A Hilly 100

As the weeks seem to creep past and now only 7 left to go until the 5 Trail centre challenge on 27th Septmeber, I felt that I needed to 'test' my legs, body and mind and ensure that i could at least string together a 100 mile ride in one go. I have previously ridden 97 miles on road and i can safely say that it was not a pretty sight. I struggled with fuelling, motivation and generally got it all wrong. A massive lack of inexperience and over enthusiasm led to me suffering on the bike that day. So having left that experience well alone for a couple of years I have never needed or felt the need to re visit such a ride until now.

Although the sections of road mileage for the trail centre challenge are split, the longest being 55 miles in one go, i still felt that i needed to practice fuelling and also wanted to nail the motivation and mindset for a longer day in the saddle.

Miles with Smiles So this time i had arranged to ride the 100 with a friend to help me motivate me and

hopefully enjoy the experience a little more than my previous attempt.

It just so happened that this 'friend' has quite a fair bit of road savvyness and riding experience, not to mention the 2014 ITU Sprint Distance Duathlon World Champion title under her belt too. So I was a little apprehensive as i know how rapid Debbie Bradley aka Duathlon Girl is and how hard she trains. So when she had offered to ride with me I was chuffed but also pooping myself a little too. Assuring me she was on a chilled ride cafe stop type of day I felt a little easier my only plan was to slow her down with extra cake at the cafe stop.

Joking aside, Debbie had also experienced a really nasty Incident the previous week where she was closely overtaken and shaken by a passing car. Debbie was out on a training ride and the incident occurred close to her home. So the 100 ride with me was Debbie's first time back out on the ride since it happened so this ride was a challenge for both of us in different ways. I vowed to do my best and look after Debbie (not that she needs much she is a tough cookie but we all have our limits) and we decided to leave early to ensure we had less traffic so a nicer ride to start.

7am meet for a 7:30 roll out

The day started nice and early to avoid traffic and also ensure there were enough daylight hours to complete the ride. The route that i had planned made its way through some lovely villages and bound its way towards Broadway tower before going onto Bourton on the water for the cafe stop.

Fuelling was the main reason for wanting to 'practice' the 100 miles and try to get it right and not repeat a bad day in the saddle. Debbie was great for prompting me when to eat etc whilst on bike and we had a clear idea when to stop take on fuel and of course take pics for the gram too :) This time I felt I had been sensible and packed plenty of fuel, my homemade no bake energy balls plus carb and electrolyte powder drinks too. I did not carry as much last time and certainly did not practice fuelling every 1hr etc so this made a big difference. Coming into the halfway cafe stop in Bourton, i felt ok. I knew i had ridden 45 mile but did not feel like scrap and i was certain that i could take on some more.

After a pleasant cafe stop and meeting of Mark the support crew on the motorbike, we set off to go get this done. Knowing that we had some juicy hills to now descend on the way back that was something that i was personally looking forward too.

The way back actually felt pretty good, we were breaking it down into chunks of 10 mile blocks and focusing each time on that 10 miles, whilst also still practising fuelling etc. Miles 60, 70 done, as soon as we hit 80 something inside me just decided that we were on the finishing straight and we had broken the back of the 100 ride, I kicked on wanting to complete this ride and complete it well. I am not sure where it came from but it felt really good to be pushing on at miles 85 and actually only fuelling on the bike and not feeling the need to stop. Miles 95-100 were made up of squiggles through town and a mini diversion longer route home, once we hit the 100 we were done.

Although i was tired and defo wanted to sit down at that point i still didn't feel like scrap and knew that we had not only smashed it but smashed it well, no fuelling issue, no mechanicals perhaps a couple of slightly wrong turns (sorry Deb) but all in all a successful day. Its defo better to ride with a friend and I say a thank you to Debbie for helping me during before and after the ride too - Legend!! and also well done on getting back in the saddle I know that took some guts. Loved riding with a friend and Miles with Smiles was what kept me sane throughout too.

So 100 done whats next? more route exploring this weekend coming with a start point in Leicester, Hicks Lodge and onto Cannock then back to Eastridge to finish. All road this weekend but i may have to sneak the MTB in the van and if i have the legs i may have a bomb around Eastridge as i feel that it would be rude not too.

M.....out riding somwhere