In two months time I should, all being well, be sat down in Bath having completed Day 2 of the Deloitte Ride Across Britain riding from Land’s End to John O’Groats. The ride will be 980 miles over 9 days. I’ll see how I feel about finding an extra 20 miles, perhaps on Day 4 (meant to be an “easy day”) to take it up to a round 1,000 miles! I just hope the weather is slightly cooler than it has been recently, not that I’m asking for rain, it’s just that I completed a 2 hour ride this morning and it had already reached 27 degrees according to my Garmin by 10 am! I felt sorry for the riders in the Wales Velothon riding up to 140 km (87 miles) today.
While the ride itself will be a challenge having to ride an average of 110 miles a day for 9 days, the training in order to be fit enough to enjoy the ride has been much more of a commitment than I ever expected. My aim, all along, has been to be able to complete the ride. However, I think it is important to be able take in the experience of riding the length of Great Britain and not to have to worry about being caught up by the broom wagon and this requires a certain level of fitness. Threshold Sports, the organisers of the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, made training programmes available to all the riders.
Today I sat down and added up the total time I have spent training for the ride since 1 January this year:
- Rides inside on a turbo trainer (56 sessions)
- 46 hours 40 minutes
- 1,335 km or 834 miles
- Rides outside (34 rides)
- 107 hours 17 minutes
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- 2,733 km or 1,708 miles
- Elevation gain (combined) 41,429 m or 135,922 feet
- 19 separate gym sessions of up to an hour each working on strength training
As the year as gone on, the training time has increased each month both in terms of time, distance and intensity. I am a lot fitter than I was in January and weigh 8kg less! A lot of credit has to go to Lawrence at Enduraprep who has designed my training plan and kept my training going in the right direction.
The ride this morning meant a reasonably early start to try and avoid the heat, I also had to be at my sailing club by 12 noon for a sailing duty. On the ride round Cardiff Airport I met an 82 year rider who was seriously quick despite his age (and kept me puffing on the climbs) – he told me he was still competing in time trials well into his 70s. I’d be delighted to still be cycling at that age let alone competing. He was also taking a brand new bike for a spin, so it goes to show that the formula for the number of bikes (n+1, n being the number of bikes you already have), i.e. there is always a reason for another bike, applies even when you reach your 8th decade !
Continuing with an earlier theme of taking pictures in the same place to show the changing seasons, here is a picture taken near Dyffryn Gardens with the oaks trees in full leaf and the grass standing tall !
There is still plenty of time to sponsor me to help raise lots of money for Dementia UK I have been very fortunate recently to receive some very generous donations so I am getting close to my initial target. Remember the target is there to be smashed so please don’t hold back! You can reach my Virgin Money Giving page here
Riding from Pasties to Haggis 