MartinM:
Quoted message said:How did you get on? looks like you had the weather.
Absolutely fantastic! Weather held out nicely - the only difficult stretch,
weather-wise, was towards the end where the route took us along the coast,
head-on into the teeth of a "stiff sea breeze". Apart from that, the wind
was not nearly as much of a factor as weather reports had led me to fear.
And it remained sunny for most of the day - just got a few spots of rain
later on, but nothing you could even call a shower.
I set myself a target time of 10 hours. Set off at 8am and crossed the
finish line at about 6.10pm, so I think I paced it pretty much perfectly.
The route was divided into 'stages' so that made it easier to break down
into digestible chunks, and I set target times for each stage that I
achieved in every case - with enough time to spare to allow myself decent
rest/food breaks. I would have arrived back even sooner except that I got
lost a couple of times en route and ended up riding about an extra 15km! (I
didn't realise at the time just how much extra I'd done because my computer
records miles.)
When I did the 100 miles a month or so ago, I was more or less finished by
about 70 miles and it was a major struggle to get to the end. Yesterday, I
still enough left in the tank at the end to ride the 8 1/2 miles home
(although it was a struggle, because I had mentally 'finished' the ride
already and it felt like my body had taken that mental signal was trying to
shut itself down).
There are two main differences between the rides: first, I was riding on my
own for most of the time so was able to set my own pace - I did tag along
with other riders at various stages but whenever it started to feel like
they were going to fast for me I just dropped off and let them get on with
it. The second major difference is that I paid a lot more attention to
eating and drinking - got my water bottle filled up at every opportunity and
even made a few extra unscheduled stops for refills, just to make sure that
I never ran out of something to drink.
Getting lost was a nuisance. The first time it wasn't my fault - I had got
in with a bunch of riders and was just following them. Big mistake. Then,
after getting me lost, the sods dropped me. Pah! I managed to find the route
again, but then lost it again due to missing a signpost. Fortunately, I was
quite close to a checkpoint this time and managed to find my way back
easily - at the checkpoint I met several other people who said they had
missed the signpost too (I suspect it was the signpost that was missing), so
at least it wasn't only me.
In total, yesterday, including riding to the start and finish, plus detours,
I rode about 153 miles (246km), which is the furthest I have ever ridden in
a single day by a huge margin. My shins are a bit sore today and my backside
is feeling a little tender, but apart from that I feel absolutely fine -
could quite happily go out for a 'recovery' ride later. It helps that I was
in bed and asleep by 9pm...
Quoted message said:Battle and back in
2 weeks, I'm entering the Sporting one not the Grimpeur.
Best of luck with that. It starts in Croydon, doesn't it... Hmmm... I could
conceivably do that one myself. If the wife lets me.
Talking of grimpeurs, I'm sure yesterday's ride should qualify for AAA
points - a lot of it was fairly flat, there was a total of 1707m climbing
over the course, including some pretty serious uphill bits coming out of
Folkestone. Must look this one up in the AUK handbook.
d.