Nick Rides London

 

Willow tests the brakes

Yesterday I cycled the RideLondon 100.  Which was actually 86 miles after they chopped off the two big hills on safety grounds due to rain, and I have to reluctantly agree that was probably a good decision.  It was torrential at times.

This will have to do, I ain't taking a selfie

The event required a quite frankly ridiculous alarm call of 4am.  Even then I left late, forgetting my sunglasses (which turned out to be a right and literal pain with the heavy rain).  I got to the Olympic Park in plenty of time in the end but ended up right at the back of my group, the first wave to depart, as I needed as last minute pee.  On setting off, I was unable to get ahead to the main pack and so lost valuable time struggling on my own until the third wave peloton caught me up and I tagged on (the second wave overtook on the opposite side of a dual carriageway).  I did manage to keep at 33mph through the Limehouse Link on my own though.

The weather in the first part of the race was fine and the road dried enough to draft very effectively (remembering I had naked eyes).  As a fast group overtook, one cyclist made a comment that amused me, as someone cut him up.  Whilst rolling his eyes, he just sighed and said ‘triathletes’. Busting my ass to keep up with the group meant I was unable to take on any food and water and in the end, through the whole race, I only at one 9Bar and drank one bottle.  I haven’t lost my knack of poor fuelling!

The rain began to fall and so too did a chap just in front of me on a bend, wiping out the rider next to me.  I got through okay, but it did give me pause for thought. As I cycled off (he was right by the stewards) he was screaming ‘my wrist is broken’.  Think I am one to internalise my pain more, he was making a right racket.

As the race wore on I slowed a little and pelotons came and went as I latched on for as long as I could.  In smaller groups I did try to do my bit, but fully admit that I took a lot more than I gave this time.  I did the last couple of miles, all out, max effort and probably averaged 23mph.  Coming down The Mall was pretty cool.  I finished in 4 hours and 5 mins.

Reasonably even splits

So, considering the lack of sleep, the weather, missing the first peloton, the poor fuelling and the rusty bike handling skills, I was pretty chuffed with that time!  I averaged 21.2mph, I think as fast as I have averaged on a ride.  I was concerned that I was going to be seriously lacking in both power and cardio capacity – but this shows a pleasing level of base fitness. Now if I can do some actual training...  (also, I could feel my belly getting in the way, never had that before)

Despite the weather I stayed very comfortable and it wasn’t till I stopped on my way home, in a torrential thunderplump, that I got a bit cold.  As I cycled along Piccadilly, there was a storm drain (I assume) that was moving up and down, along with the surrounding concrete, and water spraying through the cracks.  So, I did some work work! I rang our desk at work and reported it.  Which we passed on and it was promptly ignored by all accounts – there was already a cone there but the whole area looked like it was about to collapse and it needed barriering off.

I will apply to do next year’s ride I think, though it’s a shame I won’t be able to compare times.

I came home to find this fella have moved in

Dino Attack!

The Peak District

...is a place I used to visit quite frequently.  Now though, I just struggle up VDiffs once a year. Yes, struggle – in fact I had to downclimb it for a pause for thought. Tragic. 

I was being belayed by a cadet who didn’t really know what he was doing, but nonetheless, I have soloed that very route several times before.  Willow came too and popped out to the Grit for a short while to see me in action. Even she was embarrassed for me.

Nick goes on an expedition

Last weekend we trogged to The Lake District (when did that drive get so long?) for the annual Silver and Gold Practice Expedition.  The only time you’ll see me wild camping, which is a shame as it’s really rather nice.  As soon as the Moose is older, I hope it becomes a more frequent sight.  The route was along the ridge south of Buttermere and over Haystacks – which Jerry went to pains to point out was Wainwright’s favourite hill.  I think Rambling Mike loved this bit of trivia, it must have made his weekend.  The route wasn’t terribly long, but pleasant enough despite the cadets occasionally trying my patience.  It was lacking a bit in fresh water, though everyone else seemed happy boiling the ‘flowing’ water that had just been sat stagnating in the tarn.

