Rojack's Ride100 Run-Down

For those with an appreciation for irony, after months of warm weather training interspersed with gruelling hill sessions in London and Surrey, Sunday’s Prudential RideLondon – Surrey 100 fell victim to the wet embrace of Hurricane Bertha.  That’s not to say, however, that spirits were in any way dampened amongst the 20,000 participants. Even during the most torrential spells on Sunday morning, the sense of camaraderie from those taking part, the scale of enthusiastic support lining the streets, and the dedication of all the volunteers at the fuel stations really made the day one to remember.

Things, though, didn't get off to the smoothest start. In the 12 hours leading up to the ride my rear wheel inner tube blew twice, which I could have forgiven except that I hadn't even ridden it that day. After fitting a new inner tube at 11pm on Saturday night, I came down at 5am on Sunday to find it had punctured again. In a mild, sleepy panic my girlfriend and I forensically examined the back wheel, to find that the rim tape covering one of the spoke holes had worn down. The sharp edge that was exposed as a result was the chief culprit for the two punctures, so we improvised and found a plaster that we were able to cover up the spoke hole with. Bike mechanics worldwide would have been impressed.

As for the ride itself the first 25 miles flew by on the closed streets of London. With no traffic to impede you it really made you appreciate what a great city a lot of us are fortunate to live in. It was after the first hub station, however, that the weather began to get tasty. Mini lagoons began to form at the bottom of every descent, the roads were littered with dropped lights, water bottles and clothing, and visibility worsened as I made my way to the second hub at 47 miles. Quite why there were so many people on the sides of the road cheering and not in the pubs drinking I will never know, but I’m sure I speak for others when I say their genuine encouragement was hugely appreciated.

Before the race started I was aware that Leith Hill and Box Hill had already been cut out, and to be honest I had mixed feelings. Part of me felt that without those two obstacles the RideLondon-Surrey 100 would be lessened as a challenge, but given the weather conditions and considering the number of accidents I witnessed, it was completely the right decision. Regardless it’s not every day you can cycle 86 miles in the driving rain so I feel like I accomplished plenty for a Sunday! The final 20 miles into London were a great experience, the crowds that had gathered in Surbiton, in particular, were hugely vocal which really spurred me on, whilst the unwelcome surprise of Wimbledon Hill was made easier by the cheers from those supporting.

Last Saturday myself, Tash (girlfriend), Tim (brother) and Tommy (friend and cycling enthusiast) took on a 30-mile route through the Surrey Hills, a route for which Rule #20 of The Velominati below was entirely appropriate. With the Prudential RideLondon – Surrey 100 on August 10th almost here, this weekend was a chance both to taper off my training and also to get a look at a couple of the hills I will be taking on next weekend, namely Leith Hill and Box Hill.

Our first ambitious mistake was to tackle two other hills before we got round to the meat and drink of our ride. Within 5 minutes of getting off the train at Dorking we were busting a collective lung getting up Ranmore road, a steep 1.5-mile stretch of road that inconceivably has no official hill name, despite taking you from 65m to 200m in no time at all. After winding our way down south towards Leith Hill we missed our designated turning (a frequent occurrence during my training over the last few months – thanks Garmin), and after some quick calculations Tash sent us on a detour up Boar Hill.

It was during this stretch that we lost Tim, an unfortunate result of too many pints in the week(s) leading up to the ride at the expense of quality training time on the bike. With our peloton down to three we crept over Boar Hill and meandered our way over to the foot of the main event, Leith Hill, where Tommy’s chain promptly popped off, presumably in sheer terror. I must confess over the last few weeks I’ve been in two minds over the benefits, psychologically at least, of conquering Leith Hill and Box Hill, but I’m now convinced that blind optimism is no substitute for the experience of actually riding the hills before the RideLondon 100.

As expected, despite not being as widely heralded as Box Hill, it is Leith Hill where the majority of legs will be broken on game day, it is, after all, the highest point in Surrey at 294 metres above sea level. The only advice I can give is to prepare yourself for 10 minutes of real effort after which you’ll then be rewarded with a great descent where the legs can recover. And for anyone familiar with professional cyclist Jens Voigt, in those moments of struggle I’d recommend repeating his infamous quote “Shut up legs! Do what I tell you to do.” The descent is fast and enjoyable but you’d be well advised to pay special attention to the road surface, under tree cover it is often hard to spot every pothole so don’t be a hero! After cycling back to Dorking our final date was with Box Hill, a beautifully smooth piece of tarmac which does not hold the same gradient as Leith Hill, even though it stretches out for longer. Provided you can drop down into your lowest gear and keep a high cadence, getting up Box Hill in one go shouldn’t hold too many concerns.

