The 2016 Half Century (50 KM or 50 Mile) A Month Challenge - Chatzone

[Katherine]

I managed to do my first ever ride over 100 km on Sunday. The sun was shining and it was my birthday so we went for breakfast at 'Look mum no hands' in London. We went via CS2 on the way there and CS3 on the way back. I'm very pleased it was a Sunday and there weren't too many cyclists using them. They looked very narrow in places. I was very tired when I got back home.

When I came to upload my ride to strava, it said that the file was corrupted and some of the ride may have been lost. Fortunately there didn''t seem too much missing, although it went a bit haywire in central London.

Fantastic. And a late happy birthday to you.

 

[Katherine]

Got home in time to see Mr K off to work, checked the distance on my phone : 48.5 miles. Back out again obviously. 53 miles in the end as I bumped into 2 people I know and showed them a better way onto the bit of route 55 near me that was originally a railway line, where a lovely new slope has appeared. Much easier than using the steep steps and the side gutter.

I've finally posted the ride in the 'your ride today' thread. When I get round to sitting down at the computer, I'll update the challenge thread. Copying and pasting, scrolling etc is easier on the pc than a tablet.

 

[Sbudge]

I managed to do my first ever ride over 100 km on Sunday. The sun was shining and it was my birthday so we went for breakfast at 'Look mum no hands' in London. We went via CS2 on the way there and CS3 on the way back. I'm very pleased it was a Sunday and there weren't too many cyclists using them. They looked very narrow in places. I was very tired when I got back home.

When I came to upload my ride to strava, it said that the file was corrupted and some of the ride may have been lost. Fortunately there didn''t seem too much missing, although it went a bit haywire in central London.

Brilliant work, lovely way to celebrate your birthday too!. Actually 100km in London is pretty hard work because of all the starting and stopping. You'd find a more 'fluid' country 100km a lot easier I suspect. The next one, imperial century, is a bit of a step up but worth it. 75 miler next?

 

[ColinJ]

Brilliant work, lovely way to celebrate your birthday too!.

I wholeheartedly concur!

Actually 100km in London is pretty hard work because of all the starting and stopping. You'd find a more 'fluid' country 100km a lot easier I suspect.

Not necessarily ... Take any 100 km chunk of my Settle ride last weekend and tell me that it was easier than riding any 100 km route you could find within the M25!

 

[Sbudge]

I wholeheartedly concur!


Not necessarily ... Take any 100 km chunk of my Settle ride last weekend and tell me that it was easier than riding any 100 km route you could find within the M25!

I know what you mean (and that looked a lovely ride btw), of course London is pretty benign when it comes to hills and terrain. However as someone who does like a hill or two I was very surprised at just how hard it is to ride a long distance through the heart of the city. The combination of traffic, often very poor road surfaces, hundreds of lights and junctions (on a 100km ride) do take their toll. Granted it was a night ride but I found my last central London 100km harder work than a similar distance in the Chilterns with 2000m of steep climbs.

 

[ColinJ]

I know what you mean (and that looked a lovely ride btw), of course London is pretty benign when it comes to hills and terrain. However as someone who does like a hill or two I was very surprised at just how hard it is to ride a long distance through the heart of the city. The combination of traffic, often very poor road surfaces, hundreds of lights and junctions (on a 100km ride) do take their toll. Granted it was a night ride but I found my last central London 100km harder work than a similar distance in the Chilterns with 2000m of steep climbs.

Actually, I know what you mean too.

There is a section of the Mary Towneley Loop/Pennine Bridleway that has lots of gates on it and It almost as tiring constantly having to stop/dismount/open gate/walk MTB through/close gate/remount/accelerate as it is riding up the hills before and after that section.

 

[Effyb4]

Thanks all. I really enjoyed the ride. It was a brilliant way to spend my birthday. A 75 mile ride may be on the horizon this year - who knows. I did find the stopping and starting in London extremely wearing, especially as my husband is a lot quicker off the start than I am.

@ColinJ I am coming near to Settle on my holiday in August. I might use part of the ride that you did, although I couldn't manage all of it. I have been practising hills in anticipation of this. I'm sure the hills in Essex are but speed bumps, compared to those in Yorkshire though.

 

[ColinJ]

Thanks all. I really enjoyed the ride. It was a brilliant way to spend my birthday. A 75 mile ride may be on the horizon this year - who knows. I did find the stopping and starting in London extremely wearing, especially as my husband is a lot quicker off the start than I am.

@ColinJ I am coming near to Settle on my holiday in August. I might use part of the ride that you did, although I couldn't manage all of it. I have been practising hills in anticipation of this. I'm sure the hills in Essex are but speed bumps, compared to those in Yorkshire though.

Excellent - I'm sure you will have a great time!

It is worth checking out the nearby Forest of Bowland which is really lovely too. It has some big hills, but it is also possible to do a few flatter routes along the Ribble valley.

If you would like help planning some rides, I'd be happy to work out some (slightly flatter?) variations on those in my routes library!

What dates in August are you going to be in the area? I told @rusty bearing and wife @lpretro1 that I would do a rerun of THIS 2-looper (or a shorter variation) from Hebden Bridge, probably in August. If you fancied joining us for it we could perhaps all agree on a date? (You could just do the first loop, and that could actually be reduced to 29 miles by taking a more direct route back to HB. Alternatively, you could set off with the intention of just doing the first loop but go on to do the second, shorter loop after the cafe stop if you felt up to it.)

 

[Effyb4]

Excellent - I'm sure you will have a great time!

It is worth checking out the nearby Forest of Bowland which is really lovely too. It has some big hills, but it is also possible to do a few flatter routes along the Ribble valley.

