, my route heads straight into where the 23 mph wind is coming from. Hence it was slower going than I've been used to recently, but we did ok.
We stopped for Breakfast at Henley feeling great, although I noticed my tyre was flat so we fixed a puncture and set off again. Ciaran was kindly doing most of the work with the wind because he knew he had it behind him for the return trip, and I was drafting behind him.
Things got a bit slower as we climbed the Chilterns, as the wind picked up a bit or we were a bit more exposed to it. Either way, it was tough going at times. 10 miles from Oxford Ciaran decided he wanted to go all the way to Oxford because a) It would be great to be able to say he cycled to Oxford and back and b) he would make his first 100 miler of the year! This suited me just fine, and we clicked over 50 miles just before the ring-road at Oxford. We had a quick break and a snack, and then I noticed I had another puncture! I only had one spare tube, so we had to actually fix this one :-(
Because of the wind, it had taken us 3 hours 40 minutes to get here, and I new the next 50 miles would be harder without Ciaran as a wind-break.
Ciaran turned home and whizzed off with the wind behind him, and I set off with my head down towards the lovely ring-road at Oxford.
I got through Oxford fairly quickly (it's about 8 miles from where we stopped to the junction with the A44 and I did it in about 25 minutes). The shelter provided by the buildings meant that the wind was not as noticable, and the cycle-lanes through Oxford centre made the going very easy.
Jules had left the house around 10:30 with the plan to meet me after 60 miles or so. So I gave her a quick call to say I was on the A44, so she should not be able to miss me. I grabbed another quick snack & a drink, and put my head down again towards Woodstock. By now the wind had really picked up, and because the A44 is so exposed, the going was very tough. It took me 45 minutes to go 7 miles and I was really struggling. I was in my lowest gear and it felt like I could barely move. At one point I was litterly blown sideways off the road.
I was very glad when Jules finally caught me up, then immediately disheartened as she appeared to beep in a friendly way as she passed me as if to see "see you at mums" and then entirely relieved to see her waiting in the next layby!!!
As it turned out, we met up at a pub called the Duke of Malborough. It had just started to sleet, so I decided I'd had enough training for one day, and sat down for a hugh lasagne & chips and a pint of bitter lemon and soda-water.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Training ride 2 : Winchester
There was much discussion about this training ride. Rich had come up with a plan which meant John & Tim could start out with him and meet up with the Guildford lot and head towards Bath. Meanwhile Henry would set out from Bath, and we would all meet up somewhere along the A4. It all sounded rather complicated, but in true Rich style, perfectly doable.
However Marg & Dave from the support team were coming down to meet us after the ride, so Tim & John decided to start from Guildford. Also Ciaran and Paul both needed to be back by a particular time, so we selected a route down the A31 to Winchester and back which would give us a bank of around 80 miles, then those of us that had time could do another 20 mile loop near Guildford.
Rich and Henry were unable to join us, so the team of six set of at 7am for the ride south to Winchester.
I was quite nervous. My last long ride, I had 'bonked', I hadn't trained properly for a couple of weeks, and memories of the strong head-winds last time I did the A31 would not go out of my head.
We set off at a cracking pace (once we'd got up the hill to the Hoggs Back), and were sticking together much better as a team than on the last ride.
At Four Marks (30 miles in) we stopped for a snack & quick rest. We decided that going all the way to Winchester was going to make time a bit tight for those needing to get home, so we planned to turn back at Arlesford instead.
On the way back Ciaran (of all people) started to struggle a bit. I got the sense that the rest of us have been doing well on our training, and he had not anticipated how quickly we'd be able to go by now. In some sick selfish way, I think this gave the team a bit of a morale boost. Everyone has confidence that Ciaran will be able to do the big ride, so if we were doing better than him, then maybe we would be able to do it too!!!
When we got to back to Farnham, we stopped to discuss how to get the miles in. We'd done 45 miles already, and Ciaran needed to get home. We decided to set back off down to Arlesford again, and then do a 10 mile loop when we got back to Guildford.
This time, we decided to try "chain ganging". This is where you take it in turns to go at the front of the line, and stay there for about 30 seconds. Once you're done, you pull out & ease off, and the rest of the pack overtakes on the inside, where you rejoin the line at the back. Using this technique, we piled the miles on, and soon found ourselves back at Four Marks (at 60 miles) having another snack (although we did lose 20 minutes or so because Simon got a puncture).
By the time we'd got back to Farnham, we'd done about 80 miles, so we peeled off the A31 towards Ash, Worpleston, Old Woking and Send. We dropped Paul of at his house, and at Clandon we hit our 100 mile target.