Last weekend marked my final long ride before the Prudential RideLondon, and after sweating my way through 80 miles in pretty fierce heat, I’m not entirely upset about that. The current spell of warm weather is something that I wanted to try and acclimatise to, and, as grueling as I knew it would be, I felt compelled to get out early on Saturday and get the miles under my belt knowing that it would likely stand me in good stead for 2 weeks time.

I plotted an 80-mile route from Stevenage to Cambridge and then back to the outskirts of London, which proved to be a scenic ride that didn’t hold too many hilly difficulties. I got off to an inauspicious start, however, when getting off the train at Stevenage only to find myself in a maze of car parks and service depots at the local shopping complex, a web of dead-ends which even the most seasoned navigator would have trouble getting out of. It was also the first time I had borrowed my girlfriend’s Garmin device to guide me along the route I had plotted, which threw up the odd dummy u-turn throughout the ride. I’m sure it also took great satisfaction in guiding me through the middle of Cantelupe farm in Grantchester, a farm with several public footpaths all entirely unsuitable for a road bike, where I spent a good 30 minutes walking my bike through several wheat fields.

Making the step up to 80 miles certainly took its toll, with the weather playing an integral part. The Garmin recorded an average temperature of 28 degrees for the ride with a high of 34 degrees, which I can only imagine was due to the heat from the road. My quads also started to cramp up from the 100km mark although nothing too serious as to stop me riding. This all helped to emphasize the importance of taking on board as much fluid as possible. I got through 6 water bottles however that is probably the minimum I needed, but I can rest assured that there will be plenty of opportunities to re-stock at the various fuel and water stations along the RideLondon route.

As mentioned in my last blog post, any chance of doing a long ride over the weekend just past was scrapped in favour of a weekend at Latitude festival. I’m consoling myself with the fact that I did plenty of walking, dancing and general rolling around but it does mean this coming weekend’s long ride will feel extremely punishing.

That’s not to say that my last 7 days have been completely void of bike exercise. Thanks to the kind folks at Wattbike I have at least managed to get home in the evenings after work and fit in some interval training. After the initial 3 minute setup to establish my appropriate zones (based on resistance settings and RPM), I’ve been able to get through a couple of short and sharp sessions, which have involved 5 minutes at 85 RPM, 1 minute recovery, 5 minutes at 90RPM, 1 minute recovery and so on up until 100 RPM. At that point it sounded like there was some sort of supersonic jet in my kitchen, which is almost certainly the reason I then had a neighbourly visit from the couple in the flat next door. The Wattbike, however, is invaluable for getting into the habit of staying at a particular RPM, and the more you train on it the more your body will learn to know what level of endurance it can sustain over a period of time. And as I’ve really appreciated over the last few weeks with my long rides, spinning classes and hill sessions, getting into a rhythm and cycling at a consistent RPM makes me feel as if I’m being a lot more efficient with my pedal strokes.

With the RideLondon now less than 4 weeks away, last weekend was all about getting some serious mileage under our belts for my twin brother Tim and I. We plotted out a 70-mile route between London and Southend (pronounced Saafend) and headed out bright and early on Saturday morning.

We quickly learnt a couple of valuable lessons: not having a mounted GPS device can cause all manner of wrong turns, and humid conditions mean open season for every type of fly imaginable. Saturday was certainly a messy one, our faces resembled some sort of Jackson Pollock painting by the end of the ride and we easily added on an extra 5 miles by getting lost on the quiet Essex roads. I’ve since learnt that for many areas around the UK, Saturday 12th July was Flying Ant day, a rare occurrence when conditions are just right for the Queen ants from all manner of colonies to take to the skies in the hunt for male suitors. It was hideous. Ants aside it should be a welcome change when the RideLondon comes around that we’ll be cycling on closed roads and along a clearly sign-posted route. The Essex ride itself was just right, with roads that were undulating but never impossibly hilly, and enough snacks and fluids to ensure we didn’t need to stop for long when we did.

Like most others, however, taking on the RideLondon, I remain anxious about how I’ll be feeling when Leith Hill and then Box Hill come around, at miles 55 and 65 respectively. Much is said of Box Hill but Leith Hill climbs almost the same height in two thirds of the distance so that will certainly take its toll on the legs. Come mile 50 I’ll be guzzling down on whatever energy bars I have on me!