If you would like help planning some rides, I'd be happy to work out some (slightly flatter?) variations on those in my routes library!

What dates in August are you going to be in the area? I told @rusty bearing and wife @lpretro1 that I would do a rerun of THIS 2-looper (or a shorter variation) from Hebden Bridge, probably in August. If you fancied joining us for it we could perhaps all agree on a date? (You could just do the first loop, and that could actually be reduced to 29 miles by taking a more direct route back to HB. Alternatively, you could set off with the intention of just doing the first loop but go on to do the second, shorter loop after the cafe stop if you felt up to it.)

That's really kind Colin. Some help with route planning would be brilliant. We will be based in Clapham and don't have a car, so will be using our bikes and public transport to get around.

We would like to do one ride together. Another day, he may go out on his own for a longer ride. I think I could probably manage a ride of between 30 to 40 miles. My husband is much more used to longer rides and is happy doing more than 50 miles

I would love to join you on your ride, but it probably won't be possible if it is on a Saturday. We arrive on 13th August and go home on 20th August.

 

[ColinJ]

That's really kind Colin. Some help with route planning would be brilliant. We will be based in Clapham and don't have a car, so will be using our bikes and public transport to get around.

We would like to do one ride together. Another day, he may go out on his own for a longer ride. I think I could probably manage a ride of between 30 to 40 miles. My husband is much more used to longer rides and is happy doing more than 50 miles

I would love to join you on your ride, but it probably won't be possible if it is on a Saturday. We arrive on 13th August and go home on 20th August.

It would be tricky to get here by train because it takes multiple changes - you could be spending 4 hours on trains to get to the Calder Valley and back! It might be possible to come up with a similar route but starting from one of the towns/villages served by trains on the Lancaster-Clapham-Leeds line. I'll have a think about that.

If you don't already have railcards, do you know about the 'Two Together' card? Two adults travelling together get 1/3 off many tickets. It normally costs £30 for a year but there is a special offer on until 18th July (2016), HERE for £24.

If your range is 30-40 miles then I think the major Dales hills could be a bit much for you - they really are severe. Having said that, there are lots on interesting routes with smaller hills. (I'm still talking hills perhaps hundreds of feet high and potentially quite steep, but maybe not super-steep with over 1,000 ft of ascent!)

I'll get back to you with some ride suggestions. Shorter ones you could do together, and maybe a longer one for your husband. Mind you, he could just pinch a big chunk of our ride from last weekend.

There is a lot of fantastic walking in that area, so I hope you will be packing walking boots? Oh, and decent waterproofs - it can rain a lot!

 

[kapelmuur]

The Scots have a great word for it, 'dreich', that describes this grey, dull, drizzly morning.

My first thought was to have a session on the turbo, but that doesn't count for the challenge! Also, as I have Flandrian blood in my veins, I didn't want to appear a complete wimp. So I dug out my Gabba jacket from winter storage and set off intending just to do 10 miles or so. By the time I'd got to 10 miles it was raining heavily, but I was warm and the Gabba was doing its job, so I decided to press on for a point.

The result was a not very enjoyable 50km at one of the slowest average speeds I've recorded. Anway, I expect to be flying by the time summer arrives!

 

[Sbudge]

The Scots have a great word for it, 'dreich', that describes this grey, dull, drizzly morning.

My first thought was to have a session on the turbo, but that doesn't count for the challenge! Also, as I have Flandrian blood in my veins, I didn't want to appear a complete wimp. So I dug out my Gabba jacket from winter storage and set off intending just to do 10 miles or so. By the time I'd got to 10 miles it was raining heavily, but I was warm and the Gabba was doing its job, so I decided to press on for a point.

The result was a not very enjoyable 50km at one of the slowest average speeds I've recorded. Anway, I expect to be flying by the time summer arrives!

Sounds like a very well earned point!

 

[13 rider]

July's 50 km in the bag away for the last 2 weeks of July and busy this weekend so managed to get a evening 50 km after work tonight

 

[NorthernDave]

Set out early this morning trying to beat the weather forecast and with a mind to push past the imperial half and go for a metric century instead.
Let's just say that the first 30 miles or so went well and then it went a bit pear shaped...

Anyway, the good news is that I did get an imperial half century in, so at least I've kept the run of a metric and an imperial half each month going.
Report in the usual place, if schadenfreude is your thing...

My main concern is that i seem to be struggling with longer rides - I'm absolutely cream crackered again and I can't think why. I was doing 55-65 mile rides with no real problems, but it seems very hard work all of a sudden.
I've signed up for an 81-mile sportive in around 6 weeks and I'm starting to thing it might be a bad idea.

 

[Sbudge]

Set out early this morning trying to beat the weather forecast and with a mind to push past the imperial half and go for a metric century instead.
Let's just say that the first 30 miles or so went well and then it went a bit pear shaped...

Anyway, the good news is that I did get an imperial half century in, so at least I've kept the run of a metric and an imperial half each month going.
Report in the usual place, if schadenfreude is your thing...

My main concern is that i seem to be struggling with longer rides - I'm absolutely cream crackered again and I can't think why. I was doing 55-65 mile rides with no real problems, but it seems very hard work all of a sudden.
I've signed up for an 81-mile sportive in around 6 weeks and I'm starting to thing it might be a bad idea.

Have you tried experimenting with diet/hydration? It may be that your needs have changed. I was told recently by someone I respect that as we get older, for example, we can no longer rely on just 'feeling thirsty' on choosing when to take a drink but rather have to keep topped up whether we feel it or not. Just a thought.