On Sunday 15 July I took part in my hilliest sportive to date when I did the Chiltern 100, which as its name suggests, is a 100 mile bike ride round the Chiltern Hills. For those of you who don’t know, the Chilterns is a beautiful area of woodland and fields north west of London and quite rightly designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It includes some fantastic estates including Ashridge Estate, the Getty family estate (Wormsley Estate – the starting point of the Brewin Dolphin Ridgeway Rouler this year, see my post in April here) and probably most famously of all, Chequers, the country residence of the Prime Minister which has been in the news about Brexit and the visit to the UK of President Donald Trump.
The ride itself took us passed the Ashridge Estate and was the only time in the ride I stopped to take a photo. We did pass two entrances to Chequers, however the gates were closed and traffic cones were placed next to the road so I didn’t think it would be a very good idea to stop for a selfie !
As the “Hills” in the Chiltern Hills suggests the area is very hilly! The Chiltern 100 was advertised as taking us up 10 named hills – take it from me, they could have added a few more names to the hills we did go up, including a climb to the top of Ivinghoe Beacon (part of the National Trust’s Ashridge Estate)!
The route took the participants of the 100 mile route on 2,438 m of climbing or 7,998 feet. I am sure I could have found an extra 2 feet of elevation to get to 8,000 feet. My ride time was 6 hours 20 minutes which I am very pleased with considering that the the temperature went above 30 degrees in the full sun. I think we were lucky that a lot of the ride took place on roads through the stunning woodland which gave some much welcomed shade, although the tree cover may have stopped some GPS units from getting a signal.
I went on a ride on Saturday up some of the hills (including Whiteleaf, a climb local to my mother’s home) and my GPS said I had stopped moving at some points on the climbs when I definitely hadn’t stopped to walk. I changed the settings on Sunday to avoid the annoying beeps! You can see my Chiltern 100 ride in a fly over mode here thanks to a nifty app from Relive Just check out the elevation graphic plus when my heart rate maxes out on a climb!
To put all this into perspective, the Deloitte Ride Across Britain will involve 52,009 feet of climbing. Fortunately only one day will have more climbing than the Chiltern 100. The bad news is that is that it is Day 1 going through Devon and Cornwall (or should that really be Cornwall and Devon?) when we do 8,232 feet of climbing. There is no warm up day on the Deloitte Ride Across Britain.
The good news is that I felt remarkably fresh this morning and think I could have managed another long ride. In addition, I very much doubt I will be riding as quickly in September (an average speed of 25 kph or just over 15 mph on Sunday) and I hope it will not be quite as hot, although I’d still prefer no rain (or a northerly headwind). My recovery was also aided by a great sports massage at Agile Therapy in Cardiff – well worth it to get the knots out of tired muscles.
It will be back on the bike tomorrow for an easy session as proper recovery from a big ride is very important at this stage of training. I’d hate to pick up an injury now with seven weeks to go.
As a reminder, I’m not doing the Deloitte Ride across Britain purely for my own benefit and fun (although I am fully funding the ride). I am trying to raise lots of money for Dementia UK, a charity that provides support to families caring for someone with dementia. Dementia UK does not fund research (unlike other dementia charities) but focusses purely on the “here and now”. Have a look at my post on 26 June for my personal reasons for supporting Dementia UK. My running total is now around £2,200 which is fantastic although there is always scope for more donations – reaching my target doesn’t mean I will not accept more donations (I may increase the target a little bit)!. You can support me via my Virgin Money Giving page here
Riding from Pasties to Haggis 