As I touched on in my previous blog I decided to put my recent spinning skills to the test by taking on the hilly terrors of North London, including Crouch Hill, Alexandra Park, Muswell Hill and Swains Lane (the quieter way up Highgate Hill). I wouldn’t go as far to say they were mere speed bumps - anyone who’s been up Swains Lane will have felt the effects of the 18% gradient! - but I certainly found that getting into a steady rhythm on each of the hills, regardless of how high or low the gear I was using, made for a vastly more efficient ride. In the coming weeks I will definitely be looking to get in some practice on Box Hill and Leith Hill, but before then I thought I’d use this week’s blog post to share my essential tips for a smooth ride.

1. Cleats

For the uninitiated, cleats are special metal or plastic attachments on the soles of your shoes that interlock with your clipless pedals (otherwise known as clip-in or step-in pedals). It was only when I began riding longer distances that I made the step up from normal ‘commuter’ pedals (i.e flat on both sides), to pedals with cages (don’t go there) to finally getting pedals which I could clip into. The specific pedals I went for have one side which I can clip into, and one side which are flat, which allows me to cycle in trainers or cleats depending on the type of ride I’m going for.

Using cleats isn’t always plain sailing for everyone, coming to a halt at any sort of junction requires a complex level of multitasking, where you need to brake, unclip one of your feet (usually by twisting your heel outward), and then make sure you lean the bike towards your unclipped, standing leg. If you lean towards the other side where your leg is still clipped in then brace yourself for falling against a railing/car bonnet/fellow cyclist/ hard piece of tarmac.

On a serious note using cleats can vastly improve the efficiency of your pedal stroke, given you can push and pull your pedal through the whole revolution, which allows both your quads and hamstrings to get involved. Secondly there is less danger of slipping off your pedals, especially if it’s wet or on a hill section where you are may want to get out of the saddle.

2. Bike fitting

I must confess to not having had my Bianchi personally fitted to me, but having read up on the benefits this is something I’m keen to book in ahead of the RideLondon. Two clear benefits are that you can sit more comfortably and most importantly cycle more efficiently, which is a direct result of being positioned at all the right angles (feet, knees, hips and shoulders). A bike fit also takes into account how flexible your body is as you wouldn’t want to be over or under-stretching your muscles over the course of 100 miles. Having done some research online you’d be doing well to find a bike fit for less than ₤100 but you’d just as likely spend that much and more on physio treatment if your bike setup doesn’t cater to your own body.

3. Tyres

This may sound like a no-brainer but having the right tyres can significantly reduce your chances of getting a puncture. Often the parts that come as standard on new road bikes (or any bikes for that matter), such as tyres and pedals, are exactly that – standard. Simple things like buying puncture resistant (but not immune) tyres can make a difference. Touch wood since buying a new pair of Schwalbe tyres several months ago I’ve had no punctures, although I’ll certainly be packing a couple of spare inner tubes for the ride itself!

4. Fluids and Nutrition

Last but not least you’ll need a steady supply of liquids, gels, energy bars and easily-digestible goodies to snack on throughout your RideLondon, after all you wouldn’t want to ‘bonk’. Getting ‘bonked’ is cycling lingo for having low glycogen levels. Essentially if you don’t eat (or drink) enough on the bike then you’ll simply have no useful fuel reserves left in the tank, and even pedaling downhill can leave you feeling weak and lethargic. Supermarket goodies such as ginger cake and Soreen are high in carbohydrates and easily digestible so I’ll certainly be packing plenty of that, and common consent is that you should look to have 60g of carbohydrates each hour. As for drinks if you can find any dissolvable energy tablets that combine carbs, caffeine and electrolytes to replace the salt you lose, you should be well set. For long rides it’s advised to drink at least 1 bottle of water and 1 energy drink every hour, although think carefully about when and what to have, as you don’t want to carboload and give your tummy a hard time. Digestion can get harder as rides get longer, so eat more solids at the beginning of the ride, and rely on gels for quick energy in the last third of the ride.

Forget spending £20 to get into Fabric on a Friday night. If you fancy spending 45 minutes sweating away in the dark listening to throbbing bass then you should take your £20 and hand it over to CycleBeat. In exchange they will give you a 14-day offer period in which to try out their variety of spinning classes.

I should say I’ve always avoided spinning classes or any gym classes for that matter like the plague. I’ve never seen the point of paying to have someone shout at you whilst you’re forced to listen to the likes of Pitbull, Chris Brown and Taio Cruz, although to be honest you probably deserve to be shouted at if you’re listening to Pitbull. I was undeniably impressed, however, by the attention to detail and focus on core endurance and power that CycleBeat achieves. The mini monitors on each bike provide what many gym monkeys will be well-versed in, including your RPM, power, level of resistance, energy expenditure and timer, however CycleBeat’s masterstroke lies in its leaderboard at the front of the class. This tracks every rider’s performance in real time throughout each class, with your bike number being the only way to identify where you’re ranking.

