Training Log Archive: Jon X

Event: Ride London 100
 

Early early start to ride out to the Olympic Park in the dark.

RideLondon 2014.
Down to 86(ish) miles rather than 100miles, with Leith and Box Hills removed for safety given the weather forecast and 24,000 participants.
Wise decision given the outrageous monsoon later!

Things I learned
- early (0602 for me) start is good for linking up with good fast groups and people around riding a consistent pace. Not sure it is so much like that further back
- using the first two miles to warm up then starting Garmin at "mile 0" sign was a good plan for 2013 when there was a neutralised zone, not so good for 2014 when it turned out there was not and the timing started right at the start gantry.....
- taking my buff off from round my neck before the start as planned would have been good.....got very warm early on but eventually found space to perform the removal operation without stopping....
- going off faster than any of my training rides and sustaining that for the first 40miles was fun, but made miles 40-60 less so. Pleased that at least I had backed things off in time to recover ahead of the last section and enjoy pushing that too.
- not quite enough care in the wet through a right hand bend at Raynes Park with 11miles left can cause you and your bike to slither side by side across the road into kerb and barriers - ouch, nice road rash and bruising now!
- Raynes Park policeman is very helpful at bending rear derailleur back into a working position :)
- I am massively grateful to have avoided being one of the many many people who punctured.
- Riding in a torrential downpour can actually be strangely enjoyable!

For me I think the weather actually enhanced the event rather than anything else, it was great to have a totally different experience this year.

I do think that I could go faster with a bit of proper cycling prep though - although not next year as it clashes with the World Champs and 6-day....


Split..............Time..............Split........min/k......km/h
MILE 17......00:42:30...........42:30......01:38......36.85
MILE 26......01:07:48...........25:18......01:40......36.16
MILE 47......02:11:38......01:03:50......01:54......31.73
MILE 75......02:54:21...........42:43......01:58......30.62
MILE 85......03:24:34...........30:13......01:48......33.54
FINISH........04:10:10...........45:36......01:51......32.46 (includes 3+ mins of stationary/crash time)

C • Next Year 3

Collecting bike and riding back to Limehouse via Canary Wharf. London has a lot more traffic lights and traffic to negotiate than Stirlingshire!

Final stretch out before Sunday, out through Cambusbarron and back via King's Park and A811.

Quick bike check round Kirk Lane and Coldoch Road.

Up to the start and back from the finish

Lakes 5 Day day two, Simpson Ground.
Middle race, basically a long and fun control pick.
Not great by me.
#3 - looked on wrong rock, then wrong side of hill, then decided was on wrong hill. All the time I was pretty much at the flag but just not confident enough I was in the right place (-2:15)
#4 - wrong direction early, had to go round the green (-30s)
#6 - bounced off the mapped windblow early in the leg (-15s)
#8 - got a stick in the eye, should have stopped but instead carried on while flapping about it. In the wrong direction of course. (-40s)
#11 - lazy, pushed left. (-20s)
#13 - easy if read the map... (-20s)
#17 - pushed left by big fallen tree. Didn't stick with plan,again ignored mapped windblow, ended up crossing it twice (-1min)
#19 - confused thinking ride was path, worked it out, then lack of care from attack and went back to check wrong control (-1min)

Far too much time loss. Niklas Bratt an impressive 30:20, James and Max close behind. But then a big gap and 4th was again plausible with a goodish run of 37/38. And 3rd Brit ahead of Chappers (40:02) was achievable with even quite an average run....

A reminder that I pretty much only ever run well when I focus on it properly...

C • Only run well when I focus 1