What a difference a week makes – from chilly pretty miserable cycling weather to “wall to wall” sunshine and almost too hot for cycling !
On Saturday I completed my first cycling Century – 100 miles in a ride with 2,160 m of climbing.
It is a bit scary to think that I’ll have to do a slightly longer distance each day for nine days in September in order to complete the Deloitte Ride Across Britain.
I’ve just joined the Deloitte RAB Facebook group (a closed group for participants of the 2018 ride). It is interesting to read some of the comments about lack of training and the hope that they’ll be “pulled along” by the rest of the riders – I have to admit I’d be concerned about a bit of wishful thinking considering how hard I found the Saturday ride. Here is a 3D view of the ride Relive Link
I ended up climbing two of the Top UK 100 climbs – the Rhigos (from both sides) followed by the Bwlch from the Treorchy side. There was then a long ride home via Bridgend and the coastal road through the Vale of Glamorgan.
I worn the cycle top sent to me by Dementia UK as shown by the photo at the top of the Rhigos.
I did a light spin indoors on Sunday as I didn’t fancy the heat of the afternoon after sailing at Sully in the morning, although it was a bit of a drift fighting the tides due to lack of wind.
As Bank Holiday Monday was due to be even hotter I decided to get up fairly early and got out for a ride shortly after 7.30 and took out my Specialized Venge for a spin over 100 km or so. This is a very different bike from the Cannondale SuperSix that I intend to ride on the Deloitte RAB. The Venge is an “aero” bike designed to go fast. The ride is fairly unforgiving as the bike is very stiff. The Cannondale is also a race bike and very stiff but is designed with some clever tech to dampen some of the road buzz – I have also converted to tubeless tyres which can reduce punctures. This was brought home to me when I got a puncture after less than 12 miles! The rest of the ride was uneventful – lots of cyclists out, probably training for the Carten (Cardiff to Tenby) ride next weekend by the look of lots of cycle tops.
The Vale of Glamorgan was looking at its best – not a cloud to be seen and new surprises for me just west of Bridgend when I came across the Merthyr Mawr Warren National Nature Reserve after riding down a dead end – quite unintentional ! The smell of freshly cooked bacon from the campsite wasn’t fair…
It is now four weeks until my next sportive – the Etape Wales and the Dragon Ride. Lots more training to get through before then including a few more climbs.
If you’d like to help me raise money for Dementia UK please visit my Virgin Money Giving page here I’m a third of the way to my target if you include the Gift Aid !
Riding from Pasties to Haggis 