Being able to compete under a cloak of anonymity is the perfect way for newbies like me to get involved in the spinning scene. For added insight you are then able to log in to your CycleBeat account from the safety of your sofa and review the stats from your latest class. Here you will find every participant’s actual username from the class you took, together with a variety of metrics and views (gender, total energy, total energy/kg) as well as your performance trends from past classes.

For my username I went for something typically understated – Quadzilla. With such a powerful name to live up to I attended two classes this week with my girlfriend Tash (codename @tashdobson) and friend Zoe (codename Zodiac). The first was a frantic class with Keith that mixed intervals of being on the pedals and in the saddle, whilst the second class with Janine was geared more towards endurance and establishing a strong rhythm. The one thing that really surprised me in both classes was to discover how much liquid my face and head could dispel. Dripping sweat right into my water bottle also made for one salty refreshment.

Sweat aside (well everywhere to be honest) I did make solid improvements between my two classes. My average power increased from 158 to 217, total energy expended from 425 to 582, and calories burned from 611 to 751. A lot of that I put down to not knowing my limits on my debut appearance, whereas on the second take I was able to focus less on reps and more on power with the help of higher resistance settings on the bike. And just to put that into a distance context, over the course of my two sessions I covered just shy of 40 miles, which is going some in the space of 90 mins.

This week I'm giving up the blogging reins to my brother Tim, who will now regale you with his training tales from Wales....

Tim

The American cyclist Sean Coffey once said “A mountain bike is like your buddy. A road bike is your lover.” Having chosen to ignore Brecon Beacon’s Race The Sun’s insistence on using a mountain bike in favour of my road bike and given my plums a sustained workout on the course’s two off-road sections as a result, I’m not quite sure I agree with Sean. If I can ever love again it will be testament to the Jackson gene pool, but more on that later.

I entered the public ballot for Prudential Ride100 last year but unfortunately missed out on a place. Not to fear, though, as my brother Robin somehow convinced me to give Cancer Research a call and grab one of the last remaining places on their team in exchange for raising £800. It sounded like a pretty lop-sided deal, but I agreed as I’m generally too polite to kick up a fuss.

In all seriousness, though, having completed the London to Brighton bike ride last year I wanted an event this year to give my 2014 a bit of structure, something to train for. Then I heard that some colleagues at work were thinking of doing a multi-disciplined charity event in Brecon Beacons on 28th June so I threw my hat into the ring as it sounded like ideal training for the Ride 100 event in August. It would also be an opportunity to have a lads’ weekend down in Abergavenny, Wales’ very own Sin City known the world over for its fast cars and even faster women.

To say that my training so far this year has been unconventional would be like saying that Lance Armstrong only cheated a little bit during his glittering career. I commute to work each day on my bike taking a deliberately wayward route to make it a worthwhile distance, but despite having the best intentions I have found it hard to commit to a regular weekend riding schedule. Weekend working has played its part, but so too has being a young cad about town trying to promote the Jackson brand. If truth be told I have only ridden more than 30 miles maybe 4 or 5 times this whole year, so I had been reassuring myself with the fact that the Race The Sun event would be taking place 6 weeks before the Ride 100 event, and would therefore force me to confront my fitness head on.

Seven work colleagues had signed up for the event, and after an 11th hour substitution we settled on two teams of four named Close Brothers 1 and Close Brothers 2. I can’t tell you how many late nights we had debating team names before finally nailing it in a moment of inspiration. In the blue corner (Close Brothers 1) we had Greg, Chris, Lois and Nearchos, a team of such dynamism, such skill and such courage that it was a surprise they weren’t taking part in the National Road Championships happening in Abergavenny that same weekend. In the red corner (Close Brothers 2) we had Will, Rich, myself and the human bicep Tony. To be honest we were banking on a solid canoe section from Tony and he didn’t disappoint.

We all made our separate ways down to Abergavenny on the Friday and engaged in some much-needed Dutch courage at our accommodation for the night The Farmers Arms pub. If you speak to any professional athlete they will recommend having multiple pints, several cigarettes, half a pizza and almost no sleep the night before a big event. Waking up at 4:30 am on the Saturday, though, brought some unexpected complications which read like a who’s who of dehydration symptoms:

Fatigue

Dizziness and confusion

Lower Back Pain

Headache

Mental irritation

Add to that list some minor digestive issues following the questionable 12 inch Hot & Spicy shout from Will and we were all suitably prepped for what would be a very long day. The rules of the event were simple: complete the four sections of the course as a team (25 mile cycle, 8 mile hike, 3km canoe and 25 mile cycle) before the sun goes down.