I neglected the fresh food this time round, last year I took way too much broccoli, in preference for some whisky. Actually, it was that Spirit of Broadside stuff, and Mike took some Oban 14 – most delicious in that setting.  Everyone was impressed/appalled when I pulled out the whisk glasses.  I don’t mess about.

The weather held out and wasn’t as hot as we feared during the day or as cold as I feared at night (I took a sub-one-season sleeping bag).  Mike and I even went for a swift (time, not speed) run on Saturday evening, which was great until the sole fell off my shoe and I went over on my ankle a couple of times.  We then had a dip in the freakishly warm tarn and came out dirtier but less smelly than we went in. The rain then set in for most of the night which made next to no difference other than giving me a sopping tent to dry out when I got home.

In other news, I am now at my fattest since my oh-my-God-I-am-so-fat-I-need-to-do-Insanity days.  Psyche remains low, nay, absent.  There are 12 days until Ride London 100 and 73 days until the Spartan Beast.

Teenagers on a mountain. They have no idea how famous they are now

Essential gear

They really do love me

Suzie C returns

 

It turns out that one can, sort of, forget how to ride a bike.  With the RideLondon 100 less than a month away, I thought I better get Suzie out and make sure she works.  I planned to go for a ride at the weekend, but as with most fun plans, that went by the wayside as I became fixated on re-varnishing the floor.  I did give her a cleanup though, and she is still a fine looking machine. 

She hasn’t been let out for over two years and even then I only very rarely rode her to work, when I planned to extend my commute for a training ride – she isn’t really suit to the urban jungle.  It was like trying to drive an F1 car to work – everything was different, twitchy and scary.

Firstly, I must be a bit fatter and more inflexible than I was as the drops felt very low indeed. The brakes were weird, plus there is a back one.  The pedals are harder to clip in and, inevitably embarrassingly, out of.  The steering is insanely direct (weird how it can feel so different).  I can stop pedalling – which just felt bizarre, but does mean you can lean into corners a lot more. I also often lost power for a moment at the top of the pedal stroke occasionally – hard to explain, but to do with the free spinning nature of Suzie and the coaster.  The bike weighs nothing, the wheels especially.  And there are gears – what are they about? It took me nearly ten miles to remember that you can change two gears at once by pushing the lever further.

So now I sit here with back ache from only 45mins of riding which doesn’t bode well.  On the other hand, she is like shit off a shovel, a proper bad ass of a bike.  And until she kills me, I love her.

Le Tour de France

Yesterday we walked up to Epping Forest to watch the odd spectacle that is the Tour de France.  After meeting quite early, we decided to avoid the crowds by heading through the forest to come out on the route further away from any side roads.  This was a good plan in its outcome, but the execution was a bit of an adventure as we head off path to cut through to the road – battlePram took it in its stride (an exaggeration, I was puffing) but Jane (or actually Holly, who took command of her pram as Jane carried Arthur) and Matt had a bit of an ordeal keeping up.  Even at this, one of the most inaccessible bits of route, it was fairly busy. 

The caravan eventually rolled on through, and not a rubber croissant in sight, but we did get a packet of tea and a packet of herd seeds (not potato seeds, despite the McCain branding, for a potato seed is a potato and probably shouldn’t be thrown at crowds from moving vehicles).  It is basically one long advert for various weird stuff, and wasn’t as big as I expect but was at least novel.

There was a long wait for the riders and they seemed to be running quite late, though I have heard no mention of delays.  The first two passed with us barely noticing as they were surrounded by vehicles.  These guys had broken away from the pack as the racing flag was waved at zero km and only got caught at about 8km from the end.  Then the main peloton came through and didn’t appear to be going terribly quickly – we were sat after the Epping sprint and before the peloton decided to catch the two escapees, so they probably were just ticking over when the passed us.  So the ‘race’ itself wasn’t all that impressive, but as a day it was very enjoyable, with a nice walk, picnic and three mostly happy babies.

In the buggy!

The approach 'path'

These two led from km zero until 8km from the end - epic but doomed