Hey guys, as most of you were aware I was due to ride the "ride of the roses" event on Sunday 31/08/14 and it was supposed to be a 75 mile ride with a lot of hills. It did not go to plan, and it was all my fault. Firstly, I woke up late. And by late I mean 15 mins before I should have been leaving the house to get to the event instead of the hour and a half I had planned. Then I had trouble getting the bike in the car (no rack) seriously, a Specialized Sirrus large frame in the back of a Suzuki Swift (my mum's car. not mine. I don't drive.) Then diversions, enforced reduced speed sections and traffic. I ended up 15 minutes late for my start time, which is not too bad I suppose. I asked if I could still set off for the 75 mile ride and the organisers said no. It was either nothing or the 50 mile ride due to set off 15 minutes later. So that is what I did. I took the 50 on, which included some long steep hills, and finished it in 3 hours 8 minutes. (I say it was 50 miles, it worked out to be 45. But shhh nobody else needs to know.)
First half I was getting to grips with being in an odd location compared to where I usually ride so took it easy and stuck with a group who were taking it easy. Until I got used to the environment, and got a bit bored of seeing the same people around me, I do not think I would be good in a club for this reason. At the water stop at the 21 mile mark, I saw a few people still there that had set off at the front of the 50 mile riders. And left the stop about 4 minutes after them, only to catch them up which I was not expecting to do! These guys were holding a quite high pace, and I was determined to keep the pace with them. I managed to do so until about the 35 mile mark, when THEY started to slow down. I noticed we were all going into a headwind, so I TRIED to take my turn at the front of the group only for the rest of them to seem to drop back. I stayed at that pace for the next 5 miles until my legs started seizing up and I had to drop down a gear or two just to keep going.
Anyway, I finished the event. And then felt kind of glad that I woke up late and missed the 75 mile ride, which had about triple the elevation. Not bad for only 23 miles "training" in the 21 days before the event. Next year I will complete one of the longer rides, dependant on how much riding I can do between now and then. Safe to say that I am fully in love with the bike again. Here is this ride
http://www.strava.com/activities/187803135
I did go out for a little pootle t'other day too, which was 20 miles. But that was just to get out the house, so only a 10.4 mph average.
http://www.strava.com/activities/188791948
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