BEST RIDE.
100 mile TT trial run.
When I set off to see how fast I could ride 100 miles in the lanes of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire on May 15th I knew right away I had ‘diamonds in the legs’. On my road bike with two bottles and three gels I stopped the clock at four hours 19 minutes and then got all excited that I could actually break four hours in a race so entered the National 100 mile championships.
HARDEST RIDE.
The National 100 mile championships.
This was exponentially harder than the trial run. On the same road bike with no aero kit but under race conditions over four laps of a rolling course in the Lake District I stopped the clock at 4.14.54. It was almost an hour before I could sit down, I was a mess, everything hurt SO MUCH. The three of us from Norwood Paragon set a new club team record by almost 20 mins and two of us were on road bikes so it was worth all the pain.
BEST EVENT.
The Dragon Devil.
Another day when the legs were just FULL of riding. I only get a couple of these each year so very happy when they coincide with big events and this was a big event, the furthest I’d ever ridden at 296km.
MOST SUFFERING.
The Struggle Moors.
Something just wasn’t right that day. I was in trouble from the off, started to cramp after just 100km then fell to bits on Caper Hill and Rosedale and had to bloody walk!
MOST SATISFYING RIDE.
The National Hill Climb
OK, I was only 136th (5th in my age group) but I executed my ride to the best of my ability and hit a new power PB which is all any of us can hope for. I’d done some proper training during the run up and even though I was a few kg’s heavier than usual it all came together on the day.
MOST MEMORABLE RIDE.
Reaching (almost) the summit of the Pico Veleta whilst researching my forthcoming guide to the climbs of Spain. MINDBLOWING.
Happy New Year everyone.
Simon
