Ride 28/05/2023 Ride London 100

Well what can I say, I’m so happy that I was able to finish the ride this year but also within the 5 hour limit that I had set for myself. The day started at 04:00 in the morning and driving into London to my booked parking slot. Bat just like last years event even though I was there by 07:00 it took an hour and half to get through all the crowds and queues to the start of the ride So I was looking for a train to get on today, as I would need that to get anywhere near my time challenge. I got to the first feed station at mile 25 to grab some water, but I had got their alone. To keep to the time limit I was going fast trying to get that 20 mph avg or better. By chance as I was a few miles out from the first stop I saw a 3 man train and tagged on as they were going very fast, over 25 mph or more. My aim here was to keep with them as long as I could, either until I blew up or got to then end of the ride. The 3 riders were the Kenilworth wheelers, there was no way I could pull a turn, I was flat out just keeping up with them, and would only slow them down if I did. But this afforded me the opportunity to get some lead in my overall time and thus allow me some spare time towards the end of the ride if I did blow up. I managed to stay with them for 68 miles non stop which is just awesome for me but I had to pull off at the last stop at 87 miles which incidentally the same place I broke down last year and had to abandon. I was out of water at this point so had to stop or risk having no water until the end of the ride. But I only had 15 miles at this point and I still had a working bike so I soldiered on at my pace, still close to 25 mph as most of the road was downhill back to London. So over all I had a fantastic day and clocked up 102 miles at just shy of 22 mph average, which meant I finished the ride in 4 hours and 40 mins, well happy with that as I probably will never again get close to or beat that

Ride 21/05/2023

6 of us on the bun run this morning with a wet forecast I was on the winter bike and wet weather gear. It actually wasn’t that wet, it was mostly a drizzle with dry patched in between. Usual route to the cafe stop today, I didn’t bother starting early today as I was looking for a recovery ride after 4 days of hard riding. Steady pace to the cafe stop for coffee and cake and again a steady pace for most of the way home. I was with Ken today so we opted to go the coastal route back home, with Chris tagging along. So I was riding at the front now after spending a lot of the time at the back or middle of the group ride. Since I was leading out I kept a steady, but firm pace back to Dalgety Bay with some Tempo work back up to Crossgates. This was why the ride turned out to be faster than I thought it was going to be and a higher avg power, especially compared to yesterdays ride of over 18 mph for less power, this was probably due to a less hilly route. Anyway 55 miles clocked up at over 16 mph avg speed. So this will be the last bun run rides I do for 2 weeks as next week I’ll be doing the Ride London with the aim of cycling 100 miles in less than 5 hours, which equates to 20 mph avg or more, gonna need some good luck for that ride

Ride 20/05/2023

9 of us on the bun run this morning, it wasn’t forecast to rain so I had no rain gear with me, and we had little wind, but we did get a few spots of rain on the ride and thankfully it wasn’t much, so I didn’t suffer getting cold and wet It turned out to be a good days ride in the end, so for the beginning I stuck in the bunch, riding at tempo. After the cafe stop I decided I would do some extra with a few of the guys who were going around Loch Leven. I wasn’t feeling particularly strong today, my legs are still a little sore, I’m not really getting enough recover time giving I’m cycling 5 days a week, but I was feeling good enough to carry the other guys for the bulk of the route when we broke from the main group who headed the normal way back to Dunfermline over Knockhill. There were 4 of us doing the extra miles, heading around Loch Leven and then over some lumpy stuff through Cardenden and Auchtertool before I headed home to Crossgates. I was looking for 65 miles today so I did a little bit past Crossgates to get that, and was quite surprised by the end of the ride I was averaging over 18 mph So all in all a very good day of cycling, lets hope it will continue next week when I do the Ride London 100.

Ride 14/05/2023 Dunning Randonee

Today was May’s Randonee and there were 6 of us on the run. Weather forecast was for rain so I dressed appropriately which turned out to be a bit overkill given that it didn’t rain Anyhow our route today would be going over Knockhill, through Glendevon and along to Dunning for our cafe stop. Then we would be heading for Bridge of Earn and over some lumpy stuff through Wicks o’Baiglie before heading around Loch Leven and then back up and over Knockhill again. After yesterdays 100 mile ride I wasn’t looking to go too hard today especially since we would be doing a lumpy ride over just shy of 4500 feet of elevation. To start with we would have a cross wind and a tailwind to the cafe stop which was nice. For lunch I had soup, coffee and cake before we carried on towards Bridge of earn. The tough part was next, although Wicks o’Baiglie is not a long climb, its quite sharp to begin at 12% before it levels out towards the top, then you have some undulations before heading towards Loch Leven. Unfortunately once around Loch Leven we had a stiff headwind heading back through Cleish and along to Knockhill before the final climb up Knockhill. So overall it was a good ride with a few spots of rain that never came to anything clocking up 77 miles at an avg speed of 16 mph.

Ride 13/05/2023 100 miles

The weather was looking good today which meant I could get a good ride in today. 8 of us on the bun run this morning, although it was chilly and cloudy which I was not expecting. The weather forecast was sunshine from the get go but that wasn’t the case to begin with. Thankfully it wasn’t too windy but we did start with a headwind to the cafe stop and ultimately I would end up with a lot of headwind over the course of this ride. After the cafe stop it did start to warm up a bit and eventually the sun came out and the temps did rise to around 18 degrees Once I had finished the bun run ride I stopped at home to grab some lunch. The plan today was to do a 100 miles but I would split it over the bun run and then on my own for the next 50 miles. It was a headwind riding back home for lunch but as said before it wasn’t too strong so I could keep up a good pace. After lunch I decided I would do the 2 bridges route which is a bit flatter and would allow me to see how I was doing for the ride London which is a flat route. Again I had a tailwind on my outbound leg heading towards Falkirk, where I stopped at the Kelpies for some coffee and cake By this time it was very sunny and hot, just the way I like it although the suncream that I had packed for the ride turned out to be an empty bottle Thankfully I did put cream on my legs before the start of today’s ride but I didn’t put any cream on my arms until I rolled my sleeves on my second outing and then discovered I had no suncream. I took my chances and had my sleeves up and down over the ride just to try and protect my arms but my wrists still got a little bit burnt Anyhow I was back into the headwind for a second time on my final leg home from Kincardine Bridge to Dalgety Bay with the little last slog up to Crossgates. So 100 miles clocked up at an avg speed of 17 mph which is not too bad for the lumpy ride that I was on, I still climbed 4800 feet, but the end result was me being about 45 min over the 5 hour mark that I’m aiming for on the ride London. If I can get into a good of riders I stand a good chance of reaching my goal, assuming the weather isn’t horrendous

Ride 06/05/2023

Bit of a wet one today, only 5 of us on the 08:30 ride given the weather. It was a little windy today as well not too hard but we had a tail wind to start with up to the cafe stop and then a head wind back home again. It started raining about 20 mins into the ride, thankfully I was in full winter mode expecting it to happen, so I was ok but the others were not, so before we got to the cafe stop 3 people bailed to go home and only 2 of us pressed onto the cafe stop. Thankfully the rain stopped by the time we got there but I was a bit wet going into the cafe. Scrambled egg roll and orange juice per usual orders before we continued on. With just the 2 of us it was a bit of a slog into the wind but thankfully the wind wasn’t strong so we kept up a decent speed. Going up Knockhill was a bit of a surprise as by the time we got to the top there was a little bit of sun and a noticeable change in temperature on the warm side, it was nice to experience Didn’t last very long mind you as by the time we got to the bottom it was back to the dull mild day. So 50 miles clocked up at 17 mph avg speed which for the day isn’t too bad.