After the final 5 miles, we got home to a fantastic lunch prepared by Jules, Marg & Dave; proper support team training too!
I was really pleased to have survived this ride. Especially as we had our highest average speed so far of nearly 17 miles an hour. Previously it had been nearer 15.5 mph, although there were no real hills on this ride to slow us down and we were able to use "the BIG cog" for much of the ride.
However Marg & Dave from the support team were coming down to meet us after the ride, so Tim & John decided to start from Guildford. Also Ciaran and Paul both needed to be back by a particular time, so we selected a route down the A31 to Winchester and back which would give us a bank of around 80 miles, then those of us that had time could do another 20 mile loop near Guildford.
Rich and Henry were unable to join us, so the team of six set of at 7am for the ride south to Winchester.
I was quite nervous. My last long ride, I had 'bonked', I hadn't trained properly for a couple of weeks, and memories of the strong head-winds last time I did the A31 would not go out of my head.
We set off at a cracking pace (once we'd got up the hill to the Hoggs Back), and were sticking together much better as a team than on the last ride.
At Four Marks (30 miles in) we stopped for a snack & quick rest. We decided that going all the way to Winchester was going to make time a bit tight for those needing to get home, so we planned to turn back at Arlesford instead.
On the way back Ciaran (of all people) started to struggle a bit. I got the sense that the rest of us have been doing well on our training, and he had not anticipated how quickly we'd be able to go by now. In some sick selfish way, I think this gave the team a bit of a morale boost. Everyone has confidence that Ciaran will be able to do the big ride, so if we were doing better than him, then maybe we would be able to do it too!!!
When we got to back to Farnham, we stopped to discuss how to get the miles in. We'd done 45 miles already, and Ciaran needed to get home. We decided to set back off down to Arlesford again, and then do a 10 mile loop when we got back to Guildford.
This time, we decided to try "chain ganging". This is where you take it in turns to go at the front of the line, and stay there for about 30 seconds. Once you're done, you pull out & ease off, and the rest of the pack overtakes on the inside, where you rejoin the line at the back. Using this technique, we piled the miles on, and soon found ourselves back at Four Marks (at 60 miles) having another snack (although we did lose 20 minutes or so because Simon got a puncture).
By the time we'd got back to Farnham, we'd done about 80 miles, so we peeled off the A31 towards Ash, Worpleston, Old Woking and Send. We dropped Paul of at his house, and at Clandon we hit our 100 mile target.
After the final 5 miles, we got home to a fantastic lunch prepared by Jules, Marg & Dave; proper support team training too!
I was really pleased to have survived this ride. Especially as we had our highest average speed so far of nearly 17 miles an hour. Previously it had been nearer 15.5 mph, although there were no real hills on this ride to slow us down and we were able to use "the BIG cog" for much of the ride.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Jetlag
We flew in on Monday morning from the "red-eye" flight. Scariest landing I've ever had, as we it was in the middle of the worst storm in a while in the UK. I seriously thought the tip of the wing was going to hit the ground first when we hit surbulence very near the ground on landing. It certainly felt like the left wheel hit the groud before the right one which is unnerving at the speed 777s land.
I went straight to the office, so was not planning to train on monday night, but to sleep instead!
The plan was to train on Tuesday and Thursday. However, because I'd been away in NY for a week, things had stacked up a bit back in London, so I got home quite late on Tuesday. Things had similarly stacked up at home too; post, messages & Race For CHASE admin to catch up on. Hence I didn't train Tuesday after all.
Finally on Wednesday I got back on the bike, albeit 'only' a turbo session, but it felt great. I only did an hour (or just under 20 miles) but it was good to start racking the miles up again.
Given we have a 100 mile training ride on Saturday, and feeling tired again on Thursday, I decided not to train. It's going to be interesting to see how my lack of training translates to a lack of performance on Saturday. I heard that many of the other riders have already clocked up their first hundred miler.
I went straight to the office, so was not planning to train on monday night, but to sleep instead!
The plan was to train on Tuesday and Thursday. However, because I'd been away in NY for a week, things had stacked up a bit back in London, so I got home quite late on Tuesday. Things had similarly stacked up at home too; post, messages & Race For CHASE admin to catch up on. Hence I didn't train Tuesday after all.
Finally on Wednesday I got back on the bike, albeit 'only' a turbo session, but it felt great. I only did an hour (or just under 20 miles) but it was good to start racking the miles up again.
Given we have a 100 mile training ride on Saturday, and feeling tired again on Thursday, I decided not to train. It's going to be interesting to see how my lack of training translates to a lack of performance on Saturday. I heard that many of the other riders have already clocked up their first hundred miler.
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