Subtitle: 7 hours of pain
Sub sub title: never again
I guess the title should have acted as a warning of what was to come, but hey, it seems that the 25 of us that set off maybe didn't think closely enough about that. We still weren't thinking all that much about it after the first 10 miles which were a little stiff but nothing too nasty.
Dustman Dave organised 4 rides all setting off from the same place, a small village just outside Taunton - the diddy doddle, 64k, the doddle, 110k, the double doddle, 200k and the demon hilly, 110k. A couple of hundred people were doing the other rides, 25 of us the demon hilly.
The first ten miles were a reasonably continual perpetual climb up and over the quantocks, crossing over some roads I cycled along for the lands end to john o'groats ride (http://www.chrisride.blogspot.com/) which brought back some nice memories.
The next 15 miles then went up and over exmoor ending up at Blue Anchor at the seaside. By this time we were starting to feel a little tired. 25 miles gone, 50 to go. The next 15 miles went back up and over exmoor and ended up at a nice pub for a bite to eat. Now we were all really tired, 45 miles down, 30 to go.
Nibbling a sandwich over lunch however a couple of things struck us:
i) Some of us commented that no-one on the ride seemed to have done it before. We found this a little odd, but didn't think too much about it.
ii) One of the riders had a "work done" altimeter (i.e. that records every metre climbed). It was registering total climbed meters of about 1,100m so far. We knew however that the rides total climb was 3,150m. So we had done well over half the ride and only 1/3 of the climbing. And we were pretty knackered. We all agreed that the altimeter must be dodgy, there was no way we could climb the remaining 2/3 of the distance in the remaining 1/3 of the ride, that just wasn't viable given how tired we were all feeling already.
OH MY FUCKING HELL we were wrong. The next 20 miles were just sheer pain, just 20 miles of huge climbs up a perpetual string of 1 in 3, 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 hills. On and on and on they went. I will happily confess to being a broken man on a few occasions. I did make it up the monster 1 in 3, albeit I will admit to using quite a nice zig-zag technique - as the road was wide and empty with no traffic so I just spent the whole time cycling across the road, turning, coming back across again, zig-zag all the way up - and that was painful enough. After 60 miles I was wiped out and even the bottle of full fat coke and BIG slice of coffee cake at the rest stop didn't help. Thankfully the last 10 miles were all downhill, a nice cruise back into the village, where we were met by a number of the 200k riders, who had thus done just under twice the distance (on the flat...) in the same time.
By this time we figured out why we hadn't met anyone else on the ride who had done it before. BECAUSE NO-ONE EVER COMES BACK TO DO IT AGAIN.
There are few rides I would never do again. I'd quite happily cycle up Ventoux again (http://www.nastyhills.blogspot.com/), although I'd probably check the weather forecast first but I will never do this again. At the end my body ached all over, my hands and feet were swollen, my ribs and lungs hurt from the exertion, my arms were knackered (from the climbs), my legs felt detached from my body and when I got home I found out I'd lost around 6 lb in weight. I also felt nausious for 3 days afterwards.
Dustman Dave said to me at the end:
i) You must have enjoyed it in a sort of sadistic sense. Nope
ii) Give it a few days, you'll feel great about having done it. Nope
iii) You'll be back next year, trust me. Nope.
Ride stats: Mileage: 70 Miles
Time: Just under 7 hours riding, 5 of which were painful beyond description.
Average riding speed 11.2 mph. Dismal.
I did however bag 4.25 "hill climbing points" - Audax have a scoring system that encourages riders to do hillier, tougher rides. Their scoring system is herewith - as you will see 3,150 metres of climbing for a 100k ish event is genuinely off the scale... http://www.aukweb.net/aaa/index.htm. Looking down the list, there are only 15 rides out of several thousand that offer more points than this. And nope, I'm not going to do any of those either.
Wednesday 23 April 2008
Thursday 17 April 2008
Hate & inspiration
The Witham 200. April 13th
Sometimes I hate other cyclists, part 1... So there I was, pedaling along, when a German cyclist cruises up to me. His opening comment was "excuse me, may I ask if you are into long distance rides". I thought of retorting with "so what the hell is this 200k ride we are on then, idiot" but felt the humble response would be "no, not really". It turns out he wasn't trying to score points, just get some information and in particular about the guys we were following who had "got the shirt" for having done "The PBP" last year, an amazing 1,200 km (750 miles) ride from Paris to Brest and back to Paris which must be completed within 90 hours. Basically cycle for 22 hours, sleep for 2, cycle for 22 hours, sleep for 2, for 4 days solid. HOW????? I am totally shagged after 10 hours, 125 miles. Very inspiring to talk to the guys who've done the ride though I can never see myself doing it.