With Lois delaying her team’s start time due to some essential last-minute make-up application Team 2 stepped up and we took off at 6:58am. If you’ve ever tried to do anything at 6:58am on a Saturday morning you can probably imagine how we were all feeling, but in all honesty the first 25 miles went by without too much drama, that is if you discount our farcical start in which Tony, Will and myself inadvertently tried to perform the legendary human-centipede-on-wheels routine in front of an unsuspecting yet adoring crowd. Sure I had the inevitable two punctures when I introduced my road bike to the completely inappropriate off-road section, but it gave our team the much-needed opportunity, while fixing the inner tube, to get bitten to shreds by the swarms of mosquitoes who had gathered to cheer us on. Team 1 by all accounts were also having a bit of a shocker with Greg almost going head first over his handlebars following his brake snapping, and Lois suffering a puncture that would take an hour to sort out. Put simply both teams had some ground to make up.

Team 2 checked in at the hike stage some two and a half hours later having lost 30 minutes to the two punctures, and we duly set about scaling what we assumed would be one nasty albeit beautiful peak. Having reached the top barely able to breathe (probably just me – thanks cigarette addiction) we congratulated ourselves and started what we thought would be the gradual descent back to base camp. Some three hours and three further peaks later both humour and knee caps were wearing thin, but we were all looking forward to getting back on our bikes and making our way to the canoe section. We were welcomed back to base camp by the news that the professional bike mechanic had applied a third puncture to my rapidly-failing road bike free of charge, so after yet more emergency repairs we made our way to the nearby reservoir for a 3km circuit. Two double-seated canoes had been bound together so we could navigate the reservoir as a four, and it would be a good opportunity to give our legs a rest ahead of the final cycle and apply some deep burn to our arms. Within 5 seconds the novelty had worn off, and to make matters worse the heavens opened. I’m no rain expert, but I would say on a scale of 1 to 10 the rain was at least an 18. I’ve sat in baths that had less water in than my shorts, and I’m partial to a deep bath. If we thought we were having it bad, though, at the same point Team 1 had just started making their way to the canoe section having abandoned their waterproofs after the hike section so there weren’t really any winners out on the course at that point.

With Tony manning the engine room and effectively single-handedly getting us round the reservoir we hopped back on our bikes around 2pm for the final 25 mile ride back to Brecon. Again this went by largely without incident, save for Will taking a sharp left-hander far too quickly and going careering into a fence at around 200mph. How he walked away from that crash without any sort of injury will continue to baffle me until my dying day, so it was a relief to make it back onto the main A road in one piece primed for the final 16 mile stretch back to Brecon. This stretch was perhaps the most gruelling and soulless of the whole day; it was one of those sections where at first glance it all looked largely downhill, but was in fact your classic gradual uphill with a stiff headwind. For most of this stretch we really weren’t going much faster than a mobility scooter, a pace that Team 1 would also come to know like an old friend.

Eventually Team 2 pulled into Brecon knowing that the final challenge awaiting us was the near vertical 1km hill heading back to the finish line. We all dug deep, managed to burn one final team of chiefs who’d tried to roll out the big potatoes on us a few miles back, and cycled over the line in a time of 9 and a half hours to rapturous applause and honeys chanting our names. Some time later Nearchos rocked up on his own proving that while there may not be an “I” in “Team” there is a “Me”. It was only when we enquired into the whereabouts of his team did he remember what the day was all about and a glance over his shoulder revealed Chris, Greg and Lois crossing the line looking a bit bemused at his sprint finish. Winners just know how to win.

After some fist-pumping and bum-slapping we decamped back to Abergavenny and rewarded ourselves with all the beers, a curry and a trip to the best club in town Auberge via the customary stop off at the local Spoons. The less said about Auberge the better really; it did a job, but at least Greg made an interesting friend.

The weekend proved something of a morale boost 6 weeks before Ride 100, the scenery was simply stunning all the way round the course, the camaraderie across both teams was a pleasure to be a part of and at time of writing we had raised just over £2,100.00 for charity, but I know I’m going to have to put in an awful lot of miles between now and August if I want to get round the 100 mile course. I did learn the following though:

Eating and drinking sensibly while riding makes a huge difference

Don’t ride a road bike off-road if you have ambitions of being a parent

You can have six strong ciders the night before an event and still cycle up hills like an absolute winner

It’s possible to get sunburnt even when there is no sun