I had a great idea a few months ago. I have always enjoyed cycling and although I have never really taken it particularly seriously the challenge of riding 100 miles has always been something I have been keen to achieve, so with a couple of like minded friends I signed up for the Cambridge 100 bike ride run by Bike Events on the 27th April 2014.
Less than two weeks now until the ride Its suddenly dawned on me – 100 miles is a ridiculously long way! Realistically we hope to average above 15MPH which would still mean 6 or 7 hours sat on a saddle. Even if I wasn’t having to peddle that is a very long time to be perched on an saddle of a bike which, less face it, is not particularly renowned for its luxury and comfort.
Surely you have been doing some training though? – I hear you cry. Well yes, of course I have – well, sort of. I started a few months back searching for training plans for building up to a 100 mile ride. I was determined to be as prepared for this ride as I could be. I didn’t want to turn up and cough, wheeze and splutter my way around every single mile after all, I wanted to, as far as was possible, enjoy this ride. Most of the plans I found were based on 8 week courses, fairly intensive schedules for people who were reasonably fit ( I felt I qualified in this category). But being 12 weeks away from the ride and fairly busy with work and other commitments, I didn’t actually start doing any real training until a couple of weeks ago, just 4 weeks until the ride.
So now the panic is setting in and I am trying to get out on the bike whenever I can. I am sure my training is doing some good but I do feel as though I am playing catch up (any ambitions of carefully following a methodical 8 week plan have been long since thrown out of the window).
Last weekend I did my longest ride to date – a 70 mile slog around Bedfordshire villages and boy, it was tough. Everything started well, I swallowed up the first 40 miles like they were never there but after the 50 mile mark my legs were tired and I was ready to call it a day. At 60 miles a bit of cramp kicked in and the final 5 miles were shear agony. I managed to average what I thought was a respectable 15.9MPH (especially on a blustery day).
So this is set up to be quite a challenge come April 27th. I am riding for Prostate Cancer research so if you would like to sponsor me for this ride then please head over to my Just Giving Page.
So, what do you think ?