http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/EN/index.php
On other HOW???? notes, I just read this book, it's quite an inspiring read. On holiday I read it and thought "sod all this 100 mile bike rides, let's step it up to 200 or 250 miles". Then I did 125 miles on Sunday on the flatlands of east anglia and thought "125 miles is quite enough, thanks". This guy is into running rather than cycling - but check out his bio (about -> bio) - this guy RUNS 350 miles non-stop and has just run 50 marathons in all 50 states in 50 days. Then he ran back home again, another 1,300 miles EH??? Again very inspiring & very humbling.
http://www.ultramarathonman.com/flash/
Sometimes I hate other cyclists, part 2... So I pull into the first checkpoint on the weekend ride and the controller says to me "it's nice to see you taking your time". Felt like saying "piss off you turd, I was going as fast as I could!". It's interesting though how things work out over a number of hours on an endurance ride - I was definitely a little slower on the road than most other riders and when I pulled back into the carpark at the end I expected there to only be a few cars left, but it was still pretty full. Somewhat confused I asked the controller out of interest how many people had done the 200k ride and how many had finished so far (there was also a 150k and 100k ride that started & finished in the same place and shared some of the route), he said I was 12th home out of 34 - so that I was very happy with. I think what it is is whilst I'm a little slower on the road than average I linger a lot less in the rest stops, I typically just fill up my water bottles and set off again, eating energy bars etc whilst I cycle along. Who knows, all a bit confused about that.
Off to Taunton this weekend to to Dustman Daves Demon Hilly, the title says it all...
Sometimes I hate other cyclists, part 1... So there I was, pedaling along, when a German cyclist cruises up to me. His opening comment was "excuse me, may I ask if you are into long distance rides". I thought of retorting with "so what the hell is this 200k ride we are on then, idiot" but felt the humble response would be "no, not really". It turns out he wasn't trying to score points, just get some information and in particular about the guys we were following who had "got the shirt" for having done "The PBP" last year, an amazing 1,200 km (750 miles) ride from Paris to Brest and back to Paris which must be completed within 90 hours. Basically cycle for 22 hours, sleep for 2, cycle for 22 hours, sleep for 2, for 4 days solid. HOW????? I am totally shagged after 10 hours, 125 miles. Very inspiring to talk to the guys who've done the ride though I can never see myself doing it.
http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/EN/index.php
On other HOW???? notes, I just read this book, it's quite an inspiring read. On holiday I read it and thought "sod all this 100 mile bike rides, let's step it up to 200 or 250 miles". Then I did 125 miles on Sunday on the flatlands of east anglia and thought "125 miles is quite enough, thanks". This guy is into running rather than cycling - but check out his bio (about -> bio) - this guy RUNS 350 miles non-stop and has just run 50 marathons in all 50 states in 50 days. Then he ran back home again, another 1,300 miles EH??? Again very inspiring & very humbling.
http://www.ultramarathonman.com/flash/
Sometimes I hate other cyclists, part 2... So I pull into the first checkpoint on the weekend ride and the controller says to me "it's nice to see you taking your time". Felt like saying "piss off you turd, I was going as fast as I could!". It's interesting though how things work out over a number of hours on an endurance ride - I was definitely a little slower on the road than most other riders and when I pulled back into the carpark at the end I expected there to only be a few cars left, but it was still pretty full. Somewhat confused I asked the controller out of interest how many people had done the 200k ride and how many had finished so far (there was also a 150k and 100k ride that started & finished in the same place and shared some of the route), he said I was 12th home out of 34 - so that I was very happy with. I think what it is is whilst I'm a little slower on the road than average I linger a lot less in the rest stops, I typically just fill up my water bottles and set off again, eating energy bars etc whilst I cycle along. Who knows, all a bit confused about that.
Off to Taunton this weekend to to Dustman Daves Demon Hilly, the title says it all...
Thursday 3 April 2008
Guilty M'Lud
It's been a funny old month, mowing the lawn at the beginning of the month and building snowmen on it at the end of the month. Most of the rest of the month was either wet or cold and didn't tempt me out on my bike too much.
Highlight of my month was seeing my cycling accident from last summer resolved, finally having my day in court. It was quite a surreal and bizarre day, starting off being very stressed waiting around to give evidence and then becoming more relaxed and in due course comical. The car driver, let's refer to him as "Low IQ" turns up (a) in t-shirt and jeans and (b) representing himself, without a lawyer, neither of which is likely to go down terribly well with the magistrate. So myself and the two other witnesses in turn give our evidence and in turn Low IQ then cross examines us, the best question being "So, Dr Kirk, do you agree that it was a main road on which you were cycling". Dr Kirk "yes, it was a road on which we were cycling". Low IQ "thankyou, no further questions". It then comes to Low IQ's turn to give a statement in his defense. Low IQ "I do not wish to make a statement in my defense, I accept everything that the prosecution says. This whole thing has just been such a complete waste of time, really stupid. Just give me my sentence". Magistrate at this time looking somewhat bemused. Low IQ's brother (let's refer to him as Really Low IQ) then stands up at back of court and claps and cheers Low IQ's statement of defiance and is promptly removed from the court by security guards.
Magistrates then give Low IQ 9 points on his license, to which Low IQ goes apoplectic, pleading for mercy as he'll lose his license and no longer be able to afford insurance. Low IQ ushered from court, his parting shot to me being "you, you're just a fucking idiot" before being bundled away by the security guards, which was quite a fitting ending to an amusing morning.
Did the Stevenage Start of Summertime Special ride at the end of the month - the miserable weather we had for the rest of the month finally clearing up to give us a really lovely day - this was a very interesting ride for me particularly from a physical and psychological perspective - the event has three rides available - 50k, 100k and 210k, basically loops of increasing diameter so all the rides generally share the same start and end of the course. I did (tried to do...) the 100k ride several years ago and failed miserably, turning for home after about 80k so it was interesting to see how I would get on with attempting the increased distance, 210k (130 miles) being a lot more than I've ever ridden before (105 miles being my max to date). The first 100k was fine, starting in Stevenage and ending in Lavenham but the return leg was tough, into a headwind all the way. I started to really struggle at 150k up to around 180k, getting both really hungry and really thirsty - also for all of this stretch we were just doing a lazy loop around Bishops Stortford so for at least an hour it was "turn left, 10 miles to my home" or "straight on, 40 miles to the end". Felt better after a food and drink stop outside of Thaxted and then in Manuden where all those years ago I conceded defeat and turned left for home I turned right for Stevenage and with 50k to go started to feel really good, knowing I could make it. Made it back to Stevanage fine, albeit with very tight legs and butt, jumped in a cold bath when I got home, that always does the trick for me.
Total ride: 210k / 130 miles
Cycling time: 8 hrs 45 mins, average speed 14.8mph
Elapsed time: 10 hours
Off on holiday next week and then another 200k ride at the weekend, another flat one, this time from Chelmsford.
Bye for now.
Highlight of my month was seeing my cycling accident from last summer resolved, finally having my day in court. It was quite a surreal and bizarre day, starting off being very stressed waiting around to give evidence and then becoming more relaxed and in due course comical. The car driver, let's refer to him as "Low IQ" turns up (a) in t-shirt and jeans and (b) representing himself, without a lawyer, neither of which is likely to go down terribly well with the magistrate. So myself and the two other witnesses in turn give our evidence and in turn Low IQ then cross examines us, the best question being "So, Dr Kirk, do you agree that it was a main road on which you were cycling". Dr Kirk "yes, it was a road on which we were cycling". Low IQ "thankyou, no further questions". It then comes to Low IQ's turn to give a statement in his defense. Low IQ "I do not wish to make a statement in my defense, I accept everything that the prosecution says. This whole thing has just been such a complete waste of time, really stupid. Just give me my sentence". Magistrate at this time looking somewhat bemused. Low IQ's brother (let's refer to him as Really Low IQ) then stands up at back of court and claps and cheers Low IQ's statement of defiance and is promptly removed from the court by security guards.
Magistrates then give Low IQ 9 points on his license, to which Low IQ goes apoplectic, pleading for mercy as he'll lose his license and no longer be able to afford insurance. Low IQ ushered from court, his parting shot to me being "you, you're just a fucking idiot" before being bundled away by the security guards, which was quite a fitting ending to an amusing morning.
Did the Stevenage Start of Summertime Special ride at the end of the month - the miserable weather we had for the rest of the month finally clearing up to give us a really lovely day - this was a very interesting ride for me particularly from a physical and psychological perspective - the event has three rides available - 50k, 100k and 210k, basically loops of increasing diameter so all the rides generally share the same start and end of the course. I did (tried to do...) the 100k ride several years ago and failed miserably, turning for home after about 80k so it was interesting to see how I would get on with attempting the increased distance, 210k (130 miles) being a lot more than I've ever ridden before (105 miles being my max to date). The first 100k was fine, starting in Stevenage and ending in Lavenham but the return leg was tough, into a headwind all the way. I started to really struggle at 150k up to around 180k, getting both really hungry and really thirsty - also for all of this stretch we were just doing a lazy loop around Bishops Stortford so for at least an hour it was "turn left, 10 miles to my home" or "straight on, 40 miles to the end". Felt better after a food and drink stop outside of Thaxted and then in Manuden where all those years ago I conceded defeat and turned left for home I turned right for Stevenage and with 50k to go started to feel really good, knowing I could make it. Made it back to Stevanage fine, albeit with very tight legs and butt, jumped in a cold bath when I got home, that always does the trick for me.
Total ride: 210k / 130 miles
Cycling time: 8 hrs 45 mins, average speed 14.8mph
Elapsed time: 10 hours
Off on holiday next week and then another 200k ride at the weekend, another flat one, this time from Chelmsford.
Bye for